nutranurse
Unlikeliest of Slash Fics
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2009
- Messages
- 2,077
Orders for Update 2 are due Tuesday, 29/12/2011.
If you would like to join the NES as a new culture/race PLEASE PM/email me, I am always looking for new players.
For anyone who wants to contact me via email, you can do so at nes.nutranurse@gmail.com
If you would like to join the NES as a new culture/race PLEASE PM/email me, I am always looking for new players.
For anyone who wants to contact me via email, you can do so at nes.nutranurse@gmail.com
Notice that this is NutraNESIV.5. Rather than abandoning my past NES completely, I am revamping it and applying new rules and a new setting to my take on fantasy NESing. Players are now being unleashed upon Kore, a fantastical continent located in the world of El-Or.
Rules
I am going to keep things relatively simple, or at least strive to.
Joining: This NES has no upwards limit on the amount of players that can join, and I encourage everyone and their grandma to participate if you are looking for a fun NES set in a fantastical world.
Stories & Player Commitment: Stories, as always, are appreciated and rewarded. Other than that player commitment will be relegated to sending in orders in a timely fashion. Orders send after the deadline will not be accepted unless prior notice is given (at least 2 days before the deadline).
Updates: As this is a fresh-start and will cover a large swath of time there are essentially two kinds of updates, Boring Times (BT's) and Interesting Time's (IT's). Boring times are broad updates on the history of Kore between the more interesting, defining moments. These will cover no less than a century of time and will be rarer than IT's.
Interesting times are the mainstay of this NES and during them players will take control of polities for better or worse. Generally players will assume the closest remnant of their former polity/creation. Each IT will cover 5 years at a time unless otherwise noted.
Stats
Nation Name/Ruler (Ruler Age)/Player
Government
Racial/Cultural Composition
Capital:
Heir:
Family:
Factions: (Strength/Confidence)
Revenue - Expenses (Treasury/Debt)
Livelihood Description
Mana - Expenses (Stored/Decay %)
Magick:
Army:
Army Description
Navy:
Navy Description
Prestige:
Nation Background:
Government: This stat primarily functions as a descriptive one that will reveal all that players need to know about a polity's governmental style. This stat, of course, can change depending upon player actions.
Heirs: Most nations in this NES are hereditary and will have heir's who directly come from the current ruler or are at least related to them in some way. In this stat these individuals will be listed, as well as their age, marital status, and gender.
Racial/Cultural Composition: Nations are composed of numerous types of beings, and who/what they are will be listed in this stat. Each race/culture will be listed here and in (parenthesis) their political power within the nation (strong, middling, subjugated, etc.). This also is a descriptive stat, though a very important one.
Family: If applicable the ruling family of a polity, as well as their age and gender, will be listed here. I will keep track of family members, though players are free to marry them off between nations--player controlled and NPC alike--and are in fact encouraged to do so. Royal marriages play an important role in peacefully acquiring territory.
Factions: Factions are all the various important elements within a polity who threaten to influence their nation one way or another. To reflect this factions have a 'Strength' and 'Confidence'. Strength is the sway the faction has on the political stage, while Confidence is their disposition to your ruler and his/her actions. Both stats range from 1 to 5.
Income
Revenue is the amount of Income that a polity generates. In general it is derived largely from taxes and can be increased/decreased through levying/easing up on said taxes. It is important to note that revenue does not exactly mean monetary currency, but all sorts of economic products such as raw and processed goods. Players may increase their revenue through literally thousands of means, though the most common one for the majority of polities will be through taxes/tributes, which can be increased as players see fit so long as they recognize that such actions may engender the ire of the effected populous.
Expenses are what is paid to keep polities in shape, ranging from upholding an expansive bureaucracy to maintaining a massive army. By far a great deal of expenses will go towards maintaining armies and navies, though administration and other factors weigh into expenses. What these factors are can be found out by asking me via PM's or IRC. To reduce expenses players can demobilize their standing armies, attempt to reform their governments, cut down on economic/political corruption, and whatever else players think of. These actions will always have results, though not all of them are good ones.
Treasury is roughly equivalent to a player's coffers and the amount of income that is floating around in people's pockets. Having a large treasury is a good thing because it protects against those dire economic times, as well as encourages economic growth by giving back more to the general population.
Debt is not a bad thing. Players can go into debt through their own free will by asking me, the moderator, for loans to fund their various projects. These loans come from various creditors not affiliated with the state and accrue interest over time. Players can pay off their debt via spending revenue on payments. It is important to note that not all states will be able to take on credit, and those states that can throw themselves headlong into debt can only do so to varying amounts. Having a large enough debt can be catastrophic for your polity's economy.
Another important aside, war is costly in both lives and money. Expect to go into a little bit of debt to fund campaigns.
Expenses are what is paid to keep polities in shape, ranging from upholding an expansive bureaucracy to maintaining a massive army. By far a great deal of expenses will go towards maintaining armies and navies, though administration and other factors weigh into expenses. What these factors are can be found out by asking me via PM's or IRC. To reduce expenses players can demobilize their standing armies, attempt to reform their governments, cut down on economic/political corruption, and whatever else players think of. These actions will always have results, though not all of them are good ones.
Treasury is roughly equivalent to a player's coffers and the amount of income that is floating around in people's pockets. Having a large treasury is a good thing because it protects against those dire economic times, as well as encourages economic growth by giving back more to the general population.
Debt is not a bad thing. Players can go into debt through their own free will by asking me, the moderator, for loans to fund their various projects. These loans come from various creditors not affiliated with the state and accrue interest over time. Players can pay off their debt via spending revenue on payments. It is important to note that not all states will be able to take on credit, and those states that can throw themselves headlong into debt can only do so to varying amounts. Having a large enough debt can be catastrophic for your polity's economy.
Another important aside, war is costly in both lives and money. Expect to go into a little bit of debt to fund campaigns.
Livelihood is a purely descriptive stat that lets players know just where all that revenue comes from. It is important in regard to trade, as players will only be able to trade what they produce.
Mana
It is important to note that all magick affiliated actions in this NES are done at the expense of a nation's mana stocks. Magick in this setting operates through a system of give and take, where the player gives their tangible stores of mana in return for preforming reality-altering magicks. Mana is an actual substance that nations can exploit and expend much like any other resource. It is an abundant resource and all polities can expect to acquire some amount of Mana per turn, however larger stores of mana can only be gained via mana wells. Mana wells are places that are so mana-rich that magick manifests without being called forth through the normal rituals and alters the environment drastically. Forests that grow balls of light, rivers that run backwards, and hills that vanish are all examples of mana wells, and controlling these strange areas is key to any polity which have expensive magickal pursuits.
Mana Expenses is the mana expended per turn to maintain whatever spells, magickal troops, and practitioners of the magickal arts. Players will spend a great deal of their mana funding the individuals within their nations who are capable of casting magick, as well maintaining the more fanciful magickal beings who serve in their armies. Magick-inclined creatures actually consume mana. To decrease their mana expenses players can eliminate their magickal troops, curb the amount of individuals who manipulate magick, and whatever else comes to mind. It is important to note that no kind of magick is costlier than another--it all depends on how players use their chosen areas of focus.
Mana stores are the amounts of mana players have lying around in their vaults, as well as the amount of mana which is freely dispersed to private practitioners of magickal arts. Having large mana stores is obviously a good thing, though it is important to note that over time mana decays. The Mana Decay Rate is represented via a percentage, and actually increases with the more mana wells a nation draws upon and the larger amount of mana that they store up.
Mana Expenses is the mana expended per turn to maintain whatever spells, magickal troops, and practitioners of the magickal arts. Players will spend a great deal of their mana funding the individuals within their nations who are capable of casting magick, as well maintaining the more fanciful magickal beings who serve in their armies. Magick-inclined creatures actually consume mana. To decrease their mana expenses players can eliminate their magickal troops, curb the amount of individuals who manipulate magick, and whatever else comes to mind. It is important to note that no kind of magick is costlier than another--it all depends on how players use their chosen areas of focus.
Mana stores are the amounts of mana players have lying around in their vaults, as well as the amount of mana which is freely dispersed to private practitioners of magickal arts. Having large mana stores is obviously a good thing, though it is important to note that over time mana decays. The Mana Decay Rate is represented via a percentage, and actually increases with the more mana wells a nation draws upon and the larger amount of mana that they store up.
Magick: Every polity draws mainly upon two magickal focuses. This is the minimum amount for magic-capable nations, it is possible to earn more focuses through heavy investment into other fields. The focuses are:
Geomantic Magick- or magick which draws upon the ley lines present throughout El-Or in order to alter the natural environment in some way. Geomantic magick is actually a strange form of divination that allows a practitioner to rapidly foresee near-future events via El-Or's powerful ley lines. Tapping into these ley lines convinces the latent magickal energies of El-Or that a practitioner is in fact El-Or itself, causing the world's magic to defend the caster. Adept Geomancers may event permanently alter themselves and their environments.
Examples: Stoneskin; transmutation of limbs into earth, water, lava, etc.; raising stone walls; creating streams and rivers; calling lightning, tidal waves, or fierce winds
Astrology- the only true form of divination relies upon the close observance and intricate recording of stars and other cosmic phenomena. Space in this setting quite literally seems to be the realm of the gods/God. Astrologers seek to tap into that divine wisdom through the stars and other stellar objects that they believe to be flashes of how the divine see the world. Astrologers can cast horoscopes for virtually every object in order to chart its future, though, of course, as most astrologers are mortals error enters the equation so no horoscope is ever completely accurate. Astrology also deals with the cosmic world in that it allows for astrologers to create windows that allow them to see, and even speak to, otherworldly entities. It is important to note that this branch of astrology is incredibly dangerous and more often than not results in the insanity of the overambitious astrologer. No one really knows--nor should know--what horrors dwell in the furthest reaches of space.
Examples: Predicting the future; contacting/inviting alien beings
Astral Magick- where astrology deals with the space and the cosmic, astral magick deals with the places which supposedly lie between space. Virtually anything that deals with contacting and bringing forth the creatures of other planes of existence falls under the realm of astral magick, though, again, it may be best to couple astral magick with other magickal focuses (for instance, contacting an elemental plane may go over better if the astralist is masked in the ley lines of El-Or). Astral magick is also the only magick--other than astrology--that can invite other beings into this world. Powerful astralists can even exert control over the summoned beings.
Examples: Summoning elemental spirits; contacting otherworldly beings; extra-planar travel
Psychaturgy Magick- or magick which draws upon the mind itself to produce magickal results. It revolves around the application of magick itself with no intercessor such as El-Or, astral realms, or life/death forces. Psychaturgists simply create their own magickal energies through relying upon the vast powers of the mind. This results various mental-related miracles, such as a Psychaturgist quelling an angry crowd by dampening their rage or crippling a man by simply looking at them. All of these effects are simply temporary, though truly powerful Psychaturgists can fool their victims into believing that their afflictions are real and thus make them so.
Examples: Pacify or enrage crowds; 'mind' bolts of harm; temporary debilitation of senses, motor skills, and reason
Alchemy- not a magick per say, but a practice which unlocks the magic potential hidden in every day objects. True alchemy is concerned with the transmutation of substances, such as making lead into gold, and any alchemist worth his salt has a philosopher's stone to aid them in these transformation. However, most alchemists will never be this capable, and so they dabble in the creation of potions, elixirs, and other edible substances infused with magick. A plethora of ends can be achieved the alchemic means, though in the end a lot of alchemy relies upon combining other magickal focuses during the creation process of these wondrous substances.
Examples: Creating poisons that have extraordinary effects; elixirs of speed, clarity, strength, etc.; transforming wood into metals, dirt into stone, water into wine
Vivification- is a magick that revolves around the life force of beings. When people think of healing magicks they are most likely thinking of vivification spells. However, the focus is not limited to healing by any means and encompasses all natural augmentations of the body such as amplifying strength, dexterity, and constitution. Vivification also has a darker side in that powerful practitioners of the magick are able to rekindle the life force of things already dead--essentially necromancy. Vivification-as-necromancy is a limited field, as the magick only explicitly deals with the creation or augmentation of a being's life force, not the control of it. Most true necromancers employ other magicks to reign in their undead creations.
Examples: Regenerative spells and effects; bolstering a being's strength; raising the dead
Artification- deals explicitly with the creation of magical arms, buildings, and machines. By itself artification is a incredibly limited field, only good for strengthening the created items so that they are practically unbreakable. Coupled with other fields of magic, however, and artification's true power is unlocked. Wondrous artifacts can be created when infused with the right magick, and literally every magickal focus can be infused into objects via artification.
Examples: Strengthening walls; creating magickally tough armaments
Low Magick- is a general catch-all kind of magick and covers a vast majority of spells that are small enough in cost to draw upon El-Or's thin magickal atmosphere. Low-magick spells are cantrips, minor things that most mages learn how to do in the first stages of their training. However, not every nation has grasped the fact that magick is a natural thing in El-Or and thus cannot fathom how to go about casting low-magick spells.
Examples: Lighting fires; chilling water; levitating small items; tie/untie knots; create small lights & sounds
Other focuses of magick will be unlocked as players play the game and experiment. All fields of magick can be combined to create various effects, such as pairing Vivification with Geomantic Magick in order to create living stone, or combing Psychaturgic magick with Astral to summon and control alien horrors.
Examples: Stoneskin; transmutation of limbs into earth, water, lava, etc.; raising stone walls; creating streams and rivers; calling lightning, tidal waves, or fierce winds
Astrology- the only true form of divination relies upon the close observance and intricate recording of stars and other cosmic phenomena. Space in this setting quite literally seems to be the realm of the gods/God. Astrologers seek to tap into that divine wisdom through the stars and other stellar objects that they believe to be flashes of how the divine see the world. Astrologers can cast horoscopes for virtually every object in order to chart its future, though, of course, as most astrologers are mortals error enters the equation so no horoscope is ever completely accurate. Astrology also deals with the cosmic world in that it allows for astrologers to create windows that allow them to see, and even speak to, otherworldly entities. It is important to note that this branch of astrology is incredibly dangerous and more often than not results in the insanity of the overambitious astrologer. No one really knows--nor should know--what horrors dwell in the furthest reaches of space.
Examples: Predicting the future; contacting/inviting alien beings
Astral Magick- where astrology deals with the space and the cosmic, astral magick deals with the places which supposedly lie between space. Virtually anything that deals with contacting and bringing forth the creatures of other planes of existence falls under the realm of astral magick, though, again, it may be best to couple astral magick with other magickal focuses (for instance, contacting an elemental plane may go over better if the astralist is masked in the ley lines of El-Or). Astral magick is also the only magick--other than astrology--that can invite other beings into this world. Powerful astralists can even exert control over the summoned beings.
Examples: Summoning elemental spirits; contacting otherworldly beings; extra-planar travel
Psychaturgy Magick- or magick which draws upon the mind itself to produce magickal results. It revolves around the application of magick itself with no intercessor such as El-Or, astral realms, or life/death forces. Psychaturgists simply create their own magickal energies through relying upon the vast powers of the mind. This results various mental-related miracles, such as a Psychaturgist quelling an angry crowd by dampening their rage or crippling a man by simply looking at them. All of these effects are simply temporary, though truly powerful Psychaturgists can fool their victims into believing that their afflictions are real and thus make them so.
Examples: Pacify or enrage crowds; 'mind' bolts of harm; temporary debilitation of senses, motor skills, and reason
Alchemy- not a magick per say, but a practice which unlocks the magic potential hidden in every day objects. True alchemy is concerned with the transmutation of substances, such as making lead into gold, and any alchemist worth his salt has a philosopher's stone to aid them in these transformation. However, most alchemists will never be this capable, and so they dabble in the creation of potions, elixirs, and other edible substances infused with magick. A plethora of ends can be achieved the alchemic means, though in the end a lot of alchemy relies upon combining other magickal focuses during the creation process of these wondrous substances.
Examples: Creating poisons that have extraordinary effects; elixirs of speed, clarity, strength, etc.; transforming wood into metals, dirt into stone, water into wine
Vivification- is a magick that revolves around the life force of beings. When people think of healing magicks they are most likely thinking of vivification spells. However, the focus is not limited to healing by any means and encompasses all natural augmentations of the body such as amplifying strength, dexterity, and constitution. Vivification also has a darker side in that powerful practitioners of the magick are able to rekindle the life force of things already dead--essentially necromancy. Vivification-as-necromancy is a limited field, as the magick only explicitly deals with the creation or augmentation of a being's life force, not the control of it. Most true necromancers employ other magicks to reign in their undead creations.
Examples: Regenerative spells and effects; bolstering a being's strength; raising the dead
Artification- deals explicitly with the creation of magical arms, buildings, and machines. By itself artification is a incredibly limited field, only good for strengthening the created items so that they are practically unbreakable. Coupled with other fields of magic, however, and artification's true power is unlocked. Wondrous artifacts can be created when infused with the right magick, and literally every magickal focus can be infused into objects via artification.
Examples: Strengthening walls; creating magickally tough armaments
Low Magick- is a general catch-all kind of magick and covers a vast majority of spells that are small enough in cost to draw upon El-Or's thin magickal atmosphere. Low-magick spells are cantrips, minor things that most mages learn how to do in the first stages of their training. However, not every nation has grasped the fact that magick is a natural thing in El-Or and thus cannot fathom how to go about casting low-magick spells.
Examples: Lighting fires; chilling water; levitating small items; tie/untie knots; create small lights & sounds
Other focuses of magick will be unlocked as players play the game and experiment. All fields of magick can be combined to create various effects, such as pairing Vivification with Geomantic Magick in order to create living stone, or combing Psychaturgic magick with Astral to summon and control alien horrors.
Army & Navy: All things military revolve around units. Units come as either army units or naval units, and army units can further be divided into standing units versus levied units. Descriptions of your armies/navies are included in your stats to explain exactly what kind of troops players can expect to be fighting for them. These descriptions can change per player actions such as military reform, discovering new materials to make weapons, etc..
The profession unit/levied unit divide is an important thing to understand when waging war. Most nations will always have a standing army of some size, and these units are represented by the always-present army unit amount listing. Standing units incur maintenance costs at all times and are the only army units that can be easily trained and interfaced with. More often than not, however, standing armies will be too small to wage successful wars and players will require the use of levied units to fight anything larger than border skirmishes.
Regardless of your government type all polities can levy units. Levied units are basically armed civilians who have the minimal amount of training to know to stick the pointy end into the other guy. Their lack of skill is offset by the ability to summon up great numbers of them for virtually no cost. Levied units do, however, require some upkeep--though this is an entirely optional (but recommended) expense. I will let players know what this expense will be when they levy troops. Levied units will differ vastly from polity to polity based upon the societies civilians live in. If the nation is a nomadic tribe, then the levied units may actually be on par in skill with their professional brothers due to the militancy in day-to-day life. Likewise, if the majority of a nation's population are oppressed peasants levied units can expect to be sturdy, but otherwise hopeless warriors. The loss of a large amount of levied units will reflect poorly on a nation's revenue, as the nation is losing it's workforce.
Navies are much simpler affairs, and only professional naval units can be recruited.
There are a few notable extraordinary troops that should be mentioned: magical creatures, mages, and heroes. Beginning with magical creatures and mages, the existence of these two special troops in a nation's army is related via the description. On the battlefield they will cause havoc in non-standard ways, such as a giant barreling through battle lines, or a geomancer calling down lightning on the enemy army. Alongside incurring an income upkeep they incur a mana upkeep as well.
Since this is a fantasy NES at heart heroes exist and play critical roles in shaping history. Most heroes will exist within some nation's army--if they are not leading the nation itself--and are super-capable individuals able to change the course of entire wars. Heroes and their details will be listed in a special 'Hero of the Ages' section.
It costs 5,000¤ income to recruit standing units, both army and naval, and 1,000¤ income to maintain 1 unit. 1 Naval Unit = 25 Ships; 1 Army Unit = 250 Soldiers
Both levied and professional troops are usable on the same turn that you raise them, however professional troops that are raised and immediately sent into battle are considered 'green' troops, and while they are combat ready, they are not as experienced as the rest of your armies.
Prestige: I am stealing this (and a bunch of other stats, really) from other NES' because I think it is an effective way for determining a 'winner' in a game where no one really wins. Players may earn prestige for doing great things such as win a war, discover new fields of magic, employ heroes, construct wonders, and in general doing things a good king should do. Players can lose prestige just as easily by losing wars, pissing off popular heroes, and in general being a dick. The higher a nation's prestige the more fondly they are regarded world-wide.
Nation Background: A short blurb about a nation's history and current political, social, and economic status will be put here so as to let players know what is going on in the polity at a glance.
§§§
p) I should have something up sometime today.
