PreNutraNESIV: Now With Less Abandonment Issues

[Abaddon]

Still interested.

 

[Angst]

I'm slightly interested, but it depends on a lot. I have no interest in managing a petty empire, no matter the size. My idea of a race doesn't involve things such as gold or agriculture, and I wouldn't have needs for armies.

Your rules system is great for simulating empires as present in Lord of the Rings, but not the Ents from that universe. And I'm interested in playing river spirits, puca to be more exact.

Spoiler Pictures :

Although I have to say I prefer the adapted Shadowmoor puca in Magic the Gathering over the original ideas of dark horses.

This would allow great stories and harsh intrigue for players, but would be very hard to play with economy points. Do you have any suggestions, or is it a lost case?

EDIT: An idea would be to utilize different creatures from old folklore in my armies (I like kelpies too) but that would cause "instability" etc.

 

[nutranurse]

I had some ideas for playing a 'race' more so than an 'empire', but I am interested to hear your thoughts on how that may be accomplished. Preview II, actually, is on this mode of playing.

 

[Angst]

Well, the problem isn't really playing a bordered region per se (Which a state is in NES terms), it's more that some fantasy tropes are purely magical and part of the environment - such as faeries, pixies, the Swedish tomte, kelpies, sirens, necks - and as such have no need for an economy system in GP or AP.

Translating an area of pucas, or a solitary puca's territory, into a playable "state" is very possible. But it doesn't earn anything, it wouldn't have a people, it wouldn't have politics; the current stats you've set up doesn't allow for an easy translation for one such entity.

If economy is a problem for a game (quite usually is), a solution could be to make a seperate economical system, possibly represented by a required mana amount to sustain the spirit - the mana being given to it as it interferes with the locals. It would make sense since old folklore really doesn't explain how these spirits tick; apparently these spirits just want to communicate with people and intervene in rural development for reasons unknown. The reason could be that simple interaction breeds mana.

How to gain mana to stay alive/become more powerful as a spirit, then? I have no idea. Write stories. Interact with players. Send orders that describe the local area's relations with you.

I just realized there could be another solution. I could "play" a puca of a small kingdom. By doing that I could merely use your current system, play the kingdom alongside and then act as the puca. Perhaps the kingdom could worship the puca?

It'd be easier for you to do it that way.

But if you want people to play undead, btw, AP and GP most probably aren't gonna make it as reasonable systems. Magical races or peoples usually don't depend on money. That's what I saw as a problem withing your current rule brainstorming.

I'm just gonna be a puca, though; or a kingdom with puca/pucas in the nearby river.

 

[nutranurse]

Actually, I have some mechanics set up for less empire-ish races, for instance the eagle-riding nomads who exist in the mountains! In fact....

PREVIEW II: How To Ride Eagles and Forget the Empire​

Alongside great empires exist teeming masses who owe no real affiliation to one political entity, but to themselves. The mechanics in place for 'Nomadic' tribes actually represent tribes who are undergoing a social and political revolution of sorts, peoples who are just coming together to form quasi-permanent states. For their wilder kin they have a less statistic-based set of rules and stats.

Gameplay

Spoiler :

Understand that should you play a Race and not an Empire you are going to end up being able to do a lot less things. You will not be a key player, but an important element who can sway larger political going-ons with timely decisions and alliances. Your peoples will not have cities because urbanization has yet to take root with your culture or simply because you do not want it to. You will not have a central government identifier and no true kings will permanently arise to lead your people. You will not earn or use GP or AP, but you do not have any need for it either. What you have is cohesion.

Any actions that your VIPs carry out relies upon the cohesion of your race. When it is high your (the player's) will is almost absolute and your enemy is your peoples' enemy. When it is low expect dissent, frictions, and the inability to act. In fact, should your cohesion drop so low you may witness a cultural schism and the creation of a whole different peoples with a different mindset than yours.

In fact, it would be more appropriate to say that playing a 'Race' means you play a 'Character'. The normal VIPs of a settled-player become 'Liminal Figures', important people who represent the contact and influence of the 'settled' world on the 'unsettled'. Each race will have no less than 2 of these figures; players, however, may only 'control' one of them at a time. Each turn a player submits orders for their chosen figure and the other figures are NPC'd according to their aims and traits. Players cannot directly contradict the aims of a liminal figure and any aims the player may set for a liminal figure is seen through the eyes of that figure (so telling a 'Greedy' liminal figure to expand contact with other peoples may result in the figure setting up trade routes that solely benefit him).

It is important to realize that Liminal Figures (LFs) are semi-independent entities who are simply interpreting a player's orders. Do not be surprised if your chosen LF acts somewhat different than you expected!

Note that your control is only exerted over the unsettled elements in the game. Should members of your race decide to join an empire or even form one of their own then you lose control over them (though you still retain a minor influence over their sentiments).

Sample Stats

Spoiler :

Racial Overview

• The Atil
  Mountain-Dwelling Eagle-Riding Nomads
• Cohesion: 100%
• Peaceful/Hostile Conviction: -5/+1
• Homelands: Atil Mountains

Liminal Figures Overview

• Atodir the Twice-Fallen/65%/(-5/+5) [Remove Osnessen Colonists from Atil Region] (Skilled Eagle Rider, Impetuous, Xenophobic)
• Usuwyn, Daughter of the Zephyr /88%/(+2/0) [Reclaim the Abandoned Eastern Roosts] (Daughter of the Zephyr, Kind-Hearted, Wary)
• Skell the Ossnessen/50%/(+5/-1) [Reconcile Atil with the Ossnes] (Eagle-Friend, Charming, Utter Sociopath)

Making Sense of the Stats

Spoiler :

Racial Overview

• The Atil
  Mountain-Dwelling Eagle-Riding Nomads
  
  Here we have the race's name (the Atil) and underneath a somewhat more descriptive entry on their culture. Between races the only constant part in this stat is the 'X-Dwelling'. This represents what terrain the race is most at home in and where they are likely to settle, migrate to, and see as their 'home'. It is important to keep this in mind when mulling over orders because telling a race of forest-creatures to act out against an empire settling a nearby plains probably will be met with a lukewarm reception.
  
  
• Cohesion: 100%
  
  As mentioned above this is the most important stat to a race. Cohesion represents the race's unity in thought (though not action, that is represented below) and is more or less comparable to an empire's 'Stability' stat. The major difference, however, is that a cohesion score less than 45% will result in a schism, though the severity of this schism depends on how low the percentage is exactly. Normally racial cohesion is between 80-100% and easy to keep it in these ranges, but once it begins to drop it is difficult to bring back up due to the limited actions players may take (being limited to a single Liminal Figure).
  
  
• Peaceful/Hostile Conviction: -5/+1
  
  Where cohesion represents the overall uniformity of a race, Peaceful/Hostile Conviction measures just what the race is uniform about. The scale for this stat ranges from -5 to +5, so in this example the Atil are very receptive to peaceful actions and only slightly disposed to becoming belligerent towards outsides (or themselves!).[/i]
  
  
  [*]Homelands: Atil Mountains

A race's Homelands are, obviously, where they make their primary home and what place they will defend at all costs. Players should keep in mind the general region of the race when figuring out actions, because the further these actions take place away from the Homelands the less likely they will have lasting effects on the race.


Liminal Figures Overview

Liminal Figures are the VIP-equivalents for Race players. Each LF can initially take 2 actions. Should a player spend more time on one figure than another that figure will 'usurp' some action points from the 'lesser' LF to represent the uncanny rise in influence of this figure among not just the race, but the world-at-large.

All Liminal Figures have the following statistical representation:

Name/Prominence/(Peaceful/Hostile Conviction) [Aims/Goals] (Traits)

I will begin with the Prominence stat which plays out in much the same way as a VIPs prominence stat: it represents just how well-known and how influential a figure is among his peoples. However, a key difference is that anything about 50% among LF's is considered to be rather high. Anything over 75% effectively renders the LF a major player in the race.

Each LF has its own Peaceful/Hostile Conviction stat which works in the same way as the race's peaceful/conviction stat. The main difference is that the stat in this instance effects the likelihood and willingness of a LF to carry out certain actions. The major function of the stat is to give players some idea of where their race's LFs stand on issues.

Aims and Goals of LFs are pretty much the same in function as the aims and goals of VIPs. They further give players an idea of what the LF is setting out to do in the long-run. Rarely can the players directly determine what these goals will be. Traits also function exactly the same way as a VIPs' traits.

• Atodir the Twice-Fallen/65%/(-5/+5) [Remove Osnessen Colonists from Atil Region] (Skilled Eagle Rider, Impetuous, Xenophobic)
  
  What we can interpret from Atodir's stats is that he is the violent figure who very much runs counter to his race's general views. His inclination towards hostility, his impetuous and xenophobic traits, and his major goal all combine to create a LF who, given enough time, may see that his people go to war. Note that his prominence, at 65%, is fairly high so he is clearly gaining some support!
  
  
• Usuwyn, Daughter of the Zephyr /88%/(+2/0) [Reclaim the Abandoned Eastern Roosts] (Daughter of the Zephyr, Kind-Hearted, Wary)
  
  The other side of the coin to Atodir's violent plans, Usuwyn is a religious figure who would rather see her people at peace, but is not entirely afraid of violence either. Given her absurdly high prominence we can judge that she is the de facto face of her people to outsiders, which may be a good thing considering her affable nature combined with a keen understanding of external threats.
  
  
• Skell the Ossnessen/50%/(+5/-1) [Reconcile Atil with the Ossnes] (Eagle-Friend, Charming, Utter Sociopath, Ossnessen)
  
  Skell is a unique figure among unique figures. He is important among the Atil, but he is not one of them! Think of him as a John Smith-esque character, an adventurer and explorer who is no more at home among the eagle-riding Atil than he is in the Ossnes colonies. He has been deemed an 'Eagle-Friend', a title which no non-Atil has held for generations, and this is most likely due in part to his knack for diplomacy. However, a dark side exists to his aims and he is, in the end, only out for himself. Luckily for the Ossnessen Skell's plans to enrich himself coincide with peaceful interactions between the Atil and the encroaching colonies.

How's that, Joakim?

 

[Angst]

That's beautiful. It seems to work perfectly.

I'll sleep on it, though, and read it again to see if I can find problems.

 

[nutranurse]

Yeah! I kind of unabashedly stole the idea of playing 'hero' type characters from the last FantasyNES I was in (Starlife's) because I agree that sometimes it's just nice to have a low-key role that doesn't require as much... I don't want to say thought or effort, but I guess commitment is the best term here.

 

[nutranurse]

Preview III: The End of the World As We Know It​

​

How I Came to This Lore

Spoiler :

Initially I was conflicted. Do I want to do a fantasy fresh-start NES where the players may freely create their own cultures, races, and political entities, or do I want to create a stock set of kingdoms and populate them with peoples of my own making? I still am somewhat unsure at what approach would be best (freedom of expression v uniformity of lore is what it boils down to), but I do believe I have struck a bargain between the two sides: the world as we know it has ended.

The apocalypse is, has been, and will continue to be a popular topic among all people. For this reason I was (and still am) hesitant to hinge my NES' lore upon this cliche. First of all, how did this apocalypse occur? I had a whole slew of options to choose, but in the end I went with the destruction of magic. Magic is, after all, the be-all-end-all in most fantasy settings. Depending on the level and nature of magic in a novel, campaign, or whatever you can accurately judge how easy it may be for the more fanciful elements to emerge. I personally dislike the fantasies that rely heavily on magic as the modus operandi for the plot, but at the same time I love the sense of wonder and amazement high-magic settings can create. Let's face it, we all love elves, dwarves, and orcs while hating them for becoming so common.

In the end I figured screw it, why not try to have crazy races while doing away with fireballs and magic missles. Magic, as the people in this NES once knew it, is dead.

Dead actually is a bit of an inaccurate statement, to be more precise magic exploded. If I was going to populate a world with player-made races when that world had an established lore I would have to do something with that established lore, wouldn't I? So I simply blew all of it up. From the capitals of great empires to the most remote of villages people and buildings simply exploded. Not great big bangs (well, a few), but little 'pops'. Imagine it! Sitting down for breakfast with your wife and all of a sudden her head explodes. Right after that your home just kind of falls down on top of you. For those people who did survive, they were far from unscathed. Putting aside the psychological ramifications of witnessing your entire society burst like an ugly pimple, they under went all kinds of painful physical mutations to create the races that populate the world at the NES' beginning. In a morbid way it's kind of modelling the near-complete creative freedom we NESers have on our worlds.

So at the onset of this NES we will have burgeoning empires who have spent generations getting over 'The End' (or 'The Explosion' or 'The Pop' depending on who you ask). I know it is a bit fanciful, but I figured why not? If I want a high-magical setting without all the high-magic why not have it disappear in the most inexplicably magical way I can think of.

The Pop

Spoiler :

The world can decisively be divided into two eras: a time when magic was rampant, empires virile, and peoples numerous, and the time all of that ended in the most catastrophic event to take place in know history. The Pop, The Explosion, The End--call it what you will, but the sheer horror of it remains unfathomable to those who walk the world now. What is truly terrifying is that no one has yet to figure out why it even occurred.

What can be explained, to some degree, are the effects it had on the whole world literally days after its occurrence. Those few people who remained began to painfully mutate into sorry reflections of their former selves--tall and proud Elves bent and withered into ugly, gnarled creatures; Goblins grew into hulking beasts, backs bent out of shape and limbs utterly disproportional; Orcs grew tusks to long they penetrated their own skulls. Animals too were subject to transformations into beasts so horrifying that it is hard to imagine the dreaded Blood-Steads of the steppe people were once simple horses lacking translucent skin and bladed tails.

Today little is known of what once was, and what little is known makes the former world to be a paradise completely unlike the hell we walk today. Green forests stretched across the land and rivers ran blue, not a murky grey. Oceans did not swell up and swallow whole cities in the matter of hours and mountains did not suddenly fall, only to rise again the next day. The world was not in a deadly flux.

The world, however, was not nearly as free as it is today. The great empires which ruled were cruel machinations of those distant from the common plight. Chronic wars were constant and the loss of life was staggering, even when compared to the deaths during 'The Pop'. Whole races were enslaved and savagely treated in ways that the savages of today can scarcely afford.

Hos

Spoiler :

Hos, the western most continent of the world from what the old maps reveal, was once called Ossen. Judging from the maps Ossen was green--and not the black-green of the Inner Forests, but a true green that stretched from the vast northern plains to the thick southern jungle. As mentioned, Hos is still green today, but it either sickly or ominous in hue. Few men who venture into the Jungles of Sut return alive and even fewer men can live off of the blade-grass that dominates the central plains of Nurth.

Hos today is not a wasteland, however. It is teeming with life, all of which is attempting to end other lives.

The Great North: The Plains of Nurth and the Few Forests of Feen

Northern Hos is dominated by one thing and one thing only: blade-grass. In actually an extremely virulent strain of weed, blade-grass is a short-growing plant known for the microscopic 'blades' composing a single strand. The grass itself is smooth to the touch and as such it is difficult to notice when the grass makes its fine cuts across the flesh. Normally, the grass is only deadly to uninitiated outsiders who do not know to cover themselves from head-to-toe in boiled leather or layered cloth stuffed with fur. The grass itself is edible once thoroughly boiled and has a semi-sweet taste. In fact, blade-grass is a staple in the diet of the hardy nomads who live in the Central Plains of Nurth, though care must be taken when preparing such dishes because an undercooked meal of blade-grass can be your last.

Blade-Grass, however, only truly dominates the central parts of East-Nurth, further west the grass softens and the soil becomes somewhat receptive to agriculture. Around the shores of the Centet Sea small farming communities exist, though their lives are undoubtedly hard and made harder still by the vicious wildlife that calls the Plains of Nurth home.

Most famous of all the beasts of Nurth are the Blood-Steeds. Roughly 8ft tall (244cm) and 7ft in length (213cm), these massive creatures begrudgingly play the part of mount for the nomadic tribes. Its name comes from its seeming lack of skin, providing a window into the disturbing beast's equally disturbing anatomy. In truth, what is seen is its skin, and is in fact rather thick and further protected by an exterior skeleton (and an interior one too).

No Blood-Steed is ever truly tamed. Its partnership with a rider is a willing one, and one the rider must fight tooth and nail to establish in the first place. Perhaps the most unsettling quality of the Blood-Steeds is their possible intelligence; they appear receptive to language and even communicate in a guttural series of groans among each other.

Along the norther edges of East-Nurth and practically overwhelming West-Nurth are the Few Forests of Feen, so named for the breed of trees that grow in the forests. Feen Forests are thought to have once dominated all of North, but few can imagine what it must have looked like when Nurth was not a sea of glittering green-grey grass, but a swarming tangle of thick black trees. Feen wood is difficult to live in due to its propensity for rapid growth, it is, however, notoriously incapable of growing near Ashwood, which settlers of the Few Forests of Feen plant to fend off the gnarled, black titans.

The whole of the Great North experiences hot and cold in extremes. During summer the Plains of Nurth reach blistering heats, while winter sees blizzards that are almost freakish in strength. Within the Few Forests of Feen the violent seasons are tempered somewhat due to the trees providing some small relief.

The 'Civilized' Center: The Sea of Centet and the Centet Forests

Central Hos is a warm region encased on all sides by great mountains and filled with a murky grey-green sea. The land itself varies from the swampy mess of the south-west to the great forests of North and Eastern Centet, though its climate is much more temperate when compared to the extreme regions north and south of it. Its coasts are surprisingly fertile and the sea has been good to those who dwell upon it, disregarding the occasional Nen'Guan attack.

The Nen'Guan deserve a special mention due to their dominance of the Centet & Hjelm Seas. They are a race of bipedal snake-like creatures with four arms, two of which lack hands, but bear long spikes roughly 10" (25cm). Their webbed hands are fairly clumsy and in the event of an attack they tend to rely upon their spiked appendages. No one knows who the Nen'Guan came from, or even if it was a who that served as their Pre-Pop ancestor. What is known is that the Nen'Guan are a sometimes menace, sometimes boon to the various fishing villages. Their behavior is erratic, but the coastal peoples of Centet can always tell when the Nen'Guan are approaching. They announce their approach by blowing on abnormally large shells shaped into horns. The sound can be heard from a good mile out and sounds something similar to the buzzing of bees. The Nen'Guan do not otherwise communicate with people, though whether they cannot or will not is not known.

Of further interest are the so-called 'Vanishing' Mountains of Sno and Bodo, respectively the South-Western and North-Western mountain ranges of the region. These perilous peaks stretch into the sky, some easily penetrating clouds. They are home to a diverse ecosystem, ranging from warm hillsides to freezing, craggy peaks. Valleys abound between the mountains and they are home to all manners of strange, undiscovered creatures that occasionally wander down to the semi-populated coasts.

But why are the Vanishing Mountains called 'vanishing'? Because they vanish.

From time to time some of the mountains will seem to disappear, only to reappear in places where they should not be. The eccentricity of their vanishing patterns does not cause them to appear in the low-lying coasts (though, famously, one mountain manifested a few miles out at sea--startling the fishermen and killing a few who were sailing near it). There are no apparent warning signs for when a mountain will appear or disappear, they simply do it.

The Old South: The Desert of Sutut, Suthlan Savannas, and the Kathraki Jungle

Like the lands north of Centet, the Suthlands are largely arid. Dominated, by in large, by the Sutut Desert and the savanna that stretches beneath it and around the Atil Mountains. The Sutut Desert is what you would expect from a desert: a sandy wasteland. The glimmer of life does exist in the few nomadic tribes who wander from oasis to oasis (it would be more accurate to say the oasis' move, but that is, again, another issue caused by the collapse of magic after The Pop) and along the River Senn.

The River Senn runs west from the Atil Mountains, disgorging any of the water the desert normally would receive into the Western Ocean. Along the Senn is a literal cacophony of life, various vicious beasts and semi-intelligent beings who clash daily in order to survive their otherwise desolate environment. The struggle is not limited to the faun, fierce competition occurs between the Senn's flora which is sentient in its own terrible right.

Contained behind the Atil Mountains are the Kathraki Jungles, a dense collection of trees and animals--both vicious and both very capable of killing the unwary outsider. Yet, Kathraki is perhaps one of the most fertile areas in Hos, and were it not for the multitude of beasts the new civilizations would have begun there and not in the north.

The next preview will be on the nature of magic and religion, as well as the mechanics which accompany them!

 

[Angst]

I like the setting personally, but I don't like the event name "The Pop". The End or Cataclysm or whatever seems better to me.

 

[nutranurse]

Call it what you will! Colloquially it goes by Pop, End, etc. etc. It was just a terrible event that no one really can explain.

 

[Optical]

Just caught up with all the previews, and I have to say:

I am DEFINITELY joining this...

Oh, also: how much time does running one of these things take out of RL? I have a strong temptation to try out GMing a FantasyNES at some point after reading this...

 

[nutranurse]

It depends, really, on how complicated you make it. By far the most time-consuming thing is writing an update, but that is only because it is writing in general. I would say a good half day or so could easily be devoted to the average NES. Though normally you spread that over a few days.


As for running your own NES, I would also suggest that you hold off till you have played through a few of them (well, 1 really, that's what I did) so you can get a feel for the whole process.

 

[Kentharu]

Seems like you really want to make the fantasy NES.
I am pleased.

 

[nutranurse]

Preview IV: Magic & Religion (No Clever Title Here)​

Understanding the Nature of Magic

Spoiler :

Magic is broken. That is the general consensus and for the most part it is the correct assumption. Magic as an entity to be shot out of finger-tips after muttering a few arcane words or performing a series of silly gestures is no more. Magic, instead, seems to exist very much on its own as a destructive force more akin to a hurricane than a well. Like a well, people can feasibly draw upon the force of the hurricane to do their bidding, but unlike the well the hurricane has a movement and power of its own.

Wizards are no more, and in fact 'magicians' in the traditional sense died out with the Collapse. Mystics of all kinds abound and they all claim to control the new magic in some way, but for the most part their methods are hackneyed and wildy useless. In the NES I will not be representing these rural mystics at all, save for the occasional VIPs who has a 'Mystic of X' or 'X Mystic' or 'Mystical Mystic Guy' trait (and even then do not count on the VIPs being particularly magical, just someone who imbibes many things they should not). What does still exist are the Gates of the Old Empires.

Gates once linked the whole world and allowed for the easy subjugation of far away peoples. Whole armies could be mustered and sent through Gates, arriving in whole new continents in the blink of an eye. Strangely enough, trade could not be conducted due to a phenomenon called 'Balt's Law' which dictated that the gates had a certain capacity tied to the runes carved into the gates. While hundreds of men could be sent through, sending goods more expensive or extravagant than simple rations simply disappeared.

Wardens, a special type of wizard who was educated in the (possible) meanings of the Gate-Script, tended to these gates and aided in the successful transportation of passengers. After the Pop many wardens were either killed by the Pop itself or rabid mobs of mutating people who blamed magic for their ills. Today most Gates have been lost to the wilderness, though occasionally a traveler stumbles upon one and finds themselves half way around the world.

From what people gather about the Gates still in semi-operation they Gates have become as erratic as all magical things, transporting people far from their proper destinations or killing them outright.

The role of magic in this NES is not as pronounced for the first few turns. It is certainly there in the background, but as the players develop their kingdoms they will stumble upon a stranger form of magic to bend to their whims. Gates simply are the last vestiges of 'Old' magic as it will come to be known.

The Role of Religion

Spoiler :

In a Post-Cataclysm world race is somewhat harder to define due most in part to the mutations people underwent. No longer are their Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Orcs, Goblins, and Beastmen. While some may struggle to unite their peoples based on what they are, the wiser will instead champion what they worship.

I will allow certain players to create their own religions at the start of the NES, specifically players who run 'Ecclesiastic' oriented governments/societies. This is not to say that religion does not exist among all other players, but that 'Ecclesiastic' players represent a growing stability and effort to codify and put rules to various beliefs. Over time all players will be sporting 'organized' religions, though whether or not they established them is a different matter.

Marking the difference between 'organized' and 'unorganized' religions is an important distinction. Religions all have two major stats: Global Strength and Local Strength. Global Strength relates how much sway any particular religion has with the world in general, how its tenets are unconsciously influencing the world-at-large. Local Strength is how popular it is among a certain population, and generally the Local Strength is higher (and more effective) than the Global Strength. How this pertains to 'Organized' v 'Unorganized' Religions is that, for the most part, players are dwelling in a world rife with strange, little beliefs and strange, little communities isolated by the Explosion. Thus, on average, organized religions have a very small Global Strength when compared to the "Local & Traditional Beliefs" religion.

Local & Traditional Beliefs is the catch-all term for the various minor beliefs that people hold. Even within a kingdom that staunchly follows a particular religion the Local & Traditional Beliefs of that population are still enough to have a small influence on the kingdom! Of course, players can form inquisitions and try to eradicate these beliefs, but to what degree of resistance this will be met with is entirely situational.

The role 'Religion' plays in this NES is pretty much whatever the player wants it to. Religion can be a thorn in someone's side if manipulated correctly, or it can be ignored as you attempt to amass a population who identify with a race, creed, or nation. Really, the sky is the limit here!

Note that religion does not provide "Divine Magic". Only if religions undergo certain changes, and if the players begin these changes, do religions even have a chance to provide magical bonuses of any kind. They do, however, provide other bonuses...

A Broad Overview of the Types of Religions

Spoiler :

For the sake of adding a quantifiable bonus to various beliefs and making an 'Organized' religion of another player more appealing than the safe and simple 'Local & Traditional Beliefs'. Each religion has a few 'Types' associated to it, and these types determine the bonuses players receive for adopting these religions. Each religion can have a maximum of 3 'Types'. Thus players are free to develop their religion as the NES progresses. Furthermore it allows for players who did not found the religion they adopted to create divergent branches of the religion, adopting different mindsets to suit their own peoples while maintaining ties to a larger religion!

Types
Initially religions that players create only have 1 type. This is a broad type and in general tries to type together the religion as belonging to one of three categories: Warfare, Economic, and Cultural. I cannot begin to emphasize how broad these categories are. In fact, I probably am not even going to define the more specific types and simply let them evolve into existence by player stories and orders (and a bit of VIPs randomness thrown in ). Also note that the exact benefits of these broad categories will differ from religion to religion depending upon their descriptions. No two religions are wholly alike!

Warfare-oriented religions are what you think of when you recall the romanticized Norse beliefs. People who seek to please gods through glory in battle will be adherents of a warfare religion. Blood sacrifices are common. Warfare religions tend to be more ready for war and spend a great deal of their peacetime honing their bodies.

Economic-oriented religions see wealth as the path to divinity. A man who can give a great deal of his goods to the priests and still be rich is truly blessed by the Gods and a favorite of both his society and the heavens. Economic religions see benefits in the production of AP & GP and more and more people will clamor to earn wealth that they can sacrifice to the Gods (and the Priests, which means you if you are the priest!). Think Puritans who feel that God's grace was shown through personal prosperity.

Cultural-oriented religions is a bit of a misnomer. It would be more appropriate to call these religions Humanist (or Elvenist, Gnomist, Dwarfist, whatever) because of its focus on charity and the unity of society. Unlike the previous two kinds of religions, Cultural religions tend to focus on the community rather than the individual. This translates into stabler, healthier societies which tend to slowly prosper due to their willingness to help one another out.

Global & Local Strength

Spoiler :

Global & Local Strength (GS/LS) are numerical statistics with no upwards limits. Simply speaking, the higher a religion's Global/Local Strength is not important to determining how powerful the religion is until we determine the difference between the scores of a different religion. Religion X has a score of 3.2 and Religion Y has a score of 2.8. Though these scores are low, Religion X is still stronger than Religion Y, making it the prevalent religion in this scenario--though not by much! The difference is only .4.

When religions lose either GS or LS these points do not disappear, they instead transfer to another appropriate religion (or, most likely, to the catch-all 'Traditional & Local Beliefs'). Only when religions gain GS/LS are points created out of thin air. Just remember that GS/LS points can never be destroyed! Initially players will subtract from their 'Traditional & Local Beliefs' LS to represent the gradual shift in a myriad beliefs to a single, organized faith.

The 'spread' of a religion is represented through the acquisition of GS/LS. GS cannot be directly gained and can only be earned by increasing the LS of a religion. In stats the LS will be listed with a (City Name) alongside it, displaying where the faith has taken root. Multiple cities can sport multiple religions and religions can be present in multiple cities.

Sample Stats
*Global Strength*
Zazazanism (Warfare, Mass Sacrifices) 25.3 (89%)
New Zanzanzanism (Warfare, Blood Covenants) 3.1 (100%)
Traditional & Local Beliefs 60.3 (100%)

Of note here is the percentage in parenthesis next to the GS score. This is the religion's cohesion. Religious cohesion represents the amount of dissenting beliefs within the religion and the likelihood of the religion splintering into new faiths. Once a religion's cohesion hits anything below 50% expect new splinter faiths to emerge. In fact, begin worrying at anything less than 70%. Should a splinter occur then the religion's GS & LS scores divided up between the new faiths. If your religion ever manages to hit 0% cohesion then it simply ceases to exist in its current form and undergoes a rather extensive revolution.

Also of importance are the 'Types' listed next to the religions. The general religious 'type' is listed first, followed by any specifics that the religion has developed. All types and their bonuses will be detailed in their own sections. What is of note here is that the two Zanzanzanisms represent a recent splinter that resulted in the creation of a new religion (New Zanzanzanism) that has a completely different secondary 'Type', Blood Covenants. These are the kinds of shifts that will occur in the NES!

*Local Strength*
Kingdom Overview
Other Stats:
State Religion: New Zanzanzanism
Local Strength: Zaa'k (Zanzanzanism 10.0; New Zanzanzanism 1.0, Trad. Beliefs 3.2); Metotl (Zanzanzanism 4.0; New Zanzanzanism .2; Trad. Beliefs 50.0)

Observing the above stats paints a pretty clear religious picture. The Domain of Zaanzazaa holds New Zanzanzanism to be the true faith, yet it has yet to convert the majority of the populace to the faith. In Zaa'k Zanzanzanism holds dominance by a whopping 9 points, and New Zanzanzanism struggles to get a foothold even when compared to obscure rural customs. In Metotl neither strain of Zanzanzanism is important to the lizardfolk, who instead keep to their ancient customs.

What this translates into is general instability because the Old Zanzanzanists are probably a bit miffed at their New Zanzanzanist cousins. In general having multiple religions in your kingdom can rapidly lead to instability, but at the same time persecuting religions outright leads to diplomatic fallout and just as much instability! Players should seek their own methods for dealing with these issues.

Up next! Player applications! The time has finally come!

 

[nutranurse]

Not A Preview V: Only Masochists Accepted

Understanding Your Role
In this NES there are two kinds of players: Race-Players & Kingdom-Players. As detailed in the previous previews each has its own unique playstyle that intersects with the other. To distill it further, playing a race is a somewhat more casual experience that focuses on short orders, stories that tie into these orders, and minimalist stats. Kingdom-players get the full NES power-trip of building their realm up while ruining others.

Race-players (I really need to think of a different title) lead the more 'mystical'/'magical' races present in the NES. Think Ents, Dragons, and other such extra-magical races that have a large influence on worlds while maintaining no real organized internal structure. Race-players, as stated in preview II, really play special characters (Liminal Figures) and act through these characters.

Kingdom-players also play as a single character--their monarch--but their focus is much more stats-based and monarchs take a backseat to their realm. Kingdom-players are not leading typical medieval fantasy kingdoms, but are in fact semi-tribal leaders who are beginning to settle their followers. In this sense they will be playing a quasi-Fresh Start NES, save for the fact that the world itself is rather corrupted.

Applying For Your Role
Both types of players will create races to play as, the main difference being that Race-players have access to more race 'origins' than Kingdom-players do.

The Kingdom Application

Spoiler :

• Create Your Civilized Race
• Create Your Kingdom
• Create Background

Create Your Civilized Race
The factors found here are largely descriptive, though they all provide small bonuses that I will not make entirely explicit for the sake of making it harder for you to create Übermensch.

Players first choose racial 'Origin' of either Elven, Dwarven, Gnomish, Human, Orcish, or Goblin.

• Elven
  Elves of yore had very long lives, had tradition-based societies, were more magically inclined than most, and were slow to increase in population.
• Dwarven
  Dwarves of yore had very long lives, had tradition-based societies, were more materially inclined than most, and were slow to increase in population
• Gnomish
  Gnomes of yore had an average lifespan, were naturally inquisitive, were more magically inclined than most, and were average breeders
• Human
  Humans of yore had an average lifespan, were naturally inquisitive, were more materially inclined than most, and were average breeders
• Orcish
  Orcs of yore led short lives, loved conflict, were more magically inclined than most, and could make rabbits blush
• Goblin
  Goblins of yore led short lives, loved conflict, were more materially inclined than most, and could make rabbits blush

Next, players must decide on whether their race's mutations. Each race has 1 heavy mutation, 1 light mutation, and 1 flawed mutation. When choosing a mutation please put a number between 1-5. Depending on what number you choose determines the strength of the mutation (thus allowing even lightly mutated races to be pretty mutated). The strength of the mutation is not based on the number's numerical place, therefore 1 can lead to a strong mutation, or just a middling mutation, who knows! Well, only me. Just pick a random number.

The race's flaw is determined by me after I have assessed your race/kingdom so that the flaw is an added challenge for you to overcome (rather than a place to put your 'throw away' focus, i.e. making a war-oriented race's flaw be their diplomacy).

Perks are anything that the player decides on. Literally anything. Extra limbs, acidic saliva, environmental resistances, etc. etc. etc. The only two limitations that I have in place is that these make sense based on your surroundings and that there are no extraordinary psychic or otherwise magical. For instance, having a race be water-breathing when they live in the middle of the desert will not be allowed. Also keep in mind that I get to determine your flaw and the strength of that flaw, so provide me a race with superhuman strength and intellect, and their flaw will be that their minds play host to two polar opposite personalities, one that is hypermasculine and hyperviolent, and the other a cowardly erudite.

When differentiating between 'Major' and 'Minor' mutations in your application just list the major one first and the minor second. I.E.

Water-Breathing
Agile

Of course you can just as easily list it as:

Agile
Water-Breathing

Which puts more emphasis on the agility of your race over their aquatic aptitude. The benefit of having Water-Breathing as a 'Major' mutation over a 'Minor' would be that as a major mutation water-breathing could allow for aquatic living.

Create Your Kingdom
Players must first decide upon their kingdom's descriptive 'type. If you recall it is set up as: Centralization Amount/Societal Focus/Racial Dominance/Government Style

You can only choose your Societal focus and Government Style, Centralization Amount will always begin as Decentralized and Racial Dominance will be whatever race you create.

Societal Focus
You may choose from Noble, Ecclesiastic, and Popular. Exact details on each is detailed below.

Spoiler Societal Focus :

Societal Focus is the next part of the government type and represents just what social class possess the most power in the realm. The focus can either be Noble, Ecclesiastic, or Popular to represent the traditional divide of Nobility/Priests/Everyone Else. Note that these divides are just stock divides and are further modified by whatever fluff the player creates. In fact, I encourage players to think outside of the box and alter castes to fit their own visions. Doing this will result in new societal focuses being created.

Noble focused realms are ruled by elite members of society whose status is determined solely by blood. As a result land tends to pass down through families and the realm tends to be stabler than others, resulting in a stability bonus for the player. However, should civil unrest occur expect it to be very dire. Noble focused realms also earn a small bonus to their AP to represent the vast swaths of land the nobility have lesser-born people farm so they (the nobility) can eat, drink, and be merry. VIPs in noble focused realms also tend to be nobles (surprise!), which sees them having a higher likelihood for combat-oriented traits, though they also run higher risks for health defects. Noble focused realms tend to produce armies with a visible difference in quality. The high-class troops tend to have equally high quality, while the low-class troops tend to be cannon fodder.

Ecclesiastic focused realms are ruled by priesthoods (whether this is a council of priests or local priests is determined by the centralization/decentralization/nomadic factor) who can stir up the whole realm with a single holy word. As a result these realms tend to be very unified in cause should everyone be of the same religion and face an external religious threat, resulting in a small stability boost. However, these realms also tend to be very oppressive (regardless of the religion) and incur a penalty to weariness score, having a lower limit than normal. The success of an Ecclesiastic realm depends greatly upon the success of its religion (and the tenets of the religion), including the religion's global/local unity and strength. Players can expect high times when the people think heaven is on their side and can expect a very sadistic moderator in the opposite situation. Armies fielded by Ecclesiastic realms vary in quality and discipline, but have remarkably high morale to represent the religions zeal propelling the people to war. VIPs in Ecclesiastic realms either come from the established priesthood (which can see a variety of traits evolve as these are the individuals who can risk being worldly) or from the ranks of utter zealots.

Popular realms are not exactly ruled by the 'people'. They are ruled by whatever 'other' class the player has empowered, be they merchants, scholars, or farmers. Regardless, Popular realms see boosts in both AP and GP to represent the focus being on those individuals who produce AP and GP. These realms see a small penalty to their stability and weariness scores to represent the downfalls to giving the larger classes a larger say in politics. Furthermore the VIPs of Popular realms are the most varied set of people on the planet and this tends to result in many interesting inter-factional situations. Armies fielded by Popular realms have no real 'type', but they do tend to be larger than normal when mustered.

Government Style
You may choose from either Despotic Autocracy or Despotic Oligarchy.

Spoiler Government Styles :

Despotic Autocracies sees that your leader has unlimited power and has more of a likelihood to get things done. You will, initially, have few VIPs to go around and those VIPs that you do have are either utterly loyal to you or your worst enemies ever (regardless, you will assume they have a loyalty of 0% to represent the utter paranoia of the average autocrat). Why take on a Despotic Autocracy if stands far more likely to be besieged by angry VIPs? For one, your style will transition into something else as the NES goes on and you make more decisions (for instance, Despotic Autocracies have a strong chance of turning into monarchies, tyrannies, and other such governments based on the rule of one).

Despotic Oligarchies sees that your leader is but one of a few powerful individuals, he just happens to be the most powerful. You will, initially, have more VIPs to go around, but these VIPs come in many shades of loyalties and aims and your realm is just as liable to instability and plots as an autocratic one. The benefit of a Despotic Oligarchy is that it allows you to conduct more actions per turn due to the presence of more VIPs. Furthermore, Despotic Oligarchies stand at a larger chance to transition into democracies, republics, and other such governments based on the rule of many.

Note that government styles are incredibly malleable. It is a bit like piecing together a puzzle, except that the pieces can go in multiple spaces. To be less opaque, you can have all sorts of government styles. Tyrannical Democracies (a state in which the people rule in their own interest as opposed to the interest of the 'state' or those in the minority opinion) can exist and turn into Ochlocracies (essentially mob rule). Monarchies, normally governments fairly based upon the an individual with power through hereditary, can be focused on the many by becoming Constitutional Monarchies or Parliamentary Monarchies or whatever else the player thinks up. Just because you initially choose an autocracy or oligarchy does not mean you are set in some sort of branching path. There is no path and the sky is the limit! Points to the first Noocracy.

A Special Aside On Ecclesiastic Kingdoms
Players who choose the societal focus 'Ecclesiastic' are the only ones who are able to create a initial 'Organized Religion'. Should you choose an ecclesiastic-focus then include your religion in the 'Kingdom' part of your application. Simply format it like this:

Religion Name (Warfare or Economic or Cultural)

And do not forget to include a description of the religion in your background!

Create Your Background
Go nuts here, though go nuts while keeping in mind that I will be pouring over these backgrounds. Keep things relatively logical, though feel free to enter the realms of complete and utter fantasy. Please try to explain your race's mutations (barring their flaw, which I will develop in Update 0), their government and how that government came to be. Also include a short blurb on the kingdom's ruler.

The Race Application

Spoiler :

• Create Your Uncivilized Race
• Create Your Background

Create Your Uncivilized Race
I only tentatively use the word 'uncivilized'. The degree to which your race is savage is entirely up to you, but they are deemed 'uncivilized' because they forgo more centralized institutions such as cities and have no regularity in leadership. Uncivilized Races are create in much the same way as Civilized ones, with one key difference: there is no real limit. There are, however, basic parameters within which you begin your creations.

Origins
Players first choose their origin, which can be Aberration, Bestial, Construct, or Monstrous.

• Aberration
  
  These races have no real ancestors in The Time Before the End, but instead are the result of numerous magical energies gone haywire utterly corrupting creatures beyond all recognition. Aberrations are alien. They are weird horrors that boast incredibly disturbing psychology and physiology when compared to most other races.
  
  
• Bestial
  
  Once your race were simple animals, but where the Great Explosion brought destruction to others it birthed intelligence in your kind. Now you are sentient, though this sentience has cost you some of your animal physiology.
  
  
• Construct
  
  Before The Shattering our people were slave-like beings--less than slaves, in fact, because they had no minds. They were tools created by the haughty wizards of the Fallen Empires, men and women who sought to replicate life in the name of industry. After their magic failed them it succeeded in us, we were pulled out of our half-lives and made whole.
  
  
• Monstrous
  
  These are the dragons, griffons, and unicorns of traditional fantasies. They needed no magical spark in the form of the Pop, because they had always been beings of magic. The Pop simply... enhanced their magical natures, and in most cases altered them completely. Since the Pop no dragons horde in mountains, nor do griffons soar the skies, or unicorns protect the forests. In their stead, terrible, twisted things have arisen.

As you can see my emphasis is on the weird. Also my emphasis is not on the society or any tangible stats. Uncivilized Races are all about the story.

Create Your Background
Once your race origin has been decided you can set onto altering this background and creating a proper racial history for them. Consider how they have fared since the End, where they live now, and what they think of those beings trying to recreate societies. Do not, however, create Liminal Figures, as these will be created in Update 0.

Sample Kingdom Application

Spoiler :

Race
Kappa (Goblin Origin)
Water Breathing 3
Agile 4
-

Kingdom
The Unified Tribes of Quax
Decentralized Ecclesiastic Kappa Despotic Autocracy
Carpism (Cultural)

Description including origin, development of United Tribes of Quax (UTQ), description of the leader who created UTQ, and description of religion

Sample Race Application

Spoiler :

Race
Owlbears (Monstrous)

Text Goes Here (I'm tired)

Kingdom Application Template

Spoiler :

Race
Race Name (Origin)
'Major Mutation' (Random # 1-5)
'Minor Mutation' (Random # 1-5)
-

Kingdom
Kingdom Name
Descriptive Type
Religion If Applicable (Religion Type)

Background goes here

Race Application Template

Spoiler :

Race
Race Name (Origin)

Background goes here

LET THE NESING COMMENCE!


**A note, this is a fantasy fresh start. There will be BT's and IT's (Or whatever the appropriate name is used for shortened times).


edit: Forgot the starting map! Here it is, pick anywhere to begin your self-destruction. Assume all parts of the continent are equally magical and thus equally deadly.

Spoiler :

 

[Angst]

How's this nutra? The creatures are shapeshifters, I hope it's ok, but puca kinda are...

~

Race
Puca (Bestial)

I'm not sure exactly whether a puca is bestial. It's inherently a purely spiritual and magical being; but also, I've deviced a backstory that fits quite well, I think, which would translate them to be bestial. They origin in horses and become puca after the End.

Before the End, the river of Sentet was a site for many struggles and strifes. One such was was the Rose Ride, a cavalry raid ruining crops and lives along the western river banks for a hundred years*. The knight captain Bjornsling was ruthlessly driven by his king's politics and slayed many women and children, even taking some captive to torture. Eventually, the peasants rallied to strike back. They fought bravely, but stood very little a chance against horses and iron. The knights charged the peasants into the river, hoping to have them drown. But at that point, the End happened; the river rose in inexplicable rage and swallowed villages and soldiers whole. They were not seen alive again.

Many years passed. A few fishermen and farmers settled near the river to live their simple lives, unaware of the events ages ago. One day, the town inn was guested by a man in a long, secluding hood. The locals asked the mysterious stranger who he was and where he came from, but to no avail. Rather, the visitor told them to leave; he spoke of horrible creatures soon to be rising from the lake, a hundred years after the End. The locals became angry and rose to beat him up; but he strangely vanished into thin air. The year passed calmly with a rich harvest.

Then, during the hundredth year of the new era, the villagers understood that the stranger had told them the truth. Strange things happened, and not only in the village; all over the river banks, people disappeared, sometimes to come back later, sometimes to be found in body parts. Crops were trampled or grown inexplicably. Fish lay dead or swarmed into the fishing nets.

Beware, see: The banks had seen the rearrival of the drowned victims of the End. But they were no longer human nor horse. They were shapeshifters of mischief, whether that be malevolent or benevolent. Preferring a wicked horse form with glowing eyes and beautiful manes, these spirits either collected poor victims or granted luck. The villagers called them puca, meaning unwelcome, yet flattering in Old Nyrn.

The unforeseeable nature of the puca creature was very simple to understand when knowing what the creature consisted of. The many dead spirits had been molded under the magic fallout after the end over a hundred years. The dominant shape was the powerful horse in all its magnitude. The dominant will, however, was more tricky to take shape. The peasant spirits were justifiable angry from abuse and humiliation, while the soldiers were regretting and unwilling. The nature of the puca would be malicious if it had more anger in it, but friendly if it wanted to pay back the pain it had brought upon lives. Some puca eat children or destroy crops in anguish, while others shape forth hands to grow crops, or scare fish into the nets. The puca are solitary, unreliable, unruly and horrifying. Seeing a true puca is a scary sight.

And the visitor at the tavern? That was Bjornsling himself, captain during the last years of the Rose Ride. He had shaped himself into a human to warn man about the upcoming river horrors. He is the most benevolent of them all; his counterpart, the most hateful puca, is Manfred, the Terror Mane, who was the leader of the peasant militia. Soon, the river were, to some, called the River of Horses, due to the fear of thundering hooves and waving manes.

* I'm not sure of how much time has passed since the end. This can be changed to any number of hundred years as long as it sounds good, or even a thousand.

 

[Penguinraider]

Hello, haven't joined a NES since SCC was in existence, so I figured I'd go for a race to ease myself into things again.

Please excuse the concise writing, not really feeling very imaginative today

RACE

Djata (Beastial)

The Djata are a race of 'winged lions' who gained sentience during the aftermath of the shattering. A simple race, they have mostly remained in small prides of about 20 or so, each with its own leader.

There is no great hierarchy amongst the Djata save for the first pride, or 'superbia primus' which holds the supreme leader (Djata Rex). The Djata Rex is not a ruler, however, more of a guide or national elder.

The Djata themselves are strong, having pride in their physique and skill. They are wise, valuing knowledge above all else. The Djata are for the most part pacifists, being slow to anger, but once enraged are not easily soothed. They have no formal religion, but are essentially animist in their views.

The Djata live amongst the blade-grass of Nurth, protected by their leathery skin and coarse hair, and sheltered from the outside world by the blade-grass itself. As a result, the Djata have very little history, but that will change...

 

[nutranurse]

Both sound find! And it has been a few hundred years since the End/Collapse/Pop.

edit: And Joakim, shapeshifters are fine. Originally I wasn't going to allow humanoid 'unvicilized' races, but that would not be fun and is kind of arbitrary.

 

[Adrogans]

You already know my opinion on this...race huh need to think one up then.

 

[nutranurse]

I also need kingdom players!