YosefNES I: Oif Gelt, Oif Gelt, un Oif Gelt
Oif drei zachen stait di velt: oif Torah, oif Avodah, un oif Gmilut Hassidim.
The world stands on three things: Torah, Prayer, and Acts of Righteous Benevolence.
Rabbinic teaching
Oif drei zachen stait di velt: oif Gelt, oif Gelt, un oif Gelt.
The world stands on three things: Money, Money, and Money.
Yiddish Proverb
Shalom and welcome to the first installation in the YosefNES series, YosefNES I: Oif Gelt, Oif Gelt, un Oif Gelt.
The Series
Named after the extraordinary first-century Jewish historian Yosef ben Matihyahu, otherwise known as Titus Flavius Josephus, YosefNES will be my second series. The main difference between the YosefNES series and my first series, IsrNES, is the dedication of YosefNES to alternately historical and historical NESes, rather than the fresh start and related NESes I have pursued in the past. Hopefully, with the inspiration of Yosef ben Matiyahu, we will together be able to make the YosefNES series as successful as any other.
The NES
YosefNES I: Oif Gelt, Oif Gelt, un Oif Gelt is a continuation of my alternate history timeline The Age of Elisabeth. The premise underlying this alternate history is the unbearable power of money. Throughout the history of mankind the exchange of gold, silver, copper, and paper trinkets has proved decisive in determining the fates of empires and civilisations, of kings and peasants. In the world into which we are about to delve one queen mother, intent on achieving greatness for her beloved son, has wielded the power of gold to give birth to an empire like none that Europe had ever seen before. Pushed by the irresistible lure of Magyar florins the world was thrust into a new, unforeseen direction as the great empires of history fell and new ones rose. Now, it is your chance to take up the reins of history and see if you cannot as well wield the might of gold, silver, and copper.
Rules
Starting Date
1503 CE
Nations
There are two kinds of nations, Player Countries (PCs) and Non-Player Countries (NPCs) which, as the names suggest, are, respectively, those nations that have a player controlling them and those nations that do not. NPCs will be controlled by me and while I wont control them in the same way I would a PC in someone elses NES, I will make them challenging opponents.
Players
There is no limit on the number of players, at least for now. To join pick an NPC from the list or approach me with an idea for a new nation, independence movement, secret organisation, etc. Please do note that some nations have been reserved and are not available. Additionally, certain nations, given their power and important role in the NES, require my confirmation in order to be assumed. In general, I will try to assign these based on a first-come, first-served policy, but I may deviate from this.
Now, remember that by joining you are making a commitment. I expect a lot out of all of you, but I also understand that things happen and that certain obligations must come before NESing. As such, I am more than will work with you as situation arise. However, I also expect that you will work with me. Imagine my policies as being similar to those of that favourite teacher of yours, the one who always challenged you to do better and always expected you to fulfil your potential and obligations, but also recognised that your life was more than their class and didnt jump down your throat if you couldnt do one assignment.
Orders
Orders are, simply, a description of what your nation is to do for the turn. Preferably they will be sent to me via Private Message (PM); however, if absolutely necessary, I will accept orders via e-mail. They are required to include all diplomatic agreements, your stats, and calculations (i.e. 5 eco X 5 blah per eco = 25 blah). It is advisable that you maintain a balance between detail and concision.
Over time experience has taught me that a constant, weekly schedule is simply impossible for me. Thus, I will be implementing what used to be the preferred system, changing deadlines. With each update I will give a different deadline. However, the time that orders are due will always be 4:30 PM (16:30) U.S. Central Time (GMT -6).
Now, as I said above, I understand that things happen and that life doesnt always go according to our own plans. As such, I am more than willing to work with you. However, I will (almost always) need you to tell me about complication before the deadline. I will generally continue to accept orders after the update in any case, but send orders late at your own risk. If you do not send orders four times in a row without giving me reasons, you will be NPCed and your nation thus freed up for others to take. Furthermore, if you do not send orders, and in particular if you do not give me notification or a reason, you are basically giving me full range to manipulate your nation as I see fit for the turn. Generally, I will maintain a hands-off approach, but if I see it as particularly advantageous to the NES and the player, I may throw in some twists (a ruler dying, for instance). Dont be scared though, I dont bite (hard).
Interesting Times (IT) and Boring Times (BT)
I will be using North Kings, as opposed to Das, definition of the IT/BT system. The main reason for this is that while Das definition is focused on military conflict, North Kings is broader. To paraphrase North King:
IT is like a normal NES, with much smaller time passing every turn, a BT will be like a traditional story NES, just much more general and vague than normal. Orders in an IT should be rather specific and direct orders on what you want your nation to be doing, including spending and military recruitment. BT orders are like general guidelines; you can say where you want your finances to go in general, or to focus on military recruiting, etc, but not specific things like 3 points into UU or what have you.
Updates
My updates are slightly different from what has become the norm. Rather than being designed primarily as game updates, they are stories written as historical record. As such, I will not include troop casualties, stat changes, etc. within the update but will rather give you an idea of what happened. For specifics you will have to look at how the stats have changed by comparing the updated ones to the previous turns ones. Updates will also likely include a spotlight (though I plan to do these quite differently than is standard), special bonuses à la ITNES I An Epoch of Change (in other words, rewards for various things such as having the most fleshed-out religion, the funniest stories, the best tactics, etc. depending on my mood), and OOC (including the orders deadline for the turn). In addition, if necessary, privileged information will be sent via PM to the necessary parties.
Map
I will be using the standard CFC map. Cities will be shown as black circles, eco centres as black circles with red rings, cultural centres as black circles with green rings, religious centres as black circles with blue rings, capitals as black circles with white rings, colonial capitals as black circles with yellow rings, and cities that are both capitals or colonial capitals and something else as a combination of white or yellow and the respective colour. If a city is both, say, a religious and an economic centre, it will be shown as religious; economic and cultural, as cultural; cultural and religious, as religious. Fortifications will be shown as lines of black squares. Rebellious regions will be shown as light grey. Thick borders on the map are those in between two nations, thin but solid borders show the boundaries between pseudo-national entities that have varying levels of independence but do not have an independent foreign policy (if they do have an independent foreign policy but are in some way not technically independent, i.e. the OTL states of the Holy Roman Empire, they will have their own colour), and thin, broken borders show a variety of things including political subdivisions and geographic, cultural, ethnic, and religious regions (these will often overlap). Finally, the map includes the names of the various peoples and other entities that have some sort of cohesive identity but do not form strong political states, otherwise known as barbarians.
Important Cities
This NES will utilize the three-city system of economic (eco), cultural, and religious centres. Unlike in previous incarnations of the three-city system,
all benefits are at the discretion of the mod. This does not, however, mean the cities will have no effect and arent important. They will be key contributors to your economy, your culture, and practically all other stats. If you lose even one of them to an enemy it could be disastrous. In addition, maintaining your important cities will be much more fickle than before. Finally, it is possible to get a centre due to a project, just as before, but such centres may be more likely to lose their status.
Economic Centres: Economic centres are cities where economic activity is greatly concentrated. Eco centres are almost always due to the concentration of trade, but industry, finance, banking, etc. can also cause an eco centre to come about. The benefits of an economic centre will be one eco per turn, unless for some unforeseeable reason I make an exception. Modern examples of eco centres would include Tokyo, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Rio de Janeiro, and New York.
Cultural Centres: Cultural centres are cities where the culture of a nation, a region, or even of the world is personified. Art, education, nationalism, regionalism, philosophy, science, pan-nationalism, etc. can all contribute to the creation of cultural centres. The benefits of these cities are just as varied as their causes. Modern examples would include Paris, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Geneva, Oxford, Buenos Aires, and Chicago.
Religious Centres: Religious centres are cities where major religions find there centre(s) and where great pilgrimages take place. While religious centres will generally form without outside coaxing, government approval and conversion always help in the forming of such cities. The status of religious centres is a little different than that of cultural and eco centres being somewhere between special city and capital city. They can be primarily administrative and more like a political capital (i.e. Canterbury) or spiritual and more like a special city (i.e. Glastonbury). The benefits will be mostly religious in nature, but may also extend into those areas benefited by cultural and economic centres. Modern examples would include Dharamsala, Jerusalem, Mecca, Rome, Istanbul, and Mexico City (Guadalupe).
Stories
While not required, stories are highly encouraged. In the past I have been very lenient on stories, but no longer. You will still be able to progress without stories, but stories will lend immense, nearly necessary, help. Also, keep in mind that stories, at least in my book, come in many forms. Flags, descriptions of your government, descriptions of your religion, historical records, and just about anything else that helps to flesh out you nation in a creative/artistic way will count as a story.
Deterioration
Your stats may deteriorate over time. In order to prevent this, invest eco and keep up a forward momentum.
Template
The template is the layout for stats. Each nation, both PC and NPC, will have a full and every-changing set. Unlike in other NESes, however, the stats are not meant to be the focus, and should be seen only as an aide in the development of our world.
Nation Name
Ruler/Player:
Capital:
Government (Efficiency):
Dependencies:
Size:
Army (Quality):
Navy (Quality):
Religion:
Culture:
Economy (Points) (Total Points):
Infrastructure:
Education:
Technology:
Confidence:
Projects:
Nation Background:
Capital
The capital is the political centre of your nation. Capitals also have a greater chance of becoming cultural, economic, or religious centres. Furthermore, keep in mind that capitals have the ability to either unite or divide a nation. For instance, if you place your capital in between two or more bitterly opposed factions you may be able to prevent divisiveness. On the other hand, if you are not careful, a capitals location in one region of a nation may cause hatred and secessionist feeling in another area. Capitals are also often essential components of a national identity. Their loss can cause the collapse of nations, their mistreatment by foreigners can cause immense, uncontrollable hatred, and their glorification can cause unparalleled national pride. Capitals are powerful political and cultural tools, use them wisely.
Government
Your government is, simply, how you govern your people. Ranging from dictatorial to anarchist and revolutionary to reactionary, the variations on governmental systems are inexhaustible. No matter what sort of government you have, be it a dictatorship or a democracy, you will always have to face off against political adversaries and juggle the balance of power between various factions. In dictatorial governments you will generally have more control over your opponents, but this is not always the case. While government can be changed, the mechanisms to do this are not constant. In some cases all that is needed in gradual reform, in others brutal revolution. So be careful, whatever it is you choose to do.
Additionally, government has an efficiency stat that shows how corrupt, how lazy, how bloated, how bureaucratic, etc. the government is. The levels of efficiency are:
None-Imaginary-Corrupt-Incompetent-Blundering-Tolerable-Improving-Competent-Efficient-Great-Brilliant
Dependencies
Many nations, particularly the more powerful ones, have dependencies. Generally, particularly as the Age of Discovery is now upon us, these take the form of colonies. They can, however, also take on the form of protectorates, dominions, or anything else you all come up with. In this line I will list the names of the dependencies you have. There will be no additional information on the dependencies listed here, but you should be able to surmise their general value and status based on the updates, stories, and general progress of the NES.
Size
This is, as the name suggests, the size of your nation. Size is an amalgam of both population and land area, as well as how easy it is for each part of the nation to reach the other part (a colonial empire, by its nature, will have a higher size stat than a nation of equal land and population size that is on one continuous chunk of land). What this means is that a nation like the Khanate of Sibir, while having a tiny population, will have a very large size state because of the immensity of its land area and the difficulty of connecting various communities to one another. As nations technology advances and efficiency and communication improve, their size stat will go down. Size determines how costly it is to upgrade a stat, as well as the effectiveness of various factors (plagues, military strategies, increased taxation, etc.). The levels, and the corresponding points, are:
Tiny (1)-Petite (2)-Small (3)-Medium (4)-Large (5)-Huge (6)-Gargantuan (7)-Monstrous (9)
Unless otherwise noted, all stats require the number of eco points corresponding to their size in order to grow by one level.
Army
The army is your nations land forces. The army will be divided into thousands with five thousands infantry and two thousands cavalry available per eco point. In addition, remember that if you do not pay for military campaigns, those campaigns will almost certainly fail. An army does, after all, march on its stomach. Besides quantity of your military forces, the army stat also shows the quality. This is an amalgam of training and leadership. Quality levels are:
Mob-Pathetic-Poor-Tolerable-Normal-Better-Good-Great-Mighty-Juggernaut
In order to raise the quality of your forces, you must spend one eco per thousand per level up to good and two eco per thousand per level up to juggernaut.
Navy
The navy is your nations military force on the sea. The navy will be divided into ships with five ships available per eco. Just as with the army, the navy has a quality stat combining training and leadership. Also as with the army, you must always account for logistics when operating your navy. You will need to pay for campaigns by your navy, or your navy will be forced to either return home or continue sailing and die of starvation, dehydration, scurvy, or some other nasty ailment. In fact, it is advisable to fund even non-military ventures, seeing as death knows not the difference between soldiers and civilians.
Unique Units (UUs)
UUs are specialized, elite units. In this NES, every nation is allowed one UU. It is possible to demote your UU forces to regular ones, but the consequences could be dire. UUs cost the same as a normal unit. Depending on whether they are a land-based or naval unit, they will appear on the appropriate line after regular units with the quality in parentheses.
Religion
The religion stat shows the various belief systems present in your nation. If a nation has an official state religion then it comes first, whether it is the most widespread faith or not; otherwise the most adhered to faith comes first. Religion will play a very important role in this NES, as it should but doesnt in most NESes. Furthermore, I consider myself something of a religion/theology buff, which means I will vastly enjoy watching all of you develop the religious atmosphere of your nations.
A note on churches and official religions: In this era there is a significant divide between the theology and administrative structure of religion, particularly in the reformed areas of Europe and the Orthodox Christian regions of Europe and the Middle East. As a result, a distinction must be made between the churches and the religions. Where this is applicable, the first item listed under the religion stat of a country will be the official (or dominant) religion followed by the name of the church(es) in parentheses. For example, in Ireland the line would read Celtic Reformed Christianity (Reformed Church of Ireland) followed by any other significant religious denominations present in the country. Where a similar situation exists but the religion/church is not the official religion of the state, the pattern will take place later in the line, as appropriate. In the Ottoman Empire, for example would partially read Oriental Orthodox Christianity (Armenian Apostolic Church, Coptic Orthodox Church (Ethiopian Orthodox Church), Syriac Orthodox Church). As you may have noticed, following the Coptic Orthodox Church entry is Ethiopian Orthodox Church in parentheses. This is because the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is a major, semi-autonomous subset of the Coptic Orthodox Church that is important enough to legitimise its being listed independently. Wherever else this is the case, the pattern will be repeated. However, minor subsets that are not significant will not be listed.
Culture
Culture here will be a general description of important cultural changes taking place. Examples would include a cultural renaissance, religious upheaval, Westernisation, and urbanisation.
Economy
I will be using a modified ITNES I (b) eco system. There will be a descriptor, either stable, rising, or falling, as well as two numbers. The first number will show you the base point value of your economy, including agriculture, trade, industry, etc. The second number shows the total available eco points when added to the points coming from important cities and any other sources of eco points for that turn. Players are encouraged to experiment with different fiscal policies and economic policies in order to develop their economies.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is the transportation network of a nation. A good infrastructure is invaluable, aiding everything from army movement to culture cohesiveness to government efficiency. The levels are:
None-Dirt Paths-Pathetic-Barely Tolerable-Tolerable-Improving-Good-Efficient-Very Efficient-Great-Excellent
Education
Education is how literate and generally well educated your people are. Good education will benefit numerous things, ranging from the availability of the next age to government efficiency to the economy. Bad education, likewise, will have detrimental effects. Since education is a lifelong process, the benefits and detriments of education are long term and may not be felt immediately. However, do not let this discourage you or make you feel safe, for eventually you will feel their effects. Education will most likely go up due to economic investment, but it is not a guarantee. Similarly, economic advancement is not necessary for educational advancement. The levels, and the corresponding points, are:
Idiotic (1)- Illiterate (2)- Ignorant (3)- Below Average (4)- Average (5)- Clever (6)- Smart (7)- Wise (8)- Enlightened (9)
Technology
This is a general descriptor of the technological development in your nation. The stat is entirely relative to the development of the rest of the world. Being more technologically developed than your neighbours has distinct advantages, not just militarily but in economic and social matters as well. However, being technologically superior is not a cure-all. Technologically far inferior forces have on more than one occasion dealt debilitating blows to opponents light-years ahead of them. The levels are:
Ancient-Left Behind-Losing Ground-Average-Modernised-Advanced-Futuristic
The amount of eco points required to advance one level is equal to the size stat divided by the education stat, rounded up. However, due to its highly relative nature, the level is likely to change without the individual players input.
Confidence
This is, basically, how confident the people are in their nations leadership. If the people are unconfident, then chances of rebellion, secession, etc. rise dramatically. If the people are confident, then chances are they will rise to support you, be it against foreign power, rebels, coups, or anything else. The levels are:
Lynching- Hateful- Resentful- Barely Tolerating- Tolerating- Respecting- Admiring- Loving- Cult of Personality
This stat cannot be raised directly with eco point, but investment will have some impact.
Projects
Projects are the equivalent of wonders. Ranging from large scale social reforms to giant harbours, projects can be just about anything. What really matters is that you: a) give me a name, b) give me the benefits of the project, and c) give me a description of the project; if any of these are missing, then the project will not go through. Depending on the project, there will be a cost in eco, as determined by my judgment. Each turn you must invest one eco to keep the project going. If you do not, it will at first stagnate, and then start to decay; depending on the nature of the project, this decay could be quite rapid. Finally, you may invest two eco to advance the project by one extra turn. You may only do this once every other turn.
Kvetching (i.e. Complaints to the Mod)
I am more than willing to listen to your gripes. In fact, I encourage them. If you believe that there has been a mistake or that you have been unfairly treated, tell me and I will address the problem as best as I can.
Contact
You may contact me in several ways. The preferred methods are AIM via the screen name stignatiusjew and PM. If you do not have AIM but wish to have the kind of fulfilling conversation only available through instant messengers, I can normally be reached on MSN via
Israelite9191@hotmail.com . If you insist or if these are not possible, then you are welcome to drop me a line via e-mail at
btzalel91@yahoo.com.
Should any modifications become necessary, they will be made and the rules updated to reflect the changes.
