Silver Steak
The Ghost of SS
The Story
Shira, the God of Magic was observing the world below. It was inhabited by his new creatures. One of the races was destined to become his chosen minions, but none of them seemed to distinguish themselves. They lacked... ingenuity. Indeed, he had shaped them to be under his control, but that safety was also hindering their progress. Therefore, he decided to toss in a few of his more daring designs in the mix. Perhaps these new races would prove worthy, or perhaps they would be foolish and get themselves killed. In any case they all had a new possibility, a chance that none of the old races had...
DISCLAIMER: This is a magic-intensive NES. That means mundane forces are irrelevant, most battles fought exclusively between spellcasters.
The Rules
Race - One for every player.
Every player will have to create their own race. Describe it as much as possible, and I will arbitrarily assign a fictional relative strength (compared to, say, humans) which I will use to adjust reproduction and combat. Generally, larger and bulkier races will be more resistant to damage, but easier to hit. Their smaller counterparts may be able to dodge away from blows, but can take less beating before dropping.
This score will, needless to say, greatly affect the path of your race later on. I'm considering making this relative stat an open one (as in the template)
Habitat - where your race thrives.
Another thing I'm considering is adding habitat as a stat. Depending on what terrain your race calls home, the efficiency of nearly all you do will vary. This will naturally affect combat and warfare, but also reproduction and other minor things. Forcing enemies out of their habitat may be the most devastating attack indeed.
Aquatic races will have to be banned - at the most I can allow semi-amphibious ones.
Types of habitat are defined by altitudes: Mountains, Hills, Lowlands and Aquatic. Every race will have two types, the second being the second best suited. You're free to combine these as you see fit, but Aquatic can never be primary habitat.
It is allowed to create your own types of habitats that are perfect for your race through magic. This will be added to the stats, granting greater bonuses than standard primary habitats. The price for developing a perfect habitat is 150 prana. Expansion will cost extra, but it will be much cheaper than developing from scratch.
Leader - For your writing pleasure.
Your race's leader. It might be a singular ruler, a circle of spellcasters or a league of hooded mystics. Whatever floats your boat, really. Useful for stories and diplo, but not much more I think.
Population - Stronger means slower.
The default starting population will be around a thousand. From there, your population will grow relative to your race's individual strength. The stronger your minions, the slower they will reproduce. Call it divine intervention, as it very much is.
Spark/Prana - The gears of magic.
Spark measures the collective magical prowess of your race. It consists of the race's "life energy" - called prana. The stronger an individual, the more prana it has. Prana can be used, as well as stored. Spark size will increase and decrease, depending on whether you bunk or overspend prana.
Sizes are(with prana replenish rate bonus):
Diminutive(+10%) - Tiny(+25%) - Small(+45%) - Medium(+70%) - Large(+100%) - Huge(+135%) - Colossal(+175%) - Epic(+220%)
To increase Spark size, you must bunk prana. This locks the prana away from the steady stream available for spellcasters, and will at set levels raise your Spark size. You can only unlock this prana by overspending, and then it will cost you five times more. For example, training a spellcaster using prana costs three units, while training a spellcaster using bunked prana costs fifteen units.
Prana required in bunk to advance from one level to the next is as follows:
Diminutive (100) - Tiny (125) - Small (175) - Medium (250) - Large (350) - Huge (475) - Colossal (600) - Epic
Uses of prana can be separated in two categories: discharge and investment. Discharge is expending prana on magical effects, such as casting spells. Investment is typically training a new spellcaster. Larger investments are accessing new domains, designing new spells or improving already acquired ones.
Prana will replenish at a set rate of 1% of population, multiplied by relative strength. That means 10 units for 1000 "humans". In addition, all spellcasters discharging any amount of prana will grant a small bonus to replenish rate. Casting spells in combat will yield a far greater bonus, but this depends on the spellcasters' survival, so beware.
Overspending
You can, theoretically, overspend as much as your spellcasters' combined capacity allows. This capacity is described later in the spellcaster chapter. However, every unit of prana overspent will drain five from your Spark. If you do this at a large scale, you'll risk dropping down a level, which could easily ruin your prana replenish rate - far more than the damage taken by not doing so.
Domains - your toolbox(es).
Domains are the fields of magic that your race has access to. Domains give access to researching and casting spells within that field. Types of domains are rather generic, like "Fire" or "Water". Domains are rather static, as they cannot be upgraded as spells can. However, it might be a wise thing to get two or more, as spells can be under more than one domain. Besides, sharing domains with other races opens for spells trade!
Accessing a new domain costs 25 prana.
I'm inclined to not create a complete list of domains, but will reserve the right to deny certain domains as I see fit. Again, keep in mind that picking the same domain as other players might be an advantage. Once a domain is granted, it is open for everyone to access. That means if I allow a new domain, everyone else can buy access to it.
Spells - your tools.
You start out with no spells. Every spell must be individually researched. Spell effects are linear in terms of prana cost. Since one unit of prana is enough to cast the spell a large number of times, stronger spells will be cast fewer times than weak ones. This doesn't mean researching spells is wasting prana, as one battle or campaign can be decided by the variety of spells being cast in cohesion.
Spell Template
Spell Name [Domain/Domain] (Level/impact/cast rate)
Spells come with at least one domain, a level stat, an impact stat and a cast rate stat. Level indicates how many times the spell has been improved. Impact shows how powerful the spell is, and cast rate determines how often the effect is reproduced. The only real difference this makes is whether the effect is a large one-off, or a burst of tiny ones. Higher cast rate is often useful when fighting small fry, while greater impact is needed against larger ones to inflict any damage at all.
Research/upgrade
As opposed to the toolbox, you may sharpen your tools. Investing in already existing spells will make it more effective, either upgrading the impact or cast rate. This means the same spell can evolve different ways, being suited for different purposes.
Ex: Liquid Fire [Fire/Water] (1/Strong/Slow)
In the aforementioned example, Liquid Fire is a spell that falls under both Fire and Water domains. This means a spellcaster must have access to both domains to cast it. The level is one, indicating that this spell has not been upgraded yet. The impact is Strong, and cast rate Slow. If I choose to upgrade this spell, I can either a) add a domain or b) upgrade the level.
I might want to make this spell a kind of burning fog. I then add the Air domain to the spell, and rename it Infernal Cloud. It now has three domains. A spellcaster must have access to all three to cast it, but the spell is more difficult to counter.
Infernal Cloud [Air/Fire/Water] (1/Strong/Slow)
Then, I decide to upgrade its stats greatly by cranking up the level thrice. For every level, I must choose to either upgrade impact or cast rate. I choose to upgrade impact once, and cast rate twice. The result is a 4th level spell with Immense impact and Fast cast rate.
Infernal Cloud [Air/Fire/Water] (4/Immense/Fast)
You can only have one version of a spell at any one level. If you want to redesign a spell, you must pay for researching it again, so make sure you get it right the first time.
Casting spells will be by units of prana, down to a single unit.
Costs for designing new spells are as follows:
First level, one domain: 10 prana
Another level: +5 prana
Another domain: +5 prana
Levels of impact/cast rate are as follows:
Impact: None - Puny - Weak - Medium - Strong - Immense - Devastating
Cast rate: Agonizingly slow - Very Slow - Slow - Medium - Fast - Very fast - Furious
Default starting stats are paired "diagonally":
None/Furious, Puny/Very fast, Weak/Fast, Medium/Medium, Strong/Slow, Immense/Very slow, Devastating/Agonizingly slow.
Costs for upgrading existing spells are as follows:
Another level: +10 prana
Another domain: +10 prana
Note that you cannot design new spells of a level you do not already have a spell at. This means you must upgrade one of your 1st level spells before designing 2nd level spells. Similarly, to add a new domain to a higher level spell, you must have access to a spell of equal level in the domain you want to add.
Important note: you are free to exchange spells with other races. However, they must have access to all the spell domains in order to cast them.
Spellcasters - your everything.
Seriously, without your spellcasters, you can't do sh't. They are your hands and feet, your builders and soldiers. They create and defend what's yours, and destroy your enemies with their powerful spells. You should all call them something fancy and describe them in detail. Their chances of survival depends on the type of magic cast by the opponent, as well as any defensive spells. Physical attributes count for little more than the obvious - larger targets are easier to aim at, while larger races would likely be able to pummel smaller ones if they engaged in melee.
Combined capacity
Spellcasters perform all uses of prana, including investments. The amount of prana one spellcaster can cast in one turn is 5 units. That means you should assign capacity to all their tasks. The easiest way to do this is to multiply your spellcasters by five, then make sure all your spendings don't go over that limit. If you have enough spellcasters, this isn't going to be a problem. But when things start to get busy with projects and warfare going side by side, I'm not going to do the math for you. If you screw up, some orders will simply be ignored. (I choose what's left out. Generally, I will pick what's least important)
Training a spellcaster costs three units of prana. A fresh spellcaster will not contribute to the combined capacity immediately. This is to prevent you from training insane amounts of spellcasters by allotting newly opened capacity from progressively growing generations to the next. Also, it makes calculating capacity a simple multiplication.
Projects
Whatever does not fit into these rules. You describe it, and I will determine the cost. Things like creating optimal habitats are possible projects. Keep it realistic, or I won't allow it. There are things that even magic can't do.
Price List
Training a spellcaster: 3 prana
Accessing a new domain: 25 prana.
Designing a new first level spell of one domain: 10 prana
Adding a level to the new spell: +5 prana
Adding a domain to the new spell: +5 prana
Upgrade an existing spell by one level: 10 prana
Add another domain to an existing spell: 10 prana
Create a perfect Habitat: 100 prana
Shira, the God of Magic was observing the world below. It was inhabited by his new creatures. One of the races was destined to become his chosen minions, but none of them seemed to distinguish themselves. They lacked... ingenuity. Indeed, he had shaped them to be under his control, but that safety was also hindering their progress. Therefore, he decided to toss in a few of his more daring designs in the mix. Perhaps these new races would prove worthy, or perhaps they would be foolish and get themselves killed. In any case they all had a new possibility, a chance that none of the old races had...
DISCLAIMER: This is a magic-intensive NES. That means mundane forces are irrelevant, most battles fought exclusively between spellcasters.
The Rules
Race - One for every player.
Every player will have to create their own race. Describe it as much as possible, and I will arbitrarily assign a fictional relative strength (compared to, say, humans) which I will use to adjust reproduction and combat. Generally, larger and bulkier races will be more resistant to damage, but easier to hit. Their smaller counterparts may be able to dodge away from blows, but can take less beating before dropping.
This score will, needless to say, greatly affect the path of your race later on. I'm considering making this relative stat an open one (as in the template)
Habitat - where your race thrives.
Another thing I'm considering is adding habitat as a stat. Depending on what terrain your race calls home, the efficiency of nearly all you do will vary. This will naturally affect combat and warfare, but also reproduction and other minor things. Forcing enemies out of their habitat may be the most devastating attack indeed.
Aquatic races will have to be banned - at the most I can allow semi-amphibious ones.
Types of habitat are defined by altitudes: Mountains, Hills, Lowlands and Aquatic. Every race will have two types, the second being the second best suited. You're free to combine these as you see fit, but Aquatic can never be primary habitat.
It is allowed to create your own types of habitats that are perfect for your race through magic. This will be added to the stats, granting greater bonuses than standard primary habitats. The price for developing a perfect habitat is 150 prana. Expansion will cost extra, but it will be much cheaper than developing from scratch.
Leader - For your writing pleasure.
Your race's leader. It might be a singular ruler, a circle of spellcasters or a league of hooded mystics. Whatever floats your boat, really. Useful for stories and diplo, but not much more I think.
Population - Stronger means slower.
The default starting population will be around a thousand. From there, your population will grow relative to your race's individual strength. The stronger your minions, the slower they will reproduce. Call it divine intervention, as it very much is.
Spark/Prana - The gears of magic.
Spark measures the collective magical prowess of your race. It consists of the race's "life energy" - called prana. The stronger an individual, the more prana it has. Prana can be used, as well as stored. Spark size will increase and decrease, depending on whether you bunk or overspend prana.
Sizes are(with prana replenish rate bonus):
Diminutive(+10%) - Tiny(+25%) - Small(+45%) - Medium(+70%) - Large(+100%) - Huge(+135%) - Colossal(+175%) - Epic(+220%)
To increase Spark size, you must bunk prana. This locks the prana away from the steady stream available for spellcasters, and will at set levels raise your Spark size. You can only unlock this prana by overspending, and then it will cost you five times more. For example, training a spellcaster using prana costs three units, while training a spellcaster using bunked prana costs fifteen units.
Prana required in bunk to advance from one level to the next is as follows:
Diminutive (100) - Tiny (125) - Small (175) - Medium (250) - Large (350) - Huge (475) - Colossal (600) - Epic
Uses of prana can be separated in two categories: discharge and investment. Discharge is expending prana on magical effects, such as casting spells. Investment is typically training a new spellcaster. Larger investments are accessing new domains, designing new spells or improving already acquired ones.
Prana will replenish at a set rate of 1% of population, multiplied by relative strength. That means 10 units for 1000 "humans". In addition, all spellcasters discharging any amount of prana will grant a small bonus to replenish rate. Casting spells in combat will yield a far greater bonus, but this depends on the spellcasters' survival, so beware.
Overspending
You can, theoretically, overspend as much as your spellcasters' combined capacity allows. This capacity is described later in the spellcaster chapter. However, every unit of prana overspent will drain five from your Spark. If you do this at a large scale, you'll risk dropping down a level, which could easily ruin your prana replenish rate - far more than the damage taken by not doing so.
Domains - your toolbox(es).
Domains are the fields of magic that your race has access to. Domains give access to researching and casting spells within that field. Types of domains are rather generic, like "Fire" or "Water". Domains are rather static, as they cannot be upgraded as spells can. However, it might be a wise thing to get two or more, as spells can be under more than one domain. Besides, sharing domains with other races opens for spells trade!
Accessing a new domain costs 25 prana.
I'm inclined to not create a complete list of domains, but will reserve the right to deny certain domains as I see fit. Again, keep in mind that picking the same domain as other players might be an advantage. Once a domain is granted, it is open for everyone to access. That means if I allow a new domain, everyone else can buy access to it.
Spells - your tools.
You start out with no spells. Every spell must be individually researched. Spell effects are linear in terms of prana cost. Since one unit of prana is enough to cast the spell a large number of times, stronger spells will be cast fewer times than weak ones. This doesn't mean researching spells is wasting prana, as one battle or campaign can be decided by the variety of spells being cast in cohesion.
Spell Template
Spell Name [Domain/Domain] (Level/impact/cast rate)
Spells come with at least one domain, a level stat, an impact stat and a cast rate stat. Level indicates how many times the spell has been improved. Impact shows how powerful the spell is, and cast rate determines how often the effect is reproduced. The only real difference this makes is whether the effect is a large one-off, or a burst of tiny ones. Higher cast rate is often useful when fighting small fry, while greater impact is needed against larger ones to inflict any damage at all.
Research/upgrade
As opposed to the toolbox, you may sharpen your tools. Investing in already existing spells will make it more effective, either upgrading the impact or cast rate. This means the same spell can evolve different ways, being suited for different purposes.
Ex: Liquid Fire [Fire/Water] (1/Strong/Slow)
In the aforementioned example, Liquid Fire is a spell that falls under both Fire and Water domains. This means a spellcaster must have access to both domains to cast it. The level is one, indicating that this spell has not been upgraded yet. The impact is Strong, and cast rate Slow. If I choose to upgrade this spell, I can either a) add a domain or b) upgrade the level.
I might want to make this spell a kind of burning fog. I then add the Air domain to the spell, and rename it Infernal Cloud. It now has three domains. A spellcaster must have access to all three to cast it, but the spell is more difficult to counter.
Infernal Cloud [Air/Fire/Water] (1/Strong/Slow)
Then, I decide to upgrade its stats greatly by cranking up the level thrice. For every level, I must choose to either upgrade impact or cast rate. I choose to upgrade impact once, and cast rate twice. The result is a 4th level spell with Immense impact and Fast cast rate.
Infernal Cloud [Air/Fire/Water] (4/Immense/Fast)
You can only have one version of a spell at any one level. If you want to redesign a spell, you must pay for researching it again, so make sure you get it right the first time.
Casting spells will be by units of prana, down to a single unit.
Costs for designing new spells are as follows:
First level, one domain: 10 prana
Another level: +5 prana
Another domain: +5 prana
Levels of impact/cast rate are as follows:
Impact: None - Puny - Weak - Medium - Strong - Immense - Devastating
Cast rate: Agonizingly slow - Very Slow - Slow - Medium - Fast - Very fast - Furious
Default starting stats are paired "diagonally":
None/Furious, Puny/Very fast, Weak/Fast, Medium/Medium, Strong/Slow, Immense/Very slow, Devastating/Agonizingly slow.
Costs for upgrading existing spells are as follows:
Another level: +10 prana
Another domain: +10 prana
Note that you cannot design new spells of a level you do not already have a spell at. This means you must upgrade one of your 1st level spells before designing 2nd level spells. Similarly, to add a new domain to a higher level spell, you must have access to a spell of equal level in the domain you want to add.
Important note: you are free to exchange spells with other races. However, they must have access to all the spell domains in order to cast them.
Spellcasters - your everything.
Seriously, without your spellcasters, you can't do sh't. They are your hands and feet, your builders and soldiers. They create and defend what's yours, and destroy your enemies with their powerful spells. You should all call them something fancy and describe them in detail. Their chances of survival depends on the type of magic cast by the opponent, as well as any defensive spells. Physical attributes count for little more than the obvious - larger targets are easier to aim at, while larger races would likely be able to pummel smaller ones if they engaged in melee.
Combined capacity
Spellcasters perform all uses of prana, including investments. The amount of prana one spellcaster can cast in one turn is 5 units. That means you should assign capacity to all their tasks. The easiest way to do this is to multiply your spellcasters by five, then make sure all your spendings don't go over that limit. If you have enough spellcasters, this isn't going to be a problem. But when things start to get busy with projects and warfare going side by side, I'm not going to do the math for you. If you screw up, some orders will simply be ignored. (I choose what's left out. Generally, I will pick what's least important)
Training a spellcaster costs three units of prana. A fresh spellcaster will not contribute to the combined capacity immediately. This is to prevent you from training insane amounts of spellcasters by allotting newly opened capacity from progressively growing generations to the next. Also, it makes calculating capacity a simple multiplication.
Projects
Whatever does not fit into these rules. You describe it, and I will determine the cost. Things like creating optimal habitats are possible projects. Keep it realistic, or I won't allow it. There are things that even magic can't do.
Price List
Training a spellcaster: 3 prana
Accessing a new domain: 25 prana.
Designing a new first level spell of one domain: 10 prana
Adding a level to the new spell: +5 prana
Adding a domain to the new spell: +5 prana
Upgrade an existing spell by one level: 10 prana
Add another domain to an existing spell: 10 prana
Create a perfect Habitat: 100 prana
