I've played neither and hadn't even heard of Supreme Commander until now. I'm not big on war games. The only ones I've really played a lot have been Dominions, Sins of a Solar Empire, and Crusader Kings.

I have a fondness for Dominions just because it's the most absurdly difficult and complicated game I've ever seen (300+ page manual, with a learning curve that makes that of Dwarf Fortress look flatter than a pancake). Sins of a Solar Empire just looks cool, keeps you engaged and often feeling overwhelmed, and has a decent storyline. And I just like Crusader Kings because assassinating annoying leaders, conquering every province you see, and assimilating entire cultures is disturbingly fun to do in that game.

I'll modify it to make it a little less ambiguous. If it is any extra help, this section will go before the NPCs section. I'll also throw together a decent map, with towns and castles added. I probably won't ever bother with villages. There are a lot, and that would be too technical. As will be shown by said map, the other races have been pushed to the very borders, so they don't make a major difference to the size or the population when dealing in such approximate terms.

EDIT:


EDIT2: Below is the OP in its fullness. Tell me what you think.

Dungeon Keepers

Banner by 0011001
GMs: BBeast, Cyclone
Thanks to everyone else for their help

Long ago, in a distant world, the godly being the Devourer created us, the Keepers. We built incredible fortresses called Dungeons to harbour our magical might, and from them we sent out great armies which slaughtered the humans of the land and razed their cities. The reign of our evil soaked the land, until we finally unleashed the Apocalypse and destroyed that world. But we did not die with that realm.

We have moved on to a whole new world. This land we have entered is called Cyprus, and despite being small it is rich with humans. But these humans are not peaceful. Four tribes, wielding rich and diverse magic, surround a grand kingdom and are often at war with each other. These humans will not be easy to conquer and enslave, for they are adept at the art of war and are as cunning and treacherous as we, the Keepers, are. But we shall seize their villages, conquer their cities and slaughter their armies. The denizens of this world will bend to our might or be crushed by it. There is power to be had, and there is nobody who shall stand in our way.

Basis:

As one may have guessed, this roleplay is not focussing on being the 'good guys'. Rather, you are the evil overlord you have always been trying to beat (in more archetypal stories). You must build your army and Dungeon and set out to conquer this land. The humans of this world are not to be scoffed at, for they are experienced in warfare, especially against magical foes, and they have a firm hold of their territory. They won't be defeated too easily.

Humans aside, the greatest threat is your fellow Keepers. We are not a very organised or friendly group, and have always been known to fight each other. And in this small land with finite territory and manpower, conflict is inevitable.

Ground Rules:

The standard no godmodding/metagaming/etc. applies. This means waltzing in, ignoring all resistance, and simply killing another player or a major NPC in one hit is out of the question, and so is being aware of a stealth attack on your Dungeon when you have no legitimate means of detecting it, or simply knowing the location of your enemy without having scouted or searched beforehand.

To join, there is no character sheet. Instead, write a paragraph or two briefly describing your Keeper, including their appearance, abilities, personality, perhaps a bit of their history, etc. and post it to the OOC. This will go in the Compendium. When we approve it, you may post your entry into the world in the IC.

With NPCs, feel free to control minor NPCs (eg. a village which you are raiding, random individuals, etc.). For larger NPCs (eg. a city, an entire army), you should probably consult us.

There are probably a lot of empty spaces in the description of the world. You are free to fill in those spaces (with-in reason, of course. Any major development, such as an entire hidden nation or artefact of great power, would need to run through us first).

The GMs reserve the right to throw a metaphorical monkey wrench into your operations, to keep things from getting complacent. You can't expect to attempt world domination with nothing ever going wrong, now can you?

We will be keeping a Compendium, a list of your creatures, Dungeon, Avatar, etc. for quick reference, so we (and you) do not have to sift through pages of text to find information about you or anyone else later. It will be greatly appreciated if, whenever you create a new creature or Construct or change your Avatar or Dungeon, you write about a paragraph to go into that Compendium.

Read on to find out how to be a Keeper.

Getting Started:

You are a Keeper. Keepers are like demigods, with nigh immortal souls and the ability to create life. Your soul will have just entered this world from the Void into some random place in the world, but now you need an Avatar, a physical form to incarnate as. This body is vulnerable to destruction and manipulation by physical and magical means, but is may also be whatever form you choose, provided you have the power to do so. In creating your form you can forfeit certain things for others - you could forgo magic in order to have great physical strength, or lose all considerable physical prowess to become ultra-magical, or somewhere in between.

But you have just entered this world, and your power is no greater than that of a sorcerer. You don't yet have the power to create an Avatar capable of flight, telepathy, vast destruction and near indestructibility all at once. You must earn and develop such powers, and try to be original too.

Once materialised, your first step to world domination is to create your Dungeon Heart - your inner sanctum, the core of your Dungeon, nexus of your power, centre of your operations. Either you gather slaves to construct it, enchant some artefact, or at worst build it yourself. In the Heart you can do many things. You can modify your Avatar, command your forces directly, expand your consciousness across your entire Dungeon and, most importantly, create new Creatures and Constructs.

Before you can expand your Dungeon and construct whatever rooms you need or desire, you require a workforce. In Ages past, we would summon Imps from the Void, but alas we can no longer do that in this world, so we will have to enslave the limited human populace, or get them to work for us by other means. In order to do that, you need an army. And for that you need creatures.

To create your first creature, you simply enter your Heart and begin the creative process. You can invent just about anything, although its power is limited by that of yourself and your Dungeon, so your first creature will be fairly weak, hardly more powerful than a human if at all. While creating the blueprint for this new creature, however, you are completely incapacitated and quite vulnerable. Any significant disturbance could be catastrophic. The time it takes to create your first blueprint is 3 posts made by other people (not your own posts).

Once you've created your blueprint or original, you can easily create many more of that creature. A summoning chamber, a hatchery, transmutation of other creatures, or something along those lines will allow more of that creature to be made. Just make sure not to lose every copy of that creature, or else you will have to create it again from scratch.

So, with your meagre army you can head out, raze a village and capture some humans as slaves. Now what? You can get them to work on your Dungeon, that's what. If word gets out that you razed a village an angry army might come knocking on your doorstep, so you'd better build some defences. You'll also want a solid means of summoning more of your creatures. Additionally, you've got to house, feed and equip your army and slaves, so you'll probably need barracks, shelters, farms, mines, blacksmiths, and workshops. Facilities for training is a good idea, as are storage rooms, prisons for rowdy slaves, and whatever speciality rooms and buildings you might need. Get creative.

The greater your Dungeon, the greater your power. And the further your conquest, the greater your power. So get out there, enslave humanity, extend your Dungeon and be a blight on the world.

Creating Creatures and Constructs:

As mentioned above, to design a new creature you must enter your Heart and spend a while there distraction-free. The amount of time you spend there is determined by the Fibonacci Sequence. Your first creature takes 3 posts to create, your second takes 5 posts, third 8 posts, fourth 13 posts, fifth 21 posts, and so on. These are posts of other players, so you can't simply spam posts to create your creature. Each successive new creature is typically more powerful than the last, but it will be weaker than a Keeper or Construct and its power is limited by your own. Additionally, creatures don't get more powerful as you do. You may change their equipment and make minor, largely cosmetic changes, but any major overhaul will require starting from scratch or upgrading.

While you are in your Heart creating a creature, all your attention is focussed on the creation of this new blueprint. If your concentration is broken, such as by a pesky hero kicking open the door of the Heart, then bad things happen. In short, your Heart explodes from misdirected magical energy, probably taking out your Avatar, your new blueprint and a sizeable chunk of your Dungeon (and hopefully whichever enemies were beating down your door too). Try not to let that happen.

While you personally can not attend to anything while you're busy creating new creatures, the other denizens of your Dungeon can continue working. Your armies will still defend your Dungeon and do whatever tasks you left them to do, and if you have any Constructs they can arrange raids, organise your troops and the like.

If, later, you wish to make a major modification to one of your pre-existing creatures, then you have the option of upgrading it. This process takes the same amount of other people's posts as it took to originally create that creature. Unlike the original process, upgrading does not completely incapacitate you. If things go wrong, then there won't be an explosion, although completing the upgrade may be compromised.

Constructs are like your general, sergeants and champions. They are far more powerful than ordinary creatures, although still weaker than all but the most pitiful of Keepers. Constructs are also capable of leading and organising your forces in your absence, which makes them even more valuable. As well as greater power and (usually) intelligence than your ordinary minions, Constructs have a much closer link with Keepers, and can be empowered or even possessed if the need should arise (although you may need to be in your Heart at the time). While Constructs often take the form of a more powerful version of one of your creatures, this needn't be the case. You can make your Constructs as unique as you desire.

The creation of a single Construct requires the same process as creating a new blueprint for a creature. You must be in your Heart, undisturbed, for a period of time determined by the Fibonacci Sequence, as before. The more Constructs you already have, the longer it takes. However, the number of blueprints you have does not influence how long it takes to make a Construct, and vice versa.

Should you so want to, you can destroy all of the copies of one of your weaker creatures in order to lower the number of blueprints you have in order to speed up the creation of newer blueprints. The same effect occurs if you are unfortunate enough to have all of one type of minion wiped out. The same can be done of Constructs. Just be sure to do so before you start creating - no distractions or things go boom, remember?

Dungeon Management:

You might have dreams of an impenetrable Dungeon with a colossal army to crush everyone in your path. But to have a massive Dungeon you must first build it, and to have a colossal army you must arm and feed it. To do that you need slaves, which you will need to capture or otherwise drag into your service, and they will work best when they are healthy and co-operative. Although you have great creative power, the creatures you create are never capable of replacing human slaves.

This means there will be a number of rooms and facilities your Dungeon would need. You need a source of food, water, fuel, building supplies and weapons, as well as some kind of shelter. You have to keep your Dungeon, your army and your slaves in working order.

You could produce these resources yourself. You can simply make some of your slaves work as farmers, miners, builders, blacksmiths, etc., and have farms and mines and forges to match. But you are a Keeper, and what you don't have you can take by force. When you raid a village, it might be worthwhile to steal whatever they have in their stores as well as capturing the townsfolk as slaves. Perhaps you are so fearsome that the mere threat of force can drive villagers to surrender their produce as tribute. Just be sure to have the muscle to back up that threat if a human army comes to try and liberate them.

Once you have exhausted all nearby villages, though, where else can you take things from? Your fellow Keepers, of course. The Keeper next door has done you a favour by gathering large amounts of food, weapons and slaves in one place, ripe for the picking. And you'll be rather peeved if you go to raid a village only to find it had already been stripped of everything useful by another Keeper. Of course, if you're not up to the task of battling another Keeper, you could always form some kind of alliance and do trade and the likes. Just watch out in case the other Keeper decides to stab you in the back. We're a treacherous lot, after all.

Keepers:

As mentioned before, you exist through your Avatar, which is your physical body. As a Keeper, you can wield quite potent power and abilities, although greatness in one aspect generally requires trading off some other ability. While you could be an all-rounder, Keepers typically focus on a particular theme or element, which allows them to allocate more of their power to those abilities. You are free to modify your Avatar and develop new abilities in your Heart at any time, provided you have the power to do so.

Keepers gain power passively from the land and people under their control. The amount of power you have is determined by how much you have conquered, how big your Dungeon is, and how many slaves you have under you. Clearly, a Keeper who has only razed a few villages, lives in a hovel of a Dungeon and has only a meagre collection of slaves will be greatly outmatched by a Keeper who has conquered cities, lives in a fortress Dungeon, has numerous outposts and has whole townships of slaves. Now, a quick way to gain power is to conquer other Keepers, because in doing that you assimilate their Dungeon, slaves and conquered lands into your own and gain their power.

Should your Avatar be killed, that is not necessarily the end. Your creatures will likely be thrown into chaos and slaves all escape unless you have good Constructs to keep them in line, and your Dungeon operations will likely be crippled, but Keepers don't die that easily. Provided your Heart is intact, you are able to resurrect yourself and rebuild your Avatar in the Heart. This process is slow and will take a while, so in that time you just need to hope that your enemies don't come in to finish you off. However, if you die and your enemies have destroyed your Heart, then things go from bad to worse. Your armies will be dead or scattered, your Dungeon assimilated into your enemy's own domain, and resurrection will be difficult. Should you choose to stubbornly persist, you would be almost back to square one, save for any loyal underlings who had survived and escaped.

Rogue Beings:

If you choose not to be a Keeper, you can instead be a Rogue Being, also known as Rogue Constructs. Rogue Beings are powerful entities. They can be things like dragons, sorcerers, elementals, demons, monsters, ex-Constructs, etc. You have a diverse range of opportunities to be a unique and creative Rogue Being. The power of Rogue Beings lies between that of a Construct and a Keeper. While you are a fearsome force in any battle, you would struggle to overpower all but the weakest Keepers, and you lack the creative powers of Keepers, such as creating creatures or changing your physical form like Keepers do.

It is recommended that you find a Keeper to submit your services to. Most Keepers are quite familiar with the usefulness of Rogue Beings. Not only does that provide protection from anyone who might otherwise want to kill you, it also grants you access to the resources and forces of that Keeper. Of course, they'll want you to work for it, fighting in their wars and defending their Dungeon and so on, but that just adds to the fun.

If you are playing as both a Rogue Being and a Keeper, your Rogue Being may not partner up with your Keeper.

The World:



This time we have emerged in a land called Cyprus. Cyprus is a small, coastal region, an oasis of lush green surrounded by inhospitable desert and vast ocean. It is very roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) across and 70 kilometers (45 miles) long, which puts it at 2-3 day's march across, assuming human speeds, need for rest, and no resistance. For an Earthly comparison, it is about the size of a small European nation. The climate is temperate, bordering on tropical.

The land of Cyprus is bordered on the North and West by a mountain range. At the North-Eastern corner there is heavy vulcanism, with numerous active volcanos constantly spewing out ash, forming the wastes known as the Ashlands. In the centre of the Northern border is a frozen wasteland, making that stretch of the mountain range even more treacherous. Beyond the mountains is desert, which stretched many, many days into the distance and is home to little more than the wildlife and a few nomadic barbarian tribes. The South and East of Cyprus is coastline, and while that is quite hospitable there is little of interest within reach beyond that horizon. Around the South of Cyprus sprawls a thick jungle, the fauna of which makes it quite a perilous location for the unwary. Within those borders lies lush green plains, interspersed with woodlands and lined with a few pristine rivers and a small lake.

Within those borders live the inhabitants of Cyprus, which are mainly human, some of which have magical capabilities, and number approximately 120,000 in total, including those of the major kingdom as well as the lesser races. They have made their mark on this land. In the territory of the major kingdom, half the arable land has been converted to farmland, and hundreds of little villages dot the countryside, spaced only a few kilometers apart on the myriad roads. While these villages are undefended and plentiful, they are also small, averaging a population of around 200 people each. A much more tempting target would be the towns, or even the cities, each with populations numbering in the thousands or more, but those are far fewer and also much better defended. There are also a few castles, fortresses intended for border defense, which may make useful footholds within their territory. The races living in the borders are generally populated much more sparsely when compared to the central kingdom, although this varies.

NPCs:

In Cyprus, there are five nations and races of especial interest, The largest of them is the kingdom of the Cypriots, with the capital city of Amplus in the centre of Cyprus. The Cypriots, named so because they lay claim to ownership of this whole land, are mostly ordinary humans (by the standards of Cyprus, anyway), ruled by a monarchy. Their kingdom covers most land which is not held fiercely by the other races, and has been maintained by a combination of technological superiority, a greater population, and a mysterious absence of any political unrest. Quite likely your first forays as a Keeper will be into the villages of the Cypriots, and while it will be a challenge to penetrate deeper into their territory, if you can successfully conquer their kingdom you will definitely be the strongest Keeper in the land.

To the West, nestled in the mountains on the border of Cyprus, is the grand city of Monolith. In the centre of Monolith stands an artefact of great power, Providence, which powers the many untiring golem Workers which are the city's inhabitants. The Workers used to be people, drawn by the prospect of immortality and transformed into these beings, at the cost of never being able to leave the city and having to toil continuously. Watching over the city, and capable of travelling elsewhere, are the Travellers, who are more powerful. Monolith is a centre of manufacturing, and is a source of many of the weapons and tools of the Cypriots. While the Workers can not simply be captured as slaves to take back to your Dungeon, to capture Monolith would be to hold the greatest hub of manufacturing on Cyprus, and to cut critical supplies from the Cypriots.

To the South in the jungle are the Dragon Riders, a nomadic race of people who live in a symbiotic relationship with giant, poison breathing, flightless lizards, often referred to as Dragons. Little is known about them, for they do not have settlements or language. Instead, they are spread across the jungle, adding to the dangers already lurking there. The intelligence and trap-making skills of the Riders, combined with the sheers strength and power of the Dragons, makes them dangerous opponents to face on their home turf. While they are dangerous, they are in no way organised or united. To conquer the jungle would be to control the greatest source of lumber in Cyprus, as well as the greatest concentration of biodiversity. Who knows, you might even be able to find a use for the Dragon Riders.

To the North in the mountains is Kythnos, a frigid icy wasteland of unnatural cold locked in eternal snowfall. They are inhabited by the ice witches, who are actually ice demons in a thin disguise, and who have gathered a significant cult following. A jagged, crystalline city of ice twists through the mountains, but the majority of the city lies underground in ice caves. Save for the storms and the magic of the ice demons, the mountains are also defended by sheer cliff faces and pits leading to crystalline spikes. While this land is unpleasant, the ice demons may be useful allies in your quest for conquest. And if not, they have been storing up power for quite some time, which lies locked within the ice.

Just East of Kythnos is its polar opposite, the Ashlands, a land of volcanos and poisoned by ash. Few dare enter, for any water is toxic and the ground itself is treacherous. However, deep inside the Ashlands are the towers of the Warlocks, humans who have been shunned by the rest of humanity for their practise of necromancy and other dark magics. They are highly aggressive, sending out soldiers to raze settlements and capture slaves from the borders of the Ashlands. Aboveground, their settlements are quite dreary, save for their magnificent towers. However, they have made extensive use of subterranean caves and caverns to house slaves, fungal farms and so on. While the land is dangerous to enter, it is for this reason that the towns of the Warlocks are quite poorly defended, so if you can brave the Ashlands with a proper army you should find easy pickings of slaves. Alternatively, you could make allies with the Warlocks, perhaps taking advantage of the unrest rising among their ranks.

There can be other lesser races inhabiting Cyrpus as well, in the corners of the land where the other races won't have wiped them out or assimilated them. However, they obviously wouldn't have the same level of influence as the aforementioned five.

For further information on each of these races, read the following entries kindly contributed by the people who shall be the primary controllers of those races.

BBeast, Cypriots:



DR_TRAPEZOID, Ice Demons of Kyotos:



Lugubrious, Monolith:



The 42nd Gecko, Dragon Riders:



Cyclone, Ashlanders:



Credits:

This RP series has migrated here from the Spore Forums. Credits go to Senger Drol/Tri for the original version of this over there, GrandEnder for the second version, Prospo for the next one, and Cavalier (now Lugubrious) for the following two.

Beautiful. I love it. Can't say I can see anything that needs immediate improvements.

Looking solid. Ready to start when you are.

Where's Cyclone? I should get his opinion on this too

Here I am. It looks good; this week and next are when I have my big tests though. I'll be slightly less active, but I should manage to get in some posting.

So by no means should you wait for me, start whenever you like.

I like it, though you might want to consider putting the 'extra information' about Monolith into a subhider.

Let's see if subhiders work...

[/hider]

EDIT: Nope. You'll need to get an edited version if you want to change the formatting like that.

I'll get an Interest Check up

Interest Check

It is ready!

Don't think you can put hiders inside hiders.