Welcome fellow NRPers! Earth, the age of sails and discoveries. The period of great explorers. I believe everybody is familiar with the atmosphere. Yet there's a major difference. On this Earth humans aren't only the sentient species. Elves, dwarves, lizardmen and many other unique races share it together with humans. Science is in development yet there's a force that defies logic, the arcane arts of magic. Yes, this is an alternate fantasy world, and your nation is among them.
RP Notes:
Standard RPGuild rules, no need to repeat them
You can make your claim to either a territory or preferably a certain nation, i.e: you get France's land
You can either play an AU version of that country or even remake it into a whole original nation from scratch
Try to tune your nation with the rest of the setting, though. Make it fit. I'll help you in that.
Countries, locations not picked by any players could be used as NPCs. They'll be assumed to be similar to their historical counterparts.
You have limited control over the NPC nations in your neighborhood. You can flesh them out a bit and if needed you can even control them a bit.
Don't abuse this feature, though. Neither stomp NPCs just because you can control them. If neccessary ask another player to play the NPC for you.
Technology is somewhere around 15-16th century levels in general. You can still fight with armored knights and I'm also up for creative applications of tech.
Consider the timeframe. Ships crossing from Europe to America take around 2-4 months, for example. Land routes are even slower.
As I said in the intro magic and fantasy races are allowed. Though don't make them so OP a RL 15-16th century nation cannot deal with them. That's all.
I'll wait with the IC until we get enough players. Until then we can continue discussing things and flesh out the setting.
Once the IC starts I wish that all nations would post their intro post first. Something that establishes your nation.
There's no enforced posting order but when possible please try to wait for the other players a bit. This is mostly timeline sensitive so back-and-forth posting between two leaders during a meeting is usually fine.
Alright, that's about it for now. Interested? Then here's my guide and scheme for submitting nation profiles to this game:
NATION NAME
(your crest, symbol or flag can go here)
Location
(Pick a real life or historical country/landmass name to claim, alternatively you can supply a picture, don't be too greedy!)
General Introduction
(because history may change depending on the final consensus on the setting I'm just satisfied with a short intro. What is your nation? What they do? How they live? etc...)
History
(You can ignore this part for now because the game's setting is ambiguous at the beginning. Once it took shape you can work on your background more. Albeit if your General Intro already covers the history we need you can just skip this)
Government & Society
(I decided to combine these two and maybe even several other categories because I feel they are often related. You can detail here the type of your government, who are your important people. How the people live and what's their mentality like. You can talk about minorities, demographics, population. If you have an unique judicial system you may also want to detail it here. And of course you can mention what is your unique races are like. First come first serve. If a player already made elves then they have priority. You can of course discuss things with that person and come to an agreement. Race/species descriptions must be always put in separate hiders so they can be easily found. Think of something like this:
Garden Gnomes are tiny humanoids at average 10-14 inches in height.
Economy & Industry
(What are your primary exports and imports? How much you trade? How are your craftsmen organized? How developed is your technology? What kind of unique creations you have? etc...)
Military Overview
(Yeah, of course you also need to tell us some about your military. Try to avoid number games and unhealthy arms races. We play this game for fun and that needs balance and sensible approach. One of the main guidelines is that your nation's military shouldn't be much better than a historical 15-16th century army. Don't worry, I don't ask you historical accuracy. So-called "super units" can be okay if they are rather rare and preferably also have other limitations. The point is to let you do cool things and explore your creativity but at the same time don't do it at the expense of others.)
I'm also thinking of the future and for the sake of helping new players I already establish this:
This section will be for aiding players to understand the game's setting. I'll try to update this semi-periodically but it won't contain everything. Still, better than trying to eat yourself through multiple NS from the get go.
The Le'shi resemble nothing so much as vaguely humanoid Gila Monsters. They are distinctly bestial, retaining their full tails, venomous bite, and keeping a notable slouch to their posture. Their skin has a beaded texture and is normally a mottled combination of black/green and yellow. They are a large race, even with their slouch they tend to stand at least a head higher than most races and are heavily muscled. They are capable of incredible bursts of strength and speed but are in general slower in the long run and more ponderous than most races.
Le'shi are hardly sexually dimorphic and most other races have difficulty telling the two sexes apart. They are cold blooded and are therefore very sensitive to temperature shifts which has been a major contributor for the race remaining in its arid homeland. While not a particularly dumb race, the Le'shi are not exactly a race of geniuses either. There seems to be some correlation between magical aptitude and intelligence among the Le'shi which may explain how the hierarchy of their species came to be.
The most notable thing about the Le'shi beyond their impressive bulk is their powerful magic users. Magic users are an order of magnitude rarer in Le'shi society than in most other places, but for the fast breeding reptiles this is somewhat offset. Le'shi magic users form the secular and religious rulers of their society from the lowliest Le'shi medicine man all the way up to the mighty priest-kings, if they are in a place of holy authority they wield the powerful magics of the Le'shi.
Location
American Southwest around Arizona/New Mexico extending down into bits of Northern Mexico.
General Introduction
In the lands stretching from the southern edge of the Rocky Mountains in the north, the Grand Canyon in the west, and loosely following the Rio Grande southwards into the northern tip of Mexico sit the mighty confederacy of the Le'Shi. The Confederacy is a loose collection of the many sovereign theocratic kingdoms of the reptilian Le'Shi. At the head of each sits a great Priest-King, the strongest mage within their Kingdom, who wear the twin hats of ruler and demigod. While Kingdoms occasionally war against one another, all come to the holy city of Chitdol-Asiba to reconcile their grievances before the Priest-King who has been chosen by God and Le'shi to sit as the arbiter of disputes and leader of all in times of trouble. The Le'Shi themselves are a large and intimidating race of rippling muscle and venomous jaws, but the lack of essential resources has kept them largely stuck in the Bronze Age as if to counter their natural strength.
History
(You can ignore this part for now because the game's setting is ambigious at the beginning. Once it took shape you can work on your background more. Albeit if your General Intro already covers the history we need you can just skip this)
Government and Society
The Le'shi is not technically a singular nation but instead a confederacy of many kingdoms all united by their common race, customs, and religion. All Kingdoms are theocratic and ruled by a Priest-king who is the most powerful mage within that Kingdom and therefore the closest one of all to the realm of the gods. The various Priest-Kings all rule from the Holy City of Chitdol-Asiba. To determine which Priest-King leads the confederacy at a given time, every five years a tournament is held where the various priest-kings all bring forth their greatest champions to do battle. The champion who reigns victorious determines which Priest-King takes Primacy over all others.
The culture of the Le'shi is highly regimented and tradition bound. The Le'shi practice a soft caste system. There are no specific rules about what a Le'shi does with their life, but a family based guild system ensures that the chances of a Le'shi changing its course in life is rare at best. The major industries of the Le'shi are all based around individual families. They are also heavily steeped in ritual, with elaborate ceremonies for everything from hunting, marriage, warfare, and even the act of writing texts. Being theocratic the Confederacy is also deeply religious and every household has at least one shrine to the local nature deities that keep them safe or ensure good harvests or what have you.
Religion is the cornerstone of Le'shi society. Their faith is animist in nature, they believe that everything animate or inanimate has a spirit known as a Kachina. Some Kachina are obviously more powerful than others and could be considered deities in their own right such as the great mountains and the Sun who are worshiped universally by all Le'shi for they are considered the givers of life to the cold blooded reptiles. Kachina are said to reside in the underworld, a realm where newborn Le'shi souls come from and dead Le'shi souls return to and is also considered to be the origin of Le'shi magics. Religious rituals are based around appeasing the local Kachina to gain favor or right wrongs that a village or kingdom may have caused. To represent Kachina in ritual, the priests of the Le'shi wear elaborate costumes and masks in an attempt to channel the Kachina into the mortal plane. Those with magical powers are considered to be "between" worlds and therefore better able to communicate with and channel the powers of the spirits. The Priest-Kings, being the most powerful mages, are therefore also considered to be the holiest members of society and are themselves worshiped like minor deities by the Le'shi.
While lacking in precious resources the Confederation has access to large amounts of materials to make incredibly vivid dyes and so Le'shi clothing is brightly colored. Colors are not attached to any social significance but the numbers of colors are. Common farmers for example only wear clothing of one color, normally purple as the insect that is ground up to make purple dye is considered a major pest that attacks crops, whereas the Priest-Kings' outfits could only be described as technocolor vomit. While not ones for paintings, the Le'shi make elaborate statues of wood, bone, and stone of the local Kachina. The greatest of all of these statues are known as the Dueling Twins, avatars of the Sun and the Stars who are considered to be in an endless battle with one another over control of the Earth. These statues are locked in battle and form the arch that all must walk under when entering the Holy City of Chitdol-Asiba.
There are two distinct styles of Architecture within the Confederacy. Those who live in the open lands live in Pueblos of a few hundred to several thousand in the largest cases. These communities are normally made of Adobe as there is a shortage of stone or wood in these areas. The cities that live closer to the great mountains are made in a similar manner, though are done so with stone. The holy city of Chitdol-Asiba is one such city with strong basalt walls protecting the Priest-Kings who rule from what could only be called a great pyramid at the heart of the city.
Economy & Industry
The Confederacy lacks a distinct economic slant to it; many goods are produced, traded for, and consumed. Their homeland is arid and resource poor so metals, especially iron, are the most common import the Le'shi require. Their primary export are the many vivid dyes made from materials unique to the region. Le'shi dyes are well regarded as the best in the region in both vibrance and variety. The currency of the Le'shi is the he'le, a bronze coin (copper and tin being some of the only metals that exist in abundance within their lands) that is circular with a square hole stamped through the center. Instead of purses Le'shi keep their currency on long strings which hang from their belts. The denominations of he'le go up by twelves with 1, 12, 24, 48, and 144 he'le coins existing.
Military Overview
The military of the Confederacy is a highly divided and decentralized thing. There is no central military structure, and in many Kingdoms there is not even a dedicated military class. Instead when times of war come the Local Priest-King calls a summons for War Parties from all of his subservient villages. Individual War Parties can be anywhere from a handful to hundreds of individuals depending on the size and wealth of a village or city being called. The calling of every War Party in the Confederacy by the currently ruling Priest-King is an incredibly rare thing and only occurs when a threat massive enough to affect the survival of all Le'Shi rises. In such a dire event nearly ten thousand warriors could be rallied for battle, with likely twice that in lesser militias made up of War Parties from lesser settlements without real training.
The level of training and equipment of these warriors is also highly variable. Many War Parties are simply made up of any able bodied males the village can gather, while those of the Priest-Kings' own cities are often individuals who have dedicated their lives to the arts of battle. The lesser War Parties are primarily used as skirmishers and missile troops, using their lives spent on the hunt to their advantage while the true warriors clash in the open field. Light infantry are traditionally armed with Bronze headed spears(Often the same ones used on the hunt) and a small round shield made of wood and leather. Heavy infantry wield massive war clubs made of hard wood and bronze or large forward curving swords in one hand, and a tower shield in the other. More elite units, such as the retinue of a Priest-King or his generals, may even wear heavy armor made from splints of Bronze. Otherwise troops go into battle largely unarmored. Missile Troops carry the same Greatbows used to hunt huge game. Made for the large Le'Shi, these bows have a draw weight few other races could handle and fling arrows longer than a man's arm. Highly effective in the hands of trained archers, they are not used as volley weapons.
Mages are both a constant and a massive rarity on the battlefield. The only members of a Le'shi War Party capable of using magic are the leaders, normally a Priest-King and his handful of generals. While the magics wielding by these individuals are a terrifying sight to behold, they are few in number and can only do so much to act as a force multiplier especially considering they are such high-value targets. Combat magic normally revolves around the aspects of the two greatest deities of the Le'shi: The Mountain and the Sun. Blinding beams of light, the ability to make the ground tremble, and hurl great chunks of stone are all in a Priest-King or general's playbook.
Urâl Dûm is one of the largest, if not the largest, dwarven realm in the world. Spanning the length, breadth, height and depth of the Ural mountains, it is a maze of tunnels, halls, mines and fortresses. The dwarves of Urâl Dûm are wary of outsiders, and few are permitted inside the halls of the underground kings. Those that are speak of marvelous masonry, untold riches, and the crushing darkness of the depths. The rest are allowed only to the outside keeps, where the dwarves barter minerals and crafts for other goods.
The dwarves of Urâl Dûm rarely leave their subterranean homes, but when they do it is usually either a trader or an exile. The traders are known for bringing enormous sums of riches with them with which they buy equally enormous quantities of goods. The exiles, the law-breakers of the dwarven society, don’t usually last long. There are however some stories and legends about surface-dwarves and their lives in the lands surrounding the mountains.
The dwarves in Urâl Dûm are all about collective welfare and success. The individual is unimportant next to society as a whole. Resources aren’t bartered with. Instead, they’re shared and dispensed according to need. The only time that the dwarves take part in bartering and haggling is when they trade goods with outsiders, who live differently. Dwarves are very disciplined and hardworking, and have been compared to ants on many occasions. They try to be self-sufficient in the mountains, but the need for resources from the outside is not easily quenched.
History
(You can ignore this part for now because the game's setting is ambigious at the beginning. Once it took shape you can work on your background more. Albeit if your General Intro already covers the history we need you can just skip this)
Government & Society
Urâl Dûm is a federation of dwarven city-states, each ruled by a sovereign. These cities together form a ruling council that decides upon matters dealing with all of the mountain range. Local problems are dealt with by local authorities. The burden of rule is hereditary, so there are no elections and in essence no democracy. This is however not a problem since most of dwarven society functions in the same way. Occupations and titles are all hereditary. If you’re born to a smith, you will grow up to become one yourself. No occupation has a higher value than the rest; all who contribute are equal in dwarven society.
Dwarves overall are very much into tradition. Their philosophy revolves around self-sufficiency and lasting, and so they strive to be so themselves. Written words are never altered, old tunnels never destroyed. As such, change takes time in dwarven society. Choosing what particular kind of stone to use in a mural can be a question for an entire generation.
There are no punishments in dwarven society, except one: banishment. Any dwarf that breaks the ancient laws of their people are cast out of the realm, never to return. Most exiles perish very quickly, but some are known to have found a place in other societies. There are even rumors of small settlements of dwarves living in the forests surrounding the mountains.
The dwarves of Urâl Dûm are not religious. They have a hard time understanding the very idea of religion, or what the point of its practice is. The closest thing to religion or superstition they have is their reverence for their ancestors. Dwarves take great pride in their ancestors, noting their deeds and lives on stone tablets mounted on the walls where they live. Most dwarven homes are covered in runes with stories depicting the lives of its previous inhabitants.
The dwarves are a subterranean humanoid species originating from the mountains around the world. They share many characteristics with humans (two eyes and ears, a nose, a mouth, two arms and two legs) but there are many features that tell them apart. Dwarves are normally no taller than 100cm (roughly 3 feet). They have four fingers on each hand and four toes on each foot. Dwarves also lack a neck, making them unable to turn their heads. They are hairier than humans, and all dwarves grow big beards. It is very hard, if not impossible, for humans to tell dwarven males from females. The dwarves themselves say it’s a matter of scent.
These subterranean creatures have a long lifespan of around 300 years, but are considered old at 100 and will remain so for the remainder of their lives. They can see perfectly even in complete darkness, mainly because their eyes can register heat down to fractions of degrees. Dwarves are very sensitive to sunlight and prefer to stay indoors if possible. If not, they usually garb themselves with heavy clothes, covering as much as possible of their skin.
Dwarves are renowned for their supreme stonemasonry and blacksmithing. It is said that dwarven strongholds are carved from the rock of the mountains itself, and that dwarf-made steel never bends, breaks or dulls.
Economy & Industry
Military Overview
(Yeah, of course you also need to tell us some about your military. Try to avoid number games and unhealthy arms races. We play this game for fun and that needs balance and sensible approach. One of the main guidelines is that your nation's military shouldn't be much better than a historical 15-16th century army. Don't worry, I don't ask you historical accuracy. So-called "super units" can be okay if they are rather rare and may have other limitations. The point is to let you do cool things and explore your creativity but at the same time don't do it at the expense of others.)
Gonna post y sheet here as well(will move once completed)
Empire of Alth'Nar
Location: Parts of Southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala.
General Introduction: (because history may change depending on the final concensus on the setting I'm just satisfied with a short intro. What is your nation? What they do? How they live? etc...)
History: (You can ignore this part for now because the game's setting is ambigious at the beginning. Once it took shape you can work on your background more. Albeit if your General Intro already covers the history we need you can just skip this)
Government & Society:
Unlike their northern neighbors, the Le'shi, rule of the Empire is more centralized, with the Emperor reigning supreme. However, his reach can only go so far, as such the Emperor has placed Noble Houses most loyal to him to govern the provinces.
Culture and Society of the Alth'Nar is one of decadence and harsh segregation, the people divided into two classes, Highborn and lowborn. Highborn are classified as the majority of Elves, who often enjoy a life of luxury. Lowborn however, live quite differing lives. Lowborn consist of none-elven races and elves who've turn their back on the Empire, a great majority of them living as slaves or in poverty
Races:
The Elves of Alth'nar first arrived to the mainland four hundred years ago, exiled from their homeland after a long and brutal civil war. The Exiles were quick in taming the wildlands and local tribes, establishing their Empire.
During the early conquests of the Empire, Human Tribes and Cities were the first to be tamed by the Elves. Now Humans, like the others, live among the lowborn, in the slums of Elven Cities.
Le'shi within the Empire, like the other races, are not here by choice. The Le'shi Kingdoms and the Empire often fought, ranging from small raids, to border skirmishes, and escalating to all-out war. Often times however, Elven Slavers venture out themselves to acquire Le'shi slaves and most times, with success. Like the other races, Le'shi slaves are spread far out throughout the Empire and beyond, and those that escape but with no way to return home, are forced to live in the slums with the other lowborn.
Economy & Industry: Alth'nar is rather infamous to the surrounding kingdoms and tribes as the primary source of the New World's slave trade, both exporting and importing slaves to the Distant Old World and in the region. However, that is not its primary source of income. The Southern regions of Alth'nar are rich and fertile lands, one full of life, a perfect source for exotic meats, minerals, and lumber.
Military Overview: (Yeah, of course you also need to tell us some about your military. Try to avoid number games and unhealthy arms races. We play this game for fun and that needs balance and sensible approach. One of the main guidelines is that your nation's military shouldn't be much better than a historical 15-16th century army. Don't worry, I don't ask you historical accuracy. So-called "super units" can be okay if they are rather rare and may have other limitations. The point is to let you do cool things and explore your creativity but at the same time don't do it at the expense of others.)
