In the dead of night there were fifteen falling stars that streaked across the sky. The lands to the east saw the lights above the sea, and those here in Albion watched as they streaked over the mountains and across the fair plains. Far to the west, the lights were even spotted by those brave adventurers that tried their fortunes at settling the world.
Never in living memory had such a shower been seen; the superstitious pointed to the sky and foretold impending doom and death. The wise men of the old ways consulted their tomes and cast their spells to decipher whatever sign the heavens had seen fit to show, whereas the skeptics, men of these new times, struggled to explain the phenomenon through science and logic. The apathetic just laughed and sat by as they always did.
Those fifteen meteors were fitting, for they marked the coming of the year 1500. Today is the turn of a century, and with it, an era. Magic has began its decline and now as its practitioners dwindle in number, so too does their power seem to fade away from this world. In place of magic have come a great many new and terrifying things: gunpowder, steel, and industry. All manner of wondrous new innovations come from the eastern lands; the Commonwealth has united those lands of the rising run under one banner and sparked a golden age of technology and science.
Today also marks a monumental day for the Commonwealth: the fortieth birthday of Wladyslaw III, Divine Emperor and First Citizen. As his days grow numbered, he seeks ensure that his name is glorified and remembered. Many whisper that he looks to Albion in the west, wanting to bring those divided lands under the Commonwealth's great banner to establish a lasting legacy of his reign.
But the nations of Albion have their grand ambitions too; five years ago the New World was discovered by pirates and explorers, and in these past years there has been a scramble to chart the western lands and claim their riches.
So just as the New World lies seductively in the west, a new world of a different sort comes from the east to take Albion by storm and bring about a technological revolution; it is be an age of industry and steel, of science and philosophy, and it that will shake Albion to the core. This era could see Albion and its ancient civilizations fade into dust and irrelevance, or it could be a golden age in which declining states could rise to rule the world. What will happen? Only time can tell.
OOC Information and RP Details
First and foremost, we have a Discord channel. Feel free to jump in and say hello!
Plot information:
Conflicts brew from many sides. The Commonwealth is of course a looming threat that has cast Albion in its shadow; with each passing year, its influence over the continent grows. As colonialism begins to take root, conflicts over the western lands will no doubt arise. Even in Albion there is conflict between magic and technology and between the different faiths.
Game Mechanics
The RP will be broken into loose "turns". Each turn will represent one month of time IC. You are allowed to perform multiple action on each turn; the point isn't to restrict action so much as keep a consistent flow of time and help us keep track of how long certain actions (like raising an army) have been going on for.
We begin on January 1 of the year 1500, with the years in the date being counted from a Cataclysmic volcanic eruption.
Rules:
Though not an exhaustive list, here's some important rules to keep in mind:
1. Good grammar and some effort please. I've labeled this RP to be Mid/High Casual and will thus expect the effort of at least a few paragraphs per post.
2. On the topic of posts, going inactive for a long time without at least telling us will result in us having to terminate you from the RP and go through the effort of either writing your nation out of the story. It probably also means having someone else control it when needed. That's all a big hassle, so please don't make the commitment of joining this RP unless you're ready to keep it.
3. If you feel it necessary to keep your secrets, plotting against nations and the like can be done in PMs instead of on the OOC. I'll ask that you include me though, just so that I can keep in the loop as GM.
4. Regarding technology level, let's try to keep things near the early Renaissance time period for the nations of Albion, at least for the beginning of the RP. I am willing to allow certain fantasy materials like mithril or adamantine so long as they aren't ridiculously powerful.
5. At the bottom of each IC post, add a small summary placed inside of a hider. This becomes very helpful when trying to look back or for those that are struggling to keep up with the RP.
Concerning the world:
To elaborate upon what information was provided on the interest check, the central continent with our nations on it is called Albion. The one to the west is the so-called 'New World' with the continent being named Oesteland. The Commonwealth controls Heilig, the northeastern continent, and south of Heilig the Commonwealth's ongoing imperialism has led to them expanding into that continent, known as Suid.
The map above is of the full world and all its landmasses. Note that this is not an accurate representation of the knowledge possessed IC; cartography during this time period was spotty. In Albion very little is known about Oesteland and even parts of Suid or eastern Heilig.
Concerning Nation Sheets:
Here is the rough template; to be clear you can customize your NS however you like. This is just a suggested format that should help you figure out what needs to be said.
When posting your nation sheet please also include your rolls for easy comparison.
FAQ:
Ask questions so that I have stuff to put here ;p
Waiting List:
I would like to thank everyone for their interest. We've gotten to the point that we have quite a few rolls handed out, and even if only half of you made nations and became active then we'd have a pretty solid base. At this point I'm unfortunately going to have to stop handing out rolls to anyone else that would like to join. I will however start a waiting list for those that would like to join if we have openings later on down the line.
Credits:
Credits to Chenzor and several of the other guys in the Civilizations RP Discord chat. They gave me the motivation to try making this RP and they helped me iron out some of the ideas.
Credits also to Sini's An Age of Empires RP from a few years back. I'm taking a lot of inspiration from that RP (however brief it was) and might copy his rolls mechanic.
We have @TheArhive to thank for making our map. He did it all; nevermind that silly @Archetype Zero.
And lastly, @Willy Vereb helped me in writing out and balancing the potential rolls.
For those who are interested, a link to the Interest Check for this RP and the thread for the previous version of this RP.
:origin()/pre12/13b8/th/pre/i/2013/363/b/4/total_war__rome_2___carthage_faction_symbol_by_undevicesimus-d6zr9uf.png)
