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! In fact this is the fastest way to contact me.
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. Simply write down what is happening in your nation and mention what you would like me to focus on in my round wrap up.
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.
FAQ Can I still join? At the moment, no. Possibly very soon as i am about to clean house and check who dropped out since the interest check. Feel free to PM me or post in the OOC if you are interested though.
Name: (Feel free to make some giant fancy wordart for YOUR GLORIOUS NATION'S EQUALLY GLORIOUS NAME) Flag/emblem/symbolism: (optional; feel free to give picture or description) Demonym: (What are your people called? The English? The Bwitish? The Fwench? The 'muricans?) Description: (A summary of your nation goes here; basics on what's going on and what the country is about. Traditions worthy of note go here, recent history, unique traits,...)
Government: (Your rolls gave you a general guideline, but feel free to elaborate and go into as much detail as you like here)
Economy: (Just describe the major industries, activities and how they are organized. What are notable exports and imports? What is your nation lacking? Your rolls should help you figure this out)
Religion: (If present, more than one?)
Geography: (Jungle, grassland, mountains, etc. Be sure to identify where on the map you are, preferably by posting a clip of the region you wish to occupy, keeping in mind the relative size of your territory as was given in your rolls. We may have to move you around to make it work.)
Population: (Was given in your rolls)
Demographics (Makeup of your population; info of the different species of your people, further subdivided into ethnic groups if you like, maybe even mention linguistics)
Notable Locations (Give us some info about your capital, other important cities, maybe where your forts and colonies (if you have any) are located)
Personalities of Note (Your ruler, perhaps your highest military officers, generally just use this space to help us keep track of your POV characters)
Institutions: (Major non-military institutions of the nations, such as legislative bodies, guilds, religious sects)
Military: Organization: (Professional/militia/levy/..., doctrine, tactics, equipment, though the latter can be put underneath as well, etc.) Troop Total: (Keep reality and upkeep in mind, e.g. 3% of your population as full-time professional soldiers would be a whole lot. Many seemingly unrelated factors can go into this, including abundance/lack of food and your nation's wealth) Army: Navy: Other: (Such as siege equipment, internal security, important mercenaries, spies, etc.)
Other: Special traits, remarks, boons and flaws(Here is your chance to decide something unique and important about your nation without basing it on the rolls I gave you. You may have 1 big strength that makes you special, 2 big strengths and 1 big weakness, or 3 big strengths and 2 big weaknesses. Ask if you're having trouble coming up with something)
Credits to Chenzor and several of the other guys in the Civilizations RP Discord chat. They gave us the motivation to try making this RP and they helped us iron out some of the ideas.
And lastly, we have @Archetype Zero for making the banner at the top of this post.
The Pangol Empire is built upon power. In both its society and external politics power is put above all else. The entire population is taught since childhood that if they want to achieve anything, they need to grow strong. As nobody will listen to one that is weak. The empire has just recovered from an age of disasters that started once the late emperor disappeared. Emperor Niǎo used to be one of the arch-deities of the Kingdom of Oros. The crisis of the empire started when Niǎo disappeared and the process to elect the new emperor began. Due to the process of election lasting several years the nation now without leadership fell into chaos. The few races beside the Pangol united under a single banner in the desire to purge the Pangol and form a new empire without them. This caused a major civil war between the Pangol and the other races within their empire. Whilst the chaos was quickly quelled by the new emperor once the election was completed, the damage was already done. The population of the empire was the lowest in centuries and many people were left in poverty. This left the new emperor with the hard task of making Pangol great again.
Government:
The Pangol Empire Is ruled under a elective. meritocratic imperial system. The empire is ruled by four royal clans of Xiàng, Lóng, Niǎo and Shǒu. Upon the death of the previous emperor the four clans send their representative who must have transcended mortality to elect the new emperor. The four representatives pick the new ruler among themselves, which they must do unanimously. As such the elective process may take up to several years until the four come to a agreement.
Once a emperor is chosen, all four representatives don the robe and mask of the emperor. The elected one becoming the emperor and the other three becoming his shadow. The emperor adopts the name of his clan, and the shadows do as well in turn. From this point the emperors shadows can’t be distinguished from the emperor himself, and in turn there are four emperors to guide the empire. This system was established both in order to protect the emperor and to help the management of the realm. The rest of the society is governed based on meritocracy. People are appointed according to their merit and how much they have helped the empire and not based on their background or wealth. The cities and their immediate area are managed by scholars who are in turn managed by the four royal clans. And the four royal clans are in turn managed by the emperor.
Economy: What remains of the once great Pangol economy is managed by the Xiàng family. Most of the previous sources of employment were lost to the great civil war and the empire is in the process of rebuilding it. Most of the citizens are unemployed and as such are left to themselves to feed their families. While things are looking bleak the Xiàng family has managed to bring back some former institutions. The Hunters guild, the Miners guild and the Tailor guild were set up and constitute the current heart of Pangol economy. The Hunters Guild feed the population and allow it to survive the current crisis by hunting in the forests in the south of the empire while the main exports are the diamonds and clothing made the other two guilds.
Religion:
The Pangol Empire whilst not following any specific religion do adhere to some form of central philosophy. They believe that it is up do the individual and their own strength to assess their position in society and that religious dogmas were in fact set by such individuals. With such thoughts the pangol tend to worship deities that represent power but due to the religious freedom within the empire most of the worlds faiths are widely practiced in different parts of the empire. The most widespread being East and West Lindosian faith and the worship the the arch-deities of the Kingdom of Oros.
Geography: TBD
Population: 5,300,000
Demographics
The citizens of the Pangol Empire are almost exclusively of the Pangol race, this used to be quite different before the civil war when the other races rose against the Pangol majority. After the war the only members of the other races that survived were the ones who didn’t join the rebellion. Leaving a small human and elven minority. Whilst they were scorned by the other races the Pangol are still open to other races and do not oppress the minorities. Ever since the civil war the empire strongly opposes any kind of racist propaganda within the empire.
Notable Locations
Vetiti city: The majestic capital of the Pangol Empire, this city was carved into the side of a mountain on the south-east of the empire. This city was left largely unscathed by the civil war as this is where the successor of the emperor is decided and as such is always guarded by the imperial army. The city keeps being expanded to this very day, as the imperial army used the excavation of new areas as a form of physical training. Elephantus city: The capital of the Xiàng clan and the merchant center of the Pangol empire built on the western shores of the empire this city used to be the home of the wealthiest in the empire. It is still recovering from the civil war and is nowhere near its former glory. City of Anguis: The capital of the stern Lóng clan and the military capital of the empire built in the very east of the empire. This is the seat of the imperial army where new members are trained and deployed from. Naturally it was left mostly unscathed during the tragedy of the civil war. Volucris city: Built just north of the Vetiti city this is the most populated city in the empire. It is the capital of the Niǎo clan and is completely dedicated to the happiness and prosperity of its citizens. Volucris was the city that was damaged the most in the civil war halving its population. It is currently scrambling to ensure a comfortable life of its citizens whilst trying to return their living standard to what it used to be. Manibus: Situated near the major river in the Pangol Empire is the Manibus. The seat of the Shǒu clan as well as the seat of most guilds within the empire. As most of the guilds used to be owned by other races they perished during the civil war. The Shǒu clan is busying itself trying to make the Manibus the industrial powerhouse of the empire. Personalities of Note tbd
Institutions: tbd
Military: The military is split into the imperial and civil army. The civil army is rather akin to militia and anybody without a bad reputation may volunteer. Their job is the protection of order within the cities. The imperial army on the other hand are the hand picked elites of the empire. These soldiers are aggressively recruited by the empire to be trained and raised by it. By practicing cultivation they forge their flesh to strengths way beyond their stature and make up an army of elites. This method of training can even bring the scales of the Pangol to being as tough as iron. A step further from a common soldier is a imperial general. They are the ones who have displayed a talent for performing the arts of magic and the brilliance of tactics. They are the true powerhouses of the army capable of besting a dozen men in melee combat or blasting the foe with powerful magic arts. Even though their power may be great they tend to lead the battle from behind the lines as a competent general is more important than a single strong soldier. The Pangol, due to their short reach are almost exclusively made up of spearmen, and as such excel at tactics using the spear and little else. Troop Total: Army: 110.000 imperial soldiers and 50.000 civil soldiers Navy: TBD Other: TBD
To be fair Albion is supposed to be the smallest continent. And to kind of the British isles to the Commonwealth side of the world. There will indeed be a larger world map which should improve the sense of scale, so ill hold off major edits till i do that. The other two continents are indeed larger, with Albion being relatively small. The map is honestly supposed to feature only the larger things on it. I'd imagine there are indeed way more islands or smaller rivers and mountains in the world. But are far too small to be drawn of the world map. I guess the art style does make it seem like they should still be there (as it is a realism style, as opposed to a old hand drawn map style where this would be obvious). Mountains Irl can also be rather large irl, i think the issue here is that this continent is indeed small, but the sense of scale is almost non exzistent as i haven't mapped the rest of the world. I will indeed keep trying to improve this map till the RP launches, and even afterwards albeit with much less major changes.
I do indeed also have a blank slate map which will have it's own degree of use. Thanks for the advice mate.
Anyways, I do have my issues with the current map.I put it into points: 1.) It's somewhat featureless which in turn makes it crowded. If there are more features then people find it easier to make smaller nations. 2.) Landmarks are too big. Mountains, forests and everything are too large on the map. Again contributing to make it feel small. 3.) It doesn't show the New World. Since colonialism is going to be a major thing that should get relevant very soon. Heck, some countries may have a headstart in that for all I know. Their territories must involve some colonial zone with their colors.
Hey there man. I do get where you're coming from on most of these (even although it does pain me to see my map smacked aside and other random maps recommended in it's place, i worked really hard on it!). To answer some of your worries: Yeah i do agree with you the sense of scale is rather odd, and i recognize this is due to my drawing style. It's rather hard to add more features without making the map look like a mess of features. In short adding more features would make it feel a rather bit too crowded. I understand it is not perfect but i don't feel a true need for perfection. But i see some people might want to disagree with me on this.
I can though alleviate your worries about the map lacking the new world. I do intend on finishing a complete world map at some point. We just focused on Albion as it is more important that the rest of the world game wise. So when the full world map is finished things may look a bit less 'oversized' as what you are currently looking at is but a section of the world map.
If you do have any advice about how you think the map may be altered i will be glad to hear you out. But don't expect too much from me as people have already started making claims and things are almost set in stone.
