Antigonal
23-09-2007, 01:51
How sick are you of earths constantly failing? Inactivity, lack of ideas, godmodding, no RPing, whatever the cause, they all seem to fail. Ever since the original Earth (if I capitalize "earth" I'm referring to the original big one that started um all) started it all, there have been few to no new innovations and countless sequels (albeit Earth II Revitalization is, as simply as I can put it, a godly RP that seems endless and everlasting). So what's the solution to these lackluster earths that don't go anywhere? Well, to be honest, I'm not totally sure. But here is the alternative, it isn't an earth, it's the world.
So here's how it's gonna go. The year is 1959. Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba. On January 7th, the real life date that the American government decided to recognize Castro as the ruler of Cuba, something different happened. President Eisenhower refused to acknowledge Castro and launched on offensive strike on the island nation later that same month. To cut it short, this sparked the Cold War into World War III.
The world divided between communist and capitalist and NATO and Warsaw Pact. By 1963 the world was in absolute chaos. Dozens of slightly related wars had sprung up in South America and Africa. In March, 1964, President Kennedy was killed during a Soviet airstrike (unlikely, I know). In response, the United States dispatched some of the hardest air assaults to bomb the major cities of the Russian west including Leningrad and Moscow. Thousands of casualties were endured. In retaliation to Kennedy's death, the American government dispatched a team of their finest agents to assassinate Russian General Secretary, Nikita Khrushchev at all costs. In June, they succeeded. By the 4th of July the United States could hardly celebrate their nation's glory, they could hardly celebrate it's existence which was rapidly deteriorating. That month Time magazine released it's last issue, the headline simply read "THE END." Two days later, July 13th became known as the official end of the war when both the remnants of the USSR and the USA decided they could no afford to support their respective nations and certainly could longer afford to wage war on each other. Both nations had disintegrated, along with all the other nations of the world, by late July. For several months there was chaos, no nations emerged. Roaming bands of warriors, mercenaries, pirates, and bandits terrorized the world over.
But in October President Jones of Australia briefly rebuilt the government with the help of his trusted General Salisbury. In December Salisbury turned on Jones's capital at Sydney and overthrew the government and declared himself dictator. The last hope for reestablishing order had vanished. In response to Salisbury's actions, several factions broke off from the Australian Republic. Using his military expertise, Salisbury managed to fight these rebels into the Australian interior and away from the coast. The rebels couldn't make a united stance for long. By January they had begun to argue among themselves and divided into several warring, instable city-states in the deserts of Australia. Although Salisbury claims authority in these regions, he never finished off the rebels and they still exist, fighting amongst themselves.
It is now January, 1965. The world is beginning to rebuild itself. A handful of city states have sprung up the world over. Many are farming based communes, occasionally raided by hordes of warriors. Tanks, helicopters, missiles, telephones, cars, planes, large ships, and other technologies still exist, they are just low in number, particularly warships, planes, and missiles. War still grips the world and mistrust and fear are as common as burned out vehicles. The world awaits an end to the chaos and a return to peace.
What does all this mean?
It means it is 1965 and you need to RP the creation of your own nation. This could mean a group of farmers banding together to form a communist state, some roving bands of people settling down in certain regions, anything. It just needs to be done. Populations, racial groups, religions (with some exceptions, see below) are all the same as they were in 1965. However, to keep this not so RL, I am not opposed to people saying, "during the war millions of people fled Africa for Greece so it now has a largely African population." Or something along those lines... Also, nuclear weapons are off limits for now. Nuclear fission has been discovered but no one has nukes, not even the people fighting in the Third World War. This is the only piece of technology I am withholding for now.
But Mister Boss Man, why come we won't get no big boom booms [nukes]?
Ah, good question my fair noob. The simple answer is, to keep it realistic; I will slowly give nukes to the most powerful, and most radical, nations of the world. Also, I don't want people going, "i n00ked u, ur done!!!!!!!!", just yet.
Okey dokey, but if there was a big war, why do I still have the same amount of people?
I'm gonna level with you, noob who is slightly more intelligible than the first guy (we'll call this one "newb" from now one), it would be hard to find populations for a world with significantly less people. Plus, the whole point of the war was just to clear to world of its nations so we could make our own and start RPing. This is NOT supposed to be some post-apocalypse world, the war is just to start us off with a blank slate. Thanks for asking though newb.
Then why make the war if it isn't gonna be important?
Well Sir Newbie, I wanted to create an atmosphere of fear, mistrust, and war, I also wanted there to be some hordes of soldiers (who by the way have tanks and vehicles) wandering the world, looking for trouble. I think these factors should make the RP more interesting.
So beyond peopling feeling "mistrust" and other stupid emotions, are there any lasting effects from this dumb war?
Yes there are, and have some respect for your forefathers who died in the Third World War so we could live freely... sorta. The biggest physical change is this: food shortages. There simply isn't enough food to go around anymore. People are starving. Small farming communities have banded together but are often pillaged by hungry nomads. Next, while the world's population remains the same there are two exceptions to this. For the sake of realism, the area that was once the United States and Soviet Russia are now very depopulated. War has torn them apart. Those who survived, fled. They are mostly bombed out wastelands, particularly the USSR west of the Urals, the American western and eastern seaboards, and Alaska. The other parts of these countries face population issues, but not as severely as the places listed above. Finally, the ones I've been repeating over and over, there are no more countries and heavily armed raiders wander the earth.
Can I start yet?
No, not yet. We'll start in about a week or two. Plus you need to read all of the following rules (so far you've just gotten through the premise, I'm sorry if reading isn't your forte but your getting close). You also need to make a factbook and a back story (which should be posted on your factbook) to tell how your country got started. Remember we've all been founded very recently. You MUST have a factbook before you can start RPing, I'm very strict about this (see below).
Why me have to wait fourteen sun-moons [days]?
It probably won't be two weeks until we start, I'm just trying giving everyone time to sign up and make a factbook. Most likely it will be about a week, maybe a week and a half before we can start IC and RPing.
I still no see why this so “revolutionary”.
True, so far everything I've said just makes this RP sound like another lame post-apocalyptic world that brings nothing new to the table. If you want to see where this RP gets truly original, you'll have to read all the rules below.
Newbie has to read all of it?
Yes, yes you do.
RULES:
That was just the premise and the Q & A section. Here is where the game takes a turn from generic apocalyptic world to being a new kind of RP.
Economies
I think the unoriginality of this idea, might be what makes it so original. Lame, I know (the ideas will get better trust me). Earths and RPs for a long time relied on simple cash to run the world's business affairs. Then, seeing that noobs, godmodders, and plain old cheaters were buying things but not actually spending their money because they were either lazy, cheaters, or idiots, they decided they needed to change things up. Territorial value became big. France is worth 43 points, Indonesia is worth 50, that kinda thing. The problem with that was: how can I just take pieces of land? If I just want Java, not all of Indonesia, what do I do? How many economy points do I get? I tried using IP (Industrial Potential) in my last game which was like territory points except I could decide based on small amounts of land rather than entire areas. It still wasn't greatly successful in my opinion.
So I've decided to go ahead and use strictly regulated cold, hard cash. We will be using some form of international currency, no annoying exchange rates. The dollar sign ($) is what we'll use. I'm sorry I can't think of anything better, both paths seem crappy. I will be tightly regulating income and spending. Then, depending on your national resources, you can get several million, billion, or perhaps even trillion more of those dollar bills. I will give prices for everything later. If you fail to make a complete list of all purchases and sales you can be kicked from the game, you will be expected to keep up-to-date on any monetary transactions that involve you.
I do think money can be ineffective, if employed the wrong way. So then why use dollars? I like the idea of being able to make banks that give out interest and give out loans and I'm not a big fan of territory based income.
Every three years you will get your three year income (TYI). Your TYI is based on population (tax), resources (trade), and food surplus (selling food). Naturally the more people, the more tax. Oil and gold are the most valuable resources but I wouldn't be opposed to the slave trade becoming lucrative. Food is sold to nations who are running low on food... which is nearly all of them at this point. You get your food production percentage (your FPP) which shows what percentage of your population can be guaranteed food. Others may survive but it is not certain. If your FPP goes above 100% you can begin to sell your surplus every third year. Your TYI is based on income after all other drains on the economy so, in theory, you could actually lose money. If you don't start paying off loans you can take from the World Bank (which will be created after the start of the game) after two income years (six years for you less than mathematically inclined), it starts to be automatically taken from your TYI and what money you already have.
Traits
Each nation has "traits." What are they? Civ III players might remember getting to pick races with two traits. It will work similar to that. Each nation can pick two characteristics for their people, and here are the options (very similar to Civ III, I know):
Agriculturalists - while this may seem unimportant in a world where most first world countries have massive food surpluses, not in this world. There is actually a huge lack of food. People are starving. When we start the game, after you land grab, I will give you your food percentage; the amount of people you can feed with how much food you have coming in. Choosing agriculture will automatically increase this percentage 10%.
Warriors (Militaristic) - when RPing against a people who are not represented by an actual player, you are allowed to be outnumbered by up to 5% and still win, this number increases to 10% if you're Chief Commander is on the field (see below). I know you fighters don't like math but if you do the work before every battle with this advantage, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. When fighting an someone who is represented by an actual player, you will automatically win if you're forces are equal, or as many as 7,000 troops apart in size. Even if their army is more than 7,000 troops larger, you still get to factor in the militaristic advantage which does help a bit. Sieges are also more likely to go in your favor, though few exist anymore.
Scientists - these people get the advantage of usually getting new technology first (see Events section below). While this may seem small, someday they might discover the alternative to oil and save their country billions. People like feeling ahead of the curb and smart, so your national happiness percentage (which I will describe and give you later on in the game) will increase 5%. Also, scientific nations may get the nuke sooner than others...
Industrialists - in a world lacking in luxury commodities, industrialists are very well off. They can produce phones, cars, record players, whatever you like. This makes the people very happy. Your national happiness percentage will increase 5%. But I haven't gotten to the best part, 5% off on all planes, ships, tanks, and missiles. Yes it's a deal you can't afford to miss! However, industrialist nations are more likely to get events that harm their environment and, since less people are tilling the fields and more people are flocking to the sweat shops of the city, there is -5% subtracted from your food percentage.
Expansionists - it's the good old pioneering spirit, this trait allows nations to become massive colonial powers. This gives colonies a 70% higher chance of succeeding. Normally, it might take as many as 100,000 troops to hold down even the smallest regions of colonization, expansionist powers can use as few as half of the required to troops to maintain an area for colonization. But what's the point of making colonies if you can't reach them because of the pirate filled seas? Expansionist fleets can beat pirate fleets that outnumber them by as much as 5%.
Merchants (Commerce) - trade has always been a lucrative business. Being a merchant increases your three year income by 10%.
Artist (Cultural) - a nation of artsy fartsy thinkers, eh? People love fine art and this is no exception, your NHP will go up 10% if you choose the Culture trait. But wait, there's more, artistic nations will have a much better chance of getting a "Renaissance" event which will boast your economy, NHP, and national pride immensly. Also, artistic nations are often the envy of the world, this trait gives players a lot of respect. However, more people wasting their time on fancy stuff and less people working the fields means less food, you'll have to lower your food percentage by -5% if you choose the path of art.
Social Worker - those who help the people get the advantage of ruling a very happy nation. Your NHP (national happiness percentage)will go up 15% but your TYI (three year income) will go down -10%.
Working Class Hero - while commerce gives wealth to the wealthy, this trait gives a little bit of wealth to everyone, making everyone happy. Your TYI will go up 5% and you NHP will go up 5% as well.
Sailors - wish to rule the high seas? Urning for that salty taste? Well you old seadog this trait is for you. Sailors' ships are never even challenged by pirate fleets and can beat other player's fleets that outnumber them by as much as 10%.
Priests (Religious) - priests have the ability to unite their people with faith. You can increase any religion of your choice (it must already exist in your nation) by 15%. It also brings people together, increasing your NHP by 5%. However, if your religious majority is only the majority by a narrow 10% of the people, this second advantage does not go to you, even if this changes later in the game.
So those are the traits, you get to choose two to define your new nation. Please note which ones you are in your factbook.
Religions and Races
All races are the same as real life ones. Feel free to be liberal with them though. You could create a new race made up of two old ethnicities, you could say during WWIII there was some great migration of people of a certain race to your country (though your population will still be the same as it was in RL 1965), or any number of things. As for religions, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Confusionism, Judaism and all other major forms of religion exist (see religion map below) but there are changes.
WARNING: THIS IS ALL BACK STORY, YOU DON'T NEED TO READ IT ALL NOW. I'M JUST TRYIN' TO SAVE YOU TIME.
There is no more Sunni and Shia Islam. In 1964, seeing the end was imminent, leading figures from both religious camps met in Baghdad (the Baghdad Conference) to try to reconcile their differences. They succeeded in the last days on earth and formed Greater Islam. In May of 1965 delegates from European nations with large Islamic nations met at the Beirut Conference. They too were persuaded. However, the two European nations with the largest Muslim populations, Albania and Bosnia, refused to attend. But in June, Albanian delegates decided to meet in Mecca with several prominent figures in Greater Islam and decided to join the growing faith. Only Bosnian Muslims, who had recently ceded from Bosnia in the chaos of earth's final days to form the Islamic Republic of Bosnia. Some Shia radicals held out in mountains of eastern Iran and some other Sunnis along the south-western coast of Yemen, not to mention a few Sunni communities in Mauritania, Senegal, and Mali. However, the highest concentration of Muslims not loyal the Greater Islam in the world remained Bosnia, which attracted thousands of other Balkan Sunnis, also unhappy about the change in religious politics.
THIS PARAGRAPH IS ALSO BACK STORY... SORRY.
Also, a new sect of Protestantism became popular in the mid-1950s. In 1946, Presbyterian minister John Rollens founds Antiestablishmentarian Christianity, often known as Simple Christianity. Rollens went through a series of religious experiences and transformations as a child. Born to a family of Irish Catholics in Boston in 1907, as the child grew he soon began to see the Catholic Church and the pope as corrupt institutions that had little to do with actual Christianity. Rollens never went to college, his father died in WWI and his family of seven had no steady income to send him to a good school. He spent most of his childhood working odd jobs and thinking. In 1933, he renounced his faith. Thereafter, he became a member of the Anglican Church. In 1942 Rollens was drafted by the US Army and deployed to North Africa. He was present during the Italy campaign and took this as an opportunity to learn Italian and speak with many Catholics on the topic of their religiosity. Coming home from the war, he was now certain the Catholic Church was a joke. Returning home to Boston in 1945, Rollens married Marie Holland and moved to Augusta, Maine. For the bulk of his twenties and teen years, Rollens had worked as a laborer. Now in Maine he had a steady job as a newspaper writer. In early 1946 he became disgusted with the Anglican Church, to him it was nothing more than a watered down version of the Catholic Church, telling it's followers how to live. That same year he joined the Presbyterian Church. After a month of attending regular sermons, Rollens decided to go into the church as a minister. In December he became a certified preacher. In March, to do a lack of ministers, he was given a congregation in a small town outside of Augusta. In October he published his book The Flock which became a small sensation. It preached that people should return to living as the original Christians had. It said the people should do away with all established institutions and worship freely with the lessons in the Bible as their priest. The book was so controversial that the Presbyterian Church refused to let him practice as a minister anymore. But book sales increased. More and more people turned to Rollens's support. By 1956 Simple Christianity was the largest faith in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It also had a large followings in Massachusetts and Canada. By the outbreak of WWIII it had massive followings in American Northeast, Ohio, the Great Lake region, various parts of Canada, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. It also had spread across the ocean to England and Wales where it had become very popular. In 1958 renowned Barbadian philosopher, Martin Cruised, who had for years been the voice of the Caribbean people, converted to Simple Christianity and wrote an essay supporting it. Soon, large amounts of people in the Lesser Antilles began converting. But people craved structure. They weren't exactly sure how to worship and needed someone to tell them. Soon, in remote areas of Canada and Maine, worship communities began to spring up in the deep woods, worshiping in solitude, but together. These were the infant religion's first monasteries. But this was exactly what Rollens didn't want. In 1961, after keeping quiet on major issues for years (only making the occasional public statement or authoring an essay here and there), Rollens released his book The Way, it gave important insight on how to practice Simple Christianity without having a structured church. It also condemned the new monasteries but they continued to grow anyway. In November of 1964, Rollens was killed while attending his mother's funeral in Boston by Soviet bombers. His religion, which he refused to call his own, continued to grow and still does.
JUST A BIT MORE BACK STORY
The last major change to organized religions came after the great war. War produces two kinds of men. Those who start praying looking down the barrel of a gun, and those who believe god could have never let such horrible things befall his creations. Therefore, in some areas, there has been a revitalization of faith, while in others, particularly urban centers, atheism has become a large part of life.
IT'S OVER, GO BACK TO READING
You can see the religious map below for more details.
Military
All nations can make their own kinds of weapons, but they must be somewhat similar. A helicopter is a helicopter, no acid shooting, mega-choppers. All weapons will be priced the same. Here are the costs. Not keeping track of the costs will result in immediate expulsion.
Aircraft Carrier -- $4 billion
Infantry (group of 50,000) -- $5 million
Infantry (group of 100,000) -- $10 million
Bomber -- $8 million
Destroyer -- $75 million
Fighter (groups of 10) -- $25 million
Helicopter (groups of 10) -- $15 million
Submarine -- $500 million
Tank (groups of 30) -- $30 million
Transport Aircraft -- $65 million (carry two hundred troops)
Transport -- $250 million (come in fleets of 28, can carry roughly 50,000 troops per fleet)
Artillery Battery (5 Artillery)---- 2million
Self Propelled Artillery (1 Artillery)---- 1 million
SAMs (5 SAM Sites)---- 10 million
Corvettes---- 30 million
Activity or Lack Thereof
All players are expected to sign on AT LEAST twice a week. Preferable much more often than that. Failure to do so will result in expulsion from the game. After a week ever nation has the right to RP to take your land (they are not allowed to take your capital though). After two weeks you're wiped from the map altogether. Other expectations: all players will have a completed factbook within a week of joining and need one to start playing, all players must have two or three paragraphs about how their new nation got its beginnings to be placed on their factbooks, all players must keep full records of financial activity (cooking the books will not be tolerated and will result in immediate expulsion, even if is merely an oversight), and all players are expected to be kind and courteous to everyone, among other things, this means NO godmodding. I am sick and tired of inactivity ruining great RPs.
Governments/Politics
Pretty much it's a blank slate for political systems. Do what you want. However, some forms are a bit too far fetched. No, your government cannot be an anarchy, that sir is what we call an oxymoron. Monarchies are unlikely as well. People might accept a dictator, perhaps even a hereditary one, but monarchies are a bit too sci-fi for this. Feudalism is a bit more understandable given the food shortages and need for protection, but I would still refrain from calling it that. Try to keep it within the realm of reason. There was just a massive war. People are struggling for power, the masses are starving, and everyone need protecting. Please note what kind of government your nation has in your factbook. If you allow for multiple parties to exist in your nation, please not which percentage of your population belongs to which party as well.
Each nation can have one puppet state. Their puppet state is a country that will basically follow its parent anywhere. But they still have some power. They won't always follow you into wars or diplomatic pacts that won't benefit them. As time goes on they may begin to move further and further away from you.
Now, I am going to allow slavery because I think it's likely in this situation. Just note if slavery is legal in your nation, where you get the slaves from, and how many you have.
Events
As soon as IC starts I will start an Events Thread. For those of you familiar with my previous world (E1860), you'll know what this is. Events are (generally) random things that occur in history. They can give new tech (nukes ;)), incite conflict (WWIIII perhaps), give players benefits, hurt players, everything. When I say they're generally random I mean that some of them are aimed to hurt the players who are better off and help the weaker ones to even things out a bit. I will not be partial to myself in this matter so don't worry. You'll see how they go once we get started. Try to check it as often as possible because they will probably come every other day but that might be a bit much on me.
Other Rules
Here is the place for rules that are everything other!
First off, one week equals one year. Each Monday is the beginning of a new year. Every three Mondays is pay day. Or basically every three years. This may be reduced to two weeks later on, I am undecided as of yet.
Every nation gets to chose one Chief Commander who is in charge of all your armed forces. You can chose one characteristics for your Chief Commander (CC). Here are the qualities you can choose from:
Defender (better chance of winning defensive battles)
Offensive (better chance of winning offensive battles)
Hero (great at winning pivotal or decisive battles)
Tactician (great at winning unlikely battles, especially with infantry)
Gate Breaker (better chance of winning/breaking sieges and less likely to damage enemy cities)
Know-It-All (knows how to work with planes, infantry, tanks, and helicopters to coordinate a battle)
Boardroom Commander (knows how to win the campaigns, not necessarily all the battles though)
Your CC cannot die of natural causes or illness. They cannot be assassinated or taken out either (no “i put a cruise missile right through yo CC's house. BO YAH!!!). If you decide to use your CC in a battle, they are automatically transported there. If you lose a battle that your CC was present at, I assign you a number between one and six. One meaning there is hardly any chance he will die, six being he will automatically die. Let's say you lose a battle and get a four. I will role a die and if it comes up as four or less, your CC dies. Sometimes (though rarely), after a complete route, I will give you a six which means your CC will die no matter what. I will do the dice rolling because I, quite honestly, don't trust you guys just yet. CCs will rarely get any number higher than a two or three; they are very hard to kill. Additionally, they cannot be captured. If your starting CC dies, you cannot get another one. Please note on your factbook what kind of commander they are (see traits above).
Once you get your factbook up I will give you your NHP (national happiness percentage), your TYI (tree year income), your military bonus (only relevant to those who chose a national trait that gives you a military bonus), and your FPC (food per capita). Once you get your NHP, you can divide this percentage by 1.8. This gives you your national loyalty percentage (NLP... sorry for all the acronyms). Your NLP is the piece of your population that will rise against invaders in times of invasion. They aren't very good fighters, but they help. By the way, if your NHP falls below 30%, you enter a state of civil disorder and someone will need to RP the rebels against you.
For every year (seven days) you have one army out on one campaign, it costs $300,000,000. Multiple wars/campaigns cost $300,000,000 a piece. Keep track of what days your invasions started on.
For getting factbook populations everyone will use populstat.info. It should come up on Google without the .info part. If we all use the same site, there will be no unfair population advantages.
Please don't call your nation by your account name. It's name should be based on your geographic location, your form of government, and/or your ruling ethnic/religious groups. In OOC you can call each other by your account names.
Sign Ups
AS OF POST #107, SIGN UP IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED
PEOPLE ARE STILL ALLOWED TO SIGN UP THROUGH THE TRAINING WORLD (see below) THOUGH, SIGN UPS FOR TRAINING WORLD WILL BEGIN NEXT WEEK
Please read as you may see that sign ups differ significantly from other RPs:
Okay, first off, I'll be allowing 12 players to join the game. I'll judge what is a fair amount of land to take. It will be based off of population and access to food. You be allowed very much. For example, taking France and Belgium would be enough. You can claim no overseas colonies to begin with. They will be hard to take once the game starts too. After we get 12 people, the sign up period ends. Another week (give or take) will be allowed for people to complete their factbooks.
Now, you may remember that there is currently a civil war going on in the back country of Australia. This area is UNCONQUERABLE. I am reserving this area for the purpose of training new players. That's right. We are going to have a training world. To my knowledge, NS's first. There will be a one week sign up period in which 8 to 12 people can sign up. Then, each of these trainees will be given a city-state in central Australia. Then there will be a two week period of basically all out fighting. At the end of which the 3 best players (judged by myself on conquests, trade, diplomacy, and how well they can RP) will move into the real game. We'll stop once we get 21 or 24 players overall. Each of these trainees will get a small plot of land, a brief back story, a little army, and $500,000,000 (five hundred million). Instead of getting their paydays every three weeks (three years) they will get it every week. This training world is no formality though, players can be killed off and as many as nine will lose. It is there to weed out players who are incompetent RPers, godmodders, and those who don't plan on being active, and to make interesting competition. This training world cannot interact with the outside world. It's basically a little roped off area of desert and it shan't be missed very much.
The only other area that is un-claimable is the city of Rome and the surrounding area. We're going to pretend that the pope became very powerful in the wake of WWIII and Catholic spirituality rose immensely. Although he only controls Rome and the outlying region, he claims power through the Holy Catholic Confederation, an alliance of not unlike the Holy Roman Empire of old that unites France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Bavaria, Spain, Portugal, Austria and some bits of Poland (see map). These areas are claimable but subject to the pope's loose authority.
So NOW after reading all of this crap, we can get started. Hopefully by having made the intro so godamn long I have weeded out any players intent on land claiming then never posting here ever again. Just to drive one last point home, this thread is NOT another post-apocalyptic war thread, the point of WWIII was to clear the slate for new nations (us) to move in without being too hindered by the past. Welcome to the World.
So here's how it's gonna go. The year is 1959. Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba. On January 7th, the real life date that the American government decided to recognize Castro as the ruler of Cuba, something different happened. President Eisenhower refused to acknowledge Castro and launched on offensive strike on the island nation later that same month. To cut it short, this sparked the Cold War into World War III.
The world divided between communist and capitalist and NATO and Warsaw Pact. By 1963 the world was in absolute chaos. Dozens of slightly related wars had sprung up in South America and Africa. In March, 1964, President Kennedy was killed during a Soviet airstrike (unlikely, I know). In response, the United States dispatched some of the hardest air assaults to bomb the major cities of the Russian west including Leningrad and Moscow. Thousands of casualties were endured. In retaliation to Kennedy's death, the American government dispatched a team of their finest agents to assassinate Russian General Secretary, Nikita Khrushchev at all costs. In June, they succeeded. By the 4th of July the United States could hardly celebrate their nation's glory, they could hardly celebrate it's existence which was rapidly deteriorating. That month Time magazine released it's last issue, the headline simply read "THE END." Two days later, July 13th became known as the official end of the war when both the remnants of the USSR and the USA decided they could no afford to support their respective nations and certainly could longer afford to wage war on each other. Both nations had disintegrated, along with all the other nations of the world, by late July. For several months there was chaos, no nations emerged. Roaming bands of warriors, mercenaries, pirates, and bandits terrorized the world over.
But in October President Jones of Australia briefly rebuilt the government with the help of his trusted General Salisbury. In December Salisbury turned on Jones's capital at Sydney and overthrew the government and declared himself dictator. The last hope for reestablishing order had vanished. In response to Salisbury's actions, several factions broke off from the Australian Republic. Using his military expertise, Salisbury managed to fight these rebels into the Australian interior and away from the coast. The rebels couldn't make a united stance for long. By January they had begun to argue among themselves and divided into several warring, instable city-states in the deserts of Australia. Although Salisbury claims authority in these regions, he never finished off the rebels and they still exist, fighting amongst themselves.
It is now January, 1965. The world is beginning to rebuild itself. A handful of city states have sprung up the world over. Many are farming based communes, occasionally raided by hordes of warriors. Tanks, helicopters, missiles, telephones, cars, planes, large ships, and other technologies still exist, they are just low in number, particularly warships, planes, and missiles. War still grips the world and mistrust and fear are as common as burned out vehicles. The world awaits an end to the chaos and a return to peace.
What does all this mean?
It means it is 1965 and you need to RP the creation of your own nation. This could mean a group of farmers banding together to form a communist state, some roving bands of people settling down in certain regions, anything. It just needs to be done. Populations, racial groups, religions (with some exceptions, see below) are all the same as they were in 1965. However, to keep this not so RL, I am not opposed to people saying, "during the war millions of people fled Africa for Greece so it now has a largely African population." Or something along those lines... Also, nuclear weapons are off limits for now. Nuclear fission has been discovered but no one has nukes, not even the people fighting in the Third World War. This is the only piece of technology I am withholding for now.
But Mister Boss Man, why come we won't get no big boom booms [nukes]?
Ah, good question my fair noob. The simple answer is, to keep it realistic; I will slowly give nukes to the most powerful, and most radical, nations of the world. Also, I don't want people going, "i n00ked u, ur done!!!!!!!!", just yet.
Okey dokey, but if there was a big war, why do I still have the same amount of people?
I'm gonna level with you, noob who is slightly more intelligible than the first guy (we'll call this one "newb" from now one), it would be hard to find populations for a world with significantly less people. Plus, the whole point of the war was just to clear to world of its nations so we could make our own and start RPing. This is NOT supposed to be some post-apocalypse world, the war is just to start us off with a blank slate. Thanks for asking though newb.
Then why make the war if it isn't gonna be important?
Well Sir Newbie, I wanted to create an atmosphere of fear, mistrust, and war, I also wanted there to be some hordes of soldiers (who by the way have tanks and vehicles) wandering the world, looking for trouble. I think these factors should make the RP more interesting.
So beyond peopling feeling "mistrust" and other stupid emotions, are there any lasting effects from this dumb war?
Yes there are, and have some respect for your forefathers who died in the Third World War so we could live freely... sorta. The biggest physical change is this: food shortages. There simply isn't enough food to go around anymore. People are starving. Small farming communities have banded together but are often pillaged by hungry nomads. Next, while the world's population remains the same there are two exceptions to this. For the sake of realism, the area that was once the United States and Soviet Russia are now very depopulated. War has torn them apart. Those who survived, fled. They are mostly bombed out wastelands, particularly the USSR west of the Urals, the American western and eastern seaboards, and Alaska. The other parts of these countries face population issues, but not as severely as the places listed above. Finally, the ones I've been repeating over and over, there are no more countries and heavily armed raiders wander the earth.
Can I start yet?
No, not yet. We'll start in about a week or two. Plus you need to read all of the following rules (so far you've just gotten through the premise, I'm sorry if reading isn't your forte but your getting close). You also need to make a factbook and a back story (which should be posted on your factbook) to tell how your country got started. Remember we've all been founded very recently. You MUST have a factbook before you can start RPing, I'm very strict about this (see below).
Why me have to wait fourteen sun-moons [days]?
It probably won't be two weeks until we start, I'm just trying giving everyone time to sign up and make a factbook. Most likely it will be about a week, maybe a week and a half before we can start IC and RPing.
I still no see why this so “revolutionary”.
True, so far everything I've said just makes this RP sound like another lame post-apocalyptic world that brings nothing new to the table. If you want to see where this RP gets truly original, you'll have to read all the rules below.
Newbie has to read all of it?
Yes, yes you do.
RULES:
That was just the premise and the Q & A section. Here is where the game takes a turn from generic apocalyptic world to being a new kind of RP.
Economies
I think the unoriginality of this idea, might be what makes it so original. Lame, I know (the ideas will get better trust me). Earths and RPs for a long time relied on simple cash to run the world's business affairs. Then, seeing that noobs, godmodders, and plain old cheaters were buying things but not actually spending their money because they were either lazy, cheaters, or idiots, they decided they needed to change things up. Territorial value became big. France is worth 43 points, Indonesia is worth 50, that kinda thing. The problem with that was: how can I just take pieces of land? If I just want Java, not all of Indonesia, what do I do? How many economy points do I get? I tried using IP (Industrial Potential) in my last game which was like territory points except I could decide based on small amounts of land rather than entire areas. It still wasn't greatly successful in my opinion.
So I've decided to go ahead and use strictly regulated cold, hard cash. We will be using some form of international currency, no annoying exchange rates. The dollar sign ($) is what we'll use. I'm sorry I can't think of anything better, both paths seem crappy. I will be tightly regulating income and spending. Then, depending on your national resources, you can get several million, billion, or perhaps even trillion more of those dollar bills. I will give prices for everything later. If you fail to make a complete list of all purchases and sales you can be kicked from the game, you will be expected to keep up-to-date on any monetary transactions that involve you.
I do think money can be ineffective, if employed the wrong way. So then why use dollars? I like the idea of being able to make banks that give out interest and give out loans and I'm not a big fan of territory based income.
Every three years you will get your three year income (TYI). Your TYI is based on population (tax), resources (trade), and food surplus (selling food). Naturally the more people, the more tax. Oil and gold are the most valuable resources but I wouldn't be opposed to the slave trade becoming lucrative. Food is sold to nations who are running low on food... which is nearly all of them at this point. You get your food production percentage (your FPP) which shows what percentage of your population can be guaranteed food. Others may survive but it is not certain. If your FPP goes above 100% you can begin to sell your surplus every third year. Your TYI is based on income after all other drains on the economy so, in theory, you could actually lose money. If you don't start paying off loans you can take from the World Bank (which will be created after the start of the game) after two income years (six years for you less than mathematically inclined), it starts to be automatically taken from your TYI and what money you already have.
Traits
Each nation has "traits." What are they? Civ III players might remember getting to pick races with two traits. It will work similar to that. Each nation can pick two characteristics for their people, and here are the options (very similar to Civ III, I know):
Agriculturalists - while this may seem unimportant in a world where most first world countries have massive food surpluses, not in this world. There is actually a huge lack of food. People are starving. When we start the game, after you land grab, I will give you your food percentage; the amount of people you can feed with how much food you have coming in. Choosing agriculture will automatically increase this percentage 10%.
Warriors (Militaristic) - when RPing against a people who are not represented by an actual player, you are allowed to be outnumbered by up to 5% and still win, this number increases to 10% if you're Chief Commander is on the field (see below). I know you fighters don't like math but if you do the work before every battle with this advantage, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. When fighting an someone who is represented by an actual player, you will automatically win if you're forces are equal, or as many as 7,000 troops apart in size. Even if their army is more than 7,000 troops larger, you still get to factor in the militaristic advantage which does help a bit. Sieges are also more likely to go in your favor, though few exist anymore.
Scientists - these people get the advantage of usually getting new technology first (see Events section below). While this may seem small, someday they might discover the alternative to oil and save their country billions. People like feeling ahead of the curb and smart, so your national happiness percentage (which I will describe and give you later on in the game) will increase 5%. Also, scientific nations may get the nuke sooner than others...
Industrialists - in a world lacking in luxury commodities, industrialists are very well off. They can produce phones, cars, record players, whatever you like. This makes the people very happy. Your national happiness percentage will increase 5%. But I haven't gotten to the best part, 5% off on all planes, ships, tanks, and missiles. Yes it's a deal you can't afford to miss! However, industrialist nations are more likely to get events that harm their environment and, since less people are tilling the fields and more people are flocking to the sweat shops of the city, there is -5% subtracted from your food percentage.
Expansionists - it's the good old pioneering spirit, this trait allows nations to become massive colonial powers. This gives colonies a 70% higher chance of succeeding. Normally, it might take as many as 100,000 troops to hold down even the smallest regions of colonization, expansionist powers can use as few as half of the required to troops to maintain an area for colonization. But what's the point of making colonies if you can't reach them because of the pirate filled seas? Expansionist fleets can beat pirate fleets that outnumber them by as much as 5%.
Merchants (Commerce) - trade has always been a lucrative business. Being a merchant increases your three year income by 10%.
Artist (Cultural) - a nation of artsy fartsy thinkers, eh? People love fine art and this is no exception, your NHP will go up 10% if you choose the Culture trait. But wait, there's more, artistic nations will have a much better chance of getting a "Renaissance" event which will boast your economy, NHP, and national pride immensly. Also, artistic nations are often the envy of the world, this trait gives players a lot of respect. However, more people wasting their time on fancy stuff and less people working the fields means less food, you'll have to lower your food percentage by -5% if you choose the path of art.
Social Worker - those who help the people get the advantage of ruling a very happy nation. Your NHP (national happiness percentage)will go up 15% but your TYI (three year income) will go down -10%.
Working Class Hero - while commerce gives wealth to the wealthy, this trait gives a little bit of wealth to everyone, making everyone happy. Your TYI will go up 5% and you NHP will go up 5% as well.
Sailors - wish to rule the high seas? Urning for that salty taste? Well you old seadog this trait is for you. Sailors' ships are never even challenged by pirate fleets and can beat other player's fleets that outnumber them by as much as 10%.
Priests (Religious) - priests have the ability to unite their people with faith. You can increase any religion of your choice (it must already exist in your nation) by 15%. It also brings people together, increasing your NHP by 5%. However, if your religious majority is only the majority by a narrow 10% of the people, this second advantage does not go to you, even if this changes later in the game.
So those are the traits, you get to choose two to define your new nation. Please note which ones you are in your factbook.
Religions and Races
All races are the same as real life ones. Feel free to be liberal with them though. You could create a new race made up of two old ethnicities, you could say during WWIII there was some great migration of people of a certain race to your country (though your population will still be the same as it was in RL 1965), or any number of things. As for religions, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Confusionism, Judaism and all other major forms of religion exist (see religion map below) but there are changes.
WARNING: THIS IS ALL BACK STORY, YOU DON'T NEED TO READ IT ALL NOW. I'M JUST TRYIN' TO SAVE YOU TIME.
There is no more Sunni and Shia Islam. In 1964, seeing the end was imminent, leading figures from both religious camps met in Baghdad (the Baghdad Conference) to try to reconcile their differences. They succeeded in the last days on earth and formed Greater Islam. In May of 1965 delegates from European nations with large Islamic nations met at the Beirut Conference. They too were persuaded. However, the two European nations with the largest Muslim populations, Albania and Bosnia, refused to attend. But in June, Albanian delegates decided to meet in Mecca with several prominent figures in Greater Islam and decided to join the growing faith. Only Bosnian Muslims, who had recently ceded from Bosnia in the chaos of earth's final days to form the Islamic Republic of Bosnia. Some Shia radicals held out in mountains of eastern Iran and some other Sunnis along the south-western coast of Yemen, not to mention a few Sunni communities in Mauritania, Senegal, and Mali. However, the highest concentration of Muslims not loyal the Greater Islam in the world remained Bosnia, which attracted thousands of other Balkan Sunnis, also unhappy about the change in religious politics.
THIS PARAGRAPH IS ALSO BACK STORY... SORRY.
Also, a new sect of Protestantism became popular in the mid-1950s. In 1946, Presbyterian minister John Rollens founds Antiestablishmentarian Christianity, often known as Simple Christianity. Rollens went through a series of religious experiences and transformations as a child. Born to a family of Irish Catholics in Boston in 1907, as the child grew he soon began to see the Catholic Church and the pope as corrupt institutions that had little to do with actual Christianity. Rollens never went to college, his father died in WWI and his family of seven had no steady income to send him to a good school. He spent most of his childhood working odd jobs and thinking. In 1933, he renounced his faith. Thereafter, he became a member of the Anglican Church. In 1942 Rollens was drafted by the US Army and deployed to North Africa. He was present during the Italy campaign and took this as an opportunity to learn Italian and speak with many Catholics on the topic of their religiosity. Coming home from the war, he was now certain the Catholic Church was a joke. Returning home to Boston in 1945, Rollens married Marie Holland and moved to Augusta, Maine. For the bulk of his twenties and teen years, Rollens had worked as a laborer. Now in Maine he had a steady job as a newspaper writer. In early 1946 he became disgusted with the Anglican Church, to him it was nothing more than a watered down version of the Catholic Church, telling it's followers how to live. That same year he joined the Presbyterian Church. After a month of attending regular sermons, Rollens decided to go into the church as a minister. In December he became a certified preacher. In March, to do a lack of ministers, he was given a congregation in a small town outside of Augusta. In October he published his book The Flock which became a small sensation. It preached that people should return to living as the original Christians had. It said the people should do away with all established institutions and worship freely with the lessons in the Bible as their priest. The book was so controversial that the Presbyterian Church refused to let him practice as a minister anymore. But book sales increased. More and more people turned to Rollens's support. By 1956 Simple Christianity was the largest faith in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It also had a large followings in Massachusetts and Canada. By the outbreak of WWIII it had massive followings in American Northeast, Ohio, the Great Lake region, various parts of Canada, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. It also had spread across the ocean to England and Wales where it had become very popular. In 1958 renowned Barbadian philosopher, Martin Cruised, who had for years been the voice of the Caribbean people, converted to Simple Christianity and wrote an essay supporting it. Soon, large amounts of people in the Lesser Antilles began converting. But people craved structure. They weren't exactly sure how to worship and needed someone to tell them. Soon, in remote areas of Canada and Maine, worship communities began to spring up in the deep woods, worshiping in solitude, but together. These were the infant religion's first monasteries. But this was exactly what Rollens didn't want. In 1961, after keeping quiet on major issues for years (only making the occasional public statement or authoring an essay here and there), Rollens released his book The Way, it gave important insight on how to practice Simple Christianity without having a structured church. It also condemned the new monasteries but they continued to grow anyway. In November of 1964, Rollens was killed while attending his mother's funeral in Boston by Soviet bombers. His religion, which he refused to call his own, continued to grow and still does.
JUST A BIT MORE BACK STORY
The last major change to organized religions came after the great war. War produces two kinds of men. Those who start praying looking down the barrel of a gun, and those who believe god could have never let such horrible things befall his creations. Therefore, in some areas, there has been a revitalization of faith, while in others, particularly urban centers, atheism has become a large part of life.
IT'S OVER, GO BACK TO READING
You can see the religious map below for more details.
Military
All nations can make their own kinds of weapons, but they must be somewhat similar. A helicopter is a helicopter, no acid shooting, mega-choppers. All weapons will be priced the same. Here are the costs. Not keeping track of the costs will result in immediate expulsion.
Aircraft Carrier -- $4 billion
Infantry (group of 50,000) -- $5 million
Infantry (group of 100,000) -- $10 million
Bomber -- $8 million
Destroyer -- $75 million
Fighter (groups of 10) -- $25 million
Helicopter (groups of 10) -- $15 million
Submarine -- $500 million
Tank (groups of 30) -- $30 million
Transport Aircraft -- $65 million (carry two hundred troops)
Transport -- $250 million (come in fleets of 28, can carry roughly 50,000 troops per fleet)
Artillery Battery (5 Artillery)---- 2million
Self Propelled Artillery (1 Artillery)---- 1 million
SAMs (5 SAM Sites)---- 10 million
Corvettes---- 30 million
Activity or Lack Thereof
All players are expected to sign on AT LEAST twice a week. Preferable much more often than that. Failure to do so will result in expulsion from the game. After a week ever nation has the right to RP to take your land (they are not allowed to take your capital though). After two weeks you're wiped from the map altogether. Other expectations: all players will have a completed factbook within a week of joining and need one to start playing, all players must have two or three paragraphs about how their new nation got its beginnings to be placed on their factbooks, all players must keep full records of financial activity (cooking the books will not be tolerated and will result in immediate expulsion, even if is merely an oversight), and all players are expected to be kind and courteous to everyone, among other things, this means NO godmodding. I am sick and tired of inactivity ruining great RPs.
Governments/Politics
Pretty much it's a blank slate for political systems. Do what you want. However, some forms are a bit too far fetched. No, your government cannot be an anarchy, that sir is what we call an oxymoron. Monarchies are unlikely as well. People might accept a dictator, perhaps even a hereditary one, but monarchies are a bit too sci-fi for this. Feudalism is a bit more understandable given the food shortages and need for protection, but I would still refrain from calling it that. Try to keep it within the realm of reason. There was just a massive war. People are struggling for power, the masses are starving, and everyone need protecting. Please note what kind of government your nation has in your factbook. If you allow for multiple parties to exist in your nation, please not which percentage of your population belongs to which party as well.
Each nation can have one puppet state. Their puppet state is a country that will basically follow its parent anywhere. But they still have some power. They won't always follow you into wars or diplomatic pacts that won't benefit them. As time goes on they may begin to move further and further away from you.
Now, I am going to allow slavery because I think it's likely in this situation. Just note if slavery is legal in your nation, where you get the slaves from, and how many you have.
Events
As soon as IC starts I will start an Events Thread. For those of you familiar with my previous world (E1860), you'll know what this is. Events are (generally) random things that occur in history. They can give new tech (nukes ;)), incite conflict (WWIIII perhaps), give players benefits, hurt players, everything. When I say they're generally random I mean that some of them are aimed to hurt the players who are better off and help the weaker ones to even things out a bit. I will not be partial to myself in this matter so don't worry. You'll see how they go once we get started. Try to check it as often as possible because they will probably come every other day but that might be a bit much on me.
Other Rules
Here is the place for rules that are everything other!
First off, one week equals one year. Each Monday is the beginning of a new year. Every three Mondays is pay day. Or basically every three years. This may be reduced to two weeks later on, I am undecided as of yet.
Every nation gets to chose one Chief Commander who is in charge of all your armed forces. You can chose one characteristics for your Chief Commander (CC). Here are the qualities you can choose from:
Defender (better chance of winning defensive battles)
Offensive (better chance of winning offensive battles)
Hero (great at winning pivotal or decisive battles)
Tactician (great at winning unlikely battles, especially with infantry)
Gate Breaker (better chance of winning/breaking sieges and less likely to damage enemy cities)
Know-It-All (knows how to work with planes, infantry, tanks, and helicopters to coordinate a battle)
Boardroom Commander (knows how to win the campaigns, not necessarily all the battles though)
Your CC cannot die of natural causes or illness. They cannot be assassinated or taken out either (no “i put a cruise missile right through yo CC's house. BO YAH!!!). If you decide to use your CC in a battle, they are automatically transported there. If you lose a battle that your CC was present at, I assign you a number between one and six. One meaning there is hardly any chance he will die, six being he will automatically die. Let's say you lose a battle and get a four. I will role a die and if it comes up as four or less, your CC dies. Sometimes (though rarely), after a complete route, I will give you a six which means your CC will die no matter what. I will do the dice rolling because I, quite honestly, don't trust you guys just yet. CCs will rarely get any number higher than a two or three; they are very hard to kill. Additionally, they cannot be captured. If your starting CC dies, you cannot get another one. Please note on your factbook what kind of commander they are (see traits above).
Once you get your factbook up I will give you your NHP (national happiness percentage), your TYI (tree year income), your military bonus (only relevant to those who chose a national trait that gives you a military bonus), and your FPC (food per capita). Once you get your NHP, you can divide this percentage by 1.8. This gives you your national loyalty percentage (NLP... sorry for all the acronyms). Your NLP is the piece of your population that will rise against invaders in times of invasion. They aren't very good fighters, but they help. By the way, if your NHP falls below 30%, you enter a state of civil disorder and someone will need to RP the rebels against you.
For every year (seven days) you have one army out on one campaign, it costs $300,000,000. Multiple wars/campaigns cost $300,000,000 a piece. Keep track of what days your invasions started on.
For getting factbook populations everyone will use populstat.info. It should come up on Google without the .info part. If we all use the same site, there will be no unfair population advantages.
Please don't call your nation by your account name. It's name should be based on your geographic location, your form of government, and/or your ruling ethnic/religious groups. In OOC you can call each other by your account names.
Sign Ups
AS OF POST #107, SIGN UP IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED
PEOPLE ARE STILL ALLOWED TO SIGN UP THROUGH THE TRAINING WORLD (see below) THOUGH, SIGN UPS FOR TRAINING WORLD WILL BEGIN NEXT WEEK
Please read as you may see that sign ups differ significantly from other RPs:
Okay, first off, I'll be allowing 12 players to join the game. I'll judge what is a fair amount of land to take. It will be based off of population and access to food. You be allowed very much. For example, taking France and Belgium would be enough. You can claim no overseas colonies to begin with. They will be hard to take once the game starts too. After we get 12 people, the sign up period ends. Another week (give or take) will be allowed for people to complete their factbooks.
Now, you may remember that there is currently a civil war going on in the back country of Australia. This area is UNCONQUERABLE. I am reserving this area for the purpose of training new players. That's right. We are going to have a training world. To my knowledge, NS's first. There will be a one week sign up period in which 8 to 12 people can sign up. Then, each of these trainees will be given a city-state in central Australia. Then there will be a two week period of basically all out fighting. At the end of which the 3 best players (judged by myself on conquests, trade, diplomacy, and how well they can RP) will move into the real game. We'll stop once we get 21 or 24 players overall. Each of these trainees will get a small plot of land, a brief back story, a little army, and $500,000,000 (five hundred million). Instead of getting their paydays every three weeks (three years) they will get it every week. This training world is no formality though, players can be killed off and as many as nine will lose. It is there to weed out players who are incompetent RPers, godmodders, and those who don't plan on being active, and to make interesting competition. This training world cannot interact with the outside world. It's basically a little roped off area of desert and it shan't be missed very much.
The only other area that is un-claimable is the city of Rome and the surrounding area. We're going to pretend that the pope became very powerful in the wake of WWIII and Catholic spirituality rose immensely. Although he only controls Rome and the outlying region, he claims power through the Holy Catholic Confederation, an alliance of not unlike the Holy Roman Empire of old that unites France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Bavaria, Spain, Portugal, Austria and some bits of Poland (see map). These areas are claimable but subject to the pope's loose authority.
So NOW after reading all of this crap, we can get started. Hopefully by having made the intro so godamn long I have weeded out any players intent on land claiming then never posting here ever again. Just to drive one last point home, this thread is NOT another post-apocalyptic war thread, the point of WWIII was to clear the slate for new nations (us) to move in without being too hindered by the past. Welcome to the World.