NationStates Jolt Archive

“Guffingford” – around 10,000 AD

Ten thousand years have passed with no progress in social, economic or military disciplines. Million man armies are killing each other by the thousands, massive steam powered juggernauts level cities, and the only form of stable government can only be compared with the worst kind of anarchy. Knowledge is gone from the hands of the common man. Only an all powerful, godlike order called the Ko-Ih-Noor reigns over vast cities with an iron clad fist armed with weapons desgined before and during the Great War.

*****

Gezler walked through the night, a beautiful sight with stars, bright spots and occasionally a falling star. Splendid, if only earth could be this marvellous again. Only the rich and the Ko-Ih-Noor knew what happened that caused the endless struggle and the history of earth. At least, that’s what the locals say to us. The Ko-Ih-Noor are all-knowing, the Ko-Ih-Noor are all-powerful… Asking what they don’t possess or what they don’t know is blasphemy. They are hiding something, defiantly. But what? Like hell they’re gonna tell the townsfolk. Even the baron and his henchmen don’t know.
Essential questions to understand life remain unanswered. He walked through town to the tavern in hopes of finding some relief in booze. No, it wouldn’t help a damn thing. I need to find knowledge and I need to share it with others. But where can I find long lost information? I heard names like Hitler and Stalin. Who were they? Where they saints or sinners? Did they treat their folk well? I heard from people Hitler did a lot of good to his people, he shared bread, put people back to work and made lots of money. If those stories are true, I’d love to see a Hitler in power. My mind is blurred with thoughts about the past. Some folks just say: you need to forget it. What difference does it make anyway? Who the hell cares? I certainly do I answered but they fell off their chairs laughing. History is done, its over. Nobody can change the past.

*****

At the time he reached the tavern the place was filled with farmers and traders. Monday is always a busy day, Friday too that’s when the workdays end. Gezler ordered something they call beer. The exact recipe is gone so the bartender makes something new each week he calls beer. Sometimes it’s as soft as snow and another day it burns like acid. Gezler was sitting at the bar, half awake and half dreaming. He saw magnificent green meadows, slowly drifting clouds and a peaceful and feminine like hills on the horizon. He suddenly woke up when he heard something he had never heard before. He couldn’t believe it. Someone restored power. Now that’s something he hasn’t seen in forty years. A glowing light bulb. Across the narrow street he saw Paull juggling with a lot of copper wire, he was obviously trying to make a light above his home. Because torches caused fire one whole workdays ago in the temple and since then Paull has been working hard to make new lights. He somewhere found old schematics how to make those, but that’s just a wild guess. Paull said he invented those things but I’m not so sure about that. I think he is lying, methinks he found a place with ancient knowledge. A site the Ko-Ih-Noor haven’t uncovered yet.

Some people are whispering there’s a cite somewhere, a city where the people are direct descendents of the pre-war peoples. With machines, real buildings and even books from the past. They are under a constant siege of the Ko-Ih-Noor, but maybe that’s a lie to keep us away from the place. Rumours go the city is located in the north, where once narrow sea strait was. Now the place is surrounded by the sea and virtually impossible to enter.

OOC:
Welcome to the birth of a whole new kind of future tech which I call, anti-future tech. What is anti-future tech? Look here:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/manhattanproject120/timeline.jpg
This new type of RP is loosely based on the theory social hierarchy will collapse when oil cannot be pumped up anymore i.e. all oilwells are exhausted. The run for oil created a series of large scale conflicts and eventually a total world war. The few oil barrels left were quickly depleted and now the seemingly rock solid economies of most nations have turned liquid, all trade ceased and all industrial development halted. The industrial and economical evolution of men stopped.

Not-so-FAQ’s but things you need to keep in mind

There is no more oil. So you can’t use or make ANYTHING that uses oil. Machines, cars, jetfighters, tanks, hummers, plastic, asphalt, petrochemical products etc etc…

Because your economy (NS speaking) has dropped from any level to imploded your economy lost all meaning. Farming and the military are the only branches were you are certain of a good income. Sure there are little shops and small scale banking corporations but that has no influence. The private sector has vanished, the public sector is enormous but virtually all healthcare (and knowledge is gone)

Computers, internet, data storage (except very few writings not held by the Ko-Ih-Noor) are all gone. Since no spare parts can be made and the technology is lacking to find alternate means of production all the computers slowly went down one by one.

Diplomacy and politics – all gone. The only diplomacy left are declarations of war since all confidence in alliances and allies nations was lost in the final stages of the Great War when it became “every man for himself”. No state or tribe trusts the other and a constant state of permanent war exists between most of them. When one tribe is destroyed the victorious one declares war on another and the cycle continues. The political ideologies currently dominating NS, capitalism and communism are also gone. Since neither prevailed in the war there aren't much people left who hang on to one or another. Democracy or dictatorship, neither one has really survived. Most states have a mix of both, a leading council with an elected but all-powerful leader but the rest is total and utter chaos.

Speaking of nations, none of the old ones (USA, China, Russia, Guffingford or any other NS/RL nation) are left on the planet. All borders have been declared null when empires fell to their conquerors and when the conquerors were conquered. So when you RP, saying “I own Russia, China & Australia” will get you nowhere. When you say those names most people won’t know where the nation is located. In fact, the townsfolk don’t even know what a Russia or a China is. Instead, you can say where your little kingdom or state is located on the globe. Claiming land is in the first stages of this new type of RP impossible. When the whole world starts to develop Empires can rise again.

What are the weapons of war? Drive yourself wild in massive steam powered war engines or a terrifying battlefleet of iron and steam. Coal and wood are abundant resources, humanity has been recovering from a nuclear winter and is still trying hard to survive in a radically changed environment. Europe and North-America have become giant taiga’s (like present day Alaska or Siberia) while the Sahara became a fertile agricultural rich area where most of the former European people are located. South America and Asia are still quite the same but Australia is a richly forested continent now.

How to fight? When your tribe or clan has more than 100 million followers or citizens a few million in your army is quite normal. Since most economies only allow a few war machines and like, two ships and some crude dirigibles, human flesh is the only rapid growing product for war. Note that most of the soldiers trained for war are mostly medium trained troops with only a bit combat experience. Kings and the aristocracy have the best trained troops available but those are the most expensive since they rely on the best weaponry available.

Who are the Ko-Ih-Noor? The Ko-Ih-Noor is a non player character group (abbreviation is KIN) and the only faction who survived the Great War. They are a very industrialized group bent on preserving all the knowledge which dates back before the Great War. Their purpose is to prevent humanity of making even bigger mistakes and to protect the secret of splitting an atom. A catastrophe of such proportions with nations armed to the teeth can only lead to more bloodshed and eventually, the destruction of mankind. The KIN are omnipresent but rarely seen, except when someone shows a little too much interest is math, physics or chemistry. Both three subjects float on the level of early 18th century knowledge.

Because of some heavy atomic bombardments large places of earth have been permanently tainted with nuclear waste which caused a 150% increase in fertility of men and women. This doesn’t really matter, those countries lucky to have such communities give birth but when they reach the age of 18 they are immediately put in the army, and get killed the same year. In this for of RP you can use the full six million you gain each year, since 70% gets killed the same year. Because atomic bombs were dropped everywhere, most nations have such communities with insane birth rates.

How can I start playing here? Post a simple introduction (character RP or just a description, doesn't matter) and give the basic information about your little kingdom or state.

This new form of roleplaying can be in no way considered to be fantasy. The laws of nature apply so there's no magic here.

[Watch This Space, Trust Me, It Shall Be Watching You…]

OOC: Will be joining. Will post introduction after Xmas... I assume we are talking sort of medieval backwards style tech?

OOC: Sounds very interesting. I might join so consider this a Tag.

tag

OOC: Dunno what to call this so I’ll stick with Okyto City, I hope it’ll do.

Formed by common people fleeing successive wars, Okyto City is rambling and ramshackle stretching across the sides of the tall mountains which are its defence. Its mountainous terrain has protected it thus far from destruction.

Rituals initially set down to attempt to protect and preserve knowledge has long since faded into obscurity their meanings utterly lost. Keeping Okyto possibly more backwards yet civilized than its neighbours. There is a clear ruling caste system, which practices a system of inheritance, though through scheming and assassination the position of Duke is rarely passed onto someone of descent. This of course is never commented on, the current Duke is naturally the right one.

Warriors of Okyto are sturdy, skilled but not too plentiful. Given the poor quality of much of its soil farming is difficult and dangerous requiring more manpower than usual.

Technologically Okyto is possibly even more backward than most. Whilst it is rich in metal ores, and fairly skilled with its manipulation thoughts of electricity and anything more than great inefficient machinery are non-existent. Though successive Dukes and Duchesses have dreamed of flight to conquer the lower plains tribes and secure their families place as head of Okyto little more than basic balloons have been constructed and ideas of aerial bombardments are far off.

OOC: As for troops I was thinking of a mixture between barbarian and Greek hoplite, very religious despite their religions nonsensical origins and rituals they’d tend toward swift repeated attacks, whilst the slow war machine arrived. These machines being merely glorified battering rams designed to demolish the cities of the plains tribes who are Okytos’ main enemy.

What'd you reckon?

OOC: Sod it i've got time now...

IC:

The medium sized nation of Mazalan ruled by Emperor Kellevend existed in a large area surrounded my mountains. It was located close to the area ruled by the Ko-Ih-Noor, but it had survived so long by a clever diplomacy and by defensive ability in that Ko-Ih-Noor had not wished to test it's defenses or more likely couldn't be bothered. The few passes leading into the plains of Mazalan were heavily guarded by Mazalan legionnaires and Marines, highly fortified with traps, barbicans and small citadels.

The plains were lush and vast but there was only one major commerical city on them, the capital Unta. It was surrounded my mighty walls with some ingenious Mazalan defence ideas incorporated into them. The city was thronged with Merchants and Traders from distant lands all doing barter with the main stopping point to the realms of the Ko-Ih-Noor... only the most daring of traders and caravan guards dared venture into that Empire.

Most of the Mazalan however lived on the plains around Unta. They lived an almost nomadic existance herding vast herds of livestock around the plains bartering with any who would do business with them. They were superb horsewarriors also having highly disciplined foot forces, but their real strength was their cavalry and their unconventional Marines and Sappers.

There were of course villages but these tended to be small agricultural communities tending large tracts of landing as well as periodically chasing off their more nomadic kin...

The Emperor's power was enforced by the Watch under Lord Commander Samuel Vimes, whose men maintained order within Unta and the surrounding countryside...

There was no particular religion, with many temples to various dieties and even to the Ko-Ih-Noor themselves.

All in all an unusual civilisation, which survived only because of it's position and the trademark skill of it's rulers... they had also been investing a lot of time and effort into Chemistry as of late...

OOC: You mentioned cities of the KIN so I will be next to them... or relatively close climatically allowing...

Basically my lot use a lot of fast moving cavalry in war... they have very good defensive formations but lack a lot of offensive heavy infantry... but they're also quite good at unconventional warfare.

The small valley known as Slovi is rich with vegetation; orchards and vegetable patches litter the area around the main villages. Slovi has been inhabited for many hundreds of years and is very populated yet very primitive.

The locals, called Slovites, form a clan led by an almighty chief. Unlike the KIN, the barbaric Slovites are uninterested in technology and past knowledge, they consider such things foolish and a waste of time. They pride themselves on their fighting abilities; Slovites are trained from a young age to fight in hopes of becoming chief when the current chief dies. The strongest Slovite always is chief and is in charge of diplomacy, war, and agriculture.

The Slovites live in villages surrounded by massive pallisade walls, most of their structures are constructed from wood but the biggest and most important buildings, such as the Meeting Hall and Chief's Hut, have stone incorporated into them.

The Slovites have a very large and strong army and have almost never lost a battle. They rarely ever leave their valley because they need to as they have all the resources they need. In this year though there has been a major food shortage because of temperature changes in the world and the Slovites have been forced to leave their valley to find sources of food.

OOC: This looks bloody great...by the way, am I allowed to use crude blackpowder weapons such as flintnocks, blunderbusses ect. ect.

Sorry, I just don't know if the resources are available.

By the way, this is Kriegorgrad!

IC: The fledgling city of Tarant was once a grand city built in the 1800's and was always a bustling city, the towering red brick walls of Tarant had seen it safe through minor incursions during the 1800's, industry boomed and flourished as time crept, the city was still booming when it passed the mark of 1900's, time went by and the 1900's disappeared without incident but, Tarant wasn't meant to have another century of peace and prosperity.

The oil wars started

Tarant was a beacon of hope while the rest of the nation was in chaos, Tarant, stark and obvious on the plains, it almost invited attack yet only a few came, none were foolish enough to attack the mammoth red brick walls that ringed the industrious, 1800s-esque slums of the city, barbarians and raiders tried and fell to the volley guns that waited inside the gates.

The Tarantian soldier is a fearsome looking opponent, clad head to toe in iron and steel and wielding a black powder rifle or pistol, you find soldiers wielding close quarter weaponry such as swords and halberds ect. ect. but these groups are often awfully trained with their weapons, usually nothing more than militia called up to serve as a meat shield for the gunslingers.

And to add, the Tarantian military is currently developing engines of war, powered by steam to further Tarant's sphere of influence - and the development is going well.

The Tarantian Soldier
http://www.antantasouz.narod.ru/Image/arcanum.JPG

Tarant itself is a city surrounded by red brick walls, huge steel gates governed by a series of chains and winches, the architecture is distinctly old England, factories pump out noxious fumes into the grey sky, the farms outside of the city are under constant watch by the militias, as are the warehouses in which huge amounts of food are kept, thankfully the radiation hasn't hit Tarant or it's surrounding areas, so it has clean food and water for the most part.

Tarant is ruled by a council of canny nobles led by a Chairman, the Chairman is the public speaker and is the overall will of the council.

Tarantian architecture is very 1800's, ranging from the wide paved roads of the upper class to the dark, gritty muddy and litter strewn hive of the sprawl in which the lower classes dwell.

Tarant has been very successful in it's endeavours on the plains and has had no reason to move until the famine came, a ghastly plague swept over Tarant and the crops had to be burnt, the stores weren't afflicted but without crops, Tarant has lost a major income of food, they need to move, expand and grow.

Hmm i have realised that as a mountain kingdom Okyto is the best source of new metal ores and sulphur, but not of grains and weak vegetables, please consider where your civilization will gain its full spectrum of resources.

OOC: Firearms and simple cannons are ok, as long as it's around the 16th century level of gun and firearms knowledge. The rest of the society is based largely on 18th century England without the powerful economy. I think it's time to play our first few wars, just to get the hang of it. It would be something different indeed, no numberwanking or godmodding or OOC garbadge. There's no need to explain how your mega monster missiles work, there aren't any!

Hmm i have realised that as a mountain kingdom Okyto is the best source of new metal ores and sulphur, but not of grains and weak vegetables, please consider where your civilization will gain its full spectrum of resources.

I considered this as well when creating my nation for this RP. I will be pretty self sufficent in weapon producing ores, but with no surplus. My surpluses will be in foodstuffs and grains... etc...

I will have to buy my luxuries from outside.

My exports will be:

Weapons generally (but especially swords, axes, daggers and bows (composite and longbows) in this my weapons are supposedly some of the finest in the known world. (if thats ok).
Foodstuffs/Grain

My major imports will be:

Wood
General luxuries
Cloth
Non-weapon producing ores

[OOC-Tag. Post coming later.]

Yeah your nations safe on the metal front, though i worry for those valley people. All their metal would have to come through a mixture of trade and theft.

Mine as you can tell would be:

Imports: Grains, Cloth.
Exports: (not weapons dont sell weapons to potential enemies :P) Metal, stone, sulpher, and knowledge (fake unhelpful religious nonesense knowledge really, but it sounds wise. (Basically they export superstitions.))

Contact between me and Zarbia...

Mazalan and Slovi... :D

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=7790288&posted=1#post7790288

That's great :D

TAG, i'll write a ic post soonish

A few days later...

Gezler, drunk as always, left the tavern after drinking a bit too much beer. He drifted about falling, getting up and moving on to his little house. He could barely keep his eyes open and wasn't paying attention to the road ahead and went off to some old ruins. It was too late to go home now, the Barons policemen are patrolling the streets now and he had to spend the night in one of those great cells. No, Gezler decided to take a nap in an old basement and to go home early in the morning. He quickly fell asleep on the soft bed of moss and leaves.

The next morning...

Light was flooding the basement and Gezler noticed lots of things he hadn't seen last night. Three narrow corridors, and in one corner lots of junk, probably dumped there by someone out of town. In the middle corridor Gezler could see a dim light burning colorless. He still had a hangover and a headache but wasn't going to leave before he check this out. The corridor was poorly lit, but he clearly saw he was going downstairs, into some technical abyss. The light seemed miles away and the closer he got, the brighter it became. Suddenly he walked in the biggest hall he'd ever seen, the ceiling was out of his sight, the walls were so huge... This was made by the pre-war peoples! Gezler wandered around and in front of him the biggest steel door he has seen in his entire life. A small panel was next to the massive with a few buttons all covered in dust. He pushed a few of them to see what happens, and a rain of sparks fell down, the lights flashed... You could hear the electricity flow through the cables, heating everything. A small column of smoke came from the panel shooting more sparks away. A horrible sound of old rusty metal moving rose and rose until Gezler heard a large "click" and the door was unlocked. The hissing of old machinery not used for ten thousand years was working again and opening the steel door.

Inside there was another hall, smaller than the entry, but his whole house could fit in ten times, or more. The walls, the floor and the ceiling was covered in serene white tiles and the sound of walking echoed around. He saw more doors, and those were opened by hand, not locked. He didn't look inside yet but his attention was drawn to a sheet of paper on a metal table. Gezler picked up the piece of paper and he started to read...

Welcome stranger

This is the last writings of a great man who enjoyed the privileges and rights of the upper class of our party. Perhaps this is the last thing anyone will hear from Guffingford because we will have lost the war when this stronghold falls.
Fear and hope as abandoned me. I do not know when this will be read or by who but I am sure someone will read it somewhen. I am the last Guffingfordian of this fortress and my brothers have been slain by those accursed troops from Belem and Wazzu who made a wicked pact to subdue Guffingfordian Germany. This was the last stronghold protecting the Rhine but I fear reinforcements will arrive when I am dead. I have managed to slip past the Belem guards protecting this vault and to lock myself in and to stay here until the storm of war has passed. There is enough food and water to stay here for months so I think I have a small chance of surviving but I don't count on it.

This vault is made to store history. We all know this war will destroy everybody and every country but we musn't give up fighting. We must prevail and secure the glorious spirit of National Socialism. When the war started it soon become obvious to me everybody will be involved. Therefor I have compiled and written a most accurate account of the recent past and how the war started. These books can be found in room #2 on the right.

Solan Rixx II, loyal supporter of National Socialist Guffingford

Gezler slowly put down the letter and walked to door #2 and opened it. A heavy smell of grease and chemicals smacked him in the face but was gone a few moments later. On the metal shelves he noticed not a whole library but only a handful of books. A small staircase was leading down but he didn't want to go there yet. He looked at the titles, the books are called: The Book of The Plague, The Book of the Future both made by a certain Axelrod Procyon chap. Two others also had freaky titles namely: The Book of Endless Wisdom and The Book of Predictions written by a guy called Könrad Sachenspiegel. Another one was "History of The War" by this Solan Rixx guy and some others contained mathematical, physical and other theoretical scientific stuff. A quick look through the pages revealed many, many numbers, symbols, equatations, explanations, graphs, theories, theorems and more of this. He was more interested in Solan Rixx II's book. He sat down on the ground and started to read.

The History of The War - Solan Rixx II

Note: the dates have been blurred and the laws of time no longer apply in this war. It is endless and timeless. The rhythm of guns and cannons replace the gentle ticking of clocks. I have enclosed a few maps to give you an idea of what happened to who and where.
-
The war supposedly started when a wicked nation called 'Automagfreek' tried to start a new campaign against a band of inept nations called the RWC (Right Wing Collective).
In response to this a Guffingfordii invasion of a socialist* hellhole Dr_Twist succeeded due to our superior leadership and tactics but turned into a stalemate. Because this has been planned many years ago we were forced to fight a tougher enemy since they knew we were planning something.
Russian Forces, another socialist nation decided to help out his ally Dr_Twist but was decimated in the east and north by a combined Guffingford/Bob-Bob/Belem/Zarbian/Huzen Hagen attack. Russian Forces lived but was horribly weakened and became a feeder of our armies. A loyal ally of him freed Russian Forces from our reign but destroyed his nation to drive us out.
-
Automagfreek's campaign is steady advancing but a stauch defence of Belem completely obliberated his assets in that sector. Because Belem did not receive any aid from the RWC he abandoned them. Internal desintegration of Holy Panooly led to an even more destructive third civil war and taking down his region, Imperial Armies down with him. The total deathtoll is perhaps the highest in one single battlefield, 1.21 billion lives were taken in nine months of fighting. Two bloodbrothers, Huzen Hagen and Holy Panooly were totally exhausted and could drink each others blood while the seafaring nation of Stevid and the airpower Adaptes Astrates were wiped from the earth.
-
Automagfreek was suffering hard from a massive air-, sea- and land strike by The Macabees, Allanea and several others upon his nation while METUS was falling apart after the leader of Melkor Unchained was assassinated by a mercenery group called Sirens of Titan. By this time Holy Panooly is completely destroyed and its population reduced to hundreds. Russian Forces is an empty mudfield with mines and other traps scattered around. Virtually nothing is remaining from the African colonial empires leaving its population without food or water. Millions die of dehydration and/or starvation. Guffingford itself is still living but many chemical strikes from Bob-Bob depopulated many cities in The Netherlands and Belgium.
-
A clash breaks out between the British Empire of Bob-Bob and the French Empire of Chellis. Both have completely obliberated each other and most cities have turned into blasted wasteland.
-
METUS destroyed, RWC fell apart, NWO surrendered, NATO destroyed. All OMP and CAD nations dead. Most small nations who jumped to help the possible victors are gone and forgotten.

Gezler looked up and thought, is this The Great War? Has humanity done this to herself? How can anyone be this stupid? But Guffingford, what kind of nation was that? I need to know more about them. I think it's obvious we are living in what once Guffingford was. Gezler looked on the shelves and found a book called "The War - Reference & Knowledge by Solan Rixx II". He started to read but it was a Who's Who in the war. Well, he did know what caused The War but everybody was speaking of The Great War... It must have happened after the one described. In this war everybody was driving in something they call cars, flying fuel powered aircraft. I remember my father told me about the Great War, nobody has witnessed it because it's so long ago but its common knowledge they were fighting over a black goo called oil. That part is missing here.
I'm going home now but I need to turn the lights off, no one and especially those Ko-Ih-Noor bastards may see this. I may have to tell only the Baron about this, he knows many things and maybe we can find a way to rid ourselves of those damned Ko-Ih-Noors.

OOC:
What has been written by Solan Rixx II is indeed the truth. Since this happened after post-modern (2050) that part is still unwritten of NationStates. The Great War isn't the one described but is going to happen around 2150 when all oil has been used up. Don't start moaning GODMOD or whatever when you don't participate in this RP. The only thing you have to accept is all nations have been destroyed in a war. Just keep in mind; how it happened in what sequence doesn't matter, it happened to everyone. One lasted longer than the other.

TAG

Will post another time, when I have time. This looks very very interesting.

BTW, what nations are we using, and how big can they be? Do we have to create new nations and use their pop?

[OOC- I would hope you're not describing Operation: Brimstone because that's nowhere near what has happened or will happen during it. If it's another war, by all means, carry on. But if it isn't.....

Oh, and one question. Where, geographically, are people located right now? I want my peeps to be in an area near other humans.]

OOC: I am north of Zarb so assume we are somewhere in North Africa and he is south of me... I will probably be the area of Algeria or just south of it.

Does it matter what he describes? It's a parrallel universe if you will don't get all up tight for no reason. :)

[OOC- It's called me not being able to believe the continuity of his entire first post that suckered me in. I assumed this was to be about the future, not inane references to the past.

But I'm guessing that whatever Guff mentioned is something entirely different, because of the fact that not half the people involved were mentioned, so meh.

So I'm not getting all "up tight for no reason." I prefer to have some form of realism in my RPs. And that post might not give any realism.

And location. NA...hmm....]

taggity tag

OOC: Back as Kriegorgrad again, I'd like to add the following facts to my nation.

1-) Half of the area surrounding Tarant is dense woodland with one main road going through it, the road is quite heavily guarded.

2-) The second half of the area surrounding Tarant is farmland, riddled with roads, patrols frequent the main roads.

3-) List of Tarantian Exports:

Grain
Wood
Cloth
Luxuries

List of Tarantian Imports:

Metals
Fabrics

ooc: Gf you going to post the general history of the big oil war? Because it will help for the RP setup of my nation.

Zakia, i've an idea... be on msn some time :P

The Chosen Peoples of Ne Sout Wal
Overview
The chosen ones, rulers of the promised land, emissaries to the Lost Gods on Earth, tasked with opening the kingdom for the Elders when they came again. At least this is what they thought their role on Earth was.

The oppressively religious hierarchy of NSW was the glue that kept the community together. As men of the forests flocked to the burgeoning communities, they were introduced to the mystical Gods that had departed the earth with the ancients, in the bloody wars between the Gods. All were taught the basics of their faith- only the lucky could go on the pilgrimage to the Religious and Governing capital, the once proud God-city of Sydne. And there were many Gods indeed.

The entirety of the faith, of the community, of the governing system was built upon the idea that the Elder Gods had been involved in a long and bloody war with other Elder Gods, that though they were victorious, the Gods were forced to flee. And it was up to the people of Ne Sout Wal to prepare the Earth for them- to burn the unbelievers, as the rotting and ancient texts had shown them, to spread the word of their gods and the knowledge the Elders would come again throughout the world.

Gods
Cenot, God of War, as attested by the carvings up and down the side of the half-ruined monument to him;

Parl Ho, God of Governing, as shown by the numerous bas-reliefs of legislation and decision-making being carried out by the Gods;

Syd Pi, God of Healing, whose majestic temple had yielded many wondrous cures and items to be used for cures of various ailments;

Vict Ba, God of Innovations and technology, whose massive and austere temple had led to rapid advancements in military secrets from the Gods;

Syd Libr, God of Knowledge, whose temple was filled with ancient texts of the ancient Gods; and

Winry, God of Agriculture, his temple littered with pictures of ancient grain fields on the walls and broken bottles of some agricultural liquid upon the floor.

Each God was great and each God was equal.

Military: Strengths, Weaknesses, Character
Composed of both the newly converted forest dwellers and the coastal dwellers who originally formed their communities, the NSW as a military as varied as its Gods.

A massive core of trained and fanatical Converts lead the charge, their belief in the sanctity of their Gods all they need to work themselves into berserker furies with the aid of fanatical guides, the preaching wing of the government.

However, different worshippers of different Gods may specialize into aspects their Gods favor, and a convert that is worked to a berserker fury may be different from a convert next to him, who is given the urge to fight on no matter the cost. These highly sought after soldiers often form the disciplined core of the elite wings of the military and the ranged wing of the normal military. Armed with the best weaponry available to them, Converts are armed with everything from iron swords to longbows, pikes to arquebuses.

Backing up the Converts are the slightly mad Pioneers. Inventors and often field testers of their insane weaponry, this is the portion of the Enlightened Peoples that produces and crews the awe-inspiring weapons of war. From primitive cannon to massive land castles, these fanatical devotees to Vict Ba are ready to sell their lives gladly if only the technology of the NSW is increased.

The leaders and inspiration of these crazed fanatics are the Guides and the Preachers. As the men rush forwards, guides whip them into stalwart fury, letting no man doubt he fights for the furthering of his Gods upon Earth. Capable of changing a lost battle into a hopeless rout of the enemy, the persuasive powers of Guides are the most effective portion of the Enlightened People’s war machine.

With a task no less important, Preachers are the field commanders of the Order Militant. Responsible for strategy, furthering the will of the Gods’, and victories upon he field of battle, only the most tried and tested of all candidates ever make it to this level. Encompassing the best traits of a commanding officer in a stern and fanatical leader, it is the will of Gods carried out by these staid followers.

Order Militant- A look at the Governing structure of NSW
As their armies wage war upon the field of battle, their converts fell forests and plant crops, their thinkers create weapons of lethal potential, the God-Priest of the Order Militant commands the respect and will of the entirety of his people.

Ruling from his seat in Sydne, he is the master of his domain. His advisors, the Bishops Militant, are the lesser rulers, whose decisions have more of an impact upon the daily lives of citizens. And reaching out, in ever decreasing levels of power, are the Preachers and Guides, foot soldiers of the Order Militant and the highest governing body in every community.

Their word is sacrosanct, their will is never questioned, and their motives are the motives of Gods. The Order Militant will exist as long as there are people who believe their gospels.

Geographic Location, general information
Located on the Australian continent, the people of Ne Sout Wal have the heart of their empire in the Southeast. With borders rapidly expanding, many of the forests of Australia are falling to axes to make room for the ever-expanding fields of produce.

The cities of the Ancient Gods, with some such as Canbe and Sydne, are settled as soon as they are found, the officials of the Order Militant quickly laying claim to any information or technology found and dragging it back to Sydne to study. As of this point, only the barbaric forest dwellers have been encountered and converted. Those who did not convert were crushed ruthlessly, burned upon the ashy pyres of unbelievers, so there are no domestic enemies anywhere near the current seat of the NSWians. This could change as they begin to amass the technology and inclination to journey across the Lake of the Gods, the Atl Ocea.

Notes
Kudos to those who can spot the cultural references! HINT- Australia. names of monuments and cities that have lost letters in the past. This is all I have to say.

I reserve the right to add to or clarify anything on this post.

They will have more ships then some of you at first, but just to meet youse guys.

They look very powerful –they are. Fanatical devotion to the cause, weapons at your levels, and the important fact they will never surrender. But there’s one glaring weakness. They’ll never bargain with others. They’ll never trade unless it is approved at the highest of heights. They’ll never enter into temporary alliances, never hesitate to attack a superior foe depending upon the experience of their commander, and never ask for quarter. A loss means outright extermination of an army. You can see how these all add up to be quite a weakness…

I'm up for anything, so to plan, go over stuff, or just plain talk, I'm on AIM as samtheuberman.

Thank you to all who have complimented the post! I will update it soon, and no, I won't be making all my posts this in-depth. Just had an idea and ran with it.

OK, since you’re all clarifying your nations to a far greater extent that I did I feel it only proper that I should at least make an attempt at clearing up some of the stuff with my shiny new nation.

Firstly the religion is based upon a love of the earth and a sort of fanatical fear/hatred of the sun. The sun, the Okyton priests assume is the cause of the disturbances in the earth, they can see the suns yellow influence left after eruptions, (sulphur) and they no these eruptions also cause earthquakes which cause devastating landslides. They believe that the full force of the suns wrath is being withheld from the earth by three mystical black pillars with powers beyond human comprehension. They think this because in the area of the main palace complex where the priests have set up their quarters there are signs saying warning, and displaying a picture of the sun, being barred by three pyramidal black shapes. They are re-assured in this belief by the discovery, and subsequent relocation to the priest quarters, of one of these black pillars, with written upon it SUN micro--. (Obviously either missed by the Ko-Ih-Noor, or considered inconsequential as it obviously no longer works.)

The complex traditions set up have descended merely into repeated acts that the people belief is keeping the suns anger at bay as it is said that the sun was angered when man blocked the sky (the nuclear winter). The fact that the priests die earlier and mysteriously (cancer looks mysterious to the non medical) only goes to prove it further that they are giving their life force to protect Okyto.

Strengths of the military are their speed and training, which is superb. Not in hand to hand combat as such as they are mostly mounted, but their skill lies in horses, an animal which each trooper has and is charged with looking after. This gives them an advantage over slower moving ground troops trained to fight other ground troops, however the smaller number of Okyton horsemen balances this.

The great war machines, once on the plains are considered unstoppable, their march towards, and indeed through their target is devastating, but very, very slow. Its not a surprise the machines are coming, tough the damage they cause might be. The horsemen have the task of merely picking off any dangerous enemies before the war machines arrive, which in some cases can be some time. This is another reason why the Okyton Dukes wish to develop flight, not only is it god-like, but it’s quick and no civilization has a defence against it. These of course being the main faults of the Okyton war machines at present.

OOC: Guffingford, I ask you to refrain from using my name in your threads, or at all. It messes with my searches. I have ignored you, and ask you leave me out of your stories, etc. If you absolutly must, though I still ask you to stop, please refer to me in some other way, such as "the chellians", or some way that doesn't use the word Chellis. I should hope you would be civil enough to agree to this request, as I would rather not wander into your threads thinking there is something I need to respond to, as my name has been said.

OOC: Cudos to Samtonia for an excellent post...

IC:

The Mazalan Empire

Ruled by: Emperor Kellevend (24) and Empress Theodora (21).

Currently no children.

Government type: Feudal Monarchy, based on loyalty to ones lord and the Emperor.

Major Nobles:

Duke of Ankh: Lord Commander Samuel Vimes
Duke of Unta: Lord Arutha
Duke of Coral: Lord Coltraine
Duke of Ueta: Lord Matthius

Military:

Mostly made up of light Horsewarriors drawn up into Regiments of 500 Warriors, they are usually armed with a mixture of light lances, composite bows with an axe or a sword. They wear light but effective chainmail and hardened leather armour. There are approximately 30,000 Horsewarriors on pay at any one time. Although many can be called up from the clans on the Mazalan plains.

The Crimson Guard: 500 select Warriors, the elite of the horsewarriors and many are schions of noble families. They are bound by blood oath to protect the Imperial Family. They are the only Mazalan Heavy Cavalry carrying heavy lances, plate armour with crimson cloaks and massive chargers.

The Mazalan Marines: A small bunch of mainly unusual warriors. They wear steel scale armour with a scale helmet. They carry light compact crossbows, swords and various knives. They are used mainly as guards for the sappers and as raiding troops. About 2000 in number.

The Mazalan Sappers: A small bunch often to refered to as 'The loonies' by other Mazalans, have been responsible for many Mazalan victories in the field. Use heavy crossbows with various chemical cocktails on the end of the bolt, these can cause massive explosions or even gouts of flame depending on what type is used. About 750 in number.

The Mazalan Legionnaires: The standard Mazalan defensive trooper about 20,000 in number, they are armed with composite or longbows (on personal choice), swords, steel scale armour and helmets. Organised into Regiments of 1000 men, they are also capable of riding well should the need arise.

BLAHOOC: I don't have an ignore on you, I prefer not to interact with you. Now please leave my thread. I'm going to write a roughly the same guide as Samtonia, it looks superb. The history of the Great War will develop later in this RP, saying it now would give too much away about the city of thieves and liars.

The Clans of Gerlach & Solarii

Spreaded over a once fertile and rich Europe and Middle East the clans of Gerlach and Solarii are very peaceful. The two clans a very atheistic bunch since they learnt religion only leads to more violence. Because the two clans cover a very large place (scattered and divided that is) trying to kill them is very hard. Of the two clans only Gerlach has a strong military tradition especially in dirigibles and other types of balloons. Solarii is a trade powerhouse, with having hubs in central areas where most tribes and clans are located. Neither one has any significant influence and are ignored by the more self-respected clans on earth. But like many things, can't live with them, can't live without them. Many men and women don't like to say it but if Gerlach and Solarii are gone then the steppe warriors of the central plaines (central Asia) will travel to their lands.

Army
Both clans have an army with pretty modern weapons for the time. Nothing special about them, they know how to defend themselves well but attacking never goes as smooth as defending an important city. Gerlach & Solarii are to outsiders a very defensive civilization who keep things to themselves. If the oustide world knows Baron Lurch (leader of Gerlach) holds many coffers filled with pre-war gold, then... Well, end of story for Gerlach. The only weaknesses are also their stronger points; Solarii holds a vast trading fleet and can tranform them into powerful battleships but won't because of neglect and expected loss of profit. Gerlach has a powerful "airforce" but only uses it when the odds rise too high against or to defend Solarii. Unfortunately, Gerlach has no weapons made to be effective for air-to-ground or air-to-air attacks. Both have never attacked any clan of meaning, only small one village communities. The clans would also be much more powerful if acloholism wouldn't be a problem. Because of the cold 6 months a year in former Europe, everybody grabs the bottle whenever he/she wants. The types of booze vary but a mixture of potatoe whisky and rum is the most common and is named "beer". Every man in Gerlach has the potential of being an insanely rich man if they started to trade the liquor but everyone refuses because of their addiction. So in short, there are two clans called Gerlach and Solarii, who have a symbiotic relation with each other due to tradition, constantly intoxicated while sitting on vast pre-war treasures. There's one thing every single citizen of Gerlach and Solarii have in common an inhuman fear for the city of Thieves and Liars and the Ko-Ih-Noor.

Economy
Is almost completely based on farming and metallurgy. Farming is an important income in the south, and the art of metallurgy and other metal casting techniques make both regions prosperous. Attempts at expanding the economy requires more knowledge and a higher level of technology which aren't available. Small banking companies are growing in wealth and power and are going to become a stable base for the newly founded economy of Gerlach and Solarii.

Achievements
The Gerlach and Solarii clans are gifted builders. Wheter is be stone or iron is can be shaped to their desire. Most metalworkers of Gerlach and Solarii have very comfortable lives and are hard workers. The delicate construction of weapons lie in the hands of the most skilled alchemists and experienced metalworkers. Most of these weapons are artillery. Bullet weapons are a step too far, for now.

Leading council of Gerlach & Solarii
Lord Fhrwyn ~ current chairman of the council
Master Saint Nevéll ~ master of trading & economy
Master Craene ~ master of harvest & farming efficiency
Master Muir ~ master of progress & inventions
Lady DeVerra ~ master of public health & sanitation
Master Kadar ~ master of war & strategy (has ten warchiefs as advisor)

The positions seem very modern but are in fact very limited. Most leadership is returned to a local level with people like Baron Lurch in charge of most town related business.

IC:
Gezler left the vault running towards the grand manor of Baron Lurch. He was carrying the history books, the reference book and others of Procyon and Sachenspiegel and the science books in a bag he found there. Almost tripped over his own feet, Gezler kept on running. He ran through the town gate, through the busy streets bruising with life. He ran past the belltower, recently repaired by Paull who has been promoted to town engineer. Gezler ran up the granite steps to the door of the Baron's manor. A servant of him opened the door but before asking Gezler ran over the richly decorated rugs into the sitting chamber of the Baron where he was sipping from a glass of beer.

"Gezler, on earth what is going on what you? You look like you've been chased by the Ko's... What's in the bag you are carrying? Let me..."
"Sorry Mr Lurch but I have found something so damn amazing, you'd never believe me even if I swore on my mother, father and myself!"
"Come come, what can be pos... si... bly..."

Gezler took the books from his bag and laid them on the table in front of Lurch who straightaway saw what was lying in front of him. Dusty old tomes, with small black letters on the brown leather covers. Lurch picked one from the table, very attentive like it was an hour old baby. He thumbed every page quickly reading some passages.

"Where the hell did you find this?" This time Lurch poured the whole contents of the glass in his mouth.
"Well I was trying to walk in a straight line to my home but I couldn't and I stumbled upon an old basement and when I wake up I saw a light and a big door and I accidently opened the door and..."
"Silence! Take me and my men to that place tomorrow, now I want to read everything. You can stay here if you want, I need another secretary."
"Why thank you Mr Lurch."

[OOC- I would hope you're not describing Operation: Brimstone because that's nowhere near what has happened or will happen during it. If it's another war, by all means, carry on. But if it isn't.....

Oh, and one question. Where, geographically, are people located right now? I want my peeps to be in an area near other humans.]OOC:
I'd say it's a more uncontrolled and bigger version of Operation Brimstone. I don't have a clue how Brimstone 1 is going to end so I just assume another one starts in the future with a more successful ending, at least that's what the strategists think. The foundation of this RP is based on the RWC, NATO, METUS and the others still being the same but supporting terrorism, genocide, starting several large wars and such. The hatred between the alliances is unprecedented and the cause of large and minor conflicts. Who or what triggered the First War is impossible to trace back. Because of the sheer size of the conflict many old wounds were opened and new ones made which resulted in the fall of the RWC, NWO, NATO and METUS. If war didn't kill off the alliances then internal struggles for power, deception and deceit did the rest.

The Great War came shortly after the First War and destroyed all survivors of the First War. The Great War only raged on due to the ever dwindling supplies of oil. Capitalist and communist nations were fighting each other. These were the most recognized fighting factions but there were numerous others. Vommunists and capitalists were the most obvious to the people.

Shortly after the war most nations as a word were simply gone. Other nations perished under the heavy radiation and other, the dumbest nations kept on fighting and destroying even more of what little survived. In this period nearly every link with recent history was destroyed and most knowledge evaporated as the last atomic bombs were dropped in the few planes still able to fly. The price per barrel was $9000 and rising and most nations realized this was getting nowhere and surrendered which meant their destruction to gain more oil by other nations who didn't want to stop yet. This cycle continued until only a handful of nations were left. Those collapsed a few years later and none of the old nations lived to tell the tale.

[OOC- Thanks for the compliments everyone! If you read into this a bit more, you'll see how cool it was for me to make this. Just look at the hint I added in the Notes section. Australians, caught any famous monuments yet?

And Guff, I figured that it would be something different. Thanks for clearing that up! I'll post some more stuff for my army and possibly a section on civilian life later today.]

OOC: I am not an Aussie so... :D

IC:

The Mazalan Empire

Economy:

Built fully around private enterprise and the Merchant Guilds (OOC: no pun intended), who govern the enterprises of the various market towns, villages and Unta itself.

Poverty is high, with many living in luxury but many living of scraps of the glorious rich... but as a whole comparatively with other areas Mazalan is really very rich.

Taxation is currently running at about 250 Drubel per hearth for all citizens and for those earning above 100 Imperial Khata's a year, it is 30 Khata's a year. For anyone above 1000 Imperial Khata's it is 300 Khata's a year. This includes all nobility bar the Empreror and Empress.

There is also a various product sales tax: 100 Drubels for every horse, 30 Drubels for every weapon, 1 Imperial Khata for every Yodul (tonne) of grain, 20 Drubels for every item of livestock.

Average Wage: 20 Khata's a year

Currency: 1 Imperial Khata (Solid silver coin) = 500 Drubel (small copper coin)

The Empire Reborn

History:

The oil wars brought about the end for The Imperial Empire. Belem fought on to the end relying on nuclear powered ships to bring hundreds of thousands of infantry to the fight. Every possible weapon was deployed in order to ensure Belem dominance over the remainder of the world. As the nuclear storm approached, the Empires best and brightest were relocated to massive underground. Hundreds of thousan's of the Empires best soldiers were sent to live with the nations top scientists and engineers in the vaults. The vaults were self sustaining powered by nuclear reactors and stocked with what remained of Belem's oil. There mission was to wait for the radiation and and the chemicals to pass over and then emerge from the vaults to reinstall Imperial dominance.

Sixty years passed in the underground vault, by then the nuclear reactors that powered them were near death, what remained of the satelite uplink grid was rapidly decaying. The Imperial remnant sent word to all the remaining vaults that it was time to return to the surface.

Using the last vestiges of technology in the form of tanks, and helicopters the army swept across Belem restoring the Empire to the primitive and godless people. Though Imperial might was restored the lack of oil took its toll as tanks grinded to a halt. The Empire was forced to adapt to the changing times to make the Eternal Empire truly Eternal.....

Overview:

The Empire of Belem, or the Reborn Empire as it is commonly reffered as is built on the same foundations as its "ancient" form. The Emperor sits on his throne in in the New Belem city, built upon the ruins of the old city.The Inquisition makes sure that the Emperors orders are carried out. The Catholic Church has been restored of cause it is now completely a branch of the government.

The people live in a class system though it is not completely rigid. Most live in massive walled cities constructed on the ruins of the coastal cities of old. They toil away in the fields or in massive factories producing the weapons of war for wealthy aristocrats.

The ancient remains of the old Empire can be seen everyplace, parts of fortress Belem still dot the coastline the dormant guns ever vigilant. Leading people to believe they are haunted by undead soldiers still on patrol....


ooc: more to come soon.

OOC: This is going to be so damn cool...

IC:
Solarii is located where Lebanon/Turkey once were. The old city of Tyre has been rebuilt and is now the seat of the council. It's a magnificent city, with palm trees, rich vinyards, olive groves and many docks. There are four very wealthy banking corporations, a real sewage system, fire department and a really efficient policeforce. It's the only civilized city in Gerlach & Solarii.

I'll continue this post later, I'm tired.

bloody Jolt. reposting this.

OOC:

Erm... Bob-Bob/US, how do railways help other than provide you with a method for moving stuff about remeber the tech level here isn't that high. I mean you can use the old cars to tow stuff about etc but you get the point I think.

Also can people make sure they read Guff's comments about the climate versus latitude change. i.e. the British Isles are like Antartica... (well sort of). So your not going to get much in the way of agriculture out of England... North Africa/Sahara = current semi-standard European temperature

IC:

Further Information as regards the Mazalan Empire:

Landmarks:

The Imperial Mazalan Library consists of over 220,000 tomes of literature some dating back to the days before the great destruction in the war that brought about the destruction of the World Order. These special tomes, have been stored in an underground vault, secreted away so only the Mazalan may know their secrets.

Stats:

Population (current): approximately 16 million persons. (OOC: yeah our Empires will be large areas but our populations small, remeber that... so we won't be using OMG 10 million men armies)

Rivalries:

Tarant - Over land, large amount (about 20 kilometres between borders) is no-mans land filled with bandits funded by both sides. Both regard each other as having no honour and are more than willing upon meeting to resume the hositilites that have been going on ever since the two were founded. Also, a keen trade rivalry has helped fan the hosility between the two nations.

I simply use between the main cities and mines very long transport trains. I know all about the climate however it is in fact seasonal. The entire countryside well as much as possible grows as much as it can in the small amount of time. I have yet to finish my description of my nation so please leave everything till its done. Besides, the UK would still in fact be very moist and not under snow most of the time. The cold climate is due to a nuclear winter/fallout, as I see it the Gulf Stream would be intact.

Surely its not as you see it, it's as Guffingford sees it. Can we keep these nations nice and post-apocalyptic not just old fashioned. We're talking nations on the brink of fallign apart on their won not about to take over the world. Leastways thats how [i]I[/i} see it :P.

The Aleman

The Aleman are a fierce tribe of people in the south of what used to be called europe. Large moutains stretch across the middle of the nation while forest and icy plains stretch on the northern side. In the north there is a great river used as a source of food for many locals. Food for the Aleman is not as plentifull as it would be liked. In the lower regions it is possible for farming to take place and it is there that most of the Alemans food comes from. Metal, coal and other minerals mined from the north supply the whole nation and is also traded. There is one opening to the sea to the right of the great leg and here the ships of the Aleman operate. During winter the ships break the ice to allow the trade fleets to venture out and the fishing vessels to work. In the summer great races are held with each district submitting a machine they belive will be fastest.

The Aleman is rules by a strict fuedal regieme. It has mroe equality then most but this is only to ensure that the people remain in there place and are not treated so harshly as to question there position. Fortified cities dot the Alemans native land (named Huzen) and from these the nobles govern the large poplace. The Emperor rules from the ancient city of Tristam, some have said that this was also the name of an ancient nation but most belive that the name (meaning sorrow) was chosen in reflection of the times in which it was founded.

The military of the Aleman is a diverse mix of units. The quest of the tradesmen to make there pockets ever deeper have led to some advancements in war machine technology. Zepplins designed to fly over the mountains that divide the nation are used to drop powder kegs on the enemy, the races every year have led to some interesting designs for the ships of the Aleman. The north is the source of their most fearsome troops, hardened woodland troops are used to surviving bitter condisions and are superb at fighting in dense woodland. Food in the north mainly comes from hunting so most men can fire a bow well. Cavalry is also mostly from the north. Hunts have long used cavaly and some units are very good at fighting within woodland. The icy plains and mountains of the north mean that the horsemen of the alemn are deadly though relativly few in number compared to some tribes. The south provides most of the war machinery and some specialised infantry, notably pikemen, and is also the staging ground for the many raids conducted. The military is not trained directly so much as indirectly through raids on neighbours to obtain resources, as such most of the armed forces have been in at least 1 skirmish.

OOC: Erm a point can we tone down the air units... Zepplins fine... but please try and keep the numbers nice and low. Remeber we are trying to have not too much tech in this... lots of fun odd and ends... but you know...

Ok:

Cannons: Few in number fine. Remeber they needed to be lugged about and are hard to cast so they are expensive and are only going to really be used in sieges and in small very low bore batteries on battlefields.
Volley guns/whatever slight mods on cannon tech: Few in number fine.
Blackpowder weapons: Fine, keep them reasonably low techy tho... talking muskets tops here...

Remeber to keep quite techy weapons temperamental.

Random stuff that they had in the ancient world is fine, like Greek Fire (think Napalm)... even primitive grenades are fine in small doses...

I think you get the picture...

OOC: I assure you i will use hardly any zepplins. What they drop is basicly a barrel of blackpowder with a fuse lit before they are thrown out the window.

EDIT: Am now thinking of just loading hot air ballons with pebbles and dropping them on poeple from a great height.

[OOC- wow. I never thought I would, but here I am. I am in complete and utter agreement with you TMG.

People, this isn't high tech. It's very low, very crazy tech for all. Most of my feared inventions are going to:
A. Blow up and kill their crews.
B. Blow up and kill their crews, but be successful in their aims.
C. Not blow up but not work.
D. Not blow up and work perfectly.

As you can probably tell, there are few techs that are at the level of D. We should all try to keep it this way. You want a zepplin armada? Fine. Better RP half the things crashing into each other and crashing first time they're all brought out.

You want cannons? Fine, but remember that the slightest barrel inconsistencies make things go boom. And your barrels will never be consistent.

You want blackpowder? fine. Remember thjough that the slightest hint of moisture either ruins the stuff or causes it to cook off on its own as soon as you take it out- and you don't have no air-proof, water proof containers.

So if you want tech, sure, have it. Just remember that it's going to fail horribly about 90% of the time you use it. But that 10% of the time that it actually works- well, wow. That's what should be awe inspiring.]

OOC: Me agreeing with Samtonia... freaky...

But before we start going onto some more things, we have steam tanks, which two players have mentioned in IM to me.

These are fine... but please remeber to keep these to the Da Vinci model not the WWI tank model. This means they are not going to be copiously armoured but maybe able to carry some nice stuff like Greek fire.

Now as for ideas of heavy armoured siege engines... again fine but remeber you going to be using manpower or even limited horsepower to get these things into place... keep this in mind when creating/using these.

Remeber the tech is fine so long as it doesn't massively effect RP wars... blowing castles walls down with a few cannon is fine but not mass terrorizing the population with a division of steam tanks if you get my drift... :)

Keep the tech responsable and temperamental...

The Slovites

Ruled by: Chief Fenski.
Because Slovite society is very masculine, the chief's wife, Larya, has no power in the clan.

The people of Slovi do not follow any set religion as no traces of places or items of worship have been left behind in their area.

The Slovites are excellent fighters as all males are trained from a young age to fight. They use only infantry with close combat weaponry and try to overwhelm and envelop the enemy to defeat them. Though they do have some bows, they usually fight with swords or axes.

They are located around the area of present day Algeria.

Economy:

The Imperial domestic economy is primarily based on agriculture and metalworking for the war machine. There is a large merchant and artisan class operating massive coal powered powerplants producing the weapons for war. A banking and financial sector is growing as private military companies begin gathering finance for exploration missions and slave tradinng businesses.


ooc: more to come soon.

OOC: Please disregard my first intro post.

Also, this post doesn’t represent my views on anything, I tried to write certain parts of it in a very “old British” manner.

Expect more of this later on!

IC:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------



Greetings good sir or madam, if you are reading this, you are obviously capable of crude English at least because you are reading this, you may have found one of our carrier pigeons or perhaps you have slain one of our diplomats (you devils!) but nonetheless, this issue of the Tarantian shall give you a rough idea of the Tarantian people and way of life.

The City State of Tarant

.:[-Opening Introduction-]:.

Tarant is a very wealthy city state, it has prospered under the clever rule of the Industrial Council, Tarant was originally founded by English refugees, who made their way to the warmer lands of Africa after the great winter fell, after many weeks of wandering the wastes, the people decided that the forests would be a good place to start the city, there would be a good amount of food and water, as well as much lumber, however, the people decided a wooden city simply wouldn't do and with the stiff upper lip of the British people, they promptly set about the arduous task of going west to the mountains and setting up a quarry, they then transported load after load of hard stone to the city sight, which was been rapidly carved into a diminishing forest.

After three years of laborious work, the city was at long last complete, the grand brick walls were up and the mighty iron gates were finally ready, people were swarming into the city and people began to live their lives normally, the huge plains near the forest made for good arable land.


.:[-Geographical Location & City Information-]:.

Tarant is located towards the top of Africa, located near the Algerian mountains (the ones that the metal and rock was mined from) and based near a large river.

The city itself is a large entity, surrounded by thick, black brick walls, the main way into the city is via the huge iron gate that bars passage into the maze of streets that make up Tarant. Row upon row of warehouses occupy the poorer sections of the city, the hissing of steam can be heard long into the night while factory workers work long into the night, as do the mad inventors, all kind of mad noises can be heard wafting from the areas inhabited by the inventors, explosions aren’t an uncommon sight in the warehouse district.

A small area of the city is quite different however, the wide paved streets that inhabit the Noble Quarter of Tarant are framed by universities and libraries, the academics of Tarant lurk here, discussing philosophy and other gentlemanly things while the ladies go about their gossip, whispers of the council and barbarians to the west, tales of bloodshed by these barbarians circulate commonly, of course, these tales are nothing more than rumours stirred up by the local drunks that somehow find their way into the publication of Tarant, named originally, “The Tarantian Times”, this news paper is the main source of information for those in Tarant.

One must be thinking, “Why would the noble quarter be surrounded by factories and the like?” but thankfully, this is not the case, there are many middle-class houses that shield the offensive factories from the nobility of Tarant, the streets are cobbled and vary from narrow passages to wide boulevards, the housing estates are perhaps the most varied part of the city.


.:[-The Tarantian Military-]:.

The Tarantian military is comprised of disciplined foot infantry equipped with efficient black powder weaponry, the Tarantian military, despite being raised upon plains ideal for cavalry, have never got round to it, thus the entire military ethos is based around a core of disciplined footmen equipped with bullet weapons, the bullets are still very crude and are prone to explode due to an over-generous amount of black powder applied to these weapons.

Recently, the Tarantian army has developed a “Repeater Rifle,” an excellent piece of engineering that can often go astray, while these are very potent pieces of weaponry, they number very few but Tarantian engineering doesn’t end there, we have developed the “volley gun”, a potent beast that has about eight barrels filled with grapeshot, this is far too large to be carried about so it is mounted on a set of wheels and manned by a crew, the effects of this weapon, when deployed effectively, are devastating to the say the least but once more, this weapon is very unreliable, men have been known the burnt and scolded by a volley gun gone wrong.

There are quite a few branches of the Tarantian military, the first and foremost being the Tarantian Army, this branch contains the standard Tarantian infantryman, equipped with his rifle, these chaps are ready to go off and fight bravely for their country! Righto chaps!

The second branch would be the “Tarantian Guard”, a voluntary militia made up of brave men who will see that their country is not in the hands of foreign devils, should you come into Tarantian land without our wanting, these lads will give you whatfor!

The third branch is the “Extraordinary Steam Division”, these clever chaps make our experimental weaponry, while they usually give the fruits of their labours to their fighting comrades, they will occasionally go into the battlefield themselves to test their amazing inventions for themselves, nothing has been confirmed yet but we’ve heard excited whispers of a steam tank! Absolutely smashing these chaps are, if a bit barmy!

The fourth and final branch would be the Praetorian Guard, these lads are the cream of the crop, these are the ones that keep devils off of our lands! No one dares challenge the Praetorian guard, equipped with Repeater rifles and the mighty elephant guns, these chaps make sure that the foul mouthed foreigners don’t take the fair ladies of our lands!

An Elite Praetorian Guardsman displaying his sidearm, a Flintnock Pistol, after a hard battle.
http://www.antantasouz.narod.ru/Image/arcanum.JPG


.:[-Our Economy-]:.

The Tarantian economy is booming, excellent trade thanks to our council and their wise leadership and clever trading. Tarant is based heavily on the export of grain and lumber, also, many luxuries can be procured from the wealthier merchants in our fair city.


.:[-Our Leadership-]:.

Tarant is led by a wise council of industrialists, the canny of these men has safely seen Tarant through hard times without fail. I shall list the names of our excellent and wise leaders with their wives for your pleasure.

Chairman Jerry Corzare married to Lady Jane Corzare

Sir Jonathon Dawson married to Lady Holly Dawson

Sir Terry Luthor married to Lady Penelope Luthor

Sir Burk Heinz married to Lady Bashere Heinz

Sir Hampton Lowfield married to Lady Sarah Lowfield

Sir Julian Harthgate married to Lady Lisa Harthgate

Military:

The military relies on a technological edge to succeed in battle. The Belem battlefield is dominated by massive steel and iron tanks lined with spikes to crush and gouge opposing troops. Some are loaded with light cannons while others feature a sniper tower where crack shots are sent with long range muskets. Some are even fitted with new experimental rockets.

The infantry is primarily armed with musket and sword. However there is a contigent armed with pike in order to stave off calvary charges and to protect the gunmen against advancing troops. The Calvary detachment is armed with lances and swords and some choose to carry short barrel blunderbusts as long range weaponary.

The fleet is Belem's pride and joy. Each Belem fleet is comprised of a few massive steel juggarnauts brimming with cannons and powered by massive coal and steam engines surrounded by smaller frigates and sloops.

A few experimental flying machines have been recently developed, though the hot air balloons have only been used for survilance so far.

ooc: the actual legion and fleet breakdown coming soon plus the government model.

[OOC- Belem.....remeber that discussion earlier about low tech.....go read back a page, then try to make a military that conforms to the background of this RP. Mkay? Mkay.]

ooc: The military is still low tech. I'm basing this on stuff like Arcanum that mixes fantasy tech with industrial tech.

And the first rockets were developed in 12th or 13th century China.

[OOC- Okay, let's go down the post and see where you've screwed up.
The military relies on a technological edge to succeed in battle. The Belem battlefield is dominated by massive steel and iron tanks lined with spikes to crush and gouge opposing troops.
Right. See, no. Just...no. You cannot have huge amounts of warachines. AS TMG said on the page just before you
Remeber the tech is fine so long as it doesn't massively effect RP wars... blowing castles walls down with a few cannon is fine but not mass terrorizing the population with a division of steam tanks if you get my drift...

So sure, get one. Maybe even two if you don't want much of a steel or iron reserve. But multiple ones? WE're going to have to go with no.

Some are loaded with light cannons while others feature a sniper tower where crack shots are sent with long range muskets. Some are even fitted with new experimental rockets.
Fine, as long as you show lots of blowing up cannons. See my earlier post on pg. 3

The infantry is primarily armed with musket and sword. However there is a contigent armed with pike in order to stave off calvary charges and to protect the gunmen against advancing troops. The Calvary detachment is armed with lances and swords and some choose to carry short barrel blunderbusts as long range weaponary.
Fine... again, blackpowder not reliable, weapons prone to explode, etc...

The fleet is Belem's pride and joy. Each Belem fleet is comprised of a few massive steel juggarnauts brimming with cannons and powered by massive coal and steam engines surrounded by smaller frigates and sloops.
Did you even read the rules the thread creator laid out? Few ships. Low tech. Not much advancement.

And you go and make a fleet of friggin tanks of the sea! Nope, no can do. Tone it down to some wooden vessels and sure, fine by me.

A few experimental flying machines have been recently developed, though the hot air balloons have only been used for survilance so far.
Fine, as long as you have very few and keep them relatively unstable. Like all the other tech you should have.

The military is still low tech.
The hell it is!

I'm basing this on stuff like Arcanum that mixes fantasy tech with industrial tech. Yep, you didn't read the whole first post. Guidelines included NOTHING FANTASY. Nothing. Nada, zip, zippo. Only actual tech that would be feasible for a low-tech nation like yours. Yes, low tech. None of this high-tech crap.

And the first rockets were developed in 12th or 13th century China.
No argument. But they were prototypes, didn't carry much explosive, were difficultto aim, prone to explode, and crazy dangerous to anyone near the things. Like almost al your tech should be.

Frankly, I don't think you're following the idea behind this RP at all. Your backstory makes no sense- remeber, every country was wiped out. All of them. And it's 10,000 years into the future. So no mini-Belem. Frankly, it's a contrite and ill-thought out idea. Your technology is the antithesis of low tech. Steam-powered dreadnoughts?!? WTF? Really, go read the entirety of this thread and go re-post some stuff.

Because you're just not playing the same RP the rest of us are trying to.]

OOC: I don't have an ignore on you, I prefer not to interact with you. Now please leave my thread. I'm going to write a roughly the same guide as Samtonia, it looks superb. The history of the Great War will develop later in this RP, saying it now would give too much away about the city of thieves and liars.

The Clans of Gerlach & Solarii

Spreaded over a once fertile and rich Europe and Middle East the clans of Gerlach and Solarii are very peaceful. The two clans a very atheistic bunch since they learnt religion only leads to more violence. Because the two clans cover a very large place (scattered and divided that is) trying to kill them is very hard. Of the two clans only Gerlach has a strong military tradition especially in dirigibles and other types of balloons. Solarii is a trade powerhouse, with having hubs in central areas where most tribes and clans are located. Neither one has any significant influence and are ignored by the more self-respected clans on earth. But like many things, can't live with them, can't live without them. Many men and women don't like to say it but if Gerlach and Solarii are gone then the steppe warriors of the central plaines (central Asia) will travel to their lands.

Army
Both clans have an army with pretty modern weapons for the time. Nothing special about them, they know how to defend themselves well but attacking never goes as smooth as defending an important city. Gerlach & Solarii are to outsiders a very defensive civilization who keep things to themselves. If the oustide world knows Baron Lurch (leader of Gerlach) holds many coffers filled with pre-war gold, then... Well, end of story for Gerlach. The only weaknesses are also their stronger points; Solarii holds a vast trading fleet and can tranform them into powerful battleships but won't because of neglect and expected loss of profit. Gerlach has a powerful "airforce" but only uses it when the odds rise too high against or to defend Solarii. Unfortunately, Gerlach has no weapons made to be effective for air-to-ground or air-to-air attacks. Both have never attacked any clan of meaning, only small one village communities. The clans would also be much more powerful if acloholism wouldn't be a problem. Because of the cold 6 months a year in former Europe, everybody grabs the bottle whenever he/she wants. The types of booze vary but a mixture of potatoe whisky and rum is the most common and is named "beer". Every man in Gerlach has the potential of being an insanely rich man if they started to trade the liquor but everyone refuses because of their addiction. So in short, there are two clans called Gerlach and Solarii, who have a symbiotic relation with each other due to tradition, constantly intoxicated while sitting on vast pre-war treasures. There's one thing every single citizen of Gerlach and Solarii have in common an inhuman fear for the city of Thieves and Liars and the Ko-Ih-Noor.

Economy
Is almost completely based on farming and metallurgy. Farming is an important income in the south, and the art of metallurgy and other metal casting techniques make both regions prosperous. Attempts at expanding the economy requires more knowledge and a higher level of technology which aren't available. Small banking companies are growing in wealth and power and are going to become a stable base for the newly founded economy of Gerlach and Solarii.

Achievements
The Gerlach and Solarii clans are gifted builders. Wheter is be stone or iron is can be shaped to their desire. Most metalworkers of Gerlach and Solarii have very comfortable lives and are hard workers. The delicate construction of weapons lie in the hands of the most skilled alchemists and experienced metalworkers. Most of these weapons are artillery. Bullet weapons are a step too far, for now.

Leading council of Gerlach & Solarii
Lord Fhrwyn ~ current chairman of the council
Master Saint Nevéll ~ master of trading & economy
Master Craene ~ master of harvest & farming efficiency
Master Muir ~ master of progress & inventions
Lady DeVerra ~ master of public health & sanitation
Master Kadar ~ master of war & strategy (has ten warchiefs as advisor)

The positions seem very modern but are in fact very limited. Most leadership is returned to a local level with people like Baron Lurch in charge of most town related business.

IC:
Gezler left the vault running towards the grand manor of Baron Lurch. He was carrying the history books, the reference book and others of Procyon and Sachenspiegel and the science books in a bag he found there. Almost tripped over his own feet, Gezler kept on running. He ran through the town gate, through the busy streets bruising with life. He ran past the belltower, recently repaired by Paull who has been promoted to town engineer. Gezler ran up the granite steps to the door of the Baron's manor. A servant of him opened the door but before asking Gezler ran over the richly decorated rugs into the sitting chamber of the Baron where he was sipping from a glass of beer.

"Gezler, on earth what is going on what you? You look like you've been chased by the Ko's... What's in the bag you are carrying? Let me..."
"Sorry Mr Lurch but I have found something so damn amazing, you'd never believe me even if I swore on my mother, father and myself!"
"Come come, what can be pos... si... bly..."

Gezler took the books from his bag and laid them on the table in front of Lurch who straightaway saw what was lying in front of him. Dusty old tomes, with small black letters on the brown leather covers. Lurch picked one from the table, very attentive like it was an hour old baby. He thumbed every page quickly reading some passages.

"Where the hell did you find this?" This time Lurch poured the whole contents of the glass in his mouth.
"Well I was trying to walk in a straight line to my home but I couldn't and I stumbled upon an old basement and when I wake up I saw a light and a big door and I accidently opened the door and..."
"Silence! Take me and my men to that place tomorrow, now I want to read everything. You can stay here if you want, I need another secretary."
"Why thank you Mr Lurch."

OOC: I'll stay out of your threads as long as you honor my request.

1.I didn't even say how many warmachines I have and I would RP the development of said weapons. Also they would be hard to transport.


2. The steamtanks wouldn't be exceedinly large they would just basically have enough room for the engine the crew and the gunners room.

3. Blackpowder was dangerous but it didn't randomly destroy the cannon. That would primarily be the result of putting to much powder into the cannon. The most common problem for old cannons was the powder not igniting.

4. see above

6. uh its primarily wooden vessels surrounded by a couple of juggernauts designed to rule the seas.

7. Its nothing fantasy. Its just taken from that steampunk/fantasy world view. Where steam tanks and such exist like this they aren't controlled by magic but they exist in a magical world.

8. Im not saying the rockets aren't dangerous there still experimental.


And yeah the country was wiped out vestiges of it survived mainly the ruling class which eventually emerged into the shattered world and took back control in a feudal society.

OOC: Calm down everybody.

Belem can you calm down the tech a little... try and put more emphasis on your soldiery not your tech. Remeber people using primarily blackpowder weapons, the other nations only have to attack on a rainy day... :D

Like I said the you need minimum tech. Quite a few cannons is fine, but just don't lug them about everywhere and RP the temperamentalness that dogged many early gunpowder weapons into the RP's. If you have large (meaning 15-40 cannon) forces then please put them in the defensive role. They are not there to blow everybody to kingdom come they are here merely to aid in siege warfare. If you want to use Cannon on the battlefield keep the bores tiny and batteries reasonably small.

Also can we please note Coal is not going to be widespreadly available more a smallish flow of it, since the mining methods using will not be advanced. You can use it to power things but remeber it will be a precious resource so it won't be super widespread in use, timber is more likely to be your power source.

OOC: Besides Belem, I already used the Arcanum theme, please use your own! And also, we aren't using "steam dreadnoughts" because barely anyone has grasped the concept of ship building yet. Also, you can't have tanks at the start of the RP, I'm only beginning to develop them and when I get a tank or two, it will be funny RPing it because parts will fly off into my ranks, I doubt it will actually see a battle won.

And to stress, we are using 1600's tech, not the 1800's in which Arcanum is based, I only have extremely advanced rifles (for the time) and the like because I have nothing other than clusmy ranks of infantry that can get mowed down by a good flank charge.

Also can we please note Coal is not going to be widespreadly available more a smallish flow of it, since the mining methods using will not be advanced. You can use it to power things but remeber it will be a precious resource so it won't be super widespread in use, timber is more likely to be your power source.

OOC: Hate to disagree with you but you need only to read the first post where it says

Coal and wood are abundant resources

so you have no problem building steam powered stuff just you cant have anywhere near the number you could of modern day vehicles

Oh botheration. I'll talk to HP... but the point is not to rely overtly on tech. I'd assumed coal was a scare resource given the time period but oh well... but still remeber it's hard and dangerous to mine given the tech level.

The point still stands don't introduce loads of tech especially too much overtly powerful stuff...

To raise a point, Zarbia's barbarians would almost certainly worship something like a tank or a zepplin... it's way too advanced really...

I'd like to try and say this: Please can we stop the tech concentration.

I'd like to make this clear as to what we've got thus far:

1) Bob-Bob has VERY limited railways... I don't know why HP authed this but they are not to be used in war. Apparently it's to do with economy... personally I don't understand why it is so vital to the economy... when the rest of us survive with pack animals...

2) Steam tanks are fine for later on. They are NOT to be very heavily armoured or armed unless the person you're fighting ok's it.

3) Cannon guide lines are above.

4) Zepplins/Balloons are fine in small amounts for later on. Please don't just launch these at people, because I am pretty annoyed people even wanted to include these... but they will not be high up and must be within range of ground attack. Nor can they carry cannon or the ilk.

5) Gunpowder weapon equipped armies are fine but they are not going to accurate weapons in all but point blanc range. And their weapons are not going to work very well generally speaking...

Please can we stop the proliferation of tech now.

I thought id be on the very edge of balloon tech given my altitude and crazy apothicary/psuedo religious beliefs about the sun. And i've said that my balloon tech is very low. The first time we see a zeppellin or anything like that would be a revelation to us.

As for this blackpowder remember your nations do not control wide tracts of land as the cannot police it, anything outside you cities is fair game for raiding parties, leaving farmers vunerable. this reduces your nation sizes dramatically and means that very few of you can be sitting on the big thing today... sulpher. I made myself a mountain kingdom with all its disadvantages because the constituant parts of blackpowder would be readily available. Remember there are very different grades of blackpowders each very different in their power and effect. For the best go to a volcanically active nation, for the very worst go to a plains nation. And the difference as im sure you know is amazing, one type explodes the other does little more than fizzle. Blackpowder is not only tempremental in its ignition but in its effects. Consider trade, and of course when you consider trade consider trading the way unscrupulous nations do, which is one part trade and nine parts coercion.

OOC: Calm down everybody.

Belem can you calm down the tech a little... try and put more emphasis on your soldiery not your tech. Remeber people using primarily blackpowder weapons, the other nations only have to attack on a rainy day... :D

Like I said the you need minimum tech. Quite a few cannons is fine, but just don't lug them about everywhere and RP the temperamentalness that dogged many early gunpowder weapons into the RP's. If you have large (meaning 15-40 cannon) forces then please put them in the defensive role. They are not there to blow everybody to kingdom come they are here merely to aid in siege warfare. If you want to use Cannon on the battlefield keep the bores tiny and batteries reasonably small.

Also can we please note Coal is not going to be widespreadly available more a smallish flow of it, since the mining methods using will not be advanced. You can use it to power things but remeber it will be a precious resource so it won't be super widespread in use, timber is more likely to be your power source.

Well you can't really lug around a large bore cannon I think the limit is an 8 pounder for mobility. Most of the cannons I use would be small handcannons, the type that would of been mounted on a pirate ship.

OOC: Besides Belem, I already used the Arcanum theme, please use your own! And also, we aren't using "steam dreadnoughts" because barely anyone has grasped the concept of ship building yet. Also, you can't have tanks at the start of the RP, I'm only beginning to develop them and when I get a tank or two, it will be funny RPing it because parts will fly off into my ranks, I doubt it will actually see a battle won.

And to stress, we are using 1600's tech, not the 1800's in which Arcanum is based, I only have extremely advanced rifles (for the time) and the like because I have nothing other than clusmy ranks of infantry that can get mowed down by a good flank charge.

My tech is more based on steampunk then arcanum, I just said arcanum because I figured people might recognize it quicker then saying steampunk.

OOC: I'll stay out of your threads as long as you honor my request.I asked you to leave Chellis, that means NO MORE REPLYING.

OOC:
Steam tanks, giant blimps, shamanism and the other medieval/renaissance weaponry are ok to use. You really need to RP getting a higher tech standard, simple things like railroads, well those are granted. If you want to know what types of weapons/ships/cannons are allowed I suggest to search on google (www.google.com) for those subjects and leave the discussion in OOC threads. Cannons, treecannons, matchlocks, flintlocks, carabines, swords, sabels, daggers, bow & arrow, crossbows. Those are all fine. You really need to RP the development of your technology and nation to get more advanced stuff and to improve what you have. This isn't a modern type thing where you start with AK47's, some tanks and so on. Here you start with nothing.

I think it's ok people live in undergroud vaults but this is 10,000 AD for heavens sake. Railways are ok but you need to keep in mind roughly 95% of the total infrastructure (roads, railroads) of Europe and Africa have been reduced to muddy brick roads while most rail has been put into the smelter for steel. Canals and rivers are a very good form of transportation. Railroads are a logical form of simple transportation and not very hard to re-discover.
The Chinese experimented with rockets in the 12th-13th century so bamboo and wooden rockets are fine, but you must remember those are aimed by hand. Outside small towns and cities highwaymen and other thugs rob trade carts if not protected. In central Asia Mongol horsemen raid the steppes while in India most people live like cavemen. Europe, Africa and China are the most civilized places. America is a mystery.

OOC THREAD: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=7807657

Maybe I'll make a map who's where, it should ease the playing I reckon.

KEEP ALL OOC FROM THIS POINT IN A NEW THREAD! I CLARIFIED MOST THINGS OF THE WEAPONS USED, IF YOU DON'T KNOW ASK ME.

IC:
Baron Lurch and Gezler walked in front of a regiment of forty soldiers to the old ruins where Gezler found the old dusty tomes. They walked for a few hours through the fresh snow to the old ruins, which still look like a very strong fortification even when thousands of years old. When properly restored it's a safe haven for travellers and traders. The men went through the corridor and Gezler and Baron Lurch were already opening the massive steel door. The serenity of the white tiles hadn't changed and it appeared nobody has entered this hall after Gezler went in. All the books from the library were load into a cart outside, all valuables and everything else as well. When all the rooms were empty Baron Lurch and his men left along with Gezler back to town.

Back in Gerlach...

"You know Gezler, it surprises me the Ko-Ih-Noor haven't found that site yet. This is probably one of the most richest vaults in the area. I like to stress that none of you or the men opens his mouth about this. I should send this to the council, perhaps they know what to do with this."
"But Mr Lurch, you want to send this to Tyre? That's all the way to the south where the trees are green and the olives grow. I'll be damned if the Ko-Ih-Noor don't try to stop us."
"Bollocks. Those Ko-Ih-Noor are a myth made up by conservative elements from older regimes. Even if they exist and are as all-knowing as they claim to be why aren't they are here? I order you to go there with a trusted guard of mine, his name his Felix Neigh and he will accompany you with a few dragoons and swordsmen."
"Thanks for your confidence in my mission Mr Lurch."
"I will send a letter to Tyre to let them know you are coming. The Ko-Ih-Noor don't have the guts to spy on letters for the council, you have my word on that"

I'm not surprised the Ko-Ih-Noor aren't the deities they claim to be but I can't take any chances of trying to find out wheter they be real or not. My only and first task is a hard one and I hope I can have as much confidence in myself as the Baron has. The road to Tyre is long and I can't afford any delays. The letter has been sent yesterday by the messenger Jome who comes here every month. It should arrive there in a week or four. I'm preparing myself for the long journey. I also overheard plans of the Baron to start building factories and making new jobs for everyone and to cease our dependence on a good harvest. I must go now, Felix is waiting for me.

The heavy iron doors swung closed in the temples, as the priests debated on a course of action. All over the Empire temples were reporting of the increasing number of people praying for food. It was indeed certain that a national crisis was underway, farms had reached their maximum yield, and the population only continued to grow.

The greenhouses were no longer a viable option, they covered most of the land, land that was now needed for homes. While far in the highlands clans were preparing to take what they wanted by force no matter the Ones will.

High Temple – London

As the Lords were seated around their iron table the fires crackled and burned. All six Lords were present, each one represented the major cities and their outlying areas. At the head of the table sat The Chancellor and Lord of London Cleric Baralis. His black woollen robes fell to the floor while his slender pale skin showed intellect and cunning. “Sirs, please be seated and hush for only a mere moment.” A small mumble rose from the other five lords as they were forced to do Baralis’s bidding. “As you all are now aware we now face our greatest challenge since the Barbarians were driven from our shores. I will say it plainly sirs. We are running out of food. Our population is growing and the peasants are angering.”

A Large man Lord Saru stood up from his table. “We are always running out of food.” He boomed. “The winters are always the coldest, and the mobs are always hungry. How do we know we are running out of food?”

A small mumble of agreement came from the other clerics.

“Lord Saru has a good point.” Baralis accepted. “And I took the precaution for preparing against this very point.” Narrowing his eyes at Saru, Baralis stood up and began to pace around the room. “I know we are running out of food, because the stores are already half empty, and it is not yet mid winter! We are surviving on the sea stocks and cattle, but my Lords it is only a matter of time before they too dwindle. Without food the peasants will riot, with that we will suffer a great turmoil and disorder. We will lose our positions, and we will become like those.” Walking to the grand windows Baralis pointed down at the streets. Leppers and convicts sat chained to the wall. Turning Baralis watched the look of shock and fear in the eyes of his fellow colleagues. He had gained the desired effect, now they were his.

“What would you have us do Lord Baralis. Surely there is something that can be done.” Spoke Lord C’tan.

This was going perfectly Baralis thought. He had already spoke to C’tan before the meeting and gained his support, now the other Lords would follow. “We must do one thing. We need more arable land, and it must be further south. Or we need to decrease our population which can only come through war. Thankfully we can have our war and gain more land at the same time. Gentleman, it think we have had peace for long enough.

A Brief Guide to Taldaan

This lowly parchment has been written to provide information about the great City State of Taldaan to all, sages and students alike, wishing to discover more about the nation and its people.

Geography

Taldaan is a fairly small country, consisting of one large city with several smaller towns dotted around it. It is located in Southern Europe, and the nation is made up of rolling plains and forests. The River Tala flows five miles from the city walls, and the areas around it are lush farmland. The City of Taldaan sits roughly central in the State, and roads run from it to every town.

The City of Taldaan

The City of Taldaan is large, surrounded by a high double wall. The second wall is taller than the first, allowing the defenders to shoot straight over the top in times of siege. There is one gatehouse, on the Western side of the city, and this is the only way in other than scaling the wall or coming down from the sky.
The centre of the city is the rich area. Dominated by the Sun Palace, this is the vibrant heart of Taldaan. The Sun Palace is a vast building, and the residence of Duke Egasar and his family. The Palace is surrounded by the smaller, but still magnificent, homes of the minor nobility of the city. This is where the governing of the city takes place, and it is well known for its opulent plazas and artificial lakes.
Around the Golden Circle, as the locals call it, is the Silver Ring, where the wealthy merchants and academics live. It is this area where the economic strength of Taldaan is, but it also home to the great scholars and scientists, who spend their days in their homes, or in the Taldaan Academy, pondering the meaning of life or dreaming up crazed inventions. The Taldaan Academy is in this area, and it is one of the best places of learning in the world. This is where the greatest minds of Taldaan can be found, teaching the sons of the Nobility and the families of the Silver Ring. The Silver Ring is also where the single Air Galleon port can be found. The main method of transport in Taldaan is on foot, horseback, or by carraige, but for those wealthy enough to afford it, Air Galleons are the most comfortable, if not quite the fastest, way to travel. However, they can also be dangerous,as powering a baloon full of flammable gas with a wood-burning engine is risky at best.
On the other side of the Silver Ring is the main body of the city. This is the Wooden Ring, and it is by far the largest of the three segments. It is where the common folk of the city live, and it is where most of the working, living, and dying is done. The people there are not rich, but they work hard. It is also where the main body of the Army comes from.

The Army of Taldaan

The Army is made up of well-trained professionals. Taldaan has no citizens' militia, every soldier is there because he wanted to be. The Army is mostly made up of disciplined regiments of footsoldiers, although it does have a cavalry arm.
Although black powder is known in Taldaan, it is used only for light cannons. Taldaan has no need for immense cannons which will only blow themselves to pieces, or muskets which will malfunction at the worst possible time. Instead of muskets, Taldaan has the reliable but deadly crossbows and longbows. Instead of cannon, Taldaan has the tested and proven catapult and ballista.

The first, and largest, section of the Army is certainly the Taldaan Footsoldiers. At around two-hundred-thousand strong, these are brave men who are willing to fight and die for Taldaan. They are organised into regiments thusly:

Cohort: Forty soldiers, armed with pike or sword and shield
Twenty attached longbowmen
Twenty attached crossbowmen

Battery: Five ballistae, catapults, or light cannon

Command Staff: Ten Cohort Leaders, twenty assorted others

Company: Ten cohorts
Two batteries
One command staff

Regiment: Five brigades
One overall commander


The second largest section is the cavalry. These are not grouped into regiments themselves, but are attached to the infantry. There are two types of cavalry in Taldaan, light and heavy. Light cavalry are equipped to harass flanks, and are lightly armed and armoured, carrying bows. Heavy cavalry are the real linebreakers in the Taldaan army, heavily armed and armoured. Light cavalry are organised into units of ten, heavy cavalry into units of thirty.

The final section of the Taldaan Army is the Juggernaut division. Taldaan possesses only three Juggernaughts, so this position is fairly small. A juggernaught is a huge self propelled vehicle. It moves on giant wooden wheels, and resembles a metal fortress. They are wood-powered, and slow moving, but they carry artillery on the upper deck, and have firing slits and walkways on the sides. The metal hides are impervious to arrows, and they spew liquid fire from nozzles on the armoured prow. These gigantic war engines are rightly feared.

Not part of the Army as such, but still important, are the Patrol. These men patrol the countryside and city rooting out criminals and hunting bandits. They carry bows and swords, but are generally lightly equipped. In times of war, they are often used as makeshift scouts or for harassing enemy columns.

As well as the army, Taldaan operates a small Navy. This is made up of wooden-hulled but wood-burner-driven boats. These are mostly reliable, but hits on the wood-burner can cause them to go up in flames. They carry light cannon, ballistae, and catapults.

Numerous experiments have been made to fit Air Galleys with weapons. So far, none of them have been successful.

The armies of Taldaan are made up mainly of the lower classes, with middle or upper class officers, and generals are drawn from the nobility.

Economy

Due to its large and highly skilled merchant class, the economy of Taldaan is very good. The main exports are crops and precious metals. Many wood-burner powered mines are in operation.

The Rulers of Taldaan

Taldaan is ruled over by Duke Egasar, and has been for the past eight years. He has a council of advisors, who may make minor decisions in their fileds without consulting the Duke. However, the Duke has total control and his word is law. He has the power of life and death over his people.

Ruler: Duke Tertius Egasar. Married to Lady Alicia Egasar. Has two sons,
Thomas and Fallion, and one daughter, Aeria

Minister of War: Duke Orlis Rinn. Married to Lady Traca Rinn. No children.

Minister of Trade: Duke Prenius Tarce. Unmarried

Minister of Diplomacy: Duke Uran Plase. Married to Lady Sara Plase. One
son, Roger

Minister of Internal Affairs: Duke Ottasar Pirus. Married to Lady Delphina
Pirus. One daughter, Christa



From the quill of Heironymus Adde

OOC: good post Taldaan

Solarii

"Mr Fhrwyn, a letter has arrived for you. It's from a baron named Lurch." The chairman of the council looked up from his desk but continued reading and doing his daily business. The rich room filled with art and the open windows with a view on the sea made no difference on his face, the serious and old look never changed. "What is it? Have you read it?"
"Yes, they have found a vault dating back from before the First War. Apparantly it's filled with books about history, mathematical things and more written history. A certain Mr Gezler and a compagnion of him named Mr Neigh are coming here with every item, accompanied with a regiment of soldiers." Mr Fhrwyn stopped writing now and stood up looking at the burning fireplace behind him. A precious golden firepoker was laying before the fire but he did not touch the piece.
"Mr Fhrwyn a small note was also attached saying they are going to industrialize more rapidly, rumors are going around tribes are looking for more land... "
"Very well, but we must do the same. We cannot allow Gerlach to surpass us in our trade and industry."
"But Sir... Shouldn't we be looking for a more close relation with Gerlach? We need each other, I mean Solarii can't live like they're enemies. With them we can put a stop to competition and we can help their economy."
"You are right, but first we need to make our infrastructure better. Road access, factories and demand have something to do with this. Let my experts work on this right now." Fhrwyin continued writing and reading. His desk was full of pencils, notebooks, books, lists, rosters and more documents.
"At once Sir." The servant left the room but Mr Fhwryn wasn't thinking about his unfinished work on his desk but the precious cargo coming his way.

c/p to Word for editing. :)

OOC:I want in on this, intro post coming soon.

Here's a link to an RP for this. Between me and someone wishing to RP primitives ruthlessly crushed.

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=7822609#post7822609

[OOC- Bump for a great RP idea]

ooc: I think Christmas and the new year put alot of Rpers on Hiatus. Apparently theres people out there with lives.

Yeah, normally genocide and civil war are good to draw many people in. I guess all the late 04's don't like to mingle in early to mid '03 nations.