Dontgonearthere
15-12-2008, 01:42
Japan is a land divided.
While supposedly unified by the Emperor and his supreme authority, no Daimyo pays heed to the Imperial Court in Kyoto, nor, indeed, does the Court pay much attention to those outside of its own lands. Warlords scrabble for power, mobs of warrior-priests go unchecked, and peasant rabbles revolt against their proper lords. This is an age of chaos, where no single lord has the power to unite the country.
In the midst of all this chaos, the Emperor reigns supreme over his patch of land in Kyoto. The heir of the thousand-year old Yamato Dynasty, which has ruled Japan since time immemorial. While his power is small, his influence is great. The clan which manages to control the court, even if they lack significant land holdings, gains much prestige.
But now the Emperor is dead, and has departed this world with no heir to take the Imperial throne. The court is thrown into turmoil, and Kyoto, in the chaos, burns to the ground.
For many, the Emperor was the only reason to remain passive and obedient to their lords. Deprived of that legitimacy, many of the old clans are overthrown. Those who do survive maintain power with an iron grip, but even the Daimyo find themselves hard pressed to believe that the Yamato Dynasty, having ruled since their grandfathers, grandfathers, grandfathers time, and beyond, has simply come to an end, not in some dramatic fashion, not with the Emperor perishing in a fire set by his enemies, not by foriegn invasion...but simply by choking on a fish bone.
The political chaos, however, was only the start. Within a day, even before word of the death of the Emperor reached many places, farmers and peasants in the countryside began to notice strange happenings...things usually only heard of in old legends and myths. Those who wandered too far abroad or out of sight of large groups tended to vanish. Some of those who came back were, inexplicably, changed.
Within a week, it had become obvious to all that the Emperor's death had had consequences beyond what even the best prepared could have anticipated.
Ghosts, demons, sorcerers, all manner of legendary and mythical beings had apparently simply emerged out of the forests and mountains, as if they had simply been waiting. Cities were razed by armies of undead, demons and stranger things. Bands of roaming warriors, of a variety of species, now controlled the countryside and the roads.
The peasants have begun referring to this as the 'Age of Awakening', saying that the spirits of the land, the kami have risen in order to destroy the corrupt leadership of the land and unite Japan under a heavenly monarch. Most of them disagree as to whether or not humans fit into this hierarchy.
Now, the nation is as divided as ever. A false Emperor sits on the throne in the rebuilt Imperial Palace in Kyoto, a puppet of the Taira clan. Few, if any, care to listen to his words and this political move has left the Taira isolated and with few friends.
---
Threads:
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14310220 - "Delicate Negotiations" The Shirakawa send a message to the Yuzo ninjas. It seems that mischief is afoot in the Land of the Rising Sun.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=576609 - "Takeda thread" Just your average, everyday, happenings in the Takeda lands.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14309881 - "Masumi thread" The wandering Masumi tribe get word of the death of the Emperor, and now travel the lands looking for answers.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14310675 - "Kataki Thread" A group of Kappa are wandering eastwards.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14310727 - "Southerlands Thread" A rather unusually named fisherman's son has an encounter with a samurai.
Claims:
http://i44.tinypic.com/icu1dk.png
Claims:
Imperial Household (Taira, NPC): Yellow
The Shirakawa Clan (Dontgonearthere): Red
Masumi Tribe (Londim): Not on map
Southern Land (Chazaka): Purple
Yuzo Clan (Deathron): Sort of light bluish-green
The Meiji Clan (Steppe): Sort of reddish/pink
The Uesugi Clan (Grael): Light blue
The Takeda Clan (FUS): Blue
Kataki (Kagetora): Green
General Claim Rules:
1 point per billion population (of your NS nation). You can't fewer than one point, and no more than five.
Examples:
The Grand Empire of Bob has 3 billion people. He gets three points.
The Less Grand Empire of Jim has 5 million people. He gets one point.
The Superior And Excessivly Large Empire of Greg has 250 billion people. He gets five points.
If Fearsom And Deadyly Republic of Prime has 2.993 billion people, he gets 2 points.
Provinces you claim must be fairly close to each other. Adjacent claims are not required, just fairly close to each other. Remember that you'll have to control those provinces.
FORMS:
For a large claim (Daimyo/Shogun/Wanna be Emperor/whatever)
Post a map with the province(s) you want. You can take part of a province, but for simplicities sake, partial claims (no matter how small) will count for a full point)
Name (Clan or state):
Population: To get your population, divide your population by 10,000.
Your population won't go under 10,000 unless you want it to. So, for example:
Dontgonearthere has 11.705 billion people. That comes out to a game population of 1,170,500.
The aformentioned Grand Empire of Bob would get 300,000
Jim would get 10,000, unless he wanted 500 for some reason.
Greg would find himself with an amazing population of 25,000,000, which was pretty much more than the whole population of Japan until the 1700's.
EDIT: Actually, let's limit the maximum population to 1,000,000. After that I think it would get difficult to feed everybody, what with the demons running around killing all the farmers.
Species Breakdown: A breakdown of your population by species. In most cases humans should be the majority, since they generally still outnumber everybody else. This might be the exception in very small states formed by demons/spirits/whatever.
Government: A short detail of your government. A couple of sentences is fine.
Other Stuff: Anything else you think is important.
For individual characters, just give us a general description of what you think is appropriate. Small groups should follow the above, more or less.
A few general rules, suggestions, information, or whatever I feel like putting here:
Japan is poor in natural resources, making metal armor and weapons expensive. A full set of armor for a well off samurai could cost as much as a village. Likewise for a sword, bow, and good horse.
Gunpowder is known and well used, however, muskets are primitive, matchlocks or wheel locks. They are unreliable, especially if wet. Japanese were also rather poor at making cannons, so such devices would have a tendency to explode in use. More reliable would be imported European cannons (and fancy flintlock muskets), but these items would be rare. A side effect of the Awakening was to render ocean travel impossible, ringing the islands with sever storms, isolating Japan even further.
The Japanese DO make use of seafaring boats. Check wikipedia for more information on that subject.
REMINDER NOTE:
Please don't take people, places and/or factions/clans directly from anime. It's perfectly fine to have ninjas, but they can't be named Naruto and wear orange jumpsuits. Likewise, no half-demon dogboys with yellow spikey hair taking on gender-confused clowns to save the world.
While supposedly unified by the Emperor and his supreme authority, no Daimyo pays heed to the Imperial Court in Kyoto, nor, indeed, does the Court pay much attention to those outside of its own lands. Warlords scrabble for power, mobs of warrior-priests go unchecked, and peasant rabbles revolt against their proper lords. This is an age of chaos, where no single lord has the power to unite the country.
In the midst of all this chaos, the Emperor reigns supreme over his patch of land in Kyoto. The heir of the thousand-year old Yamato Dynasty, which has ruled Japan since time immemorial. While his power is small, his influence is great. The clan which manages to control the court, even if they lack significant land holdings, gains much prestige.
But now the Emperor is dead, and has departed this world with no heir to take the Imperial throne. The court is thrown into turmoil, and Kyoto, in the chaos, burns to the ground.
For many, the Emperor was the only reason to remain passive and obedient to their lords. Deprived of that legitimacy, many of the old clans are overthrown. Those who do survive maintain power with an iron grip, but even the Daimyo find themselves hard pressed to believe that the Yamato Dynasty, having ruled since their grandfathers, grandfathers, grandfathers time, and beyond, has simply come to an end, not in some dramatic fashion, not with the Emperor perishing in a fire set by his enemies, not by foriegn invasion...but simply by choking on a fish bone.
The political chaos, however, was only the start. Within a day, even before word of the death of the Emperor reached many places, farmers and peasants in the countryside began to notice strange happenings...things usually only heard of in old legends and myths. Those who wandered too far abroad or out of sight of large groups tended to vanish. Some of those who came back were, inexplicably, changed.
Within a week, it had become obvious to all that the Emperor's death had had consequences beyond what even the best prepared could have anticipated.
Ghosts, demons, sorcerers, all manner of legendary and mythical beings had apparently simply emerged out of the forests and mountains, as if they had simply been waiting. Cities were razed by armies of undead, demons and stranger things. Bands of roaming warriors, of a variety of species, now controlled the countryside and the roads.
The peasants have begun referring to this as the 'Age of Awakening', saying that the spirits of the land, the kami have risen in order to destroy the corrupt leadership of the land and unite Japan under a heavenly monarch. Most of them disagree as to whether or not humans fit into this hierarchy.
Now, the nation is as divided as ever. A false Emperor sits on the throne in the rebuilt Imperial Palace in Kyoto, a puppet of the Taira clan. Few, if any, care to listen to his words and this political move has left the Taira isolated and with few friends.
---
Threads:
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14310220 - "Delicate Negotiations" The Shirakawa send a message to the Yuzo ninjas. It seems that mischief is afoot in the Land of the Rising Sun.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=576609 - "Takeda thread" Just your average, everyday, happenings in the Takeda lands.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14309881 - "Masumi thread" The wandering Masumi tribe get word of the death of the Emperor, and now travel the lands looking for answers.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14310675 - "Kataki Thread" A group of Kappa are wandering eastwards.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14310727 - "Southerlands Thread" A rather unusually named fisherman's son has an encounter with a samurai.
Claims:
http://i44.tinypic.com/icu1dk.png
Claims:
Imperial Household (Taira, NPC): Yellow
The Shirakawa Clan (Dontgonearthere): Red
Masumi Tribe (Londim): Not on map
Southern Land (Chazaka): Purple
Yuzo Clan (Deathron): Sort of light bluish-green
The Meiji Clan (Steppe): Sort of reddish/pink
The Uesugi Clan (Grael): Light blue
The Takeda Clan (FUS): Blue
Kataki (Kagetora): Green
General Claim Rules:
1 point per billion population (of your NS nation). You can't fewer than one point, and no more than five.
Examples:
The Grand Empire of Bob has 3 billion people. He gets three points.
The Less Grand Empire of Jim has 5 million people. He gets one point.
The Superior And Excessivly Large Empire of Greg has 250 billion people. He gets five points.
If Fearsom And Deadyly Republic of Prime has 2.993 billion people, he gets 2 points.
Provinces you claim must be fairly close to each other. Adjacent claims are not required, just fairly close to each other. Remember that you'll have to control those provinces.
FORMS:
For a large claim (Daimyo/Shogun/Wanna be Emperor/whatever)
Post a map with the province(s) you want. You can take part of a province, but for simplicities sake, partial claims (no matter how small) will count for a full point)
Name (Clan or state):
Population: To get your population, divide your population by 10,000.
Your population won't go under 10,000 unless you want it to. So, for example:
Dontgonearthere has 11.705 billion people. That comes out to a game population of 1,170,500.
The aformentioned Grand Empire of Bob would get 300,000
Jim would get 10,000, unless he wanted 500 for some reason.
Greg would find himself with an amazing population of 25,000,000, which was pretty much more than the whole population of Japan until the 1700's.
EDIT: Actually, let's limit the maximum population to 1,000,000. After that I think it would get difficult to feed everybody, what with the demons running around killing all the farmers.
Species Breakdown: A breakdown of your population by species. In most cases humans should be the majority, since they generally still outnumber everybody else. This might be the exception in very small states formed by demons/spirits/whatever.
Government: A short detail of your government. A couple of sentences is fine.
Other Stuff: Anything else you think is important.
For individual characters, just give us a general description of what you think is appropriate. Small groups should follow the above, more or less.
A few general rules, suggestions, information, or whatever I feel like putting here:
Japan is poor in natural resources, making metal armor and weapons expensive. A full set of armor for a well off samurai could cost as much as a village. Likewise for a sword, bow, and good horse.
Gunpowder is known and well used, however, muskets are primitive, matchlocks or wheel locks. They are unreliable, especially if wet. Japanese were also rather poor at making cannons, so such devices would have a tendency to explode in use. More reliable would be imported European cannons (and fancy flintlock muskets), but these items would be rare. A side effect of the Awakening was to render ocean travel impossible, ringing the islands with sever storms, isolating Japan even further.
The Japanese DO make use of seafaring boats. Check wikipedia for more information on that subject.
REMINDER NOTE:
Please don't take people, places and/or factions/clans directly from anime. It's perfectly fine to have ninjas, but they can't be named Naruto and wear orange jumpsuits. Likewise, no half-demon dogboys with yellow spikey hair taking on gender-confused clowns to save the world.