EMPIRE! CWBG XIV: To Heir is Human - To Faith 10, Divine

[QuintonBeck]

EMPIRE!
Gods, Kings & Adventurers
A Community World=Building Game by Morph Bark

Now officially celebrating its one-year anniversary!

Current Year: 531-535
IC thread: click!
Dice-Rolling thread: click!


NOTE:
Every so often, the rules have small updates, marked in red. If you discover a hole in the rules, please report it so it can be looked into and taken care of. We try to make the rules as clear, solid and usable as they can be, so they don't need a GM to make rulings too often.

Welcome to EMPIRE! A game of gods, kings and adventurers. In this game, you will play a character, a ruler of a region. And once s/he dies, you will play their heir and so on, continuing on the family legacy. You scheme, discover and conquer your way towards becoming the most-remembered person in history. Respected, loved, feared.

This world will start as a simple one similar to the times of the Middle Ages, but through the actions of players and random events the scope of the world will expand, science marches on and magic may even be introduced. Magic is rare, though monsters may be abound in players’ regions, strange natural resources or the crafts of alchemy may be at their use and supernatural phenomena can take place.

Best beware if you want to ensure your legacy.


If you want to become a player and all regions are currently taken, don't worry. New regions can always be added in during play, and we can put you on the waiting list in the meantime if need be. If Empire interests you, but you don't want to play the game, you can always partake in the Freeform RP threads that are open to everyone, or even in its World-Building threads. See the list at the end of this post.


Be warned! This is primarily a game of world-building, but contains some strategic elements, secretive scheming, and both cooperation and vehement competition between players at times. It's all easy enough to understand once you've read through the rules, and GREAT fun to play in and talk with all your co-world-builders in this thread, but keep in mind that in the game itself, IC, it can be a very bumpy ride. Let us ask questions, help each other, communicate, cooperate, build and have fun OOC, even as we bash each other's brains in IC.

Also, if you have a question, and you can ask a player (about their region or people, for instance), ask them instead of the GM. If you can ask it in the thread, do that instead of via PM. The GM's PM inbox is regularly cleared and thus things can easily get lost, so try keep it to secret stuff and (IC) reactions to stuff you get in your own inbox.


Atlas

Spoiler

Show

Below is the most current map of the known world. Here is a list of regions that has been claimed and by whom. It is slightly outdated, so if you aim to take over a certain region, it is always good to double-check in the main thread (this one) whether it is taken or not. It might even currently be in the process of being taken over by someone else. This is especially good advice to new players, because then you're more aware of the general situation of the area you'll be dropping into.



[Underground]

The Rules of the Game
See this thread.


Game Masters
Rulecrafter: Morph Bark

Head GM: QuintonBeck

GM Team: Aedilred, TheWombatOfDoom, WaylanderX

~ ~ GM Data Collection ~ ~
All the information on rulers & regions

See this thread for all records of rulers, population, military, agents, technologies, etc.

See this GoogleDoc for all records on resources and trade.

New Player Tips and Advice (Morph)

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions (Wombat)

Extra Player Resources (For the Players, By the Players)
Heraldry Generator (thanks, Logic!)
Family Banner Generator
Flag Generator (thanks, Logic!)
Family Tree Builder (thanks, zabbarot!)

Should there be anything incorrect or not updated yet about any of the above tables it’s always possible that the GM or co-GM in charge of that has missed it. If so, please feel free to inform us with the proper, most updated information.



Fluff-Building Threads
The following threads are purely for expanding on existing fluff or theorizing about the history or make-up of the world. Some of them are in-character role-play bits, some are projects for creating maps, others are quotes or excerpts from books.

Pre-History (World-Building, pre-Year 1, pre-Year 330)
Rajurdic Codex (Year 338+)
Scrolls of Prowess (Year 349+)
Bestiary of Telluris (Year 354+)
Regional Maps (World-Building)
Northern Hemisphere Star Map (World-Building)
13 Swords of the True Jaaku Na (World-Building)

Previous Main Thread Incarnations

EMPIRE! A Community World-Building Tale of People & Discovery
EMPIRE! CWBG II: 2 Quest, 2 Curious
EMPIRE! CWBG III: Prepare Your Inbox! (Messages Are Coming)
EMPIRE! CWBG IV: **** Is Getting Real... It's Always Getting Real!
EMPIRE! CWBG V: Unless You Are The Mongols
EMPIRE! CWBG VI: Salt, Spies and Everything Dyes!
EMPIRE! CWBG VII: Dancing With Headless Princesses! (Fish, Saffron & Ginger Edition)
EMPIRE! CWBG VIII: It's Not An Event Without A Few Corpses
EMPIRE! CWBG IX: We Keep Score With Bragging Rights! Many Prowess, Such Revolution
EMPIRE! CWBG X: For Obscure Cultural Reasons, We Have Huuuuuuge Tracts Of Land
EMPIRE! CWBG XI: We Finally Have Nomads
EMPIRE! CWBG XII GOTY: Now with optionally free Cthulhu and Pony DLC!
EMPIRE!-CWBG-XIII-F5-Document-Spirits-F10-Summon-Balepig-Keeper-of-Oaths

[Gengy]

Shiny new OOC!

Neat!

[QuintonBeck]

Mmkay, so I saw it suggested only food work with the Interprovincial Trade and I agree as well as pre-empting any attempts to make it apply to non-foodstuffs as being denied. With it requiring an investment of 1 stack to be distributed along with the "native stack" that already can apply broadly outside food I think that makes it alright enough.

Also, zab, I saw in the chat you refer to technologies as rules updates. I think that's a key issue. Technologies should not be considered rules updates. They can adapt rules and such but if you think the rules are a problem bring it up, don't try and create a personalized "patch" to apply to yourself. This goes out to everyone which is why I bring it up here.

[Aedilred]

Trades - as usual please notify me if there's owt I've missed.

Trades for Round 40

Trades
Belua Bay [U33] Claymak for Barathrum [U17] Merlight
U32 Sea Turtles for Belua Bay [U33] Sea Drake Scales to Praeclarus [U31]
Belua Bay Artificers to Praeclarus (U33 to U31)
Margaria [U17] Merlight for Sanglea [121] Skywhales
Barathrum [U17] Bubbling Stones for Ayava [11B] Rit Phal
Esuma [162] Garb for Kasumor [4A] Shintouite
Gmranhil [31] Glass for Praeclarus [U31] Diamonds to Requiem [61A]

Curiosity 5 Actions
Belua Bay [U33] – Artificiers
The Heartwaste [5A] -Shintouite
Shengdi [26] – Tiaqra Crystals
Kemuliaan [141] – Dark Glass

Trading Posts
Praeclarus in Esuma [162] for Dream Sugar
Salterri Heartlands in the Abyssian Sea [U1] for Nix Coral
Salterri Heartlands in the Challenger Depths [U4] for Chitin Wood
Salterri Heartlands in Palas Caercia [67] for Cana Beans
Salterri Heartlands in Tuhiland [126] for Sparkfellow Icicles
Salterri Heartlands in Trinacria [125] for Vallotake
Grand Duchy of Pavonia in Promise [96] for Frozen Eggs

Redirections
Tepti [120] Mithril-Willow from U17 to U31
Everburning Horde Dunfel Bones from U31 to U33


Cancellations
Pomequi [140] Apples to An Nádur
Katuhan [N-69] Sung Blossoms to Pomequi [140]


Invalid Trades
Zargrim Tanedhan Feathers for Maos Dinosaurs (unconfirmed by Guilder)

[BladeofObliviom]

Wow, Kuldran didn't even go NPC, it's straight-up unclaimed now. I sent Diplomats there last round, not Nukes!




In other news, King Torre wishes to show off the power of a unified Doctrine of Frost and plans to demonstrate this by wiping the Knights of Black from the face of Telluris. Way mentioned over Skype that he'd grant passage for this and I'm not in desperate need of assistance, but I will not turn away those who would join in this righteous endeavor.

[Aedilred]

Wow, Kuldran didn't even go NPC, it's straight-up unclaimed now. I sent Diplomats there last round, not Nukes!

*Sits back to watch the undignified scramble for the land*

In other news, King Torre wishes to show off the power of a unified Doctrine of Frost and plans to demonstrate this by wiping the Knights of Black from the face of Telluris. Way mentioned over Skype that he'd grant passage for this and I'm not in desperate need of assistance, but I will not turn away those who would join in this righteous endeavor.

I'm busy suppressing evildoers in my own lands this round, but if you fail to wipe them out before next round I could conceivably send a thousand troops or so to help out.

[QuintonBeck]

Wow, Kuldran didn't even go NPC, it's straight-up unclaimed now. I sent Diplomats there last round, not Nukes!

Oh goddammit. Why does everyone want to do something with one-round regions right before they could go unclaimed? Do you all truly hate me that much? Is that it? Glazfell and Kuldran, Caercia and Faelthalas, the new Aztec guys who's name I can't remember and Trandar. Dammit.

[BladeofObliviom]

Oh goddammit. Why does everyone want to do something with one-round regions right before they could go unclaimed? Do you all truly hate me that much? Is that it? Glazfell and Kuldran, Caercia and Faelthalas, the new Aztec guys who's name I can't remember and Trandar. Dammit.

I don't mind, long as you give me a good story. I want to hear about how my roll of four resulted in a diplomatic fumble that caused the collapse of civilization in the region or something.

EDIT: (You don't actually have to do that, it's okay if you want to just ignore it. I understand.)

[Aedilred]

Oh goddammit. Why does everyone want to do something with one-round regions right before they could go unclaimed? Do you all truly hate me that much? Is that it? Glazfell and Kuldran, Caercia and Faelthalas, the new Aztec guys who's name I can't remember and Trandar. Dammit.

I don't think it's a coincidence. For a moment there I thought you were listing places that were now unclaimed land, as punishment or something...

Made a map of Hurosha's underwater regions. It's my first map in Photoshop, but I think it came out oke-ish.

Sorry I didn't comment on this sooner! It looks pretty good and I like the freehand in particular (my freehand on tablet is terrible, so with any complex feature I have to draw it then scan it and remove the white digitally - it's a pain). If I might presume to offer some advice based on my own experiences: as an obviously "IC" map it's a good idea to try to minimise digital effects that make it obvious it's not hand-drawn. This includes most particularly the outer glow around the text, which is also what helps to make it visible. There are two ways to remove the glow without losing visibility: first is to position and resize the text in such a way that it's over a "blank" background, and the other is to put the text in first and draw around it. I tend to go for the latter now most of the time, although it does require the map to be planned out in a bit more detail first.

Anything too regular (very straight lines on freehand, repeated patterns) contributes to a digital look so it might be worth having another look at the border in particular. It's a nice pattern but applying a minor distortion or filter might help it blend better with the rest of the picture. I'd also suggest avoiding sans serif fonts, as they tend to look very modern outside some contexts. Adjusting the opacity and blend mode might also help the compass rose to sit better on the parchment background rather than standing out so much.

[Durmatagno]

Oh goddammit. Why does everyone want to do something with one-round regions right before they could go unclaimed? Do you all truly hate me that much? Is that it? Glazfell and Kuldran, Caercia and Faelthalas, the new Aztec guys who's name I can't remember and Trandar. Dammit.

That's exactly what they're doing, waiting to the last minute on purpose, because they want to torture you

[Elemental]

I'm busy suppressing evildoers in my own lands this round, but if you fail to wipe them out before next round I could conceivably send a thousand troops or so to help out.

Damn it Aed! You stole my excuse! On that note though, my excuse is still better as there's no sense showing off the power of the unified Doctrine with a mad ice sorcerer running around.

[Rain Dragon]

Oh goddammit. Why does everyone want to do something with one-round regions right before they could go unclaimed? Do you all truly hate me that much? Is that it? Glazfell and Kuldran, Caercia and Faelthalas, the new Aztec guys who's name I can't remember and Trandar. Dammit.

Yes.
You wait, the next one round nomad there is near me, I'm going to try to absorb!

And just you wait until I get a GK! I'm going to go out of my way to find them all and make a huge one-round-NPC vassal!

I don't mind, long as you give me a good story. I want to hear about how my roll of four resulted in a diplomatic fumble that caused the collapse of civilization in the region or something.

EDIT: (You don't actually have to do that, it's okay if you want to just ignore it. I understand.)

Heh.

Damn it Aed! You stole my excuse! On that note though, my excuse is still better as there's no sense showing off the power of the unified Doctrine with a mad ice sorcerer running around.

Yeah, I think showing off the unified Doctrine would be more effective if you resolve the issues with said mad ice sorcerer...

[SamBurke]

In other news, King Torre wishes to show off the power of a unified Doctrine of Frost and plans to demonstrate this by wiping the Knights of Black from the face of Telluris. Way mentioned over Skype that he'd grant passage for this and I'm not in desperate need of assistance, but I will not turn away those who would join in this righteous endeavor.

Guilder can non-action some specific help. Details coming your way soon!

[Rain Dragon]

Hello, a quick question.

Can I call dibs on the Seventh Tellurian Games (537)?
Coz this is me calling dibs unless someone else already did and I didn't notice.

I would hypothetically host the Games in Farridon (69A) with permission and/or assistance from the KCS.

[WaylanderX]

Sorry I didn't comment on this sooner! It looks pretty good and I like the freehand in particular (my freehand on tablet is terrible, so with any complex feature I have to draw it then scan it and remove the white digitally - it's a pain). If I might presume to offer some advice based on my own experiences: as an obviously "IC" map it's a good idea to try to minimise digital effects that make it obvious it's not hand-drawn. This includes most particularly the outer glow around the text, which is also what helps to make it visible. There are two ways to remove the glow without losing visibility: first is to position and resize the text in such a way that it's over a "blank" background, and the other is to put the text in first and draw around it. I tend to go for the latter now most of the time, although it does require the map to be planned out in a bit more detail first.

Anything too regular (very straight lines on freehand, repeated patterns) contributes to a digital look so it might be worth having another look at the border in particular. It's a nice pattern but applying a minor distortion or filter might help it blend better with the rest of the picture. I'd also suggest avoiding sans serif fonts, as they tend to look very modern outside some contexts. Adjusting the opacity and blend mode might also help the compass rose to sit better on the parchment background rather than standing out so much.

Thanks for the tips, I'll mess around with the setting a bit to see if I can make it look any better. I'll post it here when I've changed some things around.

Hello, a quick question.

Can I call dibs on the Seventh Tellurian Games (527)?
Coz this is me calling dibs unless someone else already did and I didn't notice.

I would hypothetically host the Games in Farridon (69A) with permission and/or assistance from the KCS.

Yeyz, Games. You have my vote!

Edit: So is anyone hosting an Event this round? If there isn't a thread by this afternoon, I'll start up a Sakura Matsuri thread, just to give people some chance for RPing. If people are planning something big later on in this round, feel free to ignore the thread I made.

[Rain Dragon]

Yeyz, Games. You have my vote!

I just saw that the year had a typo in it. Again.
Thanks, maybe.

Why am I chocolate?
(Yes, I've seen the video.)

[WaylanderX]

I just saw that the year had a typo in it. Again.
Thanks, maybe.

Why am I chocolate?
(Yes, I've seen the video.)

Huehue. So Rain, you are hosting the Games this or next round?

[Aedilred]

Huehue. So Rain, you are hosting the Games this or next round?

Assuming 537, that's next round. This round it's the Pretty Pink Princess Prom or something, apparently...

[Rain Dragon]

Edit: So is anyone hosting an Event this round? If there isn't a thread by this afternoon, I'll start up a Sakura Matsuri thread, just to give people some chance for RPing. If people are planning something big later on in this round, feel free to ignore the thread I made.

Huehue. So Rain, you are hosting the Games this or next round?

Assuming 537, that's next round. This round it's the Pretty Pink Princess Prom or something, apparently...

Yes, round 42.

This round I heard was a Grand Ball again. There's talk of it a few pages from the end of the last thread, but as far as I can tell there isn't a thread yet.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Wow! My thread suggestion actually became the thread name! That's a first! Glad it was well liked.

[WaylanderX]

Action #4: (curiosity) finish project to adapt LOADER TECH to use skywhales (2/2)

Murgen, you cannot adapt techs with a project anymore. You can use a C5 to do it, but that's the only way to do it nowadays. (or I have missed something, but last time I checked, it was impossible to do it)

[zabbarot]

Mmkay, so I saw it suggested only food work with the Interprovincial Trade and I agree as well as pre-empting any attempts to make it apply to non-foodstuffs as being denied. With it requiring an investment of 1 stack to be distributed along with the "native stack" that already can apply broadly outside food I think that makes it alright enough.

Also, zab, I saw in the chat you refer to technologies as rules updates. I think that's a key issue. Technologies should not be considered rules updates. They can adapt rules and such but if you think the rules are a problem bring it up, don't try and create a personalized "patch" to apply to yourself. This goes out to everyone which is why I bring it up here.

Food was the goal, so that's fine. Though people seem to agree that shuffling things like shintouite from region to region is both common practice and non-trivial so the restriction seems a little weird to me.

When I said I see technologies as rules updates I think it got taken a bit differently than it was meant. Techs can basically do two things. Either they give a bonus, or they change a rule. Most of our techs give a bonus, but a decent number change rules. Efficient building allows you to use two actions on a project in a round when the rules say you are limited to 1. Steam train allows you to establish trade posts in nonadjacent regions when the rules say you can only do that if the region is coastal and you also have a coast.

So it was meant as a statement of fact that technologies change rules. It is how they add new options to the game.

Technology: Interprovincial Trade
Prerequisites: Railroads in all regions, Trains, Cold Car Tech
Effect: One stack of each food resource from your regions may be added to a pool. All contiguous regions you control count as having access to all resources in the pool as if they were importing them regularly. This does not function for kingdoms separated by water, or nations they do not have trade treaties with(regions separating your kingdom must also have railroads).

Changes are in red. In the first write up I completely forgot that I hadn't intended it to work over water, and as written it sort of magically did. I figure that someone will adapt the tech to something like Steam Ship or Refrigerated Freighter technology for island nations to get the same benefit (or for kingdoms split over oceans), but those aren't me >.> so I'll leave that to someone else.

Wow! My thread suggestion actually became the thread name! That's a first! Glad it was well liked.

It's a pun and a game reference worked into a well known quote. That's like topshelf humor for this bunch


EDIT:

Murgen, you cannot adapt techs with a project anymore. You can use a C5 to do it, but that's the only way to do it nowadays. (or I have missed something, but last time I checked, it was impossible to do it)

Also I think that Skywhales already meet the requirements for Loader Tech by default since the requirement is just the very broad "large animal"

[lt_murgen]

Hello, a quick question.

Can I call dibs on the Seventh Tellurian Games (537)?
Coz this is me calling dibs unless someone else already did and I didn't notice.

I would hypothetically host the Games in Farridon (69A) with permission and/or assistance from the KCS.

The Jeweled Cities is planning on celebrating its bicentenial as a unified nation next round. We could combine events- I'll provide the location, you can run the events.

Murgen, you cannot adapt techs with a project anymore. You can use a C5 to do it, but that's the only way to do it nowadays. (or I have missed something, but last time I checked, it was impossible to do it)

Oops. Missed the rule change.

EDIT:
Also I think that Skywhales already meet the requirements for Loader Tech by default since the requirement is just the very broad "large animal"

I don't know if skywhales were domesticated or not, so could I assume my project last round was to domesticate them?

[zabbarot]

I don't know if skywhales were domesticated or not, so could I assume my project last round was to domesticate them?

Wouldn't bother me any, but I don't make decisions about things

[Soommor]

Ah, new thread.

So, who wants Pomegranates?

[WaylanderX]

Ah, new thread.

So, who wants Pomegranates?

Sure, what kinda goods do you want in return?

Got food, alchemical stuffs, certain kinds of animals, so on.

[BladeofObliviom]

Damn it Aed! You stole my excuse! On that note though, my excuse is still better as there's no sense showing off the power of the unified Doctrine with a mad ice sorcerer running around.

Oh no, I agree. However the mad Ice Sorcerer is far away and the Knights of Black are right next to me, so yeah.

Your excuse holds up though and King Torre wishes Ashenia the best of luck in bringing this wayward soul to justice.

[Soommor]

Sure, what kinda goods do you want in return?

Got food, alchemical stuffs, certain kinds of animals, so on.

Got anything I can sharpen and make tools out of?

[WaylanderX]

Got anything I can sharpen and make tools out of?

I think so, yeah. I'll take a look and come back to you on that.

Edit: I got Quartz and/or Lead if you fancy that.

[Soommor]

Pomegranates for Quartz, make it so.

I warn you though, these are big pomegranates. We're talking size-of-a-basketball bash-your-face-in pomegranate. So eat them responsibly.