EMPIRE2!-CWBG-I-Begin-Again [Applications Open!]

[HalfTangible]

Found something in the rules. At the very end of the Diplomacy 5 section:

There is no limit to the number of permanent Cultural Identities.

And in the diplomacy 10 section:

All nations have a cap on the number of Permanent Cultural Identities (PCIs) they can support. A typical nation with 5 actions can support 2 PCIs, a Great Kingdom can support 4, and an Empire can support 5. Federations can support 5 which are shared amongst the federation players.

[QuintonBeck]

Found something in the rules. At the very end of the Diplomacy 5 section:


And in the diplomacy 10 section:

Fixed, thanks.

[Aedilred]

Found something in the rules. At the very end of the Diplomacy 5 section:


And in the diplomacy 10 section:

That'll be because the PCI limit was a late addition, I suspect, and the document wasn't thoroughly scoured for other mentions. Thanks for pointing it out.

In other news I have made some updates to my region. They're in the lands thread but also here:

Spoiler: Royal Family

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The royal family have worn the crown of Nand for generations, although their role has of late become increasingly ceremonial, with the monarchs holding less and less authority as the setrapa have grown in status and power. The last strong king is generally considered to have been Isfandir II, who died more than half a century ago. His son Nimur II was a weak king largely under the hold of the generals and setrapa, and an attempt by Nimur's daughter Erandeh to regain some power for the crown faltered when she died after only one year on the throne - some say assassinated for that reason.

The current queen, Aiman III, is a Nend in her early thirties, with deep blue/indigo skin. She became queen on the death of her father when she was just twenty-three years old, and many expected her to be a weak ruler like her immediate predecessors. Soon after her coronation she controversially married her childhood friend Kusal, a relatively minor noble and official, rather than one of the great setrapa petitioning for her hand, but despite many suspecting this would lead into a campaign to reinstate royal authority, she has kept a fairly low profile politically ever since. Some claim she is quietly building a power base prior to asserting herself, but most have come to believe she is content to enjoy the privileges of her office without exerting herself excessively.

With Kusal, she has three children: Isfandir, Hannah and Jangir, aged 1-5 in 100. The succession is strict cognatic primogeniture.

http://www.familyecho.com/?p=DVFZ2&c...51651770551741

Starting Attributes:
Diplomacy 2
Military 5
Curiosity 2
Faith 1
Luck 2

Original Rolls
Rerolls

+1s go to Military and Luck.

Spoiler: Government and Society

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Government in Nand is highly decentralised, with different strata of organisation existing in different parts of the country.

The governor of a territory is called a Setrapan. Often these double as army commanders and indeed this was their original role. The position of setrapan is not, in theory, hereditary, or even awarded for life, but such is the power of many of the setrapa that they can ensure their favoured successor, usually a relative, follows them in their province. Many of the setrapa are in practice more powerful than the king, and are thus largely immune from castigation by the crown.

The Karapa are the highest-ranked generals of the army, appointed by the crown. They do not hold official governmental position, but such is the militarisation of government that in practice they are often more powerful than the setrapan themselves. The appointment of karapa is often seen as an attempt by the crown to wrest back power from setrapa.

There is a noble class, with attached privileges (known as the Azada), but the highest governmental positions are not reserved for them, and many of the setrapa and karapa are not of noble birth. The most ancient and powerful of these are called the Vaspura.

Day-to-day government is carried out by the wuzurga: junior officials, usually in charge of a district.

Nanda society is underpinned by a principle of communalism which nevertheless often fails to manifest itself in practice. In theory, those who contribute most to the community are the most highly valued, though in fact those who can take what they can often do so and maintain a relatively lofty position nonetheless. For instance, while the farmers and manufacturers are considered more valuable to society and thus in theory higher-ranking than warriors as a class, in practice the ability of the warriors to take what they need has resulted in the warrior class becoming much more powerful and much more prevalent at a higher level within society.

Raiding and war are facts of life for most Nanda, certainly those outside the cities, and this is the principal reason why warriors have attained a privileged position within society. Whether clashes between setrapa involving hundreds of troops, or small raiding bands within districts numbering no more than a dozen, there can be almost no time when there is no fighting somewhere within the kingdom.

Women are considered equal to men in almost every respect, and sex is no barrier to advancement within society – except for the fact that bearing and rearing children is still seen as the most important duty and role for women, as a means of perpetuating the people. It is therefore common for the career of even the most brilliant woman to be interrupted by the “need” to have children – many of whose careers never resume, thanks to the rate of death in or after childbirth.

Voluntary celibacy is almost unheard of, outside religious orders which require it, and arranged marriages are common. Marriage within caste is the norm, but marriage without is not outlandish. It is relatively common for members of the royal family in particular to marry outside their caste. Thanks to the value placed on marriage, chastity outside marriage is considered of great importance, and adultery, fornication and, especially, children outside wedlock can be cause for great scandal, even prosecution. Despite relatively frequent moral campaigns by setrapa or religious authorities to punish those involved in such activities (or to round up prostitutes), however, it has proven impossible to eradicate such depravity altogether, and inevitably within a few years things have returned to their former state.

Spoiler: Caste System

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The caste system in Sasanand is rudimentary, and either in an early stage of development or an advanced state of decay. is as much descriptive as prescriptive, although since children tend to take after their parents' colouring there is a degree of heredity attached. Nevertheless it is common for Nanda of predominantly one colour to have skin with whorls, dashes or other patterns of colours generally associated with other castes. What caste they become associated with may be a matter of ancestry, or of later conduct.

There are eight nominal castes, in three principal groupings, with each caste associated with certain skin colours. In rough hierarchy, they are:

Balanda
Siyanda (Black)
Arguvada (Blue/indigo)
Guloda (Pink/purple)

Desonda
Sabada (Green)
Zarda (Yellow)
Kemezda (Red/orange)

Bekorda
Sefida (White)
Beranda (Colourless)

The majority of the nascent aristocracy is drawn from the Balanda castes.

Siyanda are near-mythical and there have been no confirmed Siyanda births within reliably recorded history.

The Arguvada, Goluda, Sabada and Zarda together make up the vast majority of the civilian population, although many of them serve in the military regardless, especially those of the Balanda. The Sabada form a majority population in the rural areas of the kingdom, most of them being farmers or herders. The Zarda generally form the urban commonfolk.

Kemezda are warriors, raiders and hunters. Although in the nominal caste hierarchy they occupy a relatively lowly station (as those who provide sustenance are considered more valuable to the people than those who raid for it) that is deceptive, as they tend to enjoy a relatively privileged position in most communities, and it is common for karapa and setrapa to be drawn from this caste.

The Sefida are near-universally recognised as the lowest caste, although for the most part they are not despised so much as pitied (although precise treatment varies across the kingdom). They need to spend a great deal more time in the sun than other Nanda in order to function correctly, and are generally stunted and prematurely aged from exhaustion.

The Beranda are rare, and although known as the “colourless”, in fact have what non-Nanda would call a more natural complexion, usually tending towards the dark olive. They possess few of the qualities of normal Nanda, although their vision is slightly better than that of normal humans. Otherwise, though, they have no secondary vision from their skin and do not suffer unduly if kept out of the sun (indeed, they are the only Nanda known to suffer from sunburn). For these reasons they operate largely outside mainstream Nanda society, and many Nanda diplomats and explorers are from this caste. Less fortunate Beranda put their skills and ability to operate nocturnally to use closer to home, and become thieves, spies or assassins.

Spoiler: Lexicon and Linguistics

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Many words in the Nanda language, especially nouns referring to people, are compound and formed by the addition of a suffix to a stem word.

Double consonants are relatively rare in the Nanda language, and adjacent plosive consonants or non-sibilant fricatives are unheard of. Where addition of a suffix to a stem would create such a combination, either one of the consonants is dropped or a vowel (usually “a”) is inserted. For instance, in the case of the stem word “Arguv-” the addition of the “-dan” suffix would create the illegal compound “Arguvda”, which with the addition of an “a” becomes “Arguvada.” With the addition of the suffix “-van”, the second “v” is lost, and the compound becomes “Arguvan”

Personal suffixes

-badan - priest(ess)
-dan – person (of such a group)
-pan – guardian/leader
-shan – king/queen
-van – man
-zan – woman

Noble and governmental titles

Azadan – Noble(wo)man
Framandarpan – Battlefield commander
Hirbad – Priest
Kara – Royal army
Karapan – Commander of the royal army
Mobad – High priest
Paygospan – Commander of a setrapa army
Savaran Sardapan – Cavalry commander
Savarana - Cavalry
Setrapan – Provincial governor
Vaspurdan – Great lord
Wuzurgan – Governmental official

[GorinichSerpant]

*Overlord-ship is non-optional. By playing the game, you acknowledge that the Aeldir are in charge, and are happy to allow you to run your governments however you see fit until we say otherwise. Please submit all dissenters for execution, either public or private, to Tir Amser.** Have a lovely day!

**Also, if you didn't understand, this is a joke, and 3/4ths of the Aeldir may disagree with my attempts of humor. Seriously, we're looking forward to playing the game with all of you.

Joke's on you, the proud and freedom loving Trollish people don't get anything done even when enslaved!

[Gengy]

QB, not that I don't mind chatting it up - and explaining to the new players how superior the Aeldir are - but would it not make more sense to do so in an official OOC rather then within the recruitment thread?

And - correct me if I am wrong - the game is slated to officially start on the Sunday after next, yes? (Fourth of October)

[WaylanderX]

QB, not that I don't mind chatting it up - and explaining to the new players how superior the Aeldir are - but would it not make more sense to do so in an official OOC rather then within the recruitment thread?

And - correct me if I am wrong - the game is slated to officially start on the Sunday after next, yes? (Fourth of October)

-Prevaz look at puny Aeldir, look at eachother, shrug, throw them out of front garden so they do not trample the lawn and resume creating sculptures, paintings and other more important stuff-

EDIT: Also, nice fluff Aed ^^. Reminds me that I also need to work out my Strem families a bit more.

The recruitment thread is but a barren wasteland :P.

[QuintonBeck]

QB, not that I don't mind chatting it up - and explaining to the new players how superior the Aeldir are - but would it not make more sense to do so in an official OOC rather then within the recruitment thread?

And - correct me if I am wrong - the game is slated to officially start on the Sunday after next, yes? (Fourth of October)

This is the OOC... The recruitment thread is here

The game is slated to start either this Sunday or the 4th depending how I feel this weekend, yes.

[Rain Dragon]

I have some minor questions (despite not playing) about the world.

Is the surface area of this planet Earth like? I don't remember it being mentioned anywhere and it'd be a useful detail for writing about quests where people are journeying for months and figuring out how far could they go given the described terrain.

Are there moons? (For stable weather/rotation a big one would be easiest). Then calendars could be made to be consistent. (When I was making Fera's calendar, I had to average a couple of calendars, ignore one and make assumptions about all of them which was a bit of a pain.)

Why is the recruitment thread so barren?

I was just reflecting on some things in Telluris and remembered these details...

[Aedilred]

I have some minor questions (despite not playing) about the world.

Is the surface area of this planet Earth like? I don't remember it being mentioned anywhere and it'd be a useful detail for writing about quests where people are journeying for months and figuring out how far could they go given the described terrain.

Are there moons? (For stable weather/rotation a big one would be easiest). Then calendars could be made to be consistent. (When I was making Fera's calendar, I had to average a couple of calendars, ignore one and make assumptions about all of them which was a bit of a pain.)

These are good questions and probably worth establishing answers for at this stage, since they affect everyone.

My personal preference would probably be for Arandi to have dimensions similar to those of Earth, or at least more similar than Telluris was. Telluris's small size was always a bit of an oddity. As far as (visible!) moons go, any number that's neither boring nor ridiculous would be fine by me

Why is the recruitment thread so barren?

That it's dropped to page 3 probably doesn't help. Equally, since it directs people here, there's probably not much cause for people to reply in that thread even if they do see it

[ZakThar]

I would like to claim the island region of 240!

I am new to this, but I heard about it through Dracolon and he thought I should give it a try.

I will post my nation submission either later today or sometime tomorrow. :3

[DoomHat]

I advocate for only one moon so I don't have to redo my national flag!

Also, given that we have to explore any given region in the current known world before colonizing it, how much can we nations likely know about each other? I ask because I've been discussing some pregame intrigue and I don't know how much of it could be feasible turn 1. How much contact could I expect to have with someone in the east for example, beyond a vast expanse of unexplored islands?

[Lord Of Mantas]

I was directed here by TheDarkDM, and am interested in playing! I would like to claim Region 236, please.

[PepperP.]

I would like to claim the island region of 240!

I am new to this, but I heard about it through Dracolon and he thought I should give it a try.

I will post my nation submission either later today or sometime tomorrow. :3

I was directed here by TheDarkDM, and am interested in playing! I would like to claim Region 236, please.

Welcome guys!

[Tychris1]

Excellent, more villages to plunder, I mean players to participate!

[ImperatorV]

Well, it looks like I'll finally have time to get my region written up tomorrow. Yay for tests and papers clumping up at the same time. Can anyone please fill me in on any neighbors I've picked up in the meantime?

Also Gengy I'll be getting back to your PM pretty soon.

[Kasanip]

What is the scale of the map?

For example, if it is desired a small place, what is the kilometer measurement determined by the map?

By the way, it was updated the construction map:

Spoiler

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[BananaPhone]

I'm interested in starting a new nation. Or enacting a "coup" in a current NPC nation and having that become a new PC kingdom.

[BladeofObliviom]

I'm interested in starting a new nation. Or enacting a "coup" in a current NPC nation and having that become a new PC kingdom.

You should probably go with the new kingdom. There aren't any NPCs to overthrow yet.

[Philote]

@Kasanip: Your map is awesome and I really appreciate being able to easily see where everyone near me is located. An awesome addition would be if you could include the location of the three churches of the major three starting religions.

Also, if you use something like a white text with a black outline the names you've added would be easier to read.

[BananaPhone]

You should probably go with the new kingdom. There aren't any NPCs to overthrow yet.

Ah, a new kingdom! I see, thank you good sir!

I'll just turn the page to see what the other kingdoms are like and...

*voice trails off at seeing how developed everyone else is with their 48 round head start*

*eyes widen comically*

Oh my...

I believe I'll be making a subterranean kingdom in order to protect myself from the giants of this playground.

[BladeofObliviom]

Are you certain you're looking at the correct material? This is a new game that hasn't started yet.

[BananaPhone]

Really? I was looking through the material and threads provided and unless the links are out of date, it was giving tables for stat increases peoples rulers had undergone and tech they had advanced.

Please tell me I'm wrong?

[BladeofObliviom]

Really? I was looking through the material and threads provided and unless the links are out of date, it was giving tables for stat increases peoples rulers had undergone and tech they had advanced.

Please tell me I'm wrong?

You are no doubt seeing Empire 1 material. This is Empire 2, which is not an actual sequel and merely uses the same core system. Please refer to the OP of this thread for relevant info, and disregard E1 material.

Edit: Though I can't really blame you since the link in my signature is outdated...

[Rain Dragon]

This is the OOC... The recruitment thread is here

Really? I was looking through the material and threads provided and unless the links are out of date, it was giving tables for stat increases peoples rulers had undergone and tech they had advanced.

Please tell me I'm wrong?

You're wrong!

Also, QB seems to have accidentally linked E1's Rules and Admin thread in the recruitment thread. Try this one for size. There is no E2 IC yet.

EDIT - @Blade - Tsk! Slacker!

[BladeofObliviom]

You're wrong!

Also, QB seems to have accidentally linked E1's Rules and Admin thread in the recruitment thread. Try this one for size. There is no E2 IC yet.

Ah, that explains it. Sorry for the confusion. QB, please fix that link ASAP.

[The Blue Guard]

I would like to claim the island region of 240!

I am new to this, but I heard about it through Dracolon and he thought I should give it a try.

I will post my nation submission either later today or sometime tomorrow. :3

I was directed here by TheDarkDM, and am interested in playing! I would like to claim Region 236, please.

More nations for the East! Welcome!

[BananaPhone]

Oh thank the maker...

Well I'll take some solace that my haste enabled us to spot something that needed updating ^_^.

Hmm, I'll take Region 280 and write something up soon.

Is it possible to have a mix of subterranean and surface cities?

[Kasanip]

@Kasanip: Your map is awesome and I really appreciate being able to easily see where everyone near me is located. An awesome addition would be if you could include the location of the three churches of the major three starting religions.

Also, if you use something like a white text with a black outline the names you've added would be easier to read.

Although it isn't liked the white text, it was tried the suggestions of Philote. The size was enlarged to reduce eye injury.

Spoiler

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[BananaPhone]

Hmm, poor population in comparison to everyone else. 4, 4, 3, 2, 1 for base stats before modifiers.

I can figure that into the writing.

[DoomHat]

Oh thank the maker...

Well I'll take some solace that my haste enabled us to spot something that needed updating ^_^.

Hmm, I'll take Region 280 and write something up soon.

Is it possible to have a mix of subterranean and surface cities?

That's actually as simple as starting with an Underground region, then exploring and colonizing the region directly above you.
So you're actually calling dips on region 280b. Failing that, you could just say in your fluff that your cities have very, very, deep basements.