It is more useful to appeal against a thunderstorm as against the terrible hardships of war. War is cruelty, its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, vengeance and desolation. War is hell.
-Engraving beneath a statue of ‘Cump’, God of the Traction City of Cleave-Land
A thousand years after the Sixty Minute War, this quote hs proven deficient. The unimaginable exchange of firepower that marked the end of the world as it was not just hell. It created hell. In the aftermath of the titanic struggle between the American Empire and Greater China, the world is a wasteland. The very Earth buckles beneath the scars of the war, and has left only desolation and danger for those humans who still have the gall to carve out lives for themselves. Mountains explode with volcanic fury, the sea-bed, bared of its water, shakes and festers. Great ice-sheets encroach from the north, and the swirling deserts morph like foul organisms far to the south. Humanity, in its infinite capacity for adaptation, has been forced to innovate or die, and so they have created the great cradles which maintain them in the ashes of their homeworld.
The world is too volatile and fickle for permanent settlement, or so the ancient wisdom says. On the Great Hunting Ground, the land which the ancients called 'Europe', the Traction Cities, from the great metropolises of millions to the scavenger-towns of a few hundred, scurry with the power of ancient engines, sustained by great works of artificial agriculture, engaged in the great sport of Municipal Darwinism.
The weak are eaten by the strong. The great cities area always looking to expand, to scavenge ancient technology and bolster the population of either their citizenry or, in the cases of some cities, their slave stock. Other cities are the most prized catch of them all, and so a great food chain of municipalities war on the Hunting Grounds, each day a struggle to survive knowing there is always someone bigger than you, some threat to take you from your position of power and wealth.
Meanwhile, rumors fly on the Hunting Grounds, borne by airships and traders, of dangers encroaching on the status quo. Massive cities from the West, having crossed the Radiation Ocean, greater than any seen before, and an Anti-Traction League in the East, determined to tear down the last hope of civilization. The cities of the Great Hunting Grounds, whether they know it or not, face a dangerous chapter in their history, and only wise leadership and sound guidance will see these final bastions of humanity crawl into a new golden age.
OOC
Hello there, and welcome to an unorthodox Nation RP! In this RP, players will take command of a sovereign Traction City and guide it to great and terrible things, among the ruins of knowledge and civilization in a steampunk-esque new world. Nations will face trials and tribulations as new forces enter the ecosystem of Municipal Darwinism, and will always have to be watching for enemies seeking to consume them and strip them down to the chassis.
The world is based, mostly, on the Mortal Engines quartet by Philip Reeve. Reading these books are by no means necessary, or ever recommended, but there is a wiki with information that will be cleaved to during the game. For those not familiar, there is a briefing on the world here:
Cities are mostly based on Pre-War cities, though the history is so garbled that most of the lineage has been forgotten. The great Traction City of London still rolls across the northern Hunting Grounds, but has satraps like Tunbridge Wheels and Wolverinehampton and to aid it in its fight against Panzerstadt-Breslau.
The RP will be somewhat unique, in that the scope is simultaneously smaller (with nations being at most a few million people in a single city), and much larger (since nations can move and interact at will across a wide swathe of territory). War, politics, romance, rivalry and adventure are all being promised, and I think this can be an excellent vehicle for good storytelling. Please, let me know if this sounds at all interesting to you!
-Engraving beneath a statue of ‘Cump’, God of the Traction City of Cleave-Land
A thousand years after the Sixty Minute War, this quote hs proven deficient. The unimaginable exchange of firepower that marked the end of the world as it was not just hell. It created hell. In the aftermath of the titanic struggle between the American Empire and Greater China, the world is a wasteland. The very Earth buckles beneath the scars of the war, and has left only desolation and danger for those humans who still have the gall to carve out lives for themselves. Mountains explode with volcanic fury, the sea-bed, bared of its water, shakes and festers. Great ice-sheets encroach from the north, and the swirling deserts morph like foul organisms far to the south. Humanity, in its infinite capacity for adaptation, has been forced to innovate or die, and so they have created the great cradles which maintain them in the ashes of their homeworld.
TRACTION CITIES
The world is too volatile and fickle for permanent settlement, or so the ancient wisdom says. On the Great Hunting Ground, the land which the ancients called 'Europe', the Traction Cities, from the great metropolises of millions to the scavenger-towns of a few hundred, scurry with the power of ancient engines, sustained by great works of artificial agriculture, engaged in the great sport of Municipal Darwinism.
The weak are eaten by the strong. The great cities area always looking to expand, to scavenge ancient technology and bolster the population of either their citizenry or, in the cases of some cities, their slave stock. Other cities are the most prized catch of them all, and so a great food chain of municipalities war on the Hunting Grounds, each day a struggle to survive knowing there is always someone bigger than you, some threat to take you from your position of power and wealth.
Meanwhile, rumors fly on the Hunting Grounds, borne by airships and traders, of dangers encroaching on the status quo. Massive cities from the West, having crossed the Radiation Ocean, greater than any seen before, and an Anti-Traction League in the East, determined to tear down the last hope of civilization. The cities of the Great Hunting Grounds, whether they know it or not, face a dangerous chapter in their history, and only wise leadership and sound guidance will see these final bastions of humanity crawl into a new golden age.
OOC
Hello there, and welcome to an unorthodox Nation RP! In this RP, players will take command of a sovereign Traction City and guide it to great and terrible things, among the ruins of knowledge and civilization in a steampunk-esque new world. Nations will face trials and tribulations as new forces enter the ecosystem of Municipal Darwinism, and will always have to be watching for enemies seeking to consume them and strip them down to the chassis.
The world is based, mostly, on the Mortal Engines quartet by Philip Reeve. Reading these books are by no means necessary, or ever recommended, but there is a wiki with information that will be cleaved to during the game. For those not familiar, there is a briefing on the world here:
Cities are mostly based on Pre-War cities, though the history is so garbled that most of the lineage has been forgotten. The great Traction City of London still rolls across the northern Hunting Grounds, but has satraps like Tunbridge Wheels and Wolverinehampton and to aid it in its fight against Panzerstadt-Breslau.
The RP will be somewhat unique, in that the scope is simultaneously smaller (with nations being at most a few million people in a single city), and much larger (since nations can move and interact at will across a wide swathe of territory). War, politics, romance, rivalry and adventure are all being promised, and I think this can be an excellent vehicle for good storytelling. Please, let me know if this sounds at all interesting to you!
