OOC is up! [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/161692-a-new-world-fate-of-albion/ooc]Here![/url]


[center][color=Gold][h1]The New World[/h1][/color][/center]

Some things never change. The sky is forever blue, and petty kings and their men have always slaughtered one another on the fields of battle. The land of Albion is inhabited by a plethora of peoples and nations just as diverse as its many climes. It has a long, rich, and often blood-soaked history, but it has always been the center of the world.

What few lands lay across the seas to the east were strange, savage places; mists surrounded the islands, sailors spoke of krakens and great leviathans lurking beneath the waves, and what few backwards nations existed there were forever squabbling. Though their supposed supremacy and grandeur might have blinded them to that ultimate hypocrisy, that eastern land was not so different from Albion. Alas, history was not fated to be mirrored on both sides of that barrier sea.

A century ago the seeds great nation were sown when the Grand Commonwealth rose out of nothingness. It sprouted like a flower in the spring, and for many years the nations of Albion thought it just that: a beautiful thing, perhaps a curiosity. But never a threat; no, those savages and their lands could never compare to the glory of Albion's cities and states. But in the last few decades that small flower has blossomed in the dawn of a new age and grown into something far greater. 

The Grand Commonwealth has come to control their entire continent, or at least all the parts that are known to the people of Albion. Their bows and swords are being replaced with all manner of terrifying instruments like muskets; from the ashes of a backwards and savage land there has sprung forth a revolution that has catapulted the world into an age of steel and cannons, and now it is Albion that finds itself backwards. With their homeland united, the Grand Commonwealth now turns its eyes to Albion. Though the Commonwealth's merchants and scholars bring with them wondrous new technologies and ideas, it is only a mater of time before their eyes glimmer with greed and they coming bringing violence. The Commonwealth achieved its dominance largely through conquest, after all.

There are some that welcome this New World with open arms and want to bring about a technological revolution in their own nations, and then there are some who fear this technology and would stay true to the old ways. Though the world may not be as magical a place as it was in the dawn of days, there are still magics of a power great enough to challenge the Commonwealth's inventions.

Perhaps fittingly, there is a New World in more ways than one; pirates and explorers have discovered another great landmass far to the west of Albion, and already many nations look to chart these unexplored lands and claim their own shares.

Though this New World threatens to destabilize Albion and grind its civilizations into dust or irrelevance, this is also a time of opportunity in which declining states could rise to rule the world. What will happen? Only time can tell.

[hr]

[color=Gold][h1]OOC Information and RP Details[/h1][/color]

[b]Plot information:[/b]

So this is obviously my shot at starting a new nation roleplay. I've participated in several of these over the past few years, and I have to say that I've noticed nation RPs tend to be short-lived. As much as I love the sandbox nature and the sheer scale of worldbuilding that can go on in this category of roleplays, I also think that's the weakness that holds nation RPs back and makes the successful and long-lasting ones an uncommon sight. When you have too much of a sandbox, I think that people just don't foster enough interactions to keep a roleplay alive.

Too remedy those issues, this roleplay will have not one but two major plots! Albion, the continent on which all your nations would be, is beginning to undergo something of a technological revolution. This revolution started overseas on another continent to the east  that is supposedly controlled in its entirety by one nation called the Great Commonwealth. As a militaristic regime and the undisputed superpower of the world, the Commonwealth will be looking to expand its sphere of influence into your lands. Albion, however, stands to colonize and expand its influence into a newly discovered third continent out to the west.

So Albion stands to be colonize and be colonized, but that's assuming that the conflict between magic and technology doesn't tear the continent apart!

So while I don't necessarily have a linear plot planned for this roleplay, there's several big themes going on that should help foster interaction between nations in a variety of ways.

[b]Roleplay mechanics, rules, how this is going to work out:[/b]

The rules will be simple enough:
1. The standard, basic rules of no metagaming, godmodding, etc. still apply. Remember, this is about having some fun writing a story, not trying to "win" the RP.
2. Good grammar please. I've labeled this RP to be Mid/High Casual and will thus expect the effort of at least a few paragraphs per post.
3. On the topic of posts, going inactive for a long time without at least telling us will result in us having to terminate you from the RP and go through the effort of either writing your nation out of the story or having someone else (probably me) control it when needed. That's all a big hassle, so please don't make the commitment of joining this RP unless you're ready to keep it.
4. If you feel it necessary to keep your secrets, plotting against nations and the like can be done in PMs instead of on the OOC. I'll ask that you include me though, just so that I can keep in the loop as GM.
5. Regarding technology level, let's try to keep things near the early Renaissance time period for the nations of Albion, at least for the beginning of the RP. I am willing to allow certain fantasy materials like mithril or adamantine so long as they aren't ridiculously powerful. 

Now for mechanics, I haven't figured out all the details of how I will do everything. As such I'm more than open to having a discussion over any of these things.

As of now, I'm against having a turn system of some sort.

I do think that it's best to take into account [i]some[/i] degree of numbers when talking about the military, population, etc. of nations and such; however, I want to keep this at a mild level. Good story elements trump numbers in my eyes when judging where the plot should go. I'm more than happy to entertain the idea of the underdogs occasionally winning in battles. I also understand that a decent percentage of people loathe bringing numbers or math into an RP, so I don't want to scare them away.

[u]One big and rather important detail[/u] is that I am debating the use of "rolls" for nations. If you're unfamiliar with what that means, basically you'd have to ask me for some rolls before you made your nation sheet. Then, I'd give you some random things like population size, military size, etc. for your nation and you'd build your sheet around that. In this way we'd guarantee some more diversity whilst preventing someone from trying to make a supernation that would stomp everybody else.

No guarantee that I'll do the above rolls, but I'm certainly leaning towards it. I can understand that a lot of people might dislike the idea of having certain aspects of their nation randomized though, so please do weigh in on your opinions about this.

[b]Some credits:[/b]

Credits to Chenzor and several of the other guys in the [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/157987-civilization-new-lands-new-glory-v-2-0/ic]Civilizations RP[/url] Discord chat. They gave me the motivation to try making this RP and they helped me iron out some of the ideas.

Credits also to Sini's [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/77429-an-age-of-empires-low-fantasy-advanced/ooc]An Age of Empires[/url] RP from a few years back. I'm taking a lot of inspiration from that RP (however brief it was) and might copy his rolls mechanic.

[center][h1]Finishing Words[/h1][/center]

So this isn't thorough enough for me to simply cost copy and paste into an OOC to go ahead and get the RP started; there is still the decision to be made about whether to use rolls, I'd have to write out all the specifics regarding that mechanic and all others, and then the story is subject to change and elaboration as well...

So before I invest further time into doing all of those things, I would like to see if there is enough interest to work with. So if that sounds like your cup of tea, please do leave a post to state interest in joining the RP once it launches.

[b][center]Updates:[/center][/b]

We now have a Discord channel: https://discord.gg/6avqV2F

Here's the template for your nation sheets.

[hider=Nation Sheet Template]
Name: (Feel free to make some giant fancy wordart for YOUR GLORIOUS NATION'S EQUALLY GLORIOUS NAME)
Flag/emblem/symbolism: (optional; feel free to give picture or description)
Demonym: (What are your people called? The English? The Bwitish? The Fwench? The 'muricans?)
Description: (A summary of your nation goes here; basics on what's going on and what the country is about. Traditions worthy of note go here, recent history, unique traits,...)

Government: (Your rolls gave you a general guideline, but feel free to elaborate and go into as much detail as you like here)

Economy: (Just describe the major industries, activities and how they are organized. What are notable exports and imports? What is your nation lacking? Your rolls should help you figure this out)

Religion: (if present, more than one?)

Geography:
(Jungle, grassland, mountains, etc. Be sure to identify where on the map you are, preferably by posting a clip of the region you wish to occupy, keeping in mind the relative size of your territory as was given in your rolls. We may have to move you around to make it work.)

Population: (was given in your rolls)

Demographics
(Makeup of your population; info of the different species of your people, further subdivided into ethnic groups if you like, maybe even mention linguistics)

Notable Locations
(Give us some info about your capital, other important cities, maybe where your forts and colonies (if you have any) are located)

Personalities of Note
(Your ruler, perhaps your highest military officers, generally just use this space to help us keep track of your POV characters)

Institutions:
(Major non-military institutions of the nations, such as legislative bodies, guilds, religious sects)

[b]Military:[/b]
[u]Organization:[/u] (professional/militia/levy/..., doctrine, tactics, equipment, though the latter can be put underneath as well, etc.)
[u]Troop Total:[/u] (keep reality and upkeep in mind, e.g. 3% of your population as full-time professional soldiers would be a whole lot. Many seemingly unrelated factors can go into this, including abundance/lack of food and your nation's wealth)
[u]Army:[/u]
[u]Navy:[/u]
[u]Other:[/u] (Such as siege equipment, internal security, important mercenaries, spies, etc.)

[b]Other:[/b]
Special traits, remarks, boons and flaws(Here is your chance to decide something unique and important about your nation without basing it on the rolls I gave you. You may have 1 big strength that makes you special, 2 big strengths and 1 big weakness, or 3 big strengths and 2 big weaknesses. Ask if you're having trouble coming up with something)[/hider]

Feel free to adjust the formatting however you like to make it look pretty; I'm not a stickler about that sort of thing.