Hidden 5 yrs ago 5 yrs ago Post by Antediluvixen
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Antediluvixen Kemonomimi Dystopia Creator

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Takanis - A Dark Fantasy NRP



“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.”

Marcus Aurelius


From the cold Ice Wastes of the polar north, beneath the blistering heat of the Great Inland Desert, and the monster haunted jungles and ice-capped mountains of the far south, the world of Takanis is covered with the bleached bones of dead empires. Some perish through civil war, others through decadence and infighting, and some still through the exploitation of magic, their own hubris and the horrors of the Outer Realms. Some indeed linger still, disunited fragments of once great empires holding on still to their tattered glory, broken but not forgotten…

Thus it has ever been. Thus it ever will.


The wheel of time spins ever onward, and within its hub the spokes of rising empires form, shatter and are replaced by newer and stranger civilisations. Technology and sophistication is clung to with desperate hands, the secrets of ancient nations unearthed, lost, and rediscovered in the cyclical ages of Takanis. Magic is tamed, studied and deprived of its secrets, providing innovation to peerless cultures and its shimmering ores raising monuments of artistry and might, but always with it the eldritch terrors of hubris and pride for those who deem themselves its masters.

The world continues on as it ever has, the rise and fall of empires colouring it in many hues as knowledge of the long dead give voice to its new epochs, enriching a stilted planet with the fragmented lore of great technology and science. Societies regress and advance in tides as endless as the ocean, some achievements more lasting than others, but all too often swept aside by their decline as the years mount.

But now the winds of change blow across land, beneath the twin-mooned skies of Takanis…


The once great Empire of Humanity of the east and the Vehndathayan Empire of the south have been shattered for two millennia, and the dominion of the Serpent Folk of Ashammai has been gone for thrice that. Now their inheritors squabble over their crumbling carcasses, each seeking to restore the glories once lost and avoid breaking themselves upon the cliff-face of their own ambitions. Other races rise from barbarity as the degraded legacies of extinct nations, or the creators of new ones, their drive and will to conquer anew making citizens of savages, and heroes of blood-drenched warlords. Other realms pull back from the brink of decadence, excesses curbed, the source put to sword with fire and blood as their restorers seek to reclaim the glory of their lost golden ages. Others reign in their unsullied prime, unsurpassed by latter ages and wise enough to fight the wheel of time and the decline of civilisations…

The world stirs. A new age beckons. To endure you must carve out your empire through innovation, discovery, warfare, diplomacy and conquest. You must fight to rise above a world antithetical to civilisation, fight to rise above the follies of dead nations, fight to endure where vanity and decadence have destroyed the mightiest empires.

You must fight to survive.


Can you halt the wheel of time, Or will you be crushed beneath it?


Takanis awaits.






In this NRP, you play as a nation of your own creation. This is a setting with heavy historical inspiration, but no direct parallels. The best term for the setting is schizotech - this is a world wherein a mail armored cataphract charge coexists with nitrating crop rotation, the sextant, potatoes and tomatoes available without the need for any great dyings. We have technologies and ideas that would not exist until the 18th century coexisting with the 6th century. The setting is based on the concept of highly developed, intricate societies with a deep, complex web of trade, alliances, and diplomacy, societies that can build monuments to humble the Pyramids of Egypt or dwarf the Roman Colosseum. Vast empires with vast populations, deep history, and so on. That said, this is not a map painting simulator, and if you want to conquer the world, I fully understand, but this is not a Total War or EU4 game and such should not be your driving goal.

Individual nations are player created, with randomly rolled stats serving as a guideline upon which you should build your nation.

This is a world with by now some well established lore, and I encourage you to speak to me and the other players about how your own nation fits into it!

I invite those interested to join our Discord server and get to know the players already in. Slots are somewhat limited, unfortunately, so we do not have indefinite room for new players.

Rules

  • Use common sense.
  • Don't game the rolls.
  • No godmodding, powergaming, etc. You get the point.
  • What the GM and Co-GM says, goes. Please don’t push things this far.
  • No meme nations (why do I have to make this a rule?)
  • Don’t be an arse.


Application



Other Information










Roll descriptions for use in creating your sheet.

And with that, I welcome you to this land - troubled though it may be, and await your own entry into the great games of war and politics that will play out!

Hidden 5 yrs ago 5 yrs ago Post by Loo Tenant
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Hidden 5 yrs ago 5 yrs ago Post by Perihelion
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Perihelion Queen in Clockwork

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Still something of a work in progress, but the essentials are there...


Hidden 5 yrs ago 5 yrs ago Post by EldritchOne
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Evenin' peeps, both Mono and I have made some critiques of the sheets we have so far. So, in order of submission:

@bloonewb

Mono: Right, it looks pretty good! But there are a few issues to resolve:

“Old Empire temporarily subjugates the kingdom of Imasicia. Imasicia rebels. The imperial legio style of warfare is harmonized with the existing method. Imasicia proves itself incredibly capable in combat, and throws off Old Empire rule. New family rises up to declare themselves king.”


Mono: The Vehndathayan Empire (or Old Empire) never stretched that far and there would have been little effort to extend their influence to an area so distant from their home turf. It could be easily rectified by changing this to a client state seeking protection from them?

Eldy: I'm in agreement with Mono here, The Vehndy Empire was pretty much struggling for much of its history to control its historic boundaries after it ate the sub-continent that was later named after it. Expanding so far north territorially would simply not be part of any conceivable plan. Having said that, their involvement doesn't need to be snipped, I could well see a Chinaesque like invasion force being expended to bring an enduring thorn in their side to heel, which then raised up a client dynasty to keep things quiet and then promptly marched home. The rebellion could then topple this client state whilst it struggled to bring Vehndy forces to its aid, thus separating from the Vehndy sphere again and reasserting its political if not territorial independence.

“The horsemen fielded by Imasicia are not heavy, but are no less tough. Even the young nobles are quickly informed of the importance of discipline, as harshly as is necessary. The horsemen are armored in lamellar and armed with both arrows and spathae, and thus serve diverse roles as harassment, flanking, and pursuit.”


Mono: It should be noted lamellar is largely equivalent to chainmail and it hardly a light armor - historically light cavalry would not have been armored with heavy metal protection much, if at all. It is more likely they would have used padded cloth armor - or even none at all. This is not really a major issue, just something I felt like pointing out~

Eldy: Seconded there, I can understand the confusion however given most modern fantasy and medieval settings tend to make that inaccurate definition tho.

Mono: …Though I will say a spada de lato in combination with shock trooper tactics and berserker soldiers is a bit of a strange combination.

Eldy: Personally I think that kind of highly advanced swordcraft is a little out of place for the setting. Might be an idea to go for a more advanced version of something of the more 1st-8th Century range, given the Surabhi at this point aren't even manufacturing zweihanders or claymores at this point, and are instead utilising a more period accurate advanced falx.

Mono: Finally - your traits are fine, but I'm uncertain what effects they confer to your nation. Please make sure to specify in your sheet. Second - where are your tech trees?

Eldy: Agreed, the traits add humorous and cultural flavour but it's a bit hard to tell their exact purpose in national terms. Tree's will also need filled, but beyond what we've listed everything seems in good order.

@Loo Tenant

Mono: Right! What you have so far is looking pretty good! There's just... well, an issue. It's very very obviously Catholicism in all but name - and while there is nothing wrong in the slightest with taking inspiration from real life cultures (I don't know if there ever was an NRP nation that didn't) many characters even have the same, or extremely similar, names to their real life historical counterparts. Even the empire founding sons being raised by a wolf myth is there. I wouldn't dream of asking you to completely scrap it - but I would request you edit the names and a few other details to give it some of your own original thoughts and influences!

Eldy: I am in agreement with Mono, I feel the connections are too obvious and too direct, which makes immersing oneself in your nation difficult as you're constantly aware of where the source material is coming from. I'd recommend developing your nations concept further so it stands by itself as a realised culture rather than leaning to heavily on the source material. Rome and Catholicism are good inspirations, don't get me wrong, but I want more of YOU in this rather a close tread with a historical comparable, let those creative juices flow, this is fantasy after all.

Both: Also - your trees!

@Perihelion

Mono: First of all - excellent overly long royal title. A+ on that. And a beautifully written CS!

There are some issues though:

“3.) Cinnamon Isles - Exotic and engaging, a tourist destination right across the world – to quote a tourist advertisement ‘The dusky and enigmatic Cinnamon Isles, where natives the colour of rich chocolate cavort on the orange sands and wine-dark seas lap the shores under a nacarine sky.’ The Cinnamon Isles are found to the south and west of the Home Duchies. The mainstay of the Cinnamon Isles’ economy these days is tourism, unsurprisingly, given its great natural beauty and the aesthetic sense the Dominion’s rulers have preserved ever since the Isles fell under Imperial rule.”


Mono: While we aren't your typical high fantasy medieval stasis land, we still aren't in the age of large scale foreign tourism, and especially not enough to fund a tourist economy. We still get to places with horses and wooden ships.

Which leads me on...

“The City of Light is well-named indeed. One of the largest and certainly grandest of all cities, it sprawls in a great valley that covers most of the capital island of the Empire, filling it with a blaze of multi-coloured light that can be seen for many, many miles, an earthbound sun challenging the celestial one. Great towers spear the skies in stately array, fantastically-decorated and faced with iridescent filaments that make them glow brilliantly in the dark. The wide boulevards with their trees and fountains and ornate streetlamps are always thronged with the best and brightest of the empire, and high overhead a constant silver stream of airships goes to and from the highest docks while trains shoot back and forth and the river – insofar as is still navigable – is thronged with barges and pleasure craft.”


Mono: Same goes for the above - the huge towers are fine, heaven knows I can't throw stones there - but when you say filaments do you mean some sort of magical light or electrical tungsten filaments? Similarly - we don't have trains or airships at all, as much fun as they are. If this is something you simply copied from a previous sheet and forgot to remove that is fine, but, well - do make sure to remove it.

“here merchantier princes and the lesser nobility keep their winter residences”


Mono: Smaller nitpick - but there isn't really a 'winter' in the tropics to be entirely honest. You'll have small seasonal fluctuations, but winter in the tropics means "Oh, it's only 70F outside instead of 90F!"

“The taverns here are raucous and friendly, a haven for students and sailors alike, a far cry from the refined restaurants of the upmarket areas of town.”


Mono: I suppose this is also something of a nitpick, but we _are_ still somewhat before the time of restaurants, and the closest thing would most likely be the local tavern. The nobility has their slaves household servants do the cooking for them, generally.

“Being the largest trading city of the entire Empire, Xantal’s transport system and marinas are concomitantly enormous; the largest train hub yet constructed has just been completed to allow hundreds of trains to disburse megatons of goods all across the home provinces and to take in the enormous harvests from the bountiful island, while the shipyards work ceaselessly to produce more and more trading ships of both aerial and nautical kinds to keep the Empire together.”


Mono: Ach! Trains and airships again!

“The beating industrial heart of the Home Duchies, Coronne is the centrepiece of Monrutaine island. It is not a tourist destination in the least; Monrutaine in any case is harsh and inhospitable, with sheer cliffs of granite, volcanic mountains and jagged reefs surrounding much of it. The island is split in two by the Charys range, the source of a great deal of raw materials for Coronne’s industrial combine. Mines honeycomb the foothills and cut into the volcanic mountains themselves, bringing forth a wealth of gold, gems and metal, as well as a great deal of fine masonry stone. This mineral tribute is then barged down the river to Coronne city and the vast foundries and forges of the League of Iron then turn this into almost any sort of good imaginable. Ars Technica, the premier engineering institute in all the Empire is located on the outskirts of Coronne, close to the manufactoria for the mass-production of alloys for the Imperial Armada that have played a large part in ruining Monrutaine more or less completely. The island can be seen for leagues by the glow of the furnaces, drifting up from the enormous manufacturing plants that have killed nearly every scrap of vegetation on the island, warring with the red blazes from the mines further inland that have wrecked the rest of it.


The Dukes of Monrutaine still maintain their ancestral residence amid the smokestacks of the industrial giant, a cyclopean fortress of obdurate granite, polluted and blasted by industrial effluents. In practice, though, the family resides in Joyeuse, remaining as far from the belching chimneys as they can. While they care for their duchy and the people in it as much as they can – they spend the most per head of any duchy on public health and other works, they nevertheless don’t choose to live themselves amongst all the pollution.”


Mono: This section highlights a broader problem both of us have and that is the aesthetic and technological element of your sheet. It's more in aesthetically for a steampunk RP than our anachronistic 'late antiquity' feel we've been pushing for.

That said, and this is me personally speaking here - I absolutely adore this sheet and I want to ask you, personally, to hold on to this version. It's beautifully written, evocative, and it's giving me loads of ideas. If I ever run an RP with steampunk RP (and tbh that's very likely, as steam/dieselpunk is a genre I love) I want this sheet there and I want it badly. I implore you to keep this version saved somewhere because, while it doesn't fit the aesthetics of this version of Takanis - later iterations of it (or other settings!) will certainly be the perfect home for it and its airshipyards.

And I thank you for filling out your trees~

Eldy: Mono pretty much covered my main issues with the profile so I'll be a bit more brief. I definitely share her enthusiasm for your profile but as she said, it's more in tune with a 16th-18th Century steampunk world than it is in a Late Antiquity period world. Like her I would definitely suggest keeping the profile for later use, as Mono is definitely eager to do some delicious Napoleonic period Takanis, but right now there is jarring tonal issues with using it in the current setting. Still beautifully written however.~

Also, I believe you may have forgotten to put up your naval tree, as I didn't see it amidst the existing ones, but that's only a small issue.

@The Wyrm

Mono: Last to post (so far) but nobody here is the least!

Your sheet doesn't have much written and I know you're reworking it so we in turn can't write much - but the only issue I can see at the moment is that your population looks a bit high to me. A kingdom that purposefully avoids intensive agriculture and seeks only to produce what they need would have a smaller population in my view - and even if that will no longer apply, with your rolls I would suggest toning the population down a bit. Other than that, I hope the reworking goes well and look forward to whatever you come up with!

Eldy: Mono covered the majority of the issues, but much like her I'm holding off on the critique due to your statement that you're redoing your nation. I have some aspects that I would normally cover in more detail that Mono hasn't, but I'll let them lie for now and wait for your new nation idea to formulate.`
Hidden 5 yrs ago 5 yrs ago Post by Murtox
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Name of Nation: The Empire of Arqantay
Species: Human [105 Million People]
Capital: Ychma




Territorial Claims:












Foreign Relations:

WIP

Rolls: (Rolled by GM in the Discord Server. Just ping me, and I’ll roll as soon as I’m able.)

Land Area: 19 (16+3)
Land Fertility: 18 (16+2)
Development: 20 (16+4)
Land Power: 20 (19+1)(Swapped with economy)
Naval Power: 4 (8-4)
Economy: 14 (9+4)
Magical Reserves: 7 (10-3)
Magical Sophistication: 7(10-3)

Tech Trees:










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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Bright_Ops
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Bright_Ops The Insane Scholar

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Just putting this here, the link to the discord appears to have expired.
Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Antediluvixen
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Antediluvixen Kemonomimi Dystopia Creator

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@Bright_Ops

Ack! Let me fix that for you!

I set it to never expire too o.o

discord.gg/vVHU9gx

Let me know if this works, I'll update the main post as soon as I'm back on a computer.
Hidden 5 yrs ago 5 yrs ago Post by Bright_Ops
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Bright_Ops The Insane Scholar

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Hidden 5 yrs ago 5 yrs ago Post by Drunken Conquistador
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Drunken Conquistador

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Name of Nation: Usharid Sultanate

Species: Humans form the bulk of the population and are the dominant “species”. Besides humanity, The Usharid also counts with a couple of notable Surabhi enclaves in the hinterlands. Which mostly exist to provide the Sultanate with specialist heavy infantry.



History:

Territorial Claims:

Economy:



Navy:



Foreign Relations:




Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Rabidporcupine
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Hey, it's me again. Finally found this again after last time, and I just wanted to ask if there might possibly be a space open for an Oni nation?
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Name of Nation:
Akumori

Species:
Almost entirely Oni, with a number of stronger members of the other, smaller, weaker races.







Territorial Claims:

Economy:

Army:

Navy:

Traits:

Foreign Relations:

Rolls:
Land Area: 14
Land Fertility: 14
Development: 16
Land Power: 20
Naval Power: 1
Economy: 9
Magical Reserves: 14
Magical Sophistication: 13

Other:
Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Ever Faithful
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Hey, you finally did it. You got this to work. I'm happy for you, Mono.
Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Antediluvixen
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@Ever Faithful

Thank you very much! You're welcome to hop back in if you wish!
Hidden 5 yrs ago 5 yrs ago Post by Ever Faithful
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Name of Nation: Steel Legion of Arcana

Species: Human

Culture and Society: In contrast to Arcana’s emphasis on magic, rationalism, philosophy, and art, the cultural within the Steel Legion is one of traditions, reverence, and chivalry. Superstitious? Yes, but rarely overzealous. This because the men that serve in the Legion rank-and-file are all non-magicians and seek employment for their martial skills without mages stealing their glory. Feudal? Yes, but that’s because of the military command structure that bled into their civilian lifestyle. Soldiers are supposed to be disciplined and obedient while commanders are expected to lead by example and take care of his bannermen in either victory or defeat. However, the Legion does practice a system of meritocracy as any peasant can be knighted by the Grand Marshal once he proves to be a capable horse rider and fighter.

The greatest complication of the Legion’s culture is the reverence and subsequent worship of the Steel Legion’s Grand Marshal. In the traditional sense, the deity is a woman despite leadership being a man’s job. When people revere and worship her, the deity will simply acknowledge their prayers but aren’t able to grant it. Despite being seen as a Paragon of Virtue, the deity is a harem-seeker that indulges herself in hedonistic lust during the night whenever she retires.

This sparked theological debates in the Arcanan intellectual circles of the legitimacy of the diety’s holiness in the Pantheon of Gods. Whether she truly is a deity is unknown as there are no concrete records of the origins of the deity. The only evidence of her godhood is her claims that her parents were also gods. Which kind of gods was another debate that Arcana and the Steel Legion often ponder about.

Most widely accepted theory was her father was the God of War/Victory as seen in her unmatched martial prowess in all of Arcanan history and in her accomplishment of fighting an entire orc invasion alone and winning while her mother was the Goddess of the Earth/Agriculture as her spot to build her home and later fortress-city for the Steel Legion was blessed with fertile soil and abundant crop yields.

Whether or not she is truly a Paragon didn’t matter as the people accepted the fact that life is good and stable.

History: The Steel Legion of Arcana is possibly the first time Arcana had a professional standing army which is important as time spent levying troops is no longer a factor in planning campaigns and crusades as soldiers are constantly drilled to be ready at a minute’s notice.

Its origins as crusader order all started out with the arrival of the deity in Takanis during the time of orc invasions. According to history, an army of men from allied tribes were too scared to face off a particularly nasty orc army lead by a notorious orc warlord and his retinue of orc champions. While the orcs were intimidating the humans, the deity emerged from the nearby forest in full armor on top of her mount. She challenged the orc warlord to single combat and slew him. She then challenged the orc champions who were surprised and angry at their commander’s death. They too were defeated and killed by her blade. The rest of the army either fled or tried to kill the deity which failed so they ended up routing.

The tribal human army was simply stunned by the quick turn of events and they looked upon her in awe. They quickly taken up her banner and soon a nomadic crusading order was established. Centuries went by as the Steel Legion roamed across the continent battling orcs and other foes alike. Whether they be crusaders or hired as mercenaries, the Legion gained more experience in warfare. While the deity was developing her lustful appetite, she was also studying the armies of the nations she fought with and against in order to reform the Legion into a more effective fighting force.

Finally, the Steel Legion found patronage under Arcana and settled as a vassal order in the south of the nation building a new home for the soldiers. Since the deity was not concerned with politics, the Legion stayed neutral in Arcanan government affairs.

Territorial Claims: Between Arcana and the Regnum

Economy: Heavily agrarian based though its trade in grain, wine, livestock, clothing, and dyes but there is a strong industrial presence since the Steel Legion is entirely entirely equipped with domestic weapons and armor. Since there’s so much profits made from the trade routes, Arcana doesn’t have to divert taxes to pay for the Steel Legion as it is entirely self-sufficient.

Army: 40,000 enlisted men
20,000 mounted knights
10,000 heavy infantry
2,000 light infantry
8,000 longbowmen, crossbowmen, and artillery crews
Navy: none

Traits:
The Castellum: the largest fortress in Takanis history with 8 layers of walls that are 6 meters thick. This serves as the palace of the Grand Marshal deity, a base for the Steel Legion and home to the families of the soldiers in service. It took 100 months to construct and two decades to pay off the debt.

The Breadbasket of Arcana: the immense fertility of farmlands surrounding Castellum gave the Steel Legion immense political leverage as it supplies constant bread, butter and beef to the Arcanan street markets although the deity barely capitalize of this type of power.

Strength through Steel: The Legion never uses any magic in combat, except the deity, and whatever magic that is used is reserved for the doctors and mages to heal wounded or sick soldiers as they rely on high quality steel and discipline training.

Foreign Relations: had assisted other nations in the past for the purpose of beating back the Orc tide

Rolls: Land Area: 1 (5 - 4)
Land Fertility: 20 (15+5)
Development: 20 (17+3)
Land Power: 20 (19+1)
Naval Power: 1 (5-4)
Economy: 19 (12+7)
Magical Reserves: 10
Magical Sophistication: 10
Other:

Hidden 5 yrs ago 4 yrs ago Post by MrDidact
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Name: The Kingdom of Arcana (WIP)

Species: Aureate highborn ruling class; mundane human plurality; significant elven enclave; populations of dwarves, trolls, ogres, centaurs, satyrs, halflings, gnomes, nymphs, merfolk, and members of multiple elder races



















Other:
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by JrVader
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Is there space for one more? I am really interested in this!
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Antediluvixen
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@JrVader

Yes, of course!
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@JrVader

Yes, of course!


I am now honestly a little tentative. Do not get me wrong, I absolutely love the idea, and would adore to be in this RP, but I do not think that I can match the word count you guys are putting out. I can try my best, though
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Antediluvixen
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@JrVader

Vast majority of those huge posts are collaborations and we take way too long on 'em, so no need to worry. If you can output a few paragraphs, you can do it!
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@Monochromatic Rainbow

Okay! I will make my nation soon!!
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