[h2][color=olive][b][i][center]Conflicts of Eae't[/center][/i][/b][/color][/h2] [color=purple]"You damned fools, you are doomed and you cannot even see the gaping hell before you!" -Imperator Gae'manus, Last Words after the Battle of the Bracken River[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/xM1MlNIl.jpg[/img] [hr] [color=yellowgreen][b]General Information[/b][/color] Conflicts of Eae't (CoE) is a dark fantasy nation roleplay which is set in a northern region of the world of Feaborn called Eae't. This world is based around the later dark age of the region, as rising kingdoms and nations vie for dominance against one another, with betrayal and atrocity around every corner. The world is mostly based around a set of the medieval period, and with it, a mirror of it's politics, societal morality, and cruel brutality both in war and at home. Eae't is a region full of magic, monsters, abominations, and a variety of races, which is for the most part isolated from the rest of Feaborn. The region itself is about the size of Europe, with access to other lands outside being fairly limited at best. [color=purple]Discord[/color] - https://discord.gg/CN5rmN3 <- Preferred means of contact [hider=Registration]I'm not exactly picky, but please, if you are interested there is only some limited things I wish you to follow. Primarily, be sure to read rules, keep yourself open to criticism if need be, and most importantly, "treat your neighbor as you would yourself." Feasibly, I am looking for 7ish roleplayers with a co-admin to keep things running tight, but realistically with how most of these NRPs go, it can be VERY difficult to keep people without them running off to the next NRP without even having said a single word. There is no real time limit on registration, so its a come in at any time sort of deal, and if you need to take a long break, I am not against it. You will be required to make a nation, but you will only be allowed on the map and get into the rp only once you have FULLY completed your sheet and have it approved. I will be the ultimate decided on who comes into the rp, and before making your sheet, I will require you to mostly read up on lore rules, some actual lore, history, and nation sheet requirements. Outside of the RP, watching a couple decent medieval history vids wouldn't hurt.[/hider] [hider=Lore Rules]One of the huge issues I took away from another rp I made was that I had been far too lax on certain rules, creating a lull of the general theme, and these lore rules I wish to lay down for those just coming in. This is a medieval fantasy rp, and I'd heavily prefer it that those coming in to put thought into what they make and their empires, cultures, and army composition. These are mostly unspoken rules, and if you wish to challenge them before joining on in, feel free to contact me with a good counter-argument for it. [list] [*] Blood Crazed - Nations and factions which exist solely for conquest and sacrifice, forgoing trade, diplomacy, and basic living just cannot exist as a landed faction of any size and is generally just an RP I wish to avoid. [*] Aquatic Nations - Nations, races, and factions who live underwater and can still beech themselves on land. This nation only exists to pretty much kill sea based trade, and in virtually invulnerable by the theme's standards without the help of nigh perfect magic. Aquatic nations need to be semi-aquatic, based more so on land, and if not, cannot be highly advanced, highly sentient, or highly magical. [*] Hivemind Nations - Nations or factions which have near perfect coercion, immune to negative aspects rather then just more resilient to it. Nations that have fearless troops who do not falter in morale, can recover with perfect morale coercion in undoing a economic crises, or are completely incorruptible. [*] Large Pure Nations - Nations which only have one known culture and way of life in spite of its huge size, while bordering various other nations. Cultures can in fact have groupings. [*] Hellscapes - Nations living in literal hellscapes which provide perfect excuses for attrition for advancing armies, but to defenders is a source of great wealth and perfect protection. [*] Weird Races - Races should be in this world be noticeable humanoid or beastfolk, not being so astonishingly weird and warped that their very existence treads the fabric between sci-fi and high fantasy. [*] Infesting Races - Races which 'appear' seemingly anywhere and everywhere without much warning or explanation, be sure if you have a general racial group in a certain area which effects NPC nations or other players, be SURE to contact me or those players to settle things. [*] Apocalyptic Empires - Empires designed not be empires, but as tools to cause unnecessary destruction, conquer, or genocide others just for the sake of some vague notions, especially ones under very generic xenophobic or religious reasons without a lot of thought put into it. [*] Wall Empires - Empires which are 'mountains' on the map, primarily being lands which no one is allowed to interact with, go through, or war with. These are isolationist empires which never want to benefit from trade through their lands, block land and sea access for other player nations, and remain unaffected by their brutal isolation. [/list] [/hider] [hr] [color=olive][h2][center]Lore[/center][/h2][/color] [i]Little is known of the world before, and perhaps for good reason it should have remained that way. What is known is that of the lands, Eae't was a paradise which wasn't a blasted desert or a icy grave and came to bore many strange races. The elves appeared in the land as the first kingdoms had first began to form, splitting into various groups and settling many cities for themselves. The greatest of these cities was the elven city of Muhakim, built on the coast of Weskas, which flourished from trade and conquering it's neighbors. The elves of Muhakim were advanced, becoming a center of the bronze trade and the foundations of a great theocracy which sought to spread a now forgotten faith. Muhakim evolved into a great power after the conquest of it's neighbors and reformation of it's armies, spreading rapidly and putting more and more peoples under it's yoke. Yet, as the elves grew drunk in their great victories, in their pride they delved deeply into magic. The last Archon, Xanik Lous'el, had erected great magical towers to help him delve into the mysteries of the land, and what he saw drove him to madness. In this time, the first of the dead, the first of the abomination, and the first of the monster came to walk the world and come from fog and forest. The young Archon started a great civil war, putting the theocracy to death and built a great militaristic empire in it's place. This empire, known as Muha, conquered vast regions, and committed atrocity after atrocity to complete a goal of the empire's increasing building projects, and over time became drunk on it's own decadence and shallow fear. Eventually, revolts began to wane the empire's defenses and various surrounding nomadic tribes began to push the empire's borders further into ruin. A revolt against the infamous tyrant Gae'manus led to a brutal and unending war against the empire and it's client states, culminating in the Battle of the Bracken River. The battle wiped out a large enough chunk of Muha's armies, leading to invasions and sackings which tore the empire apart and their land divided by barbarous new inhabitants. Not much if anything remains of the empire, and only it's descendants survive in enclaves or in other nations, but for the empire's atrocities, none would claim to be their successor. Now the clock of the world turns to 988 of the 2nd Age, nearly a thousand years after the destruction of Muha. The client kingdoms have all since changed, but their descendants now yet remain. The conflicts of this time come to a head, as the world teeters to give way to new empires and new kingdoms, and others to fall into the abyss. Monsters and other abominations walk the world, as the cities of Eae't burn and smolder in the fires of war. [/i] [color=yellowgreen][b]Magic and Divinity[/b][/color] [hider=Magic and Divinity] [center][color=olive]Divinity and Magic[/color][/center] Gods 'kind of' exist in the world, although its better that they are thought of primeval and non-sentient. Gods take on monstrous and barely feasible forms, and most are highly animistic in thought and ideal. To most, they would seem to be a mysterious force in the universe which can create and destroy at a whim, and they are certainly not much of a race of being but rather physical aspects of various powers which mortals believe represent their own personal spiritual identities. These gods are creators, but their involved in the world was extremely limited, and rather act as harbingers of their domains rather then their builders. Gods are not truly evil or good in this sense, but are more like wild beasts which view mortals as microbes and can neither hear, answer, or care for their followers. Gods do not have personalities, and despite getting souls from spiritual pacts made by religion, they view this more as food for their kind to gain strength from without really knowing where it comes from. Gods live in their own little worlds and domains, living on planetary stars which defy laws of conventional reality and shift in and out of existence. Angelic and demonic beings also exist, but are again, misrepresented by their believers due to little understanding for them. Angels are powerful spiritual beings which are essentially symbiotic parasites which infest living beings which grant them the magic of a god's domain, in both a negative and positive way. Those born of these great magicians made by angelic infestation become Magi, who are born with power. Magi are not as powerful as an infested being in terms of magic, but can learn all forms of magic, which is passed down usually through writing by the infested. Angelic beings die with their host, and 'devour' the host soul along with it, essentially 'adding them' to themselves. However, this process is very difficult for angelic beings and there are not many suitable candidates, and thus the process is extremely rare. Demonic beings are actual parasites which are more likely exist in the world, but are often at extreme odds with it. Demons are aberrations, beings angelic beings who are mutated so beyond belief that they cannot provide anything to their host. Demons have an easier time entering the world, being weaker and more legalistic then their angelic counter parts. However, demons often devours their hosts, and the more they devour, the more physical they become and the more sentient. Demons however also are often at odds with virtually all monsters and horrible creatures which roam the world, and are in a constant war for their own survival. Most demonic beings do not last long in the world, and must constantly feed off the spirit. Most victims become catatonic and lifeless physically, and their conscious soul suffers what is essentially a second death when devoured and absorbed into a demonic being. The soul is a real and living thing in the world and is crucial for survival. The soul is a conscious part of the body, and all living things have one, including mundane living things like ants, trees, and mayflies. Souls do not stay in the world unless by special means, and otherwise often move onto the realm of chosen gods, or simply the closest god from the world. Gods attract souls like magnets, absorbing them into themselves. The souls of others split whenever it is born, and is often a juicy attraction for spiritual beings like angels and demons. While the soul is a conscious immortal, that is also the most horrifying of issues. Most souls end up as spiritual slaves to the gods, or end up devoured and their conscious melded eternally into in uncaring mass of some higher being. The worst fate for a soul is being devoured by a demon, or captured by one, which devour souls in order to sustain themselves and thus 'truly killing' another. Demons also like to 'salt' souls through back breaking torture, which can sometimes last in real world time, tens of billions of years. Magic is relatively rare, and it comes from four known sources; Being infested by an angel, being in an infested's lineage, being granted magic by a god, or gaining magic by transfer. Being infested in the simplest way to earn magic and is the boon for all magic in existence, but its also exceedingly rare. Infested can live longer then other, are stronger, and can perform magic at the highest rate without fatigue. Being in an Infested's lineage is another issue entirely. Only limited magi are produced from a lineage at any given time, and they are in the hierarchy of power the second most powerful of mages. Magi can learn any and all kinds of spellwork provided they can understand it and practice it without accidentally killing themselves with it. While the infested can exemplify one specific domain of magic with the most extreme of power, it is their offspring that can learn all forms of news spells and charms which gives them higher variety. Magic via gift or transfer is much more difficult and it's rewards are few. Gods are very uncaring and barely sentient, and thus their most devote followers tend to ask for power is vague. Gods who grant power to their followers will do so for odd reasons, usually such as a reward for bringing them a large amount of followers or making an offering which they particularly enjoy to draw their attention, and to the gods this gift is often little more then their divine presence entering the world and drawn to the closest being they can find. These gifts can vary, such as surviving soldiers of a brutal battle suddenly getting magical power from a blood lusting god, or a water god appearing to survivors of floods, mistaking natural events as offerings. Magical gifts are not exactly powerful, and are only bound by singular domains. Magic via transfer is when any magical being decides, usually unwisely, to transfer their power onto another, reducing the quality of their magic and gifting it onto another who could only do a fraction of the magic of their granter. Enchantment is a tricky issue, primarily because it is difficult for mages, as it requires them to be fully educated in the craft they make, and even then there are limits to this. Mages transfer part of their magic into materials, draining them of their power, but also create highly specific objects which can be of boon for others. However, enchantment can also cause huge gashing wounds from the molding of the transfer into artifacts, and more powerful artifacts often require more mages to do so. Most powerful enchanted items were often done in force and by the work of many mages who had to sacrifice much of their power and livelihood for it, and its a primary reason as to why enchanted gear is never commonplace in the armies of the world. Enchantment can vary, and can be unlimited in power, but are never invulnerable. Enchanted swords still can rot and break if not made correctly, regardless of the powerful enchantments put upon it. Necromancery and undeath are part and parcel for those in Eae't, and is just a common form of magic like any other. Undead and other automatons are a lot like automated puppets, but there are others which can gain a soul and thus sentience. This process is very rare and limited, but it does happen enough for others to take immediate notice. However, these talking creatures are not trusted, and for the reason is for how they gain a soul, which is usually devouring and re purposing the soul to it's own creation. Essentially, these souls are tortured within their hollow forms till it is reformed into a new being of sorts, and this is done usually at the request of mages or by more advanced creatures which can exhibit this. Specters and other ghosts are fairly different, being more or less souls which had become trapped via powerful emotion or magic to the world, and 'spiritually decay' in the realm till they are devoured by the world itself. Their survival is based either on their own raw emotion or by a physical artifact which grants them continued existence. Magic can vary, but there are only few known limits as the whole art is rarely recorded well and filled with religious propagandize, but what is generally known to all of Eae't is that time manipulation and resurrection is extremely limited, and so is all of magic itself. One can easily conjure elements easily enough, but complicated spells requires a masterwork of training which has since been lost. Time manipulation for instance is nigh impossible, and resurrection is extremely difficult and must be done swiftly before a body rots. These limitations extend to more powerful spells and abilities, and often requires multiple mages and enchanted foci to perform such tasks. While a singular mage is powerful, these powers do not always extend very well to larger bodies of work and can in fact be very frustrating to cope with. Magi don't have an internal fatigue with their spell craft, but they do suffer from an overexertion called Mage Rot which causes their weaker mortal body to collapse into itself whenever they over use their magic or try to perform more powerful spells without proper training, equipment, or aid. Mage Rot is a lot like frostbite and is treatable and often starts at vulnerable fingers and toes, but higher overexertion causes the rot to travel through veins in a sickly blue and black glow which afflicts the whole body. Mages have been known to lose fingers, toes, eyes, and noses because of this disease, but more horrifying effects can range from the entire body exploding into a gory mess, or the entire body becoming catatonic. [/hider] [color=yellowgreen][b]Codex[/b][/color] [hider=Codex] [center][color=olive]The World[/color][/center] The current year is 988 of the second age, and the world has fully recovered from the Imperium of Muha. The time before Muha is relatively unknown, and much of the world's history covered in legend. Almost 1000 years have passed since Muha's destruction and much has changed, territory and nations have changed greatly. Eae't is home to many races, but is primarily a realm of men and their nations. Most of the people of these lands have suspicions of one another, and a sense of superstition and unease grips much of the land itself. What is perhaps worse is that many parts of the land is ruled not by civilized nations, but by roving bands of monstrous horrors which roam across the known world since Muha's birth. Life is relatively short in Eae't, with conflicts abound between nations and nature. Technology in Eae't had not advanced very much, in the middle ages of sorts. Gunpowder weapons exist, but are very rare and haven't advanced well at all. Concepts such as national pride and and machines are foreign. Local men are more prideful from the city they come from then with the nation which rules over them. While the common villager and spoiled nobleman may look up to old tales of honor and chivalry as facts of their lives, the dark reality of destructive war is more then ever present, with difficult choice abound. [hider=Game Mechanics] Posting is based around what happens in the nation and characters within, but emphasis on what is happening in and around the nation and it's politics. At the end of every two weeks (hopefully), the time of the world advances by one season, but you do not have to post by a certain time (however, after the end of several months without a post or contact, I will assume to worst) If by chance I do have to assume to worst, or you decide to leave the RP at any time after you have placed down the nation, it will remain up until you either return to it, but otherwise I will have it placed as an advanced NPC nation. Me and a co-host of my choice will primarily play as NPC nations and any events happening to them will be at their discretion, unless they are NPCs of your own design. The goal will be that I will fill up the map with more permanent NPC nations at the end of a period and that there is a main story line in the general area, but It will be up to you. There is no real goal other then to build up a great story in this rp, and if that goal is world conquest, then go for it provided you can be reasonable with it and the consequences that follow. I do expect that when you build a nation, you spend time on it and what will happen within the next 10 years or so in game time, with room for other players and factions. I am willing to grant limited concessions, with provided explanation for factions, individual characters, mercenaries, religion nations, trade companies, nomadics, and rebel nations. However, in that case, I do expect a more written answer for story and a really good nation sheet of specifics to their plans and lore. I know it sounds I like have a thousand and ten rules, but please, do not fret about such things. Also do forgive my own mapping stuff and any insistent questions I have. [/hider] [hider=Terrain Map][img]https://i.imgur.com/JghJwdk.png[/img][/hider] [hider=Political Map][img]https://i.imgur.com/gRHJOnZ.png[/img][/hider] [/hider] [color=yellowgreen][b]Nation Sheet[/b][/color] [hider=Nation Sheet] [color=purple][center]Nation Template[/center][/color] [color=red]Warning: You don't need to be exactly perfect, but I do need this part polished and ready to go. It is likely you will be editing it as you go as your nation expands. This part will take time, believe me, and will require some basic research and a little bit of Microsoft paint trickery. If any part confuses you on this, be sure to contact me.[/color] Name of Nation Thematic picture, flag, or thematic music or all three. =-=General Information=-= [list] [*] Basically your summary [*] Races, religion, government type [*] Be thorough but vague [*] Currency, language, the basic type of nation it is [*] A reasonable population size [*] An even more reasonable total army size, 2-5% of the total population basically. [*] Status of wealth and espionage, I suppose. [*] Like I said, really basic stuff before looking fully into the nation's lore. [/list] Races [hider]A general overview of the races and ethnicity which exist in your nation, providing a basic overview of the land's inhabitants. Remember, larger nations cannot avoid having only just one ethnicity in it, especially if they come from large conquering empires.[/hider] History [hider]History spanning the last 600-900 years from important events and giving context where the nation is now, giving an overview of rivals, events, and important lessons which make the nation what it is now.[/hider] Culture [hider]Explanation of the nation's culture. Essentially, for my own nations, I tend to have this long list which explains many parts of the general culture; Appearance, Craftsmanship, Traditions, Family, Law, Rights, Entertainment, Views on Slavery, Physiology, Cuisine, Education, and Pets. You don't need a list that extensive, but I do expect effort to be put into what these folks are like, and I do enjoy if you could take it from real world medieval cultures[/hider] Military [hider]Overview of the military, it's style of recruitment, organization, and favored tactics. This is where anything you have for your military and what they will field in their campaign can be read up upon.[/hider] Government [hider]How the government works and who is in charge of what, basically an explanation of how the nation runs itself and who is in charge of what province or who is responsible of what task. No government needs to be perfect, and it can be as cruel or incompetent as it needs to be for your story.[/hider] Religion [hider]Views on religion and what is worshiped in the land, who runs the temples, what are the people's general beliefs and superstitions, and how important they are in the affairs of others. Information regarding festivals and magic may as well go here, but I am not against it being put in a different tab.[/hider] Economy [hider]What resources your nation has, what kind of economy it uses, what is the lifeblood of the country itself? What are the trade and tax policies of the nation, who handles taxes, and what resources are best (or worst) exploited? Information on imports and exports will also go here.[/hider] Territory [hider]A local map will go here, with provided information on cities, terrain features, and information on local states will go here. The bare bones minimum for this section will require general information on local territory.[/hider] Terrain [hider]Lay of your nation's land and internal states, along with information on any beasts and horrors which prowl it. I've mentioned monsters and horror before, but this isn't exactly fully necessary. The more important information is on important landmarks and their relevance for the nation.[/hider] Factions [hider]Information on internal factions such as rebel groups, internal political groups, mercenary companies, secret orders, public orders, religious orders, and other relevant factions and guilds.[/hider] Characters [hider]This is a page where you place personal information on known rulers and characters likely planned to end up in the RP. Characters don't have to be fully associated with the nation, but do have some association. Any character can be placed here. Just no god modding or weird shit.[/hider] [/hider]