[img]https://i.imgur.com/vxZirNW.png[/img]

[center][h1][b]Welcome to Vassals to an empty throne[/b][/h1][/center]

Vassals to an empty throne is a fantasy nation roleplay set on the continent of Mycoria. The continent is ruled by the Arkronians, a race of human like people that came from beyond the sea. For hundreds of years the Arkronians have managed to remain in power and forced the other nations into vassalage. The rule of the Arkronians enforced peace to a continent that used to be engulfed in endless war. Now a mysterious disease is ravaging through the kingdom of Arkron and only affecting the people of Arkronian descent. With the power of Arkron in decline, the faith of Mycoria lies in the hands of its vassals.

Vassals to an empty throne is a roleplay in its most purest form. It is purely a collective storytelling experience. This roleplay is all about its participants telling stories within and expanding the setting of Mycoria. Vassals to an empty throne is not some play by post strategy game that you can win. Such views and mentality should be left at the door. So there are no mechanics, no stats, no dicerolls and numbers on a nationsheet are mostly irrelevant.

[center][h1][b]The history of Mycoria [/b][/h1][/center]

Thousands of years ago the realm of Mycoria was ruled by chaos. Kingdoms and tribes warred each other for small patches of land and the people of Mycoria suffered greatly. Thousands of lives would perish in endless battles. Even in the times of peace, the peoples of Mycoria were not safe as bandits laid waste to village after village. Plundering the riches, raping the women and selling the children into slavery. Mycoria was a place of chaos and bloodshed.

Many believed that the permanent state of chaos was the destiny of the realm, that suffering the hardships was the destiny of the people. However destiny changed with the arrival of the men from beyond the sea. Thousands of ships landed on the western shores of Mycoria, bringing warriors, artisans, women and children. At first the people of Mycoria greeted these strangers with a sense of hostility, trying to drive these invaders back into the sea. However the only thing the people of Mycoria achieved was motivating the men from beyond the sea to put an end to the chaos that had reigned for thousands of years.

The men from  beyond the sea established the kingdom of Arkron on the western peninsula and launched what would become known as the hundred year war of unification. Over a period of 100 years, the men from beyond the sea subjugated kingdom after kingdom, tribe after tribe until no nation of Mycoria remained independent. All nations were forced to become vassals to the Arkonian throne, ending thousand years of chaos and bloodshed. 

Under Akronian rule, the nations of Mycoria found peace and the continent prospored. However not all were happy with being ruled by overlords from beyond the sea. On three occasions various nations rebelled against the men from beyond the sea.  The first rebellion happened 400 years ago and was put down in a matter of months. Not enough nations joined the cause to overthrow the men from beyond the sea. The second rebellion lasted for 100 years and became known as the century of chaos. The century of chaos came to an end with the decisive victory of King Amon-Mar III of Akron over the rebel forces at the battle of Tallingan Forest.

The 3th rebellion is still fresh within the minds of the people of Mycoria. Many elderly who are alive today still have memories of that eventful time as it only happened 50 years ago. Once again various kingdoms rose up against their overlords and in a matter of months the rebels managed to score a string of military victories unprecedented. For the first time since the arrival there was a good chance that the rule of the men from beyond the sea would finally be broken. However the allies struggled to reach an agreement on how to shape the continent after the defeat of the Arkronians. Fearful of sliding back into the times of chaos, the kingdom of Vulpinia secretly defected to the side of the Akronians and lured the rebel forces into an ambush. The betrayal of Vulpinia went down in the history books as the greatest betrayal of all time.

Now 50 years after the betrayal, Mycoria stands once again at the crossroads of destiny. Ravens were sent to all the vassals of Arkron with the news that King Amon-Mar IV had passed away due to a mysterious illness. All vassals were invited to attend the inauguration of his son Rakon-Da as the new king of Arkron, overload of the realm. However rumours start to spread that Rakon-Da has fallen ill as well and is currently in a comatose state. Others whisper that the royal family are not the only ones who are suffering from this mysterious disease. Some reports claim that the men from beyond the sea are dying in the streets by the dozens each day. Needless to say that the realm of Mycoria is about to reach a turning point in their history.

[center][h2][b]Rules[/b][/h2][/center]
[list]
[*]Understand that this is a storytelling experience and that the participants are here to work together writing awesome stories.
[*]Be cool, friendly and communicative to your fellow roleplayers.
[*]Use common sense when creating nations.
[*]Post at least once a week.
[*]Follow the guild rules.
[*]Listen to the GM. 
[/list]

[center][h2][b]Lore[/b][/h2][/center]
[b]Magic[/b]
Magic is an integral part of the world of Mycoria. Many try to practise magic but only a very few master the art. This makes magic rare and powerful yet the scope of it’s application can be rather limited. Magic for instance cannot wipe out entire armies or grant someone the strength to defeat a thousand soldiers. Magic can come from different sources but never from within. No one on Mycoria is born with magic. However magic is granted by sources from beyond the mortal realm. Those sources grant a character some magical powers but at the same time can take it away if they feel displeased by how the practitioner uses his newly found abilities.

[b]Technology[/b]
Technology in Mycoria has not advanced very much. Gunpowder does exist but gunpowder weapons are very rare. Concepts such as national identity are alien to the inhabitants of the continent and people are more likely to identify themselves with their village or clan then with a nation. Although there are great works of engineering on the continent. Machinery is mostly a foreign concept and inventions such as the steam engine beyond the wildest dreams of the sages.

[center][h2][b]Established races[/b][/h2][/center]
Players are encouraged to develop and pick their own races. Standard fantasy races such as humans, elfs, dwarfs, halflings and orcs are all fine. The general guidelines are that the races must resemble humans in their capabilities and how they live. In short, they must live on land, eat food, drink water, breath air walk on two legs and be in a decent size range compared to humans. Avoid races that are warped demons, that fly, live underwater or live in total hellscapes that are inaccessible to others.

[b]Arkronians:[/b] The Arkronians are also known as “the men from beyond the sea”. Arkronians mostly resemble humans to a large degree. However they tend to be of longer build with male ones roughly being in the range of 200 to 220 centimeters. Females tend to be smaller. The Akronian skin is recognizable by its grey color. Not every Arkronian has the same greyscale. This has led to the proverb that there are as many shades of grey as there are Arkronians. Arkronians do not have bodily hair. Their scalps are bald and facial hair in the form of beards, moustaches or eyebrows are absent.

[b]Vulpin:[/b] The Vulpin are a race of anthropomorphic bipedal fox like creatures. They often have thick coats of fur, brushy tails and fox heads. There are many variations in fur color, shape of the head and ears and other features. Often such features are tied to a certain Vulpin clan. The Vulpin tends to be slightly shorter than average humans with mail Vulpins often being around 170 centimeters long. The Vulpin have gained huge notoriety with their betrayal during the 3th rebellion. It has led to the proverb “shifty as a Vulpin”.

[center][h2][b]Application[/b][/h2][/center]

Interested? Great! Just post in this topic that you're interested. I'm not overly picky on who's joinging this roleplay as long as they understand that this is a collaborative story telling experience. I don't really want armchair general mentality of playing to win (which is not possible because this is not a game). That just derails things with pointless discussions. Once 3-4 people have expressed their interest I'll put up the OOC and we can start creating our nations. As you proberbly have noticed two area's of the map have already been claimed. One is for the kingdom of Arkron, the supreme overloards of the realm and the other is for the kingdom of Vulpinia, those treacherous Vulpin who made sure that those damned men from beyond the sea remained in power.


[hider=Nation sheet]
Name:
Flag:
Quick description of your nation:
The side your nation was on during the 3th rebellion: Either with the throne or with the rebels
Population/races:
Culture/society:
Religion:
History:
Government:
Economy:
Military:
Territory:
Factions:
Characters:
[/hider]