[h1][color=#7FFFD4][center]Of Serenity & Dread[/center][/color][/h1]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/1IUKpAY.jpeg[/img][/center]
[center][sub][i]“Men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony”[/i] - Niccolò Machiavelli[/sub][/center]

[center][b][color=#4f42b5]It is the dawn of the Genian Age,[/color][/b] and the minds of men bend now from petty superstition towards things of beauty, wonder, and knowledge. To enlightened thought and poetic edict. Men of science and art tramp about Evorin, spouting wisdom like water from an ancient aqueduct, and new technologies bring the Farwest beyond the flat disc of its quarried past.

And yet, war still rumbles below our feet, angry and bellowing, as empires from beyond our realm clamp down on us like hungry dogs. But times of chaos bring great opportunity. The old houses erode from relevance, while new ones bubble up from below the surface, sprouting like seedlings from sunlight cast beyond the old world's breaking shadow.

Still more find opportunity in perennial war as retinues and militias exhaust quickly. Perhaps your make is that of a mercenary...planting your blood-stained flag on marble ruins built by blood more noble than your own...but who's steel carried far less heft.

Now is a time of spellcraft and webweaving. Now is a time of science and gunshot. Now is a time of serenity and dread! [/center]
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[h1][color=#7FFFD4][center]Introduction[/center][/color][/h1]
Welcome everybody! I'm Ekreture, and this is Of Serenity & Dread, an advanced NRP set in a high-fantasy world based on 16th century Italy, replete with gunpowder weapons, fantasy races, magic, and Renaissance art. This RP is focused specifically on early modern statecraft and warfare, with two vast empires both pressing in to stake their claims.

We live in the land of Evorin, on the flat disc known as the Farwest, as pictured below:
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/HBKx2p4.jpeg[/img][/center]
[center][sub]Evorin[/sub][/center]

Click the hider below for expanded lore, the creation of which is ongoing:
[hider=lore]
The Farwest is a flat disc built on the balancing of the four elements. At the boundaries of each cardinal direction lies a pure elemental realm: to the East, infinite, horizon-spanning earth. To the south, unyielding fire. To the north, cold, unrelenting wind. And to the west, boundless ocean. Each direction does, however, have a people who can cross it naturally: The east had their centaurs, the south had their Djinn, the north their Giants, and the west their merfolk.

In its perfect form, the Farwest can only exist with the elements balanced. When these elements become inbalanced, calamity strikes, in the form of natural disasters and the harm caused by the four Primarchs; immortal monsters each ruling a realm of hardship. These are:
1. Gore - Minotaur
2. Plague - Hydra
3. Deprivation - Cerberus (each head: Famine, Drought, and Poverty)
4. Madness - Typhon

To combat the natural disasters, the Ancient Ones (or Tidu Empire) created the Tower Of Heaven, a massive ziggurat that can control the elements, ushering in the age of the First Tower. But they were tyrants and despots. They would fall and be replaced by the Malkodian Empire in the age of the Second Tower, who were benevolent, but still unable to face the Primarchs.

The Hero Terastrius, of the continent Megalia (in which Evorin resides), would rise to the occasion, imprisoning the Primarchs and taking the Tower of Heaven for himself, ushering in the age of the Third Tower under the Terastrian Empire. Evorin, though not the place of Terastrius's origin, soon became the wealthiest province in the Terastrian Empire, from its provincial capital of Colonia. The Primarch Madness would be imprisoned within Evorin, in Mt. Cosmo.

The Primarchs would return eight centuries ago, causing the collapse of Terastria and plunging the Farwest into chaos. From it rose Lakhmia, ruled by the Abulakam, or "Father of Bread/sustenance". Since then, various dynasties have ruled Lakhmia in the Fourth Tower, with the primarchs re-imprisoned. But now, a new empire rises, seeking to supplant Lakhmia.

We have now entered the Genian Age, with the sudden rise of technologies and magic potentials. This began with the discovery of the Occidental Camera, allowing ships to sink down to miniscule sizes and sail beyond the Infinite Ocean to the lands known either as the Further West or the Diminutive. Another tech, known as a Zephyriad, allows travel to the Farsouth, also known as the Sunswept, using a massive gust of wind in the sails of landships. These two techs are used by this new empire to colonize and extract wealth from far beyond their borders. As they expand towards Lachmia in search of the Tower, they will have to first conquer Evorin. Knowing this, Galia, a great empire to the north who has aligned itself with Lachmia against the new empire, has also begun its sojourn into Evorin.
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[h1][color=#7FFFD4][center]Technology[/center][/color][/h1]
Our world is based on the early 16th century. This means arquebuses and early field cannons, as well as caravels and galleons. Much naval warfare was still fought on galleys at this time, as well. While the Italian Wars we're basing our world off of involved the introduction of mass pike and shot formations, where we're at, those are yet to be introduced. That means that, while gunpowder units are not only allowed but encouraged, they can't make up the vast bulk of your army.

Being a high fantasy RP, magic is of course a part of everyday affairs. I can't think of any magical ability or tech that isn't explicitly banned, but if it feels fishy, just ask, and the gms reserve the right to interfere if some magic feels OP. Examples might be a plague that instantly destroys an enemy's army or the like.
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[h1][color=#7FFFD4][center]Rules[/center][/color][/h1]
1) No godmodding, metagaming, or controlling another player's characters/faction.
2) No bullying, rudeness, or insulting
3) If conflicts cannot be decided, the GM will intervene. This means both interpersonally and in-game.
4) No hate speech, cultural insensitivity, or racism.
5) Sex is fine, but don't write porn. Any depiction of sex between an adult and a minor will result in an immediate ban and a report to site admins. Please use absolute sensitivity and discretion when depicting or discussing nonconsensual sexual activity. GMs reserve the right to ask you to remove a post for sexual inappropriateness.
6) There are no mandatory post times, but we'll move to the next turn (turns defined below) once a week. You lose your actions if we move to to the next turn and you have actions remaining. If you're flooding the discord without posting anything, you may be muted.
7) Submit a nation sheet to apply. I will privately message you the Discord link once you join.
8) If you're inactive for a whole month without discussing it with the GMs first, we'll find an in-character reason why your lands have been conquered and absorbed into another state, if you're a tier 1 faction, as discussed below. If this happens, you can always come back with yoru same faction moved to tier 2.
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[h1][color=#7FFFD4][center]How to Play[/center][/color][/h1]
Okay, so, having played NRPs for a while, I think adding some concrete game mechanics can help things out.

There are three tiers of factions in Evorin.

[b] TIER ONE - REGIONAL POWER: [/b] These are city-states and feudal petty kings, claiming expanses of land as well as the estates of the lords who rule them.
[b] TIER TWO - MAJOR FACTION: [/b] Noble houses without controlling stakes in States, landed mercenary companies, and large pirate republics. While they don't control vast lands, they have their own estates and armies.
[b] TIER THREE - LANDLESS ADVENTURERS: [/b] Small mercenary companies, corsair ships, and the like. A single army reliant on being fed and houses by another faction. Great for new players.

We'll keep adding tier one players until the map is full, but this won't be long. I do highly encourage anyone who'd like to take a tier 2 or 3 faction if they're so inclined.

Each faction controls three main methods of expanding and increasing their power: Estates, Agents, and Forces. There are two resources tied to the former two: wealth and prestige. Each turn (as discussed below) grants a single usable action from each level of your estates and agents to either gain you one of the two resources or upgrade or recruit another agent or estate, or perhaps perform a hostile action against the agents or estates of another. Prestige and Wealth can also be traded to other factions as payment. Additionally, agent and estate agents may interact with the third method of expanding power: Forces.

[b]Estates[/b] are business and pieces of land owned by factions and the houses who control them. Estates cost [b]Wealth[/b] to buy and upgrade. Every estate can spend an action working on upgrading itself for the equivalent of a single wealth. Unlike agents, estates need usable land to exist on, meaing that you can't just buy a new stronghold for example out of the blue...you'd need to either acquire the empty land it exists on first or retrieve it from another faction. Estates can be level up to 5. There are three categories of Estate.
[hider=Strongholds]
[b]Strongholds[/b] are large complexes your faction centers their power in. They cost 4 wealth to buy or upgrade. Strongholds are unique in that they automatically have a Settlement (as discussed below) slot attached to them, meaning that if you own a Stronghold, want to acquire a new Settlement for 3 Wealth, and there isn't already a Settlement attached to your stronghold, you always can build one next to your stronghold. Strongholds also each have a unique feature that can be described in your nation sheet (for instance, an Orchard that never runs out of fruit). There are four forms of Stronghold:
	-[u]Fortress:[/u] Fortresses are symbols of military prowess and [b]always[/b] require a siege before taking.
			 They are large, imposing structures that can house armies, but are worse for hosting guests and showcasing
			 wealth than other Strongholds. Fortresses may also be used to keep your armies well trained.
	-[u]Villa:[/u] A decent balance between a Palace and a Fortress. Provincial like a Fortress, Villas can also house armies. Unlike
		      Fortresses, they do not require sieges before taking them. Like a Palace, they can be used to host events, gaining
		       wealth and prestige, but suffer the consequences of being out in the country.
	-[u]Palace:[/u] Beautiful, austere, and urban. Palaces are found in the centers of cities, and are wonderful when used to expand
		 	your faction's wealth and prestige. They can be taken quite easily, however.
	-[u]Port:[/u] Used for sending and recieving fleets. If your faction has no port, you have no navy, and your Navy ranking is 
		     automatically an 'F'.
[/hider]
[hider=Settlement]
[b]Settlements[/b] are small towns and villages owned by your faction which provide you with manpower and raw material. Every settlement you own automatically grants +1 Wealth every turn as well as a minimal amount of whatever resource they provide. It's harder to categorize different forms of settlement, but almost every settlement is tied to a single resource; hinterlands producing grain, quarries producing marble, mines producing iron, vineyards producing grapes, etc etc. Note that settlements can only provide [b]raw[/b] material; manufacturing requires a workshop. Notable exceptions are hinterlands, which automatically mill their grain into flour, and lumber camps, which automatically plank and plane their logs. All materials produced require a market in order to produce wealth with them, whether that be a foreign trade route or a shop. Settlements require 3 wealth to buy or upgrade.
[/hider]
[hider=Business]
[b]Businesses[/b] are single-building estates in larger cities and settlements meant to produce manufactured goods, wealth, and prestige. They cost 2 wealth to buy or upgrade. Business can also multiclass, mixing various forms of business as multiple levels. There are three types of business:
-[u]Workshop:[/u] Workshops are production hubs, producing manufactured goods. Some goods produce prestige (a painting workshop, for example), while others produce wealth. All goods produced in a workshop require a market or venue in order to accumulate their associated resource. For example, a painting workshop would require a venue to showcase their paintings, such as a Palace, while a jewelry workshop would require a jewelry store, which can exist as a single level in the workshop. You don't need to own the source of raw materials in order for a workshop to function, but there is vertical integration if you do. Namely, you gain +1 Wealth/Prestige per turn automatically for every level of production you own as long as there's a market. For instance, if you own a Gold Mine and the jewelry workshop mentioned earlier and sell jewelry to a foreign power, you automatically gain +1 wealth per turn. If you also own a jewelry store, it'd be +2 Wealth per turn.
-[u]Shop:[/u] Produces wealth by selling goods. Some goods, such as weapons, require the acquisition of another good, while some, such as if you own an Inn or a Brothel, do not. Either way, as mentioned above, you don't need to own the means of production, but you gain a bonus if you do. [b]Trading Posts[/b] are a special form of shop that can actually be used to suck wealth from a rival's economy buy hacking off 25% of all wealth produced by them in a given settlement.
-[u]Institution:[/u] Produces prestige and allows for the increase of your magical and technological potential. Academies, libraries, museums, etc. Can be used as a wrung on an automatic prestige supply chain, including in tandem with a shop, if you own an Herbalist or Book Merchant for instance.
[/hider]

[b]Agents[/b] are notable people loyal to your cause who are able to rapidly influence your standing in Evorin. Each agent may be acquired or leveled up for 2 Prestige. A single character may possess as many levels in as many agent classes as you'd like for a maximum total of 10 levels in a single character, although please place no more than three levels in a single character when first designing your sheets. I've listed possible agent actions for each class, but this is by no means definitive. There are seven classes of agents:
[hider=General]
Generals lead armies. Every army is required to have a general leading them in order to muster out and go on an expedition, and likewise every navy an admiral. As an action, Generals may train troops, lead assaults, lead defenses, upgrade Fortresses for the equivalent of a single wealth, or move forward a siege. They may also as an action train Champions for free.
[/hider]
[hider=Champion]
Champions perform feats of valor. They may duel other champions, support an army, train troops, collect bounties/perform mercenary work, and perform guerilla maneuvers. When defeating another Champion in a duel, they gain all prestige tied up in that character for their faction.
[/hider]
[hider=Infiltrator]
Spies, assassins, guerillas and the like. They may sabotage, assassinate, and steal wealth.
[/hider]
[hider=Polymath]
Engineers, artists, inventors, and scientists. They can rapidly increase your prestige, upgrade and build Strongholds for the equivalent of 2 Wealth, and build/upgrade Workshops and Institutions for free.
[/hider]
[hider=Statesman]
Politicians and diplomats. They can swing diplomatic dealings in your favor, upgrade and build settlements for the equivalent of 2 Wealth, quell rebellions/crime outburts, and do other cool political shit. They can also train Infiltrators for free.
[/hider]
[hider=Merchant]
Businessmen and traders. They can rapidly increase your Wealth, go on expiditions to the Sunswept and Diminutive, swing trade deals in your favor, and build/upgrade shops and workshops for free.
[/hider]
[hider=Archmage]
Powerful mages, wizards, witches, and sorcerors. They can cast large and powerful spells to a variety of effects...think of them sort of as jack of all trades. They can basically do anything that other agents can do, but are slightly worse at it.
[/hider]

[b]Forces[/b] are the armies, navies, and militias at your faction's disposal. Forces simply represent the way in which you divided up your military. They have two resources tied to them: Size and Preparation.

Size is how big a force is. Tier 1 factions start with 10 size points. Tier 2 factions start with 6 size points. Tier 3 factions start with 4 size points. Again, forces only represent how you divide up your military, so, for example, say you start with a Tier 1 faction. You have 10 size points to divide. You might place 2 to garrison a stronghold, 4 into your navy, and 4 into your army. You also might want two armies, or two fleets. The way you divide them is up to you. All fleets and garrisons require a separate force from your army. Settlements and strongholds don't require garrisons in order to function but can be freely occupied by enemies without them.

The following agent and estate types can recruit size points:
-General
-Champion
-Statesman
-Merchant, Polymath, and Archmage on a case by case basis (mercenaries, automatons, summoned beasts, etc)
-Settlement
-Fortress
-Specific Businesses (ie, recruitment offices, magic schools, etc)

Preparations are modifiers you tack onto a Force in battle. There are three types of preparations:

1. Battle Preparations - Unlimited use, expires after 10 turns. Examples: training, weapons, morale boosts, etc.
2. Siege Preparations -
Total siege Preparations in a single force depletes by 1 at the end of every turn. Size points reduce by 20% once siege preparations reach 0. Siege preparations represent food and medicine.
3. Instant Preparations - Single use. When used, has the equivalent of 2 battle preparations for a single battle. Examples: Summoning spell, landmines, etc.

When an agent or estate produces a preparation for a force, a single action may prepare forces of a size equivalent of 5, meaning if you have two forces, one size two and the other size three, and you have your blacksmith prepare new pikes for them, it may cover both forces. If you have a force larger than five, multiple preparations will be necessary to stock the army. You may keep track of your progress in preparing them across multiple turns, if needed.

The following agent types grant an automatic battle preparation for every level if embedded in a Force:

-General (x2)
-Champion
-Infiltrator
-Archmage 

Tier 3 Factions start with 6 prestige and 0 wealth. Tier 2 Factions start with 9 prestige and 9 wealth. Tier 1 factions start with 10 prestige and wealth for the state they run and 6 for their personal dynasty. PLEASE KEEP TRACK OF WHAT'S YOUR DYNASTY'S AND WHAT'S THE STATES. State funds can be embezzled in your personal treasury at a 50% penalty, meaning using state funds to buy a shop that'd normally cost you 2 Wealth would instead cost you 3.

As stated earlier, every week we move to the next [b]turn[/b]. You can post as much as you want in a given week, but every level of Estate and Agent you have only gets a single turn. For example, if you have a level three Fortress, that fortress gains three total actions. Your King may have one level of general, two of statesman, and one of champion. This grants him one champion action, one general, and two statesmen actions.

You can't just write your actions for the week in a long list...this is still an ARP. Give us a story. Tell us of [i]how[/i] the engineers in your fortress installed a new bastion. Be creative. Not everything needs a full story...you can be telling us a larger story of trade negotiations and have your merchant mention to a guard in passing that the new villa's looking beautiful. But it all has to be written into your post. That said, just for everyone's sake, placing a TL;DR at the end of a post giving us the long and short of the actions you took would be pretty [i]sweet[/i].
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[h1][color=#7FFFD4][center]Nation Sheet[/center][/color][/h1]
[h3]Name:[/h3]
Keep in mind we're basing it on renaissance Italy.
[h3]Flag:[/h3]
Doesn't need to be an image...can just be a description.
[h3]Brief Description & Tier:[/h3]
Keep in mind "Brief". There's a whole rest of your NS, this is just a logline. Also put what tier your faction is here.
[h3]Ambition:[/h3]
What does your faction [i]want?[/i] The largest faction you could possibly have is still a small state under threat by giant empires...world domination isn't an option. Are you run by a wizard seeking enlightenment? A prince seeking vengeance? Or perhaps you just want to survive? All up to you.
[h3]Government Type:[/h3]
[h3]Claim:[/h3]
Use the map. If you don't have a tier 1 faction, just put down your estates if you're tier 2. Tier 1 should also put down the locations of their estates. For tier 3...just tell us where you are.
[h3]History:[/h3]
Go brief, go long. Do what you think is necessary for us to have a proper feel of what you're trying to present. Make sure to talk to other players and your friendly GMs to make sure your properly aligned with the lore and worldbuilding so far.
[h3]Military:[/h3]
Alright, this is another complicated gamified part. So basically, you've gotta rank your different parts of your military. You have the following aspects:
-Infantry
-Ranged (guns, crossbows, mid-ranged spellcasters)
-Navy
-Artillery (cannons, catapults, long ranged spellcasters)
-Shock Troops (Heavy beast units, giants, guerillas)
-Cavalry (horsemen, light beast units)

Take each of them and sort one each into the following (keep in mind that ranking should equal quality times quantity...you can have three amazing cannons and therefore have D tier artillery, or a horde of regular-sized ants and have D Tier infantry):

-S Tier: Best of the best. Unparalled across Evorin.
-A Tier: Really, really good. Still a staple of your army.
-B Tier: Good. Holds their own. Reliable, but unable to win battles on its own.
-C Tier: Slightly below average. A useful part of your army, but by no means a staple.
-D Tier: Bad. Unreliable. Might come in handy in a clinch, but not a meaningful part of your planning.
-F Tier: Either nonexistant or downright embarrassing.

At the cost of 6 Wealth, you can bring any aspect up a single tier in-game. Anyways, in the sheet, while sorting it, also give us descriptions of your military. Unit types, equipment, etc. Hey, it's an NRP, what can I say?
[h3]Demographics:[/h3]
Races, religions, cultures. Talk with other players, as well as your gms. We're also gonna keep a database of races currently in use.
[h3]Agents:[/h3]
Now here's where I wanna see some effort! Tell us all about your characters. They're what's gonna drive the story forward.
[h3]Estates:[/h3]
Estates should have specific names, aside from Businesses. But tell us their stories. The place they hold in their community. Yada yada yada.
[h3]Forces:[/h3]
As discussed above. Feel free to give as much detail to your forces as you want. When first submitting a sheet, you just need to put their sizes, but please keep track of your Preparations down the line.
[h3]Relations:[/h3]
Diplomatic situation. Talk with folks! Figure out where you're at with other factions. Maybe even with rivals within your own faction. You should also talk about your relationship with the major empires at play in Evorin.