I'm game. Though I have to ask; What are the limits on the delegation of power that is typical of a tributary state? As in, what actions are allowed to be taken just by the state proper, and which ones require the expressed consent of the Arkronains?
From a gamemasters perspective, there is very little in the catagory of "no, you can't do that". From a story perspective decisions might have consequences. That could be anything from an ambassador urging you to stop doing what you're doing to military means. It really depends on what your nation has done and how powerful the Arkronians percieve they are. Part of their power is based on the desire of other nations to work with the Arkronians in exchange for a far more stable continent.
I'll proberbly write the formal agreement for the ooc. But keep in mind, its a piece of paper with signatures on it. Its not an unbreakable law of the universe :)
The Arkronains where able to assert its dominance over the continent due to a number of factors. I'll try to explain them here one by one.
1. The continent of Mycoria was never a united front. The different nations spend centuries warring eachother and where never able to to present a truely united front. The idea behind this roleplay is not player nations vs evil invader. The nations the players create could be favorable to the Arkronians, against them or something in between. During the rebellions some nations where against the Arkronians while others where on their side.
2. Superior mobility due to being technological advanced enough to cross the seas that are inpenetrable for the native nations. The Arkronians rule the waves and thus can ferry troops to other sides of the continent or sail up rivers to project power where it was neccisary. In short they have the best army and navy but are not like Nazi Germany that they just can walk in and oppress everyone who they please.
2. The Arkronians inplemented a system of indirect rule, much like how the Brittisch colonized India or how the Dutch seized control over present day Indonesia.. They worked together with local rules and made sure that being loyal to them was rewarding enough. In essence they managed the many conflicts on the continent and made sure that they where a game changer. Forcing the nations of Mycoria to more or less stop warring eachother. In short the Arkonians ensured that the local rulers could remain in power without being challanged by their neighbors, could use their power to aqcuiere wealth from within their own borders and do pretty much to their own population as they please.
3. Superior mobility due to being technological advanced enough to cross the seas that are inpenetrable for the native nations. The Arkronians rule the waves and thus can ferry troops to other sides of the continent or sail up rivers to project power where it was neccisary. In short they have the best army and navy but are not like Nazi Germany that they just can walk in and oppress everyone who they please.
The relations between the Arkronians and other states could best be described as vassal or tributary states. The states are bound to serve the Arkronian crown by a series of treaties but apart from that are mostly independent. They have their own governments who rule their respective lands, their own distinct cultures and societies and can make most decicions independtly from the Arkronian crown. However the Arkronians ofcourse have implemented certain instruments to assure their dominance.
1. All states must pay tributes. There are certain forms of taxation to all states that are designed to benefit the Arkronian crown while limiting the capabilities of states to grow much stronger and challenge their rule. The tributes could be money, resources, manpower or something different.
2. Foreign policy must be conducted in conjuction with the Arkronian crown. For centuries if nations want to make agreements with eachother they had to meet in the Arkronian capital and do the negotiation in front of Arkronian officials. All formal agreements had to be accepted by the Arkronian crown. Ofcourse there where still informal agreements and secret meetings.
3. The Arkronains are allowed to settle in all lands and have military access to all nations. They will have offices, spies and traders in most nations. They could also have some form of military presence. That presence does not neccicarily have to be native Arkronian soldiers. That could also be regiments formed from soldiers from other nations. Just like the roman auxiliary system.
4. The Arkronians have banned the development of shipbuilding technology throughout the continent and monopolized it for their own kingdom. This is to ensure that they remain the dominant naval and trading force on the continent.
Ofcourse this sounds a little bit restricting. However as you have have proberbly read, the Arkronian system is on the verge of collapse due to a mysterious decease ravaging through their race. In essence they are a dwingling power and the nations wich the players will create are pretty much challenged by the question of how to shape their future in a post-Arkronian rule Mycoria. The Arkronians are still around, are still powerful but their dominance is dwingling. What is written above is the starting point but can be redefined throughout the roleplay.
Now to the subject of religion:
Religion is the way how the cultures and people describe the forces of the universe. It is both mythical and very real. I can be a source of great influence, power and magic. It can be used the explain what we don't understand and unify people under a common cause. The players are free to create their own religions. Religion might produce miracles but mostly it will be shrouded in mistery if it was truly the influence of gods, spirits dieties, a lucky chance in circumstances or outright trickery. A way to handle it could be something like this.
"during a great drought the priest called upon the people for human sacrifice. Every night the priests sacrificed 10 lives to the gods and on the 1oth night the rain finely came"
Where the gods finely pleased enough when the 100th soul entered the afterlive or was it just a matter of preseference until the weather changed? Some of the people might argue for the latter while others considered themselfs saved by the gods.
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.
The history of Mycoria
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.
Rules
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.
Lore
Magic 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.
Technology 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.
Established races
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.
Arkronians: 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.
Vulpin: 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”.
Application
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.
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:
Before Finn had the chance to leave Alexi’s the black haired fellow at the bar asked him to wait. What came next was a big surprise. The young wolf turned around and stared at the man with a mild shock on his face. How did he figure that out? This is Alexi’s, he’s not supposed to be capable of sensing his supernatural side inside this joint. Subconsciously Finn touched his wristband as his eyes tried to see if this fellow was wearing one too but he couldn’t see. Even more concerning was the fact that the young wolf still could not sense anything from the dude at the bar. Finn was clearly still under the spell of people who ran this bar.
After a few seconds the young wolf regained his composure from the sudden revelation from the man at the bar. For a moment he eyed the man, searching for a way that he could determine what he was. Was the black haired dude truly a lycanthrope as his wording suggested? But Finn knew that as long as he remained in Alexi’s he could never truly confirm it. ”Got some business in this town, not intending to stay in this hole afterwards.”
Finn waited to open the door. He didn’t trust the man and did not want to give him too much information so he deliberately skipped answering his question about being in a pack. However his surprised reaction the the question probably had given away more than he intended. One more time the young man turned around and spoke before he stepped out into the pouring rain. ” Thanks for the advice and have a nice day”
With the rain pouring down on his head Finn wondered if he had made the right decision to walk away from the bar. Quickly the young wolf shaked off this eerie feeling and put in his earbuds again only to notice that his music has shifted away from slayer to ‘Gonna fly now’, a movie score. ” I guess I should find some stairs to climb now” murmured the young man to himself as he started to run east. Finn quickly picked up his pace, passing pedestrians and joggers as he made his way to the bridge and crossed the stream at road 68.
Finn had planned his route in advance. He knew where to go from studying a map at Alexi’s. After crossing the bridge, the young wolf took a turn right and took a trail that ran parallel to the stream towards lover’s lake. Mud was splashing all around as his powerful steps projected him forward through the rain.. For a moment Finn thought that had might have been wiser to run in town rather than take this muddy trail. Now he would be all soaked and muddy when he’d arrive at his destination. But that was nothing a shower and a change of clothes couldn’t fix.
With lover’s lake in sight Finn knew he was getting closer to the campgrounds. Subconsciously the young man picked up his pace even more as he hoped he might find some answers at the wolfpack that was residing there. With firm steps the young wolf dashed alongside the lake, jumping over some long haired hobo that was sleeping under a windbreaker that was sleeping near the lake as he continued to follow the trail. It was only a matter of minutes that Finn had circled the lake and made his way to the road again.
The young man used the last mile to the campground as a cool down. The entrance to the campground was all quiet. Finn walked up to and placed his feet firmly onto the ground to do some post workout stretching. Suddenly the snapping of a twig broke the peaceful silence that the forest provided. As the young wolf turned around he spotted 3 men who didn’t look too happy to see him.
The typical scent of lycanthropes filled the air as the small group of persons quickly surrounded the young man that was stretching his muscles near a tree. Finn smiled as he realized that he had probably found the pack Boris belonged to. ” Good morning, I hope you don’t mind that I finished my stretching first? You know, you always need to do a good cooldown after a workout, otherwise you risk injury”
The youngest of the group stepped forward and pushed Finn against the tree and shouted “Quit fooling around! Who are you and what is your business here!”
Before Finn had even a time to respond one of the older people dragged the youngster off him and pushed him aside. He turned to his younger companion and gave him a quick angry stare. “Go get Liam, now!”. The young man growled as he sprinted towards the campgrounds.
“I can kill you if you like”. Those words resonated through the young wolf’s head. What was this dude thinking? Was he picking a fight? Finn found it incredibly hard to read if the black haired man was joking or serious. At first look you’d think that this patron would be one of the regulars. The kind that enter on opening and leave totally wasted at closing hour but the man was far to clean looking to fall in that category. Not to mention he seemed to be distant to the bartender. From some no-life alcoholic you’d expect a sense of defeatism in his voice and body language and yet he came across as calm and confident. As if he was convinced of his own superiority. His presence in Alexi’s gave off an eerie vibe.
For a moment Finn observed the man, as if he somehow could figure out what he was and what brought him to this place. Not that it worked, this was Alexi’s and the owner made sure that any trace of the supernatural would be masked as long as people where in the bar. The big question was, where did this eerie vibe fit into Finn’s list of priorities he wrote down earlier. Somewhere down at the very bottom or not at the list at all. In the end, this odd fellow was nothing more then a distraction and yet the young wolf’s gut feeling was that he could not be trusted and that he was here with a purpose. Although he doubted that the purpose would involve himself.
Finn decided to let it go. Whatever the dude came for was not his business and sticking his nose into it would only distract him from what truly mattered. The young wolf sighed and replied with a sarcastic undertone “Not much, maybe a picture of you that I can hang on the wall, just as a small reminder to do whatever it takes to not end up like some dud downing shots at 10 a.m. in some run down bar.” Finn paused a bit as he walked to the door, turning one more time to the strange fellow at the bar and spoke“ Enjoy your drinks and have a nice day.”
“Beep….Beep……..beep…….beep” The sound of an alarm clock left the speakers of a cellphone to force a young wolf to start his day. Soon the beeping sound was accompanied by a mild groan as an arm reached for the cellphone from underneath the blankets. With a quick slide Finn ended that agonizing sound that forced him to leave his moment of slumber. His sleepy eyes stared at the lit up screen for a second. 9 am, zero messages, no missed calls. Still no word from his brother.
With he beeping sound gone, the lone wolf noticed how quiet it was. No sounds of his father talking agitated on the phone, no sound of his mother making breakfast in the kitchen with the tv on. Just an eerie silence. For the first time Finn realized he was all alone. No parents to take care of him. No pack to have his back, no coach to train him and no friends to hang around with. It was just him alone in a town he didn’t know and a world he did not understand. Finn knew one thing, and that is that Ember Grove was nothing like New York.
The young wolf left his bed and moved towards the small bathroom. The bathroom was nothing special, just a run down shower that hasn’t had an update since the 1970’s, a small sink with a mirror with a big crack in the center above it and a toilet. Finn looked in the mirror and watched his reflection while murmuring. ”It’s only us buddy. All on our own in some shitty little town. I better get my act together and set my priorities straight.” He knew that if he would not get a daily routine, the wolf would grow bored and slip back into old habits of causing trouble and petty crimes.
After splashing some water in his face Finn grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen from his bag and started to write things down. ‘Priority 1: Find Mike, Priority 2: Prepare for next fight, Priority 3: Get additional source of income, Priority 4: Make friends/find pack?’ Once the young wolf was finished writing things down, he taped the piece on the door. Finn always wrote such stuff down. It was an exercise his brother had taught him. The young wolf needed it because his energetic mind would often go in a new direction every 10 seconds. This way Finn reminded himself of what truly was important.
Next up Finn opened his gym bag and grabbed a bunch of papers from it and spread them out on the small table in his room. He quickly grabbed the sheets with his training schedule and read them trough. Running, rope jumps and other physical activities where easy to do in Ember Grove but sparring and technique training would be more difficult to achieve. Maybe some local gym had a decent coach but most gym’s don’t really run practice sessions on the level for professional competition. Finn knew all to well that he still had to train hard regardless the circumstances. Losing a match isn’t such a big deal but losing a match because you are not properly fit due to lack of training could end his career before it would have taken off.
The young wolf quickly started his pre breakfast training routine with some stretching before moving on to the part with the pushups, sit-ups and squatting. Usually he would do rope jumps as well but since Alexi’s was located in an older building the young wolf believed is was better to do it outside. Once he was finished with the first part of his exercise routine Finn quickly put on his grey jogging suit and grabbed his cellphone and earbuds. He quickly cycled through his music and put on Slayer’s Reign in Blood album and made his way downstairs. Nothing beats Slayer when it comes to doing an 8 mile run.
His plan was to do a run towards the campground and see if he could find Boris’s pack but as Finn opened the door to the bar area he noticed that the first patron had already entered to get his morning booze or something. He could not really hear what the black haired dude was talking about due to slayer’s raining blood was blasting in his ears but noticed that the atmosphere was rather tense, as if something was about to happen. The young wolf quickly unplugged his earbuds and waved at the bartender and the black haired patron. “uhm, good morning? I guess”
Lord Wyron
Silverwind Blade
Expendable
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Fetzen
Yankee