Sarmatian

The Siege of al-Qurait

The Siege of Al-Qurait. An idea I had in the past... that fell through because of life. However! I am ready to look at it again.

The role play takes place in and around a city called Al-Qurait, "somewhere in the middle east" (no relation to any country, faction, organization, war, battle, or event). The country this city is situated in has devolved into chaos. Al-Qurait's dictator has been assassinated. A power vacuum ensures. In other words, government forces are in disarray, prompting various oppressed and rebel groups to make a move. They are vying for control of the city, which will give them control of the role play's setting. The ultimate conclusion of the role play will come when one group controls the area, unless a possible truce is found.

So, who are you? You play an outside influence. I would like everyone to create a specific group. This group can be almost anything. Rebels, government forces, an oppressed tribe, an outside organization, mercenaries, paramilitary, you name it. It just can't be something like "the British/Russian/Chinese/American military".

There are various areas of Al-Qurait. I am currently thinking of specific city areas - the northeastern markets, the northern residential area, the central commercial zones, the southern harbours... the oilfields, the hydroelectric dam, the nuclear research lab, etc. Some of these places give bonuses. The hydroelectric cam, for example, gives the ability to cut off power to areas (local and even foreign areas, affecting internal and external influence). The oil fields also do such things... some countries may support those in control of oil fields. These are just examples.

Anyway, the ultimate goal is to fund these groups so that eventually one controls the city of Al-Qurait and its surrounding areas. even if your group is defeated, you still have a part in the conflict.

If two groups are in proximity of a specific area, conflict occurs in that area. Players offer support to the factions there, and a victor is determined after a few turns. If you 'own' that group you get to write the result of the conflict.

Who would be interested in this 'national, cold war-esque, proxy war' role play?

Scourge of the East (Battle/Commander Roleplay)

This roleplay is inspired by the Hunnic Invasions, the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, and the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. It is a fictional setting, so you will have the freedom to create your own faction that will add to the lore of the world. Your goal will be to work with other players to defend an area against a superior army for as long as you can. Some of these names may be placeholders.

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Plot Setup

For centuries the Empire has ruled much of the known world, ruling it militarily, culturally, and religiously. There are few who do not know the influence and greatness of the Empire. In the east, however, a terrible foe rises who could challenge their hegemony. Led by the King of the Horse-lords, he rules a horde known as the Scourge of the East. King and horde are both known as "the Scourge".

The Scourge has defeated tribes, kingdoms, and a faltering empire in the east. Their enemies are either utterly destroyed or forced to serve him. The lucky few who escape his wrath are forced to flee westward. There the migrators clash with settled peoples and the Imperials along the border. Some tribes join the Empire as border guards, others force their way through, while some are kept at bay. But the Scourge expands ever westward, and soon pressure from within and without will see the Empire fall. Something must be done.

Salvation is found in Aetian, an Imperial general. Aetian has lived amongst 'the barbarians' for many years, and fought in their wars as an observer, mercenary, and adviser. He has seen the destruction caused by the Scourge, and knows that the Empire will fall when it reaches their borders. To counter this Aetian has rallied what troops he can to defend the Ven Valley, a chokepoint between east and west. He hopes he can stem the tide of the Scourge long enough for the west to prepare suitable defenses for the coming invasion.

Calls for aid are sent out across the Empire, to kingdoms and tribes, and beyond. For this plan to work Aetian needs allies. Detachments are sent to aid this Imperial general in Ven Valley.

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Player Setup

As a player you will be commanding a small force that has arrived to help Aetian. The allies will not be able to hold Ven Valley forever, but Aetian hopes to delay the advance of the Scourge for as long as he can - until proper defenses elsewhere are put into place. First you will fight the vanguard, and then the Scourge's forces will get larger and stronger, as reinforcements from across the horde's empire arrive every day. Their army is varied and composed of many different warriors and cultures.

Your forces can hail from a faction of your choosing. The setting is pre-medieval or late Roman, so there are no knights, steel plate, etc. Inspiration should be taken from barbarian groups like Goths, Vandals, Sarmatians, Celts etc. Also, early medieval kingdoms like the Franks and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms are to be used for inspiration as well. I will also accept Roman, Greek, and Sassanid inspirations too.

You will have up to 500 troops. They can be infantry, cavalry, archers, skirmishers, etc - or a combination of these types. Each 'day' a player will be chosen as the commander, who will organize the forces into a formation and attempt to defend the valley. I, or rather Aetian, cannot be the commander. For lore purposes, Aetian wants the allied commanders to work together so they realize how much stronger they are united; he hopes this will be a 'bonding' opportunity of sorts, and hopes their respective factions will replicate it in the larger war to come.

So, that's it. If you're the commander you will determine the formation and plan, and give orders as needed. If you're not the commander you will attempt to lead your detachment as best as you can according to the commander's plan, but you have autonomy in how you want to act during battle. You will take casualties, and no reinforcements are coming; the horde will grow larger and eventually you will be defeated and must leave the valley or be destroyed.

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Notes: I work full-time. There will be posting orders (you take turns), and posting frequency will be roughly weekly.

Latin American Colony-Building RP

I've been throwing this idea around in my head for a while, but only just recently tried to piece it together. It's a role play set in a fictional region in Latin America beginning in Age of Exploration. There's some character role playing, but it also has elements of nation-building.

Essentially, you're all playing the leader of an expedition. Whether you're English, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, or something else - you've been sponsored by a European power to colonize the New World. Your first task is to find a suitable landing site for your colony. You'll make landfall, survey the area, and prepare basic shelters and fortifications, as well as secure vital sources of food and other supplies.

Once this phase is over more settlers will arrive at your colony. They will increase your population with farmers, craftsmen, missionaries, merchants, and soldiers. You will also receive supplies to actually build a proper settlement. This colony becomes your hub/capital.

Now, your home country sent you to the New World to find economic opportunities. It's time to start looking for silver and gold, or clearing the land for plantations to grow lucrative crops like cotton, tobacco, etc. You'll be contending with the natives and other players. Will you work together to push the natives back? Will you incorporate them into your population? Will you enslave them? Will you work with other players on this, or try and fight them? Ultimately, you're looking to establish smaller settlements where silver and gold can be mined, or places with fertile land that can grow cotton, sugar, tobacco, and other crops.

These raw materials will be sent back to your hub to be loaded onto ships bound for the home country - which in turn drops off luxury and manufactured goods for your colonists.

Ultimately, you may start to develop industries here. Rather than export cotton, you may develop textile mills to process the raw material and start exporting cloth. In time you may wish to break free from your home country's grasp and declare independence and together with other players fight in a revolution.

Battle of the Maw

Popping in to say more than one group can claim 'the South' or 'Southeast' etc. I've skimmed through the bios and I like what I'm saying, but remember you only get 400 soldiers. When I get off work I'll review them.

The Siege of al-Qurait [FULL]

Hey guys, stopping by to say I will be working overtime tomorrow and cannot check on this until maybe Sunday.

Sorry!

The Siege of al-Qurait [FULL]

@Sarmatian Would the UN be willing to work with an extremely violent but very successful Shia militia?

@BingTheWing

Not publicly. And even then, they wouldn't like the idea of doing it privately. However, if it means the destruction of the Cobras, it could be an exception, so sure. Right now the most dangerous group (to the UN) is the Cobras.

The Siege of al-Qurait [FULL]

@Buddha: I only skimmed through your bio, but I will give it a proper look another time. Some days at work are tiresome and I can get mentally exhausted; other days aren't so bad and after a few hours of rest I can get to RPing.

@BingtheWing: I didn't really consider that, but since Sunni is the largest in real life, we can keep suit and go with that. Besides, Saladin was Sunni, so that's cool. But I would not say it's a huge difference.

Realistically, a group would be much larger than 30 people; I should have clarified that in the OOC, sorry! But trying to keep track of a few thousand soldiers in this role play would be pretty hard, I think. This is the first time I have done something like this, so I wanted to take it easy. If I feel like we need more soldiers per group, I will allow 'reinforcements'.

The theory is that the rest of your group is probably in their own territory elsewhere in Taraq (trying to protect it), and the UN only requested that you send a handful of your troops to the al-Qurait operation.

@rush99999: Sorry to hear that man, see you around!

The Siege of al-Qurait [FULL]

@Sarmatian Perhaps like so:

flag

@Buddha

Well... thanks man! That looks exactly how I imagined it, good job. Thanks for going out of you way to make one!

@CaptainBritton If you post a good bio, I will definitely accept you!

The Siege of al-Qurait [FULL]

@Sarmatian Is there a flag for Tariq? I'd like to incorporate it into my insignia. Gonna actually take time to put work into this while I still have a lot of free time.

Or even just colors and a scheme, and I could work something out with that.

@Buddha

Unfortunately, I do not have a flag for them. Taraq is essentially defunct at the time of the RP, so I didn't really think about it. However, most similar countries use green, red, black, and white.

I'll say the top of the flag was black, the bottom is red, and there's a white circle in the middle with a green crescent inside. The crescent is like to the Ottoman crescent.

The Siege of al-Qurait [FULL]

@Sarmatian Are these companies we come up with supposed to be inhabitants of the country, or can they be foreign assets that are hired by the UN/Taraq?

@Buddha

They can be mercenary groups, yes. Or really any group who, for whatever reason, are here to participate.

You just can't be SEAL Team 6, or Russian KGB, etc.