Willy Vereb

Point of Departure: World War II

@Willy Vereb ...you gave me its actual material properties? <3 <3 <3 ^† *breaks out her materials science book*
Anyway, yes. They're in. You've put thought into them; they aren't game-breaking; they have disadvantages and advantages; yes. Just yes.
^{†That's the first smiley I've ever used on this site.}

@Queen Raidne

Wow, didn't expect such a warm welcome for them, I'm honored.
As for further specifics I'm going to claim some part of South America. I have yet to draw the map so I can't say exactly how much. The Heavenly Empire of Yllendthyr in the other game was larger than the USA but I'm not necessarily replicating this as a whole. Regardless it's going to be a big empire.

Technology-wise, the lightweight and durable mithril would give me some edge in speed for various technologies, most notably aircraft.
On the other hand Mithril is less stiff so it cannot control as much overpressure as with steel so they compensate with larger diameter shells and such.
99mm diameter would be only slightly stronger than a 75-76mm cannons from other nations, for example. Albeit the extra capacity for explosives will be welcome.
Engines-wise the elven noses can't bear the putrid smell of gasoline and other crude oil derived methods and instead they rely on bio-diesel and biogas and bio-kerosene. Technically the methods to produce all these were present. This doesn't exactly make them free of crude oil or coals but they prefer to only use these at large scale like factories and where it's inevitable, preferably while hiring only human workers.
Also because elven ears hate the noise of rapidly spinning propellers thus they urged to develop turbofans sooner. This means elven military aircraft (where the pitch of the propeller noise is the worst) use turbjets and turbofans. Jet aircraft may allow somewhat better speed but propeller craft in general are more fit to the military's needs during this period.
Oh, and in search for better airstrike methods the elves use flying bombs akin to the V-1 in combat. They sacrifice cost and number of bombs in return for the promises of more precise hits. They even trained aircraft pilots to act as FOs for directing the attacks.
It's a novel idea for bombardment but I think when faced with an actual war the elves may reconsider this method.
Same with their lack of heavy bombers.

Generally, military-wise they use several doctrines which is either outdated or too experimental because in the timeline of Yllendthyr WW1 never happened. They fought some proxy wars on colonies and some territorial disputes against other nations but that's it.
I leave the rest about Yllendthyr a surprise for now. I just mentioned the most risky parts in terms of balance.

I'd also like to volunteer for co-GM, since I have a fair bit of experience doing that (three years) and a pretty comprehensive knowledge of history, though Willy will probably still run rings around me in science.

@Mihndar

Sure, count on me whenever you need.
Used to research a lot on war history as a hobby but that was nearly a decade ago by now.
I'm not certain on my Ww2 knowledge but when it comes to the technicalities like what can a contemporary artillery do or how they found their targets, I'm here.
I can also aid people in terms of "What if?" kind of technological solutions.
What if you create a jet fighter in the late 30s? I can tell you that for example.

The Intergalactic Collision of Entities (ICE) - A roleplay of science fiction.

A) First of all- this takes place in the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Andromeda galaxy. Humans are allowed, but there will be a maximum of three independent nations of man. No exceptions.
B) Second of all- alien races must be balanced. No hyperintelligent brutes that are cunning, fast, and strong, and are quick learners. You can have something that may not necessarily be balanced, but they cannot be perfect. Make it realistic, not overpowered.
C) Third- I don't want any unreasonable actions. If you're human, then you'll likely do anything, but you'll still care about your power which comes from the people- so that means you'll have to be intelligent about this. No declaring war just cause. Declare war because you made a series of accidents that you 'prove' to be someone else's fault, without giving any way for realistic denial. That means politics in the like. So- be intelligent, be realistic, be reasonable. Personal disputes can be carried into the roleplay- you wanna kill someone cause they insulted you in OOC, fine, do whatever- but again, actually make a reason. A rebel group that's rising, perhaps.

D) Ships will fall into traditional rolls, with exceptions for your race. For example, destroyers may have powerful weapons that are more of a special weapon than anything, while having agility, speed, and lighter armor. Battleships and dreadnoughts are heavy-hitting bullet sponges, that are slow brutes. Also be realistic with weaponry- Kinetic weaponry can be dodged, but firing at even higher-than-norm speeds (anti-capitalship railgun speeds being the norm) will take exponentially more energy and equipment. A destroyer will not have the ability to put a slug through an entire heavy ship. They will likely have better effectiveness on shields- while lasers and other instantaneous energy weapons would be less effective against shields, and more effective against armor.

E) FTL will be limited. You can have quite a few types of FTL, sure, go ahead. But make them balanced. You will NOT have an FTL drive that can activate on a moment's notice without any traces to destination or location, or without any apparent cooldown or heat signature. The way I see it, an FTL drive will likely produce very high amounts of heat, while using a great deal of energy. There is a single alternative kind of FTL drive that I will allow, and it's far, FAR better than a normal FTL drive, but is far, FAR more limited, and must be learned from an NPC nation that I'll control. Think of the stuff near the end of The Xenocide by Orson Scott Card.

YOU are supposed to make a unique nation that is technologically and culturally advanced- or not. Most nations will have to be FTL-able, or close to it. I'll only allow maybe two nations that are still pre-FTL, such as the Nouvellians in one of the previous reboots, who were in a WWII-technological era (I think). I'll allow a nation like that for every four or five spaceworthy nations.

Before I elaborate any more than I have already- is anyone interested?
Ships and fleets will not number in the thousands, or the hundreds, even. Rather, a very large fleet would be two dozen ships. Maybe in later stages, it'll get to the point where hundreds and thousands of ships are possible, but right now, I'd rather have people focus more on less kill-all strategy.
nation, and you do whatever that nation does to advance itself. You can try to form an intergalactic coalition to try and build up political power, be the military-centric war machine, produce goods and ship them to whoever you can find, whatever.

There will be an 'Ancient' race that is an NPC type thing- jump gates leading between the galaxies allow access between the Milky Way and Andromeda. Too far for a regular FTL drive to make, after all.

@WilsonTurner

Ehm, a number of these limitations and rules are actuallyless reasonable than you'd think. I list them:

Depending on how weapons scale with size and what's reasonable in the setting a destroyer can have as much firepower as a dreadnought...just with less rate of fire, less weapons and other functions sacrificed in order to get that one weapon. Sure, the Dreadnought can mout an even bigger weapon but would it worth it?

Lasers are worse against armor than kinetic penetrators. There are literally orders of magnitudes of a difference, MJ range APFSDS projectile can take out tanks while MW-range lasers aren't even a realistic threat against that much armor (unlesss you are really patient). Although some kind of exotic energy weapon which induces a fission chain-reaction in the target is plausible, albeit it only work against a limited number of materials. actually, unless there's an unique quality to the shields both lasers and kinetic penetrators would strain them about the same. Although typical force fields are more likely to be penetrated by massive projectiles (because they have far more momentum for the same energy).

Dozens of ships barely makes sense for even a single-planet interstellar nation. Realistically given the astronomical distances and number of civilian ships to protect overall you MAY need thousands of ships. unless they can casually cross the galaxy. Or well, overall the number of ships would depend on how fast/convenient is your FTL and how large area they need to patrol. My Morteans with slow warp drives only able to cross a few lightyears a day needed literally thousands of frigates just to keep their 7 star systems covered. If a race could cover the same distance within seconds then they sure can allow to concentrate their forces far better.
Perhaps instead of number or size (baring the true extremes) an aggregate powerlevel should be measured. Having thousands of weak ships against dozens of superfast OP dreadnoughts would measure about the same.

Overall I like the intentions you have for a balanced game where people won't get to powerplay. Thoise are all good ideas and may prevent the inevitable decay of space NRPs we repeatedly experienced.
Depending on how my time allow it I could participate in this game, too.

Point of Departure: World War II

I've updated the first post with the various claims.

By the way, I plan on playing as an American ZRCV (that's a carrier-zeppelin) on ASW escort duty in the Atlantic, based off of the alternate timeline found here. I may pick up one of the major powers (e.g. Italy) if nobody else does.

@Willy VerebI'm okay with elf-likes. Evolution followed some weird path millions of years ago - okay, that's plausible. Since I've already established precedent with Sakurite, I'm going to say a no on Mithril, unless it's just a fancy/confused name for a real-life alloy. I also find useless ritual aka alchemy hilarious and highly encourage it.* Again, going off of precedent - if alternate plausible evolutionary paths are okay, then I'll also allow griffins. ...if only for the hilarity of a BF-109 engaging Griffin riders.

^{*Hitler's going to have a field day with it.}

@Queen Raidne

Mithril is basically a variation on Titanium, so actually I was a bit wrong. Elves call it Mithralium and it may be a yet undiscovered new grid structure of this element. It isn't really that good in its pure form and alchemist alloy and compound this with various things (likely including various naturally occurring carbon nanotubes, just like the Damascus Steel). So yeah, it's a theoretically existing material which the alchemists developed (partially out of sheer luck).

My Hider

Primary element: Mt-22 (Mithralium)
Color: greyish-silver
Density: 2410-2540 kg/m^3
Mohs Scale: 3.7-6.8
Young's Modulus: 91-121 GPa
Yield Strength: 100-600 MPa
Ultimate Tensile Strength: 310-1000 MPa

A family of metal composites/alloys utilizing Mithral Ore combined with other materials through the ways of alchemy. Its toughness is almost comparable to steel yet its density is only 31% of that. Mithril is very resistant to the effects of corrosion which until the last century gave a strategic advantage for Yllendthyr. Compared to steel, mithril is less stiff and can temporarily deform to external force. Mithril is also more ductile and elastic, among others this makes them excellent choice for springs. As of late the newest high-strength steel alloys took the decisive lead from mithrils, albeit the lightness of the latter can often compensate to an extend.

Hopefully this makes them passable.

As for the elves:

brief summary on the Elves

According to the studies of Charles Dwarfwin from the last century, elves evolved from the prehistoric birds. They share a distant relation with the various Griffin species albeit just barely. The elves' distant ancestor was the Homo Auger aka "bird-man" but there are evidences pointing towards crossbreeding and the exact history of how the elves developed is shrouded in many mysteries. Regardless of the apparently different origins it turned out elves and humans can interbreed with each other, siring a half-elf. Albeit 9 out of 10 such pregnancies generally result in a miscarriage and may even threaten the mother's life.

In terms of physical characteristics, elves are generally tall and slenderly built, averaging at 6'4". Their bones are hollow which further reduces their average weight to around 90 lbs. They are fast and nimble compared to humans, further supported by their amazing sense of balance. Some studies attribute the latter to tiny organic gyroscopes but the research on elven physiology is somewhat inconclusive. Elves are also gifted with impressive senses, capable of matching or outperforming most animals. They can smell like a hunting dog, see with an eagle's eye and hearing almost rivaling bats. Elves have a slower metabolism and require less than half as much food compared to humans. Elves can also boast with a great immune system which might be partially responsible for their longevity. Elves can live for 300 years. In many aspects Elves could be seen as the "winners" in evolution. Yet all these advantages come at a cost. Elves are notably fragile when compared to humans. Their bones are designed to withstand strain in certain directions but they are weak and brittle from other angles. Young elves break a lot of bones and gradually learn to move with grace and precision to avoid such accidents. Their low weight also means that elves can generally carry only 40% as much as what a regular human could. Elves are also more sensitive to loud noises and find them uncomfortable. Similarly while the elven immune system is great, their frail body suffers heavily when they're exposed to something this system wasn't designed to handle. Poisons that effect elves are often also very lethal. Elves also have slightly different diet from humans which means they can't consume a few types of food a human could (on the other hand their digestive tracts can metabolize cellulose and they can pretty much eat grass for nutrition). Lastly, while long-lived, elves suffer from criminally low birth rates. They are considerably less fertile than humans and the number of miscarriages is also higher. Modern medicine is aiding the elves considerably but their birth rates are still nowhere near to humans'. Elves also require over twice as much time to grow up and only elves past the age of 30 are considered actual adults (equal to the development of a 13-14 years old human).

I can eliminate or nerf certain parts if you want.
Basically I tried to add most of the typically attributed characteristics of elves and kind of explained them away with their weird evolution and crossbreeding incidents.

Point of Departure: World War II

@Queen RaidneSince the "alternate" nations literally pop into existence here I repeat my question in the OOC.
Can I use a sorts of fantasy nation in this RP?
There's no magic, though a few things to consider.
- Roughly 30% of the population are elves and they're the ruling class. think of humans that originated from birds...well, sorta. I have most of their biology detailed which I can give you later.

- Mithril is the common metal of the empire instead of steel. Mithril is kinda like a better Aluminium and its effectively more like a family of various alloys and compounds. Mithril is light (it's sorta aluminium) but strength-wise the best Mithril alloys are about 20% inferior compared to the best steel alloys in WW2.

- Alchemy still exist and it's institutionalized in Yllendthyr. It's basically chemistry and material sciences but combined with strange ritual-like elements of which 90% of them have no purpose. Alchemists were lucky at discovering certain unique methods (like the creation of Mithril, think of how Damascus Steel was made, for example) but they can't be sure which of their countless rituals are necessary steps and which are merely adding up time. Alchemy works more and more only in conjunction with modern sciences but it still make Yllendthyr's industry kinda strange.

- Griffins: They may have a similar relation with elves as monkeys do with humans. But if it's an issue I can either make them extinct or drop this idea altogether. Albeit Griffin Riders trying ineptly to engage WW2 fighters would be amusing.

Point of Departure: World War II

@Queen RaidneIf we are at it, how do you feel with slightly fantasy WW2 nations?
I always wished to test my elves from Yllendthyr in an actual WW2 scene.
1941 where they fit just fine.
Aside from being elves the only "magical" elements are Mithril (basically the mix of the properties of Aluminium and Titanium and replaces steel products for Yllendthyr as a whole) and Kavuria (which may not be a concern because I got that via trade with Avalia so I'd need to resort to hydrogen and helium instead).
There's no magic involved whatsoever, just a race which developed differently and material which could be plausible (Mithril is actually worse than most steel alloys)

[Ranked] Four Way: Convergence of Power

Since none of us made mention on the battlefield can't just @Rilla post the intro on the main arena in the OOC here?

For the sake of transparency we may even add the short descriptions/summaries in the OP so everyone can check those quickly.

Point of Departure: World War II

So, we can actually make new but plausible nations, right?
How about the Carpathian Federation?

It'd either born after 1849 when the various revolutions in the Austrian Empire succeeds.
Or it'd be formed after WW1. The allies realize that the League of Nations is a bad idea and instead they promote a federal system and actively ban the Habsburgs or any royal figure from interfering with it. Potentially this would mean that the friction between various nationalities would be less otherwise there's no way it could work.

Also I can understand that you wish to start this game when USA is involved, too.
But that'd practically prohibit people from exploring plots from earlier times.
For example my Carpathian Federation would most likely interfere during the Polish Invasion already.

[Ranked] Four Way: Convergence of Power

I'm there, melon is as well, but I have to wait for him. Also Willy is waving at us. No idea how far away they are though.

@GreivousKhan

I assumed from yours and LeeRoy's post that we were transported straight to the arena in the center.
Both of you reacted to see other contestants so it was a safe bet we're pretty much at range of each other.
Besides, I didn't even think we'd ask Rilla to post after we began so a setting like this was the most convenient for the fight.

The Sun Will Never Set (A Statisticless NRP)(It had a good run)

The OP has established that you can either pick one of the few remaining map empty spaces or take one of the people's territories that haven't posted in a month.

@Mihndar

Ironically that'd soon include me.
Perhaps a better idea could be to warn these "inactive" people again to see if they are still in.
And then declare NPC or abolish the nations by inactive players.
Sure, it's a tiny bit work-intensive but this is the most fair method, IMO.

The Mirror World (Collaborative Alternate History Worldbuilding Project) [Always Open!]

I'm mildly interested in this. Are we allowed to have Asian nations? Namely China or Japan?

@ClocktowerEchos

Sure you do.
The only problem is that most action would be around Europe and the colonies.
Ottoman, German and Portuguese players are sorely needed for this game. These nations currently exist as NPCs but competing against non-players isn't so much fun.

So yeah, I'm sure Vahir would allow you to make AU Japan or China.
Without other eastern faction around it's going to be difficult to interact with players, though.
By no means I wish to discourage you. I'm just being frank.

Maybe if your China does begin colonizing centuries before Europe does and you'll have disputes with Portugese, English and Spanish-French, then we can solve the issue with the lack of interaction.