Roll Call

[snip]

Ok, time for another update. As always, thanks to those who are helping me out by telling me when I write stupid stuff that does not make sense.

--Work on the ruleset progresses well. I just threw a monkey wrench in introducing some new colonial rules that we are current discussing (bolding text was busted out in the comments, so you know its serious). Assuming we don't kill each other over that section, we are close to having the rules draft done.
--Tech is effectively done, we are talking over the flavor text of a few sections.
--Initial Nationbuilding document is in a good place, we are still working over some specific numbers.
--Below is the current iteration of the map for the player nations.

At this time the roster reads as follows. If this is horribly wrong, please tell me.
----Red: Snip
----Yellow: Walter
----Green: Darman
----Light Green: Olekit
----Orange: Kirk
----Purple: Jef
The map may still get some slight border tweaks to the player nations, but this is close. We still need to add the major NPC nations into various areas on the map (makes note to talk to Walter about this).

What I need from each of you at this point: Im currently working on the World Overview document and am in need of a short paragraph for national descriptions. I've got a rough idea about how various nations feel about each other, so its time to figure out who everyone is. If you need a hint/nudge/clue as to what Im thinking for the setting, know the descriptor for Red contains the following acronym. SPQR.

As always, if you have any thoughts/questions/concerns please do not hesitate to talk to me.

[Walter]

Just added some grey NPC bits here and there in Asia and North Africa. Maybe you want to trim it here and there, snip.

[Kaiser Kirk]

Ok, time for another update. As always, thanks to those who are helping me out by telling me when I write stupid stuff that does not make sense.

--Work on the ruleset progresses well. I just threw a monkey wrench in introducing some new colonial rules that we are current discussing (bolding text was busted out in the comments, so you know its serious). Assuming we don't kill each other over that section, we are close to having the rules draft done.

What I need from each of you at this point: Im currently working on the World Overview document and am in need of a short paragraph for national descriptions. I've got a rough idea about how various nations feel about each other, so its time to figure out who everyone is. If you need a hint/nudge/clue as to what Im thinking for the setting, know the descriptor for Red contains the following acronym. SPQR.

Well, if Rome still strides, why not her ancient foe?

Orange :

Parthian Empire
Monarch : His Majesty, Mithridates X,  King of Kings, Lord of the Persians

Constitutional Monarchy
Capital : Esfahan (Isfahan)

State Religeon : Zorastorism
Other Religeons : Nestorian Christianity, Greco-Buddhism, Mithrandic, Hindi.
Culture : Persian-Hellanistic
Languages : Persian, Greek,


Founded in 247BC with the defeat of the Selucid Empire, the Empire has survived in one form or another since.  Long at war with Rome, a series of civil wars left the Empire vulnerable when the Arab Muslim expansion occurred. The calamateous defeat at Nahavand in 642 marked the fall of the western empire, as the Imperial forces were devastated. Emperor Musa III found his Eastern subjects unsympathetic, and sent his Son Cyrus II to neighboring realms to seek support.  Musa  III was assassinated shortly thereafter.  The Muslim conquest swept across the Iranian platue, and the Emperor passed, while Cyrus III found sanctuary in the Tang Courts of China.  From China, Cyrus II brokered agreements with the provincial warlords rebelling against the Muslims, agreeing to reforms to unify the Empire.   With Tang Troops, Hun and Albanian Mercenaries, augmented by troops from the Goturk Empire and Principality of Chaghanian, Cyrus II returned and rallied the Parthian rebels. The 651 battle of Oxus River in Khorosan province saw the defeat of the Muslim force, but the Reconquest of the Empire took years.

The Empire recovered slowly, but the reforms Cyrus II had agreed to brought new vitality.  Changes to the rules of succession ensured the debilitating civil wars and multiple kings of the past did not occur again. The administration was reformed on confucian lines, and nobles were appointed positions based on capability as well as birth.  Wars with the Byzantine empire went well.  The wheel of time goes in circles, and wars with the Turks and the Hindi states took their toll, as borders moved back and forth. The next great challenge was the Mongol Hordes, which swept along the the shores of the Caspian Sea.  The Mongols sacked Herat, and defeated the Parthian Marshals on the plains around Merv.  As winter fell, the  Mongols persued the survivors into the mountains. There, the Parthian Army under Emperor Alexandos IV skillfully drew the Mongols further from any forage or room to manuever.  Trapped by snow, their horses starving, the Mongol horde began to retreat, harried by the forces of Alexandros. Finally, the full Parthian forces were thrown into battle, with charging elephant scattering paniced horses in the Mongol camp.  The defeat was crushing and secured Parthia's survival. A treaty with the Mongols allowed them to sweep through the south shore of the Caspian Sea, sack the Kingdom of Armenia and bring their terror to the Anatolian Plateau.


The present day, 1910, finds the Empire 2157 years old.  Emperor Mithridates has ruled for 30 years, and is 65 years of age. The Empire has been at peace for nearly a decade, though in his reign there have been two swift wars with the Byzantines to the west, and a third with the inhabitants of the Indus valley.  The border has been slowly advanced to the north, and skirmishes with the Turks and Cossacks are common. His Father, Antiochus XI, ruled for 38 years and secured the current borders early in his reign. His grandfather, Cyrus IV, ruled for 50 years, and undertook extensive reforms to bring Parthia into the modern era.  The heir to the throne is 25 year old Alexandros VII.

[Walter]

I think that the unofficial name would be the Norse Kingdom (or the even less official name of Northlands is used) with the official name being something like The Kingdoms of Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, Norway and Novgorod (remnants of the Novgorod Republic driven back by the Eastern Menace to the NW and northern lands added to it and turned into a kingdom though the actual city of Novgorod was/still is (depending on Darman) in the green area close to the eastern border).

[olekit24]

I think that the unofficial name would be the Norse Kingdom (or the even less official name of Northlands is used) with the official name being something like The Kingdoms of Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, Norway and Novgorod (remnants of the Novgorod Republic driven back by the Eastern Menace to the NW and northern lands added to it and turned into a kingdom though the actual city of Novgorod was/still is (depending on Darman) in the green area close to the eastern border).

And Finland, Karelya and Pomorye )

[Darman]

Mine is going to be the Swedish Empire.  Not sure yet how they got this far beyond Sweden continuing to dominate after the Thirty Years' War. 

I'm thinking that Sweden wins the Second Northern War, forcing Prussia to become a vassal state, capturing St. Petersburg from the Russians (destroying that royal family and forcing them to flee), and forging an alliance with the Polish-Lithuania Commonwealth (this alliance will later become formalized as a Union by marriage between scions of the respective royal families, which is why there will be a large Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth found as a territory within the Swedish Empire). 

In the Scanian War Norway-Denmark, Netherlands, Brandenburg, and the Holy Roman Empire join with a traitorous Prussia (vassal state that attempts to throw off the yoke of Swedish oppression) to fight the French and Swedes, with Denmark, Brandenburg, and Prussia being subsequently subsumed by Sweden, and the Netherlands split between Sweden and France. 

Does this sound do-able and realistic?

[snip]

Well, seeing as France does not exist as Rome dominates that portion of the continent... Russia also does not necessarily exist. You may want to rejig the plan, dont focus so much on historical events quite that late. Things have clearly gone differently since before 467.

[Walter]

And Finland, Karelya and Pomorye )

I added them as well as parts of Lapland that fall into my territory to Novgorod. Leftovers of the Novgorod Republic with added parts in the area, I would think that the people would still refer to their nation within a nation as 'Novgorod' eventhough the actual city of Novgorod hasn't been part of it for a long time. A new city with the name 'Novgorod' would be formed but not sure yet what the proper name would be for it ('New Novgorod', 'Icy Novgorod', 'Northern Novgorod', 'Norse Novgorod', 'Viking Novgorod', etc.)

Also I own only part of Finland. It would be slightly different if I owned the whole of Finland but I do not.

Not sure yet how they got this far beyond Sweden continuing to dominate after the Thirty Years' War.

Alliances, marriages, etc. will work. Through marriage, the British Empire was in a sense part of the Netherlands between 1689 and 1702. :)

Does this sound do-able and realistic?

Well, the one minor nit would be that those evil Danish would have had no control over the Northmen so perhaps the absence of them in the war might have some negative impact on the way the war went for Denmark, Netherlands, Brandenburg, the Holy Roman Empire and Prussia.

Russia also does not necessarily exist.

Well, not any more. :)

I could see that it may have existed at some point (though perhaps a lot smaller than historical) and with the defeat of Russia and capture of Saint Petersburg, the Menace of the East could have moved in and captured what eastern parts of Russia there may have been until hitting the borders with Yellow and Green.

[olekit24]

Yet the rulers of my state are repreentatives of the Christian faith, but Islam is the second full-fledged faith in Iberia)
Thus, Iberia or officially - Kingdom of Iberia and North Africa, emerged after the bloody wars of the Reconquista in the 8 - 11 centuries AD.
Battle of Mérida has become the biggest defeat of the Islamic invaders, for a while they left the coast of the Iberian Peninsula. King Ferdinand III took the opportunity to combine disparate Spanish counties and principalities to form the Kingdom of Spain, with its capital in Cordoba.
By 1365 the Kingdom has been strengthened so that drew their attention to North Africa: almost 150 years, to 1555 Spain won Morocco and part of Algeria to the 1825-th in Spain owned all the land in North Africa from the Atlantic to Egypt.
In 1874, it was announced the union with the Kingdom of Portugal, and in 1902 it was annexed by Spain, which, in turn, got its modern name.
Now the country is ruled by King Alfonso XIII, the African lands managed by the governor of Arab Muslim faith, which reports directly to the king. Legislative power is de jure belongs to the Parliament and the executive - the Cabinet.

[Darman]

Well, seeing as France does not exist as Rome dominates that portion of the continent... Russia also does not necessarily exist. You may want to rejig the plan, dont focus so much on historical events quite that late. Things have clearly gone differently since before 467.

Fair enough I had zero idea what was going on in southern and western Europe. 

[Darman]

Russia also does not necessarily exist.

Well, not any more. :)
I could see that it may have existed at some point (though perhaps a lot smaller than historical) and with the defeat of Russia and capture of Saint Petersburg, the Menace of the East could have moved in and captured what eastern parts of Russia there may have been until hitting the borders with Yellow and Green.

I did definitely presume that the capture of St. Petersburg heralded the end of whatever Russian state existed. 

[Kaiser Kirk]

Looking at the various ideas,
both Olekit and I  have the Muslim expansion being robust.  This suggests they were somewhat as prominent as History has, at least at first. The "Byzantium" could be Byzantium or a Caliphate or anything Jefgte wants, but a Muslim expansion at somepoint is needed.


For my history, the first couple battles against the Mongols were defeats on the steppe, which was redeemed in the mountains with a major victory, and a treaty was made. This meant the Mongols were deflected north and west.
So my suggestion ;
For Russia, which historically was reduced to the vassal Duchy of Moscow until 1480.... more Mongols could mean being further reduced, and/or not able to break free in 1480, and expand into Tsarist Russia until later - perhaps 1580, then expanding in the 1600s. 
This would mean Sweden would face less competition along the Baltic, and the Russians would be expanding into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, leading to a natural ally, and complete victory in the Great Northern War ? Sweden would then not have to watch the East so hard and could focus efforts elsewhere.

[Darman]

Is there any chance we could get a new Subsection of the forum set up for each nation to create a separate thread on nationbuilding ideas? That way we can allow discussion of creating cultures and societies and "how we got to here" scenarios?  Also a small section about ships, so we can post and review pre-start vessels

[Jefgte]

Back from short holydays on the Atlantic coast  :D
-----
The Byzantium Empire is great !!!
I like the map.
I suppose we are building the fleet & the army since 1890 and we start reporting in 1900H1
I'm waiting for the starting data.
Byzantium is an average power.
What is the finality of the game ?

Jef  ;)

[snip]

Glad you like your slot.
Game start will be 1910.
Starting information is coming, in an ideal world this week.
All the powers are going to be roughly equivalent.

Back from short holydays on the Atlantic coast  :D
-----
The Byzantium Empire is great !!!
I like the map.
I suppose we are building the fleet & the army since 1890 and we start reporting in 1900H1
I'm waiting for the starting data.
Byzantium is an average power.
What is the finality of the game ?

Jef  ;)