Miracle
New Member
I call it freeform, it would probably be better described as ‘Rules-Lite’
So, firstly, almost all of the rules can be summed up as follows.
There will be some limits placed on things like population, land volume, and so on when designing your nation.
Mods = Gods
Or, in other words, GMs have the final say on whether or not something is ok. Other than that… We’re hoping to maintain a certain standard, or… Thoroughness. Whilst it isn’t mandatory, attention to detail will be much appreciated. Major changes to your nation during roleplay might require GM approval. If you’re not sure, either hold off or go ahead, but accept we might ask you to make changes - retroactively, if need be.
This will likely change over time, as nations are made and interact with each other, but there is an extensive basis for this setting, which I can provide on request. Otherwise, I shall endeavour to provide a narrative summary here.
So, firstly, almost all of the rules can be summed up as follows.
There will be some limits placed on things like population, land volume, and so on when designing your nation.
Mods = Gods
Or, in other words, GMs have the final say on whether or not something is ok. Other than that… We’re hoping to maintain a certain standard, or… Thoroughness. Whilst it isn’t mandatory, attention to detail will be much appreciated. Major changes to your nation during roleplay might require GM approval. If you’re not sure, either hold off or go ahead, but accept we might ask you to make changes - retroactively, if need be.
This will likely change over time, as nations are made and interact with each other, but there is an extensive basis for this setting, which I can provide on request. Otherwise, I shall endeavour to provide a narrative summary here.
This is a low fantasy setting, placed in the distant future, long after humanity spread forth from earth and colonised planets across the galaxy. They did so with the potent addition of an important new development within humanity itself - magic. It took decades, centuries even, before humanity truly could claim mastery over magic, and even so, it was a dark and dangerous tool, closely monitored and at times, outright banned by various governments. Nonetheless, it was core to a range of important advancements and technologies that propelled human prosperity, including a way of creating wormholes throughout the galaxy, connecting earth to far flung planets that could be inhabited. Mecratheen was one such planet, or to be more precise, moon. Orbiting a small gas giant in an otherwise value-less system of 3 planets and a large asteroid belt, Mecratheen was chosen as a potential target for terraforming, as it had liquid water for half of its orbital cycle (and ice for the rest), as well as bacterial life beneath the ground. The near-exclusively nitrogen atmosphere was also suitable for creating an earth-like environment. In 2481, a wormhole was opened outside the world, and 3 colony ships passed through it before it closed, with the necessary supplies and equipment to support the population of 6,000 they collectively bore, as well as to begin the long and arduous process of transforming the planet’s surface and atmosphere to something more suitable for long term human habitation.
However, 3 years into the terraforming process, before the planet had been opened up to mass colonisation from earth, the planned portals to provide supplies from earth stopped opening, and the mages on Mecratheen did not have the resources necessary to open one back to Earth - the planet was cut off, for reasons the colonists would never know. The colonists had a viable population, and the planet was habitable, for the most part, although their work was far from done. The loss of contact from earth, however, meant that supplies from earth were no longer forthcoming, and the colonists lacked many of the necessary resources and skills to provide for themselves. They survived, but as generations passed, their machinery and computers degraded and decayed, and were not replaced, as the population favoured more fundamental skills, such as agriculture, over computer science or chemical engineering. As centuries passed, humanity spread across the gradually more earth-like world, their population rising, and their technological mastery declining.
This is the world in which we play, an earth-like moon with unfamiliar astrology, in a distant future with the skills and technologies of a time long past.
I have pages and pages of notes for this, but this is what I would consider the basic setting information you'd need to get up to speed. And just to make it clear - the fact that humanity came from outside Mecratheen is obfuscated and forgotten.
Mana, is the lifeblood of all things. Every living thing on Mecratheen (and beyond) carries a weight, a value, as it were, in Mana. Without mana, a living thing will soon wither and die. A sentient being without mana will quickly turn wistful, losing their lust for life, and eventually, any will to act at all. Mana in Mecratheen is often referred to as souls, and this, by our own understanding, is fairly astute. All mana is derived from the Font, the focal point between worlds, and a living entity of near-infinite size, power, and intelligence, which exists to propagate life across millions upon millions of worlds. Mecratheen is unique amongst these, as it is here that the Font sent to one of the species here more mana than had been given to any other sentient being on any other plane of existence. The souls of some humans can touch their mind, rendering them capable of hearing, seeing, smelling, or even tasting mana. Not necessarily all of these, and often only one. And for a select few, the ability not only to be aware of the mana in the world around them, but to move it - to control it.
It is incredibly difficult to draw the mana out of a living thing, however, and so magic in Mecratheen is closely associated with death. It is the deaths of living things that lead to mana existing, and there are dark places in the world where the mana is never entirely gone - forgotten catacombs and sprawling urban graveyards, the sites of vast battles of times now passed. Mages rely on death to fuel their spells and rituals, to put it simply, and can wield far stronger and more powerful magics in the vicinity of many, recent deaths. Mages wield magic by drawing ‘loose’ mana into themselves, and then burning it away - erasing it forever. This process is risky and unpleasant, as it tends to leave a mage with mismatched parts of souls that didn’t once belong to them, and parts of their own soul erased. This can lead an inveterate mage to become eccentric, detached, and often possessed of surreal visions or hallucinations.
What can be achieved with magic is incredibly unclear, and most mages only ever learn to master one or two spells, down to rote in their own minds. Trying to teach these spells to other mages almost always ends in failure (and sometimes, disaster), and so magic is an incredibly personal experience for most. Most spells influence living things in some way, be it to make the mage seem more appealing or agreeable, by visiting illusions or hallucinations upon them, or even by inflicting terrible ailments or diseases that should not be.
Magic is, of course, there in nature, independent of man - and this is true in all planes. The not-yet-departed souls of the dead occasionally merge, and manifest in some way, shape or form, typically in those places that have seen the most catastrophic volumes of deaths at some time in the past - and the enchantments that exist in these places can persist for decades, or even centuries, until the souls that feed them have withered away. Such places often become the sites of local superstition and folk tales, and rightly so, as they are also often places of great danger, to be avoided.
Mecratheen is a moon of roughly 60% of the size, and 80% greater density (and thus similar mass and gravity) than earth. Its sun, an energetic blue star, is 3.92 AU from Mecratheen, but the planet remains firmly within the life zone, due to the increased energy output of such a star. Mecratheen rotates fully on its axis once every 25.7 hours, and completely orbits its associated gas giant (Aneer), once every 93 days. This means that for roughly 30 days per orbit, the world experiences a ‘dark season’, in which direct light from the sun is eclipsed by Aneer. It is the planet’s thick atmosphere that stops it from becoming unbearably cold during this time.
Furthemore, the tidal impact on the world from Aneer is enormous. The tides bring predictable, incredibly severe flooding in coastal regions around the world. These tidal shifts often cause damage to harbours and coastal settlements, and have forced the adaptation of flora, fauna, and architecture to handle them. Low-lying coastal regions can have beaches that reach for dozens of miles inland, and there are towns and villages built on cliffs in some places, where ships can only come to port at night, when the tide is high, and must leave again before the tide falls too far, lest they be dashed against the rocks.
Mecratheen has a very minor axial tilt, causing it to experience minimal seasonal shifts, making latitude a far more significant marker of anticipating temperature at all times of year. Snowfall is incredibly rare, and mostly occurs at the peak of the dark season, and across some of the highest mountain peaks. Mecratheen no longer has any ice sheets on its surface, and outside of the dark season, experiences a temperate to sub-tropical climate.
The Gosh Darn Map
Designing a Nation
There aren’t going to be any hard-and-fast rules here, but before I propose a layout you might want to use, I will say that having a population of greater than 10,000,000 will be frowned upon, as will laying claim to vast tracts of land. Other assertions such as “X scientists have unlocked the secrets of lasers far ahead of their time” might also be disregarded out of hand. As a benchmark, your technological assets should approximate to that of the 9th to 12th century, but some leeway might be given if you ask nicely and don’t seem to be doing it to power game.
Anyway, a proposed layout.
Official Handle: The Kingdom of Somewhere
Colloquial Names: Somewhere, Somewheria
Demonym: Somewherian
Flag: -
Capital: Some Place ~ Residence of the King, Largest City in Somewhere
Government and Ideology:
Here you should explain how your nation chooses its leaders, what kind of power they exercise, what checks or balances on said power do (or do not) exist, as well as the cogs of government, what it takes responsibility for, how it is administered, etc, etc.
Society:
Here you should describe the traditional culture and habits of your people(s), including their religious beliefs and practices, and those of any cultural and religious minorities that exist within the nation, should there be any. (Things are typically more interesting if there are. Furthermore, I have a list of religions that I will share upon request, if you fancy adopting one designed for the setting.)
History:
Here you should explore the history of your nation, how its people banded together, how they came to their current form of government, any great disasters or boons that fell upon it, wars it may have fought, and so forth. (You might want to discuss this in particular with other players, particular those that you neighbour.)
Economy:
This needn't be a detailed account of every coin that passes in and out of circulation, but should explain broadly what goods and resources the nation possesses or generates, which are consumed locally, which are made available for export and traded freely, and how the government comes by its own income, as well as what that might cost the people.
Population: I recommend 3-5 million.
Major Industries: A short list of important resources and prominent crafts within the nation.
Don't feel the need to fill this out just to join - please do feel free to just express interest and PM to discuss... Anything, really, whether it's the setting, how to set up a nation, or the packers game. (Seriously don't ask me about any sports, I will not know what you're talking about.)
To begin with, I'll focus mostly on GMing, and populating various regions of the map with minor and major nations alike to act as allies or antagonists to human players, as well as injecting 'events' into the game, either in the form of internal affairs within player nations, or as the actions of these mod-managed nations. If we get enough players, I'll look to recruit extra mods to keep order - but I won't ask them to stop playing any nations they have if I do so, part of the point of having a mod is to trust them anyway.
However, 3 years into the terraforming process, before the planet had been opened up to mass colonisation from earth, the planned portals to provide supplies from earth stopped opening, and the mages on Mecratheen did not have the resources necessary to open one back to Earth - the planet was cut off, for reasons the colonists would never know. The colonists had a viable population, and the planet was habitable, for the most part, although their work was far from done. The loss of contact from earth, however, meant that supplies from earth were no longer forthcoming, and the colonists lacked many of the necessary resources and skills to provide for themselves. They survived, but as generations passed, their machinery and computers degraded and decayed, and were not replaced, as the population favoured more fundamental skills, such as agriculture, over computer science or chemical engineering. As centuries passed, humanity spread across the gradually more earth-like world, their population rising, and their technological mastery declining.
This is the world in which we play, an earth-like moon with unfamiliar astrology, in a distant future with the skills and technologies of a time long past.
I have pages and pages of notes for this, but this is what I would consider the basic setting information you'd need to get up to speed. And just to make it clear - the fact that humanity came from outside Mecratheen is obfuscated and forgotten.
Mana, is the lifeblood of all things. Every living thing on Mecratheen (and beyond) carries a weight, a value, as it were, in Mana. Without mana, a living thing will soon wither and die. A sentient being without mana will quickly turn wistful, losing their lust for life, and eventually, any will to act at all. Mana in Mecratheen is often referred to as souls, and this, by our own understanding, is fairly astute. All mana is derived from the Font, the focal point between worlds, and a living entity of near-infinite size, power, and intelligence, which exists to propagate life across millions upon millions of worlds. Mecratheen is unique amongst these, as it is here that the Font sent to one of the species here more mana than had been given to any other sentient being on any other plane of existence. The souls of some humans can touch their mind, rendering them capable of hearing, seeing, smelling, or even tasting mana. Not necessarily all of these, and often only one. And for a select few, the ability not only to be aware of the mana in the world around them, but to move it - to control it.
It is incredibly difficult to draw the mana out of a living thing, however, and so magic in Mecratheen is closely associated with death. It is the deaths of living things that lead to mana existing, and there are dark places in the world where the mana is never entirely gone - forgotten catacombs and sprawling urban graveyards, the sites of vast battles of times now passed. Mages rely on death to fuel their spells and rituals, to put it simply, and can wield far stronger and more powerful magics in the vicinity of many, recent deaths. Mages wield magic by drawing ‘loose’ mana into themselves, and then burning it away - erasing it forever. This process is risky and unpleasant, as it tends to leave a mage with mismatched parts of souls that didn’t once belong to them, and parts of their own soul erased. This can lead an inveterate mage to become eccentric, detached, and often possessed of surreal visions or hallucinations.
What can be achieved with magic is incredibly unclear, and most mages only ever learn to master one or two spells, down to rote in their own minds. Trying to teach these spells to other mages almost always ends in failure (and sometimes, disaster), and so magic is an incredibly personal experience for most. Most spells influence living things in some way, be it to make the mage seem more appealing or agreeable, by visiting illusions or hallucinations upon them, or even by inflicting terrible ailments or diseases that should not be.
Magic is, of course, there in nature, independent of man - and this is true in all planes. The not-yet-departed souls of the dead occasionally merge, and manifest in some way, shape or form, typically in those places that have seen the most catastrophic volumes of deaths at some time in the past - and the enchantments that exist in these places can persist for decades, or even centuries, until the souls that feed them have withered away. Such places often become the sites of local superstition and folk tales, and rightly so, as they are also often places of great danger, to be avoided.
Mecratheen is a moon of roughly 60% of the size, and 80% greater density (and thus similar mass and gravity) than earth. Its sun, an energetic blue star, is 3.92 AU from Mecratheen, but the planet remains firmly within the life zone, due to the increased energy output of such a star. Mecratheen rotates fully on its axis once every 25.7 hours, and completely orbits its associated gas giant (Aneer), once every 93 days. This means that for roughly 30 days per orbit, the world experiences a ‘dark season’, in which direct light from the sun is eclipsed by Aneer. It is the planet’s thick atmosphere that stops it from becoming unbearably cold during this time.
Furthemore, the tidal impact on the world from Aneer is enormous. The tides bring predictable, incredibly severe flooding in coastal regions around the world. These tidal shifts often cause damage to harbours and coastal settlements, and have forced the adaptation of flora, fauna, and architecture to handle them. Low-lying coastal regions can have beaches that reach for dozens of miles inland, and there are towns and villages built on cliffs in some places, where ships can only come to port at night, when the tide is high, and must leave again before the tide falls too far, lest they be dashed against the rocks.
Mecratheen has a very minor axial tilt, causing it to experience minimal seasonal shifts, making latitude a far more significant marker of anticipating temperature at all times of year. Snowfall is incredibly rare, and mostly occurs at the peak of the dark season, and across some of the highest mountain peaks. Mecratheen no longer has any ice sheets on its surface, and outside of the dark season, experiences a temperate to sub-tropical climate.
The Gosh Darn Map
Designing a Nation
There aren’t going to be any hard-and-fast rules here, but before I propose a layout you might want to use, I will say that having a population of greater than 10,000,000 will be frowned upon, as will laying claim to vast tracts of land. Other assertions such as “X scientists have unlocked the secrets of lasers far ahead of their time” might also be disregarded out of hand. As a benchmark, your technological assets should approximate to that of the 9th to 12th century, but some leeway might be given if you ask nicely and don’t seem to be doing it to power game.
Anyway, a proposed layout.
Official Handle: The Kingdom of Somewhere
Colloquial Names: Somewhere, Somewheria
Demonym: Somewherian
Flag: -
Capital: Some Place ~ Residence of the King, Largest City in Somewhere
Government and Ideology:
Here you should explain how your nation chooses its leaders, what kind of power they exercise, what checks or balances on said power do (or do not) exist, as well as the cogs of government, what it takes responsibility for, how it is administered, etc, etc.
Society:
Here you should describe the traditional culture and habits of your people(s), including their religious beliefs and practices, and those of any cultural and religious minorities that exist within the nation, should there be any. (Things are typically more interesting if there are. Furthermore, I have a list of religions that I will share upon request, if you fancy adopting one designed for the setting.)
History:
Here you should explore the history of your nation, how its people banded together, how they came to their current form of government, any great disasters or boons that fell upon it, wars it may have fought, and so forth. (You might want to discuss this in particular with other players, particular those that you neighbour.)
Economy:
This needn't be a detailed account of every coin that passes in and out of circulation, but should explain broadly what goods and resources the nation possesses or generates, which are consumed locally, which are made available for export and traded freely, and how the government comes by its own income, as well as what that might cost the people.
Population: I recommend 3-5 million.
Major Industries: A short list of important resources and prominent crafts within the nation.
Don't feel the need to fill this out just to join - please do feel free to just express interest and PM to discuss... Anything, really, whether it's the setting, how to set up a nation, or the packers game. (Seriously don't ask me about any sports, I will not know what you're talking about.)
To begin with, I'll focus mostly on GMing, and populating various regions of the map with minor and major nations alike to act as allies or antagonists to human players, as well as injecting 'events' into the game, either in the form of internal affairs within player nations, or as the actions of these mod-managed nations. If we get enough players, I'll look to recruit extra mods to keep order - but I won't ask them to stop playing any nations they have if I do so, part of the point of having a mod is to trust them anyway.
