A century ago, Andaren's nations sent to the west the first inhabitants of their new colonies, in a vast and unchartered continent. Their original mission was to discover the Lands of Dawn, in the far west - the lands from which comes the sun, fabled to hold untold amounts of wealth. However, the colonies soon discovered that the natives were not to be easily tamed, and that the climate was much harsher than Andaren; and so, the first expeditions were lost. After the first few years, the colonists settled down permanently and built new cities; it was a new beginning. For a time, there was peace. But peace is coming to an end.
The world is changing. Andaren is in turmoil. While a King starts dreaming of becoming an Emperor and the liberal ideas of the last century are finally spreading to the population in the Old World and the New, you have been tasked to take the reins of one of the Andaric nations' colonies. The task will not be easy - to the west lie the natives, and around your lands lie the territories of other nations, who may not have any love for you or your king.
As politicians play their game of thrones in the east and war gathers over the Old World, men speak of liberty. Freedom. Revolution. These men are few, but their numbers are growing quickly; it seems their ideas will only be stopped with force... If they must be stopped. That is for you to decide.
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Welcome to Towards the Lands of Dawn! First of all, yes, we know the sun doesn't come from the west - this isn't the real world, though. TLD is a game of economics, intrigue, politics, and war, in which the players take the role of colonial governors ruling the colonies of the New World. The game begins at an era where the colonies are well established but have yet to expand to the west. As the time advances, so will the borders of the colonies - as well as technology and new, revolutionary ideas.
The players will have to make a Player Character (PC) and define their colony before being accepted - if they are accepted. We will be taking eight players, on the basis of who has the best applications - coming first won't get you any privileges. The number of players might expand as the game progresses if we feel confident in our capacity to take in more, but that is no certainty.
Now, who is this "we" I speak of? Well, TLD actually has three GMs - the Unholy Triumvirate, your Benevolent* Overlords. The members are:
-DigitalHellhound, also called DH, who had the idea in the first place.
-Ardas, who joined in to help.
-Myself, Shootandrun, who did much the same as Ardas.
These two will be taking care of rolling for players and making sure their actions are listened to, as well as taking the part of NPC commanders, should the players decide not to go to battle themselves. I will be making sure the NPC leaders of nations and other colonies do things, as well as taking care of events and handling enemy forces.
If you're curious about the economy of the game, look in the spoiler below. If you wish to simply write your app and vote on a few things (which is important!), you can skip it.
In TLD, all revenues are handled with the EPI - short for Economic Prosperity Indicator. The EPI is basically a multiplier which is modified (generally positively, but not always) by upgrades and events. This multiplier is applied to the basic population of a region or city, and the result is the income generated, per turn, by this city. An example:
If Sebastown has a population of 4 and an EPI of 1.25, the city's income will be 5¤ (our unit of money), as show by this: 4 * 1.25 = 5
Money can then be used to get even more upgrades, more troops, trade, spies, intrigue, etc.
Player applications:
Character name: Your PC's name.
Character physical description: What your PC looks like.
Character bio: What your PC's story is.
Colony name: What your PC's colony (remember, he's a governor!) is called.
Colony description: Describe your colony's location and we'll try to follow it when placing it on the map. No islands, and it must be along the coast.
Player votes (this is important):
Players must vote on what their motherland is. There are three options for the basic frame, before going deeper into the design of the nation. If you like somebody else's idea, just quote it. We'll only take into account the votes of the chosen players, and act as tie-breakers if need be. The three options for the basics are below, and the voting sheet is just underneath.
Option A: Island nation. Naval focus. Very good for leading a colonial empire; however, the monarch is a mostly incompetent, stubborn isolationist, who may not have any desire to support his colonies.
Option B: Coastal nation. Land focus. The navy is not very large and may have trouble protecting the nation's coasts, but the ruler is a formidably competent military genius - by far the best ruler of Andaren, he has expressed the desire to make a colonial empire despite his lack of a strong fleet. Although his desires for war may not be very beneficial for your economy, at least you have good chances of being on the winning side thanks to him.
Option C: Coastal nation. Land and naval focus. The ruler of this nation is fairly competent, but it is overall the weakest of the three - although it may supplant the Option A in time. He is also Option B's neighbor, which could lead to... Interesting political situations, if you choose him.
Basic frame: A, B or C
Nation name: Your nation's name.
Culture: Your nation's culture (you can describe a new one or use a real world analogue).
Religion: Describe the nation's religion; leave blank if it does not matter to you.
Government form: The choices are Absolute monarchy, Enlightened monarchy, Constitutional monarchy, and Elective monarchy.
Location of the colonies on the continent:
Here's a rough map of the new world. Describe where you would want the player colonies to be placed.