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[Ghazkull]

IC-Thread

For Centuries the City States of Blackwater Coast have lived in Past Glories and wallowed in their own Decay. The various Princes, Despots, Military Juntas and Merchant Princes couping, rebelling and replacing each other constantly had led to a slow and steady economic,military and cultural Downfall of the Once Great States of the Blackwater Coast.

Their Size and Influence too has severly diminished and log since parts belonging to them have been taken by other Nations. Be it the once separatist and now likewise steadily decaying Duchy of Kerns, the Burgeoning Theocratic Crusader State of Mourn, or the Darkbrook Shogunate which simply claimed the abandoned lands.

But now a new Era has dawned. Your turn in the convoluted Politic Climate of the Blackwater Coast has come and it is to be seen if you will put your mark on it's history and bring change or if you enter the long row of Despots and Tyrants and just quicken the Death of the Ancient States.

Premise

Players take the Roles of either the Leadership of up to three of the Blackwater Coasts City States or  they sign up as various other Persons of Import like Merchants, Generals, Nobles and Mercenaries.

Spoiler:  Map of the Blackwater Coast, Courtesy of Shootandrun (click to show/hide)

Rules

Spoiler:  Military (click to show/hide)

Military Units are usually assembled in Regiments of 1.000 Men. While a Regiment can perform with less troops one can only found new Regiments at this standard Strength.

Generally a Regiment has 4 Statuses besides its numerical Strength:

1st Kol'thelos Noble Infantry (1.000, Strict Levy, Light, Structured, Recruit)

The Number at the beginning denotes the Number of Soldiers in the Regiment, the second slot determines the professionality of the Unit. the Third determines its Equipment, the Fourth its Training and the Fifth its Experience

Professionality

It determines whether your men are peasantry which usually works on its field and at most assembles once a year to get some rudimentary training with its weaponry or whether they are Professional Soldiers.

Strict Levy: No Wage Cost. Can only be trained up to Basic Training.
Levy Reserve: +0,25 Ducats per season. Can only be trained up to Structured Training.
Garrison: +0,5 Ducats per season.  Can only be trained up to Professional Training
Professional: +1 Ducat per season.

Equipment

Minimal:  Sticks, cleavers, whatever the peasants have on hand.  No Cost
Basic: Spears or clubs and light wooden shields, basic leather armour.  +0,25 Ducats
Simple: Maces, axes or pikes, heavier wooden shields, leather armour.  +0,5 Ducats
Light: Above, with studded leather and reinforced shields.  +1 Ducat
Medium: Any Weapon, Chainmail and reinforced shields. +2 Ducats - Requires Iron, +0,5 Ducats upkeep
Heavy: The Above with Brigandines and reinforced shields. +3 Ducats - Requires Iron, +1 Ducat upkeep
Very Heavy: Full Gothic Plate Armour, outfitted with the finest weaponry and steel shields. +5 Ducats - Requires Iron, +2 Ducats upkeep

Training

Militia: The peasants have enough training to hold spears without killing themselves.  Free.
Basic: The recruits are taught to march in order and not hit each other.  +0,25 Ducats per season
Structured: Formations are taught, as are combat techniques and basic stances.  +0,5 Ducats per season
Professional*: The troops are taught to fight and kill effectively with their chosen weapons in a variety of circumstances.  +1 Ducat per season
Harsh: The troops survive in the worst conditions and can kill with anything.  Their discipline is iron.  +2 Ducats per season
Elite: The best ordinary men can become.  Feared by all.  + 5 Ducats per season
Spartan: Legendary warriors to whom war is a way of life.  Soldiering is all they know.  +10 Ducats per season

Experience

Green
Recruit
Blooded
Experienced
Veteran
Elite
Legendary


Furthermore Regiments can be assembled into Armies. 5 Regiments assemble into an Army. An Army has a Tradition and even if it is destroyed the  Tradition stays and the Army can be reassembled. Over many battles an Army aquires a Legacy for which it is known. Soldiers within it try to aspire to this Legacy.


Finally Manpower. Obviously a Realm can not endlessly draw upon its people for new Soldiers. This is especially so for City States. However how picky you are with your Recruitment Methods may well determine how much soldiers you can aquire.

Professionals: You only take able bodied young men and women, of course only those willing to make warfare their job 100% Manpower, allows any professionality
Garrisons:You take on everybody willing to make warfare their job 150% Manpower, cannot draft Professionals
Levy Reserve:You drafted some volunteers who come together every month to train, in return for a monetary compensation 200% Manpower, cannot draft Professionals, Garrisons
Strict Levy: You just rounded up every able-bodied peasant who is able to hold a spear 300% Manpower, cannot draft Professionals, Garrisons, Levy Reserve, Losses may cripple Economy
Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel: You conscript every Men and Woman in the Fighting Age on top of Cripples, Criminals and Malcontents. Access to One Third of the Populace as Manpower, Restriced to Levy
The Young, The Old, EVERYBODY: You conscript everybody who isn't pregnant, a baby or an old woman. Access to Two Thirds of the Populace. You wont have anybody who you can rule after this...
Slave Armies: You went the Full Way and employ slaves. Slaves who are not of Elite and Above Training may rebel at some point. Needs Slaves obviously.


Companies

Of course sending an entire Regiment to patrol a road, defend a Caravan or a Trade Post or Mine is a bit ridiculous. For this there are Companies. Units of 100 Men or less. In a battle against a Regiment they would inevitably lose but to defend against Bandits, Raiders and other Companies they are just fine. They follow the same rules as Regiments otherwise. The can alsso be detached from Regiments for special Missions (Raiding, Plundering, Black-Ops etc.)

More so Companies might be interesting for Trade Companies and Merchants since they get them without drawing on Manpower. Instead a Merchant has a Cap on how many Companies he can raise depending on how far he expanded a Trade Post or his Headquarter.

Spoiler:  Trade (click to show/hide)

Trade has two Layers: One is being State-Controlled the other being Merchant/Trade Company/Merch Republic controlled.

Trade Routes and Infrastructure
Trade Routes and Infrastructure belong to the First Layer. Two Governments need to strike a Trade Agreement to allow Trade to be happening between their Countries legally.
Once that is done the proper Infrastructure needs to be built to allow for Trade Ships to anchor and Caravans to reach the City.

Infrastructure is divided into Land and Sea. With the owning Government needing to build and maintain them to allow Trade Caravans and Trade Ships to collect their Cargo.

Land
Trails - free - 1 Caravan Capacity - Trails are barely more than ways which came to be via massed travel over the same ground. They start to appear once a Trade Agreement has been met.
Dirt Roads -3 Ducats Cost - 0,5 Ducats Maint - 3 Caravan Capacity - Dirt Roads are the result of cultivating the wild nature around a Trail. Removing the Weeds, cutting down bushes and Trees in the way and elevate the whole thing a bit with a filling of Earth. Though far better than Trails a simple rain can cause it to become a muddy swamp making Travel almost impossible.
Paved Roads -5 Ducats Cost - 1 Ducat Main. - 5 Caravan Capacity - Paved Roads are paved with Stone further cultivated and regularly repaired and cleaned by either Local Garrisons or Hired Workers. It takes Floods and landslides to make travel on these impossible
Post Roads and Stations - 10 Ducats Cost - 2 Ducats Main. - 10 Caravan Capacity - An Intricate and well maintained Road System connects the Two Cities. On the Way are Post Stations which check your papers and provide shelter for government Officials. If you have the right papers swift and secure Travel is assured and not even the worst of natural Disasters and only the most Daring and well equipped Bandits Armies are able to disrupt Trade on such a Road.
Imperial Roads, Towers and Post Stations -15 Ducats Cost - 5 Ducats Main. - 20 Caravan Capacity - Highly Maintained Well patrolled Highways with intricate arterial roads, every few Miles on encounters an Outpost with a Tower, a small garrison a post station, barracks, a tavern and a extra buildings for government officials. Entire villages grow aroudn these places. the Roads are Secure against any Disaster and such a System provides a Defensive Factor all of itself.

Sea
Fishing Port- Free - 1 Trade Ship - its actually just a single badly maintained jetty on which small fishing boats dock. a Trading Ship has to wait in deeper waters and unload its cargo with the help of smaller boats able to dock at the jetty.
Harbour- 3 Ducats Cost - 3 Trade Ships - a proper Harbour allowing ships to actually Dock and unload their goods directly quickly speeds up the Trading Process. An attached inn allows men to stay over night comfortably.
Trade Port - 5 Ducats Cost - 5 Trade Ships - Adding to the Harbour some Warehouses more Jetties to dock, a proper Customs House, some inns and cathouses.
Merchant Quarters - 10 Ducats Cost - 10 Trade Ships - Adds an extra Quarter for International Merchants into the City. There Trade Companies can build Warehouses, Barracks and Headquarters for their Companies.
International Trade Port- 15 Ducats Cost -20 Trade Ships- a bustling Metropolis, a city within a city. Dozens of Warehouses a massive Customs House with dozens of officers a garrison alone to patrol the Port, Inns, Taverns and entire red-light districts catering only to the needs of lonely seamen. It is is to get lost in the vast Districts of such a Trade Port.

Trade Posts, Caravans and Trade Ships

Belonging to the second layer, once Trade becomes viable Merchants and Trade Companies can begin to construct Trade Posts in Cities to be able to Trade. A word of warning though, each City, Town or Village has only Space for one Trade Post, usually that is. At a certain size of its trade facilities and population a City might have space for more than one Trade Company.

A Caravan/Trade Ship costs 0,5 Ducats and once bought has no upkeep. It transport Two Ducats worth of Goods each season.

Trade Posts
So finally you bought a Caravan, the Trade Agreement of your Country with the other one is struck and a Road connects the two. But wait we are not finished yet! To be able to trade at all you need a Trade Post.

Trade Post - 1 Ducat - Produces 1 Good per Season - Company Cap 1 - a Simple Warehouse with some outlying rooms and a few guards to protect it.
Merchant Enclave- 2 Ducats - Adds +2 Goods per Season, City Population Grows by One - As your interest in Trade grows mroe and more Merchants are settling down in the City to do their everyday business
Guard Quarters- 2 Ducats - +2 Company Cap - Adding a wall around your Quarter of the town and employing a bunch of Mercenaries who keep watch that nobody steals something out of your Quarter.
Local Branch Offices - 5 Ducats- +1 Company Cap - +1 Goods Per Season, City Pop grows by One - Sometimes land trade becomes complicated. If you have to travel through three or four Countries paying tolls at each and everyone of them you dont make any winnings, you only lose money. Thus Opening Branch Offices which take care of monetary and trade matters and make sure that the money reaches you via ways which aren't taxed and tolled are a real blessing.
Docks - 2 Ducats - +1 Ship Cap - Allows you to construct more Warships.

Company Headquarters
All that money and those Trade Goods have to go somewhere and that is usually the Company Headquarters.

Great Mansion- 10 Ducats - +3 Company Cap - +3 Ship Cap - +1 Regiment Cap - Population Grows by 1 - By adding various more Offices, Warehouses a few more Jetty's and an entire armory and new barracks the usual Mansion a Trading Company owns becomes a veritable City within the City

Palace - Requires Grand Mansion - 20 Ducats - +5 Company Cap - +5 Ship Cap - +2 Regiments Cap - 1000 Coursers - Goods Produce +2 Ducats - Population Grows by 2 - a Pompous Building with its own Stables, its very own Harbour, Vaults, Warehouses and more rooms than one cares to count is something only the richest can afford.

Grand Palace - Requires Palace - 40 Ducats - +10 Company Cap - +10 Ship Cap - +3 Regiments Cap - 2000 Coursers, 1000 Destriers - Goods Produce +2 Ducats -Population Grows by 2 - Dwarfing even the dreams of even the richest Feudal lords this Merchant Company has the Power to level kingdoms with the mere threat of an embargo


more upgrades to the Palaces may become available with more advanced Technology. Or if i have some more ideas

Concessions

Apart from Normal Trade there is also Trade with Strategical or Luxury Resources. Since these Rescources are quite valuable (for example Prize-Horses, High Grade Timber, Iron, Weapons etc.) two States need to agree to trade such resources with each other. Once an agreement has been met the resources need to be actually traded, at which point Trade Companies come into play.

Once given such a Concession a Trade Company gets an Convoy which needs to move instead from a Trade Post to the Company Headquarters or Branch Offices, between two Countries.
Each Convoy provides Four Ducats for a Trade Company but has to be guarded specifically by at least one Company of Soldiers.

Tolls and Tariffs
Of course the State wants a bit of the cake too, thats why he can raise tolls for using his roads, tariffs for using his ports and on top tax you on your winnings. On the other hand if the state gets to expensive for you, you might consider moving.

Moving your Headquarter is free but takes a whole season and you won't earn anything during it.

Spoiler:  Nobles (click to show/hide)

With the replacement of the Knight through Landsknechts,Pike Formations and Arquebusiers, the Landed Nobility turned upon its fief and became less a warrior class but rich landowners and Businessowners in their own right. Their lands, formerly lose and badly developed farmsteads would be exploited for Rescources.

Since the Government has its hands full enough with ruling and managing the Country it obviously can't micromanage Enterprises too and that is where the Nobles come in. Once a Strategic or Luxury Rescources has been discovered a Ruler can grant the land to a Noble for Maximum Exploitation. Of course one can leave it to NPCs which however won't quite bring the same results.
Since there are a myriad of different rescources i won't list here the different upgrades. THese will be handled from a case to case basis.

Manors
The Merchants Palace is the Nobles Manor. Instead of squeezed into the tight quarters of a City a Nobles Manor is out in the wilderness. Depending on what rescources he is adminsitrating he will have different Upgrades to his Manor available.

Sign-Up Sheet
Chosen will be by Quality of Application, you should also note that this game will be roleplay heavy.

Spoiler:  Character Sheet (click to show/hide)

Name:
Position/Occupation:
Physical Description:
Backstory:

Spoiler:  City State Sheet (For Ruler Players Only) (click to show/hide)

Name of the City State:
Position on the Map: (use one of the Five Unnamed Small Countries at the Coast with the Red Cities)
Government: (Are you a Monarchy? A Dictatorship? Or a Merchant Republic? maybe a Theocracy?)
Culture,Customs and Miscellaneous:
Past Glory: (What made your City State Special? Was it Wealthy Beyond Belief? Trained Spartan-like Elite Troops? Was it a Metropolis that bends the mind through its sheer size and scope?)

[10ebbor10]

Posting to watch.

[Fniff]

Reserved!

[Ardas]

Name: Duke Frederic Visarian
Position/Occupation: Sovereign of Trinicria
Physical Description: A man of a medium build, somewhat muscled. Soft face and a crop of short, well groomed brown hair.
Backstory: One of the many in line of the Visarian dynasty that arose out of the old council ruling Trinicria, Frederic took over the rule of his duchy not long ago, after his uncle, the previous ruler of the city died. Frederic was not first in line, but after his cousins died of plague and with late education for ruling it became apparent that he will be the heir. Before his grooming for rule, Frederic was passionate about history and voyages, having been traveling around the coast for some time before being held at court as it became apparent that he would have to take over. He took the role willingly, although at some expense to his dreams of exploration. Frederic is a young, fairly inexperienced but ambitious man.
Name of the City State: Duchy of Trinicria
Position on the Map: The smallest one, with a bay, wedged between Shogunate and the coast, with long lakes to the west.
Government: Monarchy
Culture,Customs and Miscellaneous: Trinicria always lived off the sea and maritime pursuits, and as such most customs are tied to the sea and voyage laws of hospitality remain strong as well as patrician customs of the citizenry. People living in the surrounding countryside always had a talent for horticulture and viticulture, with overseas plants that were brought over by merchants. The mercantile past also attracted mercenaries that fought for the interest of the traders and their military customs can be found among the lower classes too, who are eager to use stilettos or corsair knives in self-defense and are boisterous for the most part.
Past Glory: An old imperial colony and a provincial capital in distant past, Trinicria was a mighty merchant republic and a thalassocracy that once dominated the coast and stretched its interests in all known kingdoms by way of merchants and loans as well as agents. It was brought down by the Coalition of Four Princes some three hundred years ago, who fought a long and bloody war to remove Trinicrian influence from the region after it became apparent that their domains were controlled by the merchant puppeteers  and installed a four-person council as well as tied strong familial ties between each other to control the former city state. With time, the dynasties of princes died out and the council morphed into a dynasty of its own, holding blood of all four realms. However, the duchy declined and remand a rump state after its defeat for the past  3 centuries, living off very limited trade. Most of the big city declined and remained in ruin too, with little interest or means to repair or restore the city.

[Shootandrun]

Spoiler: The City (click to show/hide)

Name of the City State: Kol'Thelos
Position on the Map: The second most northern one, east of the Duchy.
Government: Feudal Dukedom
Culture,Customs and Miscellaneous: Kol'Thelos has a society that is defined by its nobility. The lords and ladies of the city are proud and ancient, and so is the Thelossi people. The knights of the city are the best rider in the land, fielding the only cavalry known to defeat the steppe riders on the Blackwater Coast, and accordingly the horse raiders and the free riders of Thelos are renowned throughout the region.

It is one of the last nations to respect the old ways, with a feudal structure and a powerful aristocracy, ruled by the Duke, uninterested in the democratic ways of the trading republics or the technological advancements of the south - except those which help the nobility. Religion is secondary in the city, with the aristocracy being uninterested in it and the peasantry lacking the infrastructure to organize real organized worship. Men and women are mostly equal when it comes to their right, and although it is rare, some women have been known to ride to war alongside men.

Racially, the Thelossi are a muddled mix of peoples. Tall, brown of hair and eye, their skin is paler than most westerners, and they speak with an accent seen on the tongues of the eastern traders, although less pronounced.

Past Glory: A long time ago, an empire rose from the plains of the east and conquered all the lands it knew. Stories say this empire was the first to make extended use of steel, and disciplined armies; whether or not there was any truth in that, the fact remains that the Kol Empire was the greatest nation of its time. During its golden age, it sent ships across the sea, colonizing the coasts of a newly discovered continent and bringing feudalism and chivalry to a land once controlled by the great shogunates.

However, when the Empire ran out of enemies, it was left with a powerful aristocracy and one of the greatest armies in the world, seeking blood and gold. Soon enough, it tore itself apart, with petty kings and dukes challenging the rule of the Emperor. Even that was long ago; now the empire is all but forgotten, remembered only in its name and in its legacy in the west. Many of Kol's colonies fell to barbarians or jealous western states, while others abandoned the ways of the east and became republics or shogunates. Not all fell, however. Kol'Thelos stood and endured, and to this day its knights and lords bow to the Duke's will like the warlords of the Empire kneeled before the emperor.

Spoiler: The Duke (click to show/hide)

Name: Alecto Vanheim
Position/Occupation: Duke of Kol'Thelos
Physical Description: As with most of his people, he is tall and possesses the brown hair of the east. Unlike most of the noble knights who form his city's nobility, however, he is lithe bodied and does not have the look of a fighter in him. His eyes are icy blue, contrasting starkly with that of most of his compatriots, and his glare is said to have frozen even the bravest of men.
Backstory: Although Alecto was the son of the previous duke, he was not intended to be the next one. Third in the line of the succession, he spent his life studiously and learning the matters of the state, hoping to be perhaps granted a county somewhere in the duchy if he served his brother well. However, when he was fifteen of age, his older sister was felled by the plague, making him the second most likely person to inherit.

When he was twenty-four, his brother and father marched to war against the steppe raiders, and although that war was won, neither of them made it home. His brother fell to an arrow in the eye, and, taken by sorrow, his father lowered his guard during the battle and was killed by a spear driven in his flank. Alecto, who had been the Regent during their absence, was promptly made duke. Although he was not versed in the ways of war like his family had been, he proved to be a quietly competent ruler, dealing well with the demands of the nobility and keeping the raiders at bay. A side-effect of his inheriting of the throne in such an unlikely manner was that he was left without a family, leaving many questions as to what will happen if he dies without a child. Since he is now only thirty-two years old, however, the answer to that question is hopefully still far away.

[Fniff]

Does this feature magic in any way, or is it bereft of it?

[Patrick Hunt]

Place Holder for Non Ruler.

[Remuthra]

Reserved.

[Ghazkull]

Fniff, nope no Magic this time.

[Fniff]

Grand so.

[Remuthra]

What era is this? It seems to be medieval fantasy, but it pays to check.

[Ghazkull]

Indeed Medieval Fantasy with the Onset of Firearms, right now Blackpowder has been invented and their use for cannons is known but no greater use has been made of it. Potentially it is possible to develop Firearms for Massed Use but it will take a lot of resources.

[Remuthra]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: Sir Javik Angloss
Position/Occupation: Grandmaster of the Brotherhood of Steam/Mechanic
Physical Description: A short, frail old man with a long gray beard and hair, his skin covered in scars and burns. He is dressed in a hooded cloak of dark indigo, emblazoned with a rendition of a complex golden gear inscribed with a likeness of an eye, and surrounded by a halo of flames, on the crest of the hood. He also wears a metal mask in the likeness of a snarling wolf. Beneath this, he wears plain clothes of black, with black boots, and beneath that a collection of small metal plates designed to deflect weapons and projectiles. At his side, he carries a silver dagger richly decorated with gold engraving, and a pistol embroidered with plates of gold, along with a silver-trimmed shortsword. When not dressed in this garb, he typically wears a suit of thick leather treated against fire. At his side, he carries a plain shortsword and pistol. His skin is tanned from heat exposure, and his ice-blue eyes have a manic glint.
Backstory:

[Ghazkull]

I doubt that there is Yet a Brotherhood of Steam or Mechanics, given that neither firearms nor Steam has been invented yet. As i said Cannons have barely been developed and aren't very useful nor widespread yet.

[Remuthra]

I doubt that there is Yet a Brotherhood of Steam or Mechanics, given that neither firearms nor Steam has been invented yet. As i said Cannons have barely been developed and aren't very useful nor widespread yet.

It's a cult of technology I will start.