The colony of Vastein, had been established by the great Empire of Asmea in 1754, and for many years the colonist profited from exporting raw goods such as foods iron ore and timber to the fatherland, the local governor known as the Viceroy ruling from the mountain city of Kela with complete control over all the running's of the Colony, and with total military control in the region. With the guiding hand of Asmea, the people of the colonies continued to enjoy security, both from external forces, and from overzealous Viceroys. So it had been and so it always would be, but in 1888, that all changed, with no warning or explanation, the colony of Vastein found itself cut off from Asmea.
Initially many felt that it would pass, but after a few months it began to set in, Vastein was alone. Panic began to spread amongst the colonies, however the Viceroy was quick to act, he mobilised the military to crackdown on the local rioters, and established a new rule. Turning Kela into a massive factory/fortress city, Viceroy Attira quickly established total control and order over Vastein, and at first, many were happy. But over the next 4 years the crackdowns got worse, people were arrested on masse, crops were seized and everywhere the Viceroy's rule became stricter and harsher. And now people have had enough, mass riots not in panic, but resistance against the Viceroy, soon armed rebellions were spreading up in the countryside, but little is known about them, the State controlled media presents only more glory from the Viceroy, and the Military and police crack-down on any who would say otherwise, people are scared, angry and confused, and the crisis is only getting worse.
You brave few, over a small bar in the city of Larton, have decided enough is enough, you will bring the people together to fight the Viceroy's oppressive regime, there will be hardships, and there will be loss, but you will strive onwards, you will bring about revolution.
Asmea is a nation consisting of an emperor who is the leader of the country and makes all the big decisions, and he picks out a parliament to run the country otherwise, though in the end the Emperor has the final say. It was a highly militarised state with a long history of expansion and conquest, with numerous colonies across the uncivilised world.
Asmea’s beginnings can be found 800 years ago as part of a loose alliance of numerous petty kingdoms with the kings electing one of them to lead the collection of kingdoms every ten years, at some point two of the petty kingdoms merged to form the kingdom of Asmea, and this kingdom began to slowly expand to swallow many of the other members of the alliance, for though they were all subservient to one leader, wars between the petty kingdoms was common.
It was in 1254 that Asmea truly took to the stage when the coalition was invaded by another, foreign power, Gandria, which successfully conquered many of the kingdoms of the coalition and forcefully vassalised many others, they even conquered the lands of the old coalition leader, and captured him as well. In this dark time Asmea rose to the challenge and in a series of successful military campaigns, not only liberated all of the coalition’s territory, but even invaded Gandria’s territory, at the end of the war Asmea was the only logical choice for coaltion leader, and it was made so, and Asmea was heralded as the saviour of the coalition.
However in the lands which Gandria had owned or directly conquered, Asmea didn’t share its spoils with its allies, and seized the lands for itself, and in the years that followed they were repeatedly elected as coalition leader, and only them, through virtue of their overwhelming military dominance. Soon the coalition became less of a coalition, and more of an empire, run by Asmea. Eventually in 1399 Asmea made its move and officially destroyed the coalition and had all other kings become vassals to them, while they conquered the lands of those who fought them, the king of Asmea even gave himself a new title, Emperor. Over the next few years Asmea absorbed all of its vassals directly into the kingdom until in 1534 all of the former coalition members had been absorbed into the Empire of Asmea.
The continent of Estorg is dominated by three major powers which Asmea is one of, with many other smaller nations lying between them. For the last 140 years these three powers have politically and militarily dominated their smaller neighbours, because of this Asmean people are an extremely proud people, always serving under the reign of the glorious Asmean Empire.
(Asmea is effectively a cross between Great Britain and the first German Empire)
The first Colony in Vatsein was founded in 1741, it was the city of Vanhur which was the first colony, and from there the lush landscape, exotic goods, raw materials and unclaimed land attracted more and more people from Asmea to found more cities such as Larton, Gorvac, Arthantra, and Drankar. Then in 1742 they settled their first inland colony, the city of Tiarca, and when in 1748 and 51 the cities of Kela and Greva were founded and the Emperor made the decision to unify all these cities as the colony of Vastein.
It wasn’t long after its founding that Vastein came under duress, the local primitives known as the Itani people had so far been lenient with the expansion of Asmea’s territories, they had willingly given up land for foods, primitive (by Asmean standards) weapons, and other valuable equipment, but when the colonist began to settle inland, problems emerged. It wasn’t long after the founding of Tiarca that skirmishes began to break out between the colonists and the locals. At first it was minor, a few towns would be attacked, some hunting parties ambushed, tribes wiped out, small things. Then the Itani began to gather, at first Asmea wasn’t aware of this, it was busy fighting wars in the homeland and had little time for the business of the colonies, besides, what was the worst those savages could do? Then they attacked in 1781, in their tens of thousands, and burned Greva to the ground.
The following Itani war saw the colony of Vastein burn and quail, not only was Greva burned to the ground, but the cities of Larton and the old colony capital of Vanhur were also bruned down, while the cities of Tiarka, Gorvac and Kela were also lain to siege before the relief force of 7000 troops and 1000 marines could arrive from Asmea to run back the invasion. Before setting up a permanent garrison of 6000 troops in the Vastein colony
The Colony was forever changed by the war, even though both Larton and Vanhur were reclaimed by settlers almost immediately after the war, the city of Greva would remain uninhabited ruins for the next 27 years, and the capitol had been moved permanently from Vanhur to Kela. The war also had other lasting impacts beyond the immediate relocation of peoples and government. Vastein became a highly militarised colony after this, and began actively seeking out and destroying any tribes or gatherings of tribes which could even partially threaten Vastein, new military schools were created such as the famed Dithurst College which attracted even students from the homeland to come and study. It became compulsory for every family to send at least one son to the military, and new workshops were created to maintain the military munitions, while all the cities were upgraded defensively with large walls, towers and strongholds.
And even though no large invasion ever threatened Vastein again, these measures remained in place for some time, but eventually parts were removes, such as compulsory family service, which was removed in 1821, and in many cases the measures have fallen out of use or maintenance, such as the walls have now become obsolete as the cites expand beyond them, while the new cities don’t have these walls at all. But in one city these defences remain, Kela remains a mighty mountain fortress to this day, with colossal walls, gun nests, bunkers and killing grounds surrounding the city, and the colony as a whole remains highly militarised.
After the war the colony experienced steady growth as many soldiers maintaining the garrison would go on to stay there and start new families, or even bring their families over to the colony during service, and stay there when service was over. This lead to the rebuilding of Greva, and the settlement of new colonies. But the colonists never went beyond the mountains which boarded their lands, even the new cities of Kortan and Southgram were settled behind the mountain ranges.
Many years later in 1859, technology conspired to strengthen Vastein even more, as the industrial revolution swept through Asmea, living conditions in Asmea plummeted, leading many to flee to the colonies of the empire, this and the introduction of the steam engine made travel so much cheaper, and soon more and more people where flocking to Vastein to make their fortunes, and while some of the colony disapproved of this surge in population, most where fine with it, and the Viceroy approved of it, and even encouraged it, promising jobs and new homes for those who joined the colony.
As time went on the fortunes of Vastein got brighter and brighter, from Vastein large plantations shipped out huge bundles of cotton, tobacco, iron ore, gold and even massive plunders of fish to faraway lands, and soon it wasn’t just Asmea that they traded with. Other nations traded with them new goods, spices, sugar, cocoa, tropical fruits and even just large shipments of bread to join in the bounty of Vastein, turning it into an incredibly wealthy colony. Of course, that all changed in 1888, when communication with the old world vanished, and Vastien fell into turmoil.
Vasteins once prosperous streets are now backwater slums, the old plantations where refurbished into farms which barely managed to sate the population’s hunger. The port cities of Larton, Gorvac, Drankar and Arthandra, with no-one to trade with, fell into poverty, the many of the huge mines now lye in disuse, with no-one to send their goods to.
Enforcers, The enforcers are effectively the reorganised Police forcers, and are the Viceroy's main method of maintaining order, they are a much larger force than the police had been, and have the authority to do just about whatever they want and are notoriously corrupt.
Dressed in black uniforms and equipped with batons, handguns and the occasional rifle, the Enforcers are of little use against an armed resistance, where they must call in the Army, but are painfully effective against unarmed mobs.
Informers, they are the Viceroys secret service, they gather the information for the raids of the enforcers, often disguised as common peasants, informers carry badges of service that allow them access into any government building. Informers keep track on everything, and not even the Enforcers or Army are safe from their eyes.
Vastein Infantry Core, these are the basic foot soldiers of the Vasteinian army, well trained, well equipped and with a proud military tradition, the VIC are a dread to any who come across them. Dressed in large dark red Trench coats, with box helmets and thick leather boots and gloves, and armed with rifles and bayonets, the VIC are the Viceroys real arm of power, used to put down anything that the Enforcers cannot. They have the Grenadiers within their organisation as well.
Vastein Cavalry Core, the VCC are the Viceroys arm of enforcement in the countryside, and the cavalry of the Vastein army, fast and ruthless, they have been known to burn entire villages that dare challenge the Viceroy. Dressed in the dame gear as the VIC, but with the trench coat replaced with just a coat, and armed with sabres and the occasional handgun, the VCC are devastating on the charge and specialise in terror tactics of raids massacres. In battle they will sweep into a disorganised enemy or into their flank, and tear their foes apart before they can react, and they are also known to have a fierce competitive streak with the VIC. The dragoons are known to be a branch of the VCC as well.
Vastein Artillery Core, the VAC command the big guns of the Viceroys army, where there is a situation where a quick bayonet charge of the VIC or a lighting raid from the VCC cannot solve the problem, the VAC are called in to pound the enemy into submission. While not the most mobile force, they have a large arsenal of Ammunition to utilise, and are capable of turning twelve blocks into rubble under their bombardment.
The Viceroy is also rumoured but not known to utilise a special guard force, which is supposedly more elite of the army, however none of these rumours have been confirmed and whisperers are quickly silenced by the enforcers.
Key buildings:
The Barracks
Havlora Keep
Old Larton Prison
New Larton Prison
Enforcer’s station
Town Hall, (Where the local government is)
Court House, (Where the ‘fair trials’ are held for criminals, punishments are typically life in prison or death sentence)
Vastein News (the media centre)
Larton Bank
The Docks
Spiceland’s old Warehouse, (Head of the main smuggling gang)
Far Booze Bar
Garrison:
6800 enforcers
2600 VIC
1000 VCC
Population, 147,000
Vastein has had two crime families since before the Viceroy, whose fortunes have waned in the years of the Viceroy, but remain highly profitable and very powerful forces in Vastein to this day. They are both highly secretive and few know of them.
Larton Crime:
Local family, the Vactar
So yeah, this is a game where you will launch a rebellion against an empire, you can each create a character and give me the following details:
Five points to spend amongst the following stats with a maximum of three to one stat
Character Stats;
Martial, for military skill and fighting capabilities, combat
Charisma, for diplomatic skill, speeches, talking
Administrative, for business, logistics, resource gathering and management
Intrigue, for spying, intelligence gathering, shady deals
What class you're from, the upper, middle or lower class
Upper class (Support of upper class, disliked by lower class), lots of money available from these guys, but not much for fighting
Middle class (Support of middle class, neutral with other classes), weakest class, a bit of money and a bit of manpower
Lower class (Support of lower class, disliked by upper class), not much money or even education, but they'll most likely make up the bulk of your followers/troops
And you name, age and a backstory to mix with it
Vastein economy uses A currency called Draks, one Drak is worth one US Dollar
(Set in an industrial age alternate universe, Breach loading rifles and early machine guns, ie Gatling guns)
(In case your wondering how it works for most things I'll be rolling a d10 with one sta adding one to the roll, the results being 1 is a catastrophic failure regardless of modifiers, total of 2-4 being failure, total of 5+ being success, and a roll of 10 is an overwhelming success, again regardless of modifiers)
More details and gameplay will be shown as it becomes relevant
Author
Topic: Rebellion and Revolution (Read 15546 times)