YOUR IMPERIAL MEMBERSHIP:
Name: Your ruler's name and dynasty
Memberstate: Refer to list of states below and pick one
RULE OF THREE TOKENS:
Prestige: Charisma, honour, reputation, fame and so on.
Manpower: Militia and other military forces under your command.
Wealth: Various riches kept in your treasury.
Everyone starts with 5 Prestige, Manpower and Wealth, with +1 per every Province above 1.
THE CHARTER OF IMPERIAL ARMS:
The Charter is made of
28 Main States and
25 Subservient States.
Players can pick any Main State; Subservient States can be only played if they're freed of their overlords.
REICHKALENDAR:
Each Season is divided in 10 Weeks. Each Week there is a chance for an event to happen.
At the start of a new Season, you gain certain amounts of Prestige, Manpower and Wealth, depending on your current situation.
On every 3rd Week of a Season, the Imperial Diet of Electors gathers to vote on matters of importance of the Empire.
EVENTS, DECISIONS, CONFLICTS:
Events:
An Event might be, for example, peasants revolting in your lands. These are resolved using 1d6 dice.
You can boost your chances by spending your Prestige, Manpower or Wealth in most of the cases, although some events might restrict the type of Token you can use.
You can only use whole numbers to influence the roll; for example if you have 1.9 Manpower, you can only boost the roll by +1.
When you boost the roll with a Token, the specified amount is consumed. It is NOT returned to you, no matter whether you succeed or not.
You can always ignore an event prompt, though that might bring disaster upon your head one day!
Decisions:
At the start of each Season, every Player can make a
singular Decision.
Decisions include but are not limited to: challenging a neighbour with Conflict in hopes of achieving some goals, spending money to get things done in the province, sending troops somewhere, and more. Really, these are in the hands of the players.
A default format of Decision is: Decision's goal, amount of Prestige, Wealth or Manpower you put into it, and optionally, 'fluff' justification.
Conflicts:
Events might spur conflicts, or they might be pressed by Players in the game.
During a Conflict, 2 Players will have to resolve their issue. They can decide on type of Token they use for the 1d6 roll.
In a case where the Players cannot decide on type of the Token, they can petition the Emperor to solve their issue.
Emperor's decision might cause quite a loss of Prestige (its the Emperor himself who boos you!) for the losing side.
IMPERIAL LANDS:
Each Land produces certain amount of Manpower, Wealth and Prestige. By default, a Province produces +0.5 of each per Season.
These are modified by your Government type and certain events that occur thorough the game.
TITLES:
King for Monarchies, Chancellor for Republic, Archbishop for Archbishoprics, Grandmaster for Monastic Order
GOVERNMENTS:
There are 3 main Governments; these are split into total of 8 subtypes.
Monarchy: Most common government of the time. Monarchies get 0.8 Manpower per Province each Season.
4 of initial Electors will be Monarchies.
1st subtype: Feudal:
Extra +0.2 Prestige and +0.1 Manpower per Province.
2nd subtype: Despotic:
Extra +0.3 Manpower per Province.
3rd subtype: Bureaucratic:
Extra +0.2 Wealth and +0.1 Manpower per Province.
Republic: Ruled by a council of various statesmen. Republics get 0.8 Wealth per Province each Season.
None of initial Electors will be Republican.
1st subtype: Merchant:
Extra +0.3 Wealth per Province.
2nd subtype: Administrative:
Extra +0.2 Wealth and +0.1 Prestige per Province.
3rd subtype: Noble
Extra +0.2 Prestige and +0.1 Manpower per Province.
Theocracy: A holy state, either of militant or administrative kind. Theocracies get 0.8 Prestige per Province each Season.
3 of initial Electors will be Theocracies.
1st subtype: Archbishopric:
Extra +0.2 Wealth and +0.1 Prestige per Province.
2nd subtype: Monastic Order
Extra +0.2 Manpower and +0.1 Prestige per Province.
THE IMPERIAL HIERARCHY AND THE DIET:
The Emperor:
Final authority for disputes amongst the memberstates. Upon election, the Emperor remains in office till death or till unanimous removal vote by all Electors during a Diet.
Also is capable of calling up to arms any (or even all) memberstate of the Empire, should an emergency arise.
When 'you' become an Emperor, you do not in fact control him/her, that remains in hands of GM. However, an Emperor that is also your relative will of course back you up most of the time.
And of course you can collaborate with the GM upon laws when you're in 'charge' of the family.
Family/state from which Emperor comes gains +1 Prestige per Season.
Elector State:
Has a seat on the Imperial Diet. Can support or reject laws or policies forwarded by the Emperor. Initial composition of Electors is 4 Monarchies and 3 Theocracies.
To become an Elector State, the number of Electors must be increased, or an existing Elector is voted out from the Diet by majority vote (4 of 3 votes in default 7-seat Diet).
Then, when there's a vacant seat, a Memberstate can petition the Emperor to raise their rank, or the Electors can 'vote in' a Memberstate during a Diet.
Elector States gain +0.5 Prestige and +0.5 Wealth per Season.
Memberstate:
A minor state that has no influence on the Imperial administration.
The Diet:
Comprised of Elector States, it gathers on 3rd week of each Season to discuss important matters of the Empire. Most often these are:
-Voting on laws and policies forwarded by the Emperor
-Declaring whom they vote for to become the next Emperor, should the current die (or gets voted out)
-Voting on removing/adding a State to the Diet.
GOAL OF THE GAME:
None, really. Although an 'ending' condition would be dissolution of the Empire, for example if one memberstate grows powerful enough to roll over all opposition.
Other than that, we keep it sandboxy and endlessly running!