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[Knight Otu]

The Champions of the Gods had failed. The Grey Council had succeeded. The Grey rolled over the land. Caught in mindless fury, Koritu, greatest warrior among the Gods went to battle the Greyhorde. The Grey consumed him, and took his power for itself.

The World was ending. They Grey swept over human cities. It crawled out of dwarven forges, and seeped into elven forests. City-fleets of the aurides crystallized into the Grey just like beast pens of the wurad. The Masters of Light and Dark strode into battle together to delay the inevitable.

The Grey was taking the World. Yet as the fabric of reality itself was weakening, the Gods perceived. As the Garden of Eternal Light went dark, they saw the Younger Worlds. As the Indomitable Gate was broken, they knew the paths. As the Bottomless Sea dried up, the Plan took fruit.

The Grey Lord was waking, ready to take his new body. The World was at end. And the Gods acted, and with them the Forgotten Ones and the Great Magi. They took the people off the Waking Grey, and put them onto the Younger Worlds. They recreated the lost races, and gave them new homes. They bore the new races, and set them onto their realms. And finally they adopted the natives of the Younger Worlds, to make them aware.

The Grey had swallowed the World, creating the Waking Grey. The Grey Lord had taken it as its new body. The Old World had reached its Dusk. Yet, its races were alive to open their eyes, and look towards the Dawn of a New World.

The game thread is here.

I would like to start a strategy game based on the Age of Restoration games (see for example Age of Restoration, Brave New World, and Age of Restoration II). In short, it is a game similar to Civilization, where each player controls a fantasy civilization, and makes the decisions for a single city, though colonies and towns might be founded later. While magic and gods do have the potential to exist, the Younger Worlds have different laws of magic than the Old World (meaning that most magic needs to be re-researched), and the old gods are dead (though worship might bring them back; or maybe new ones might arise). The gods also had little time to make sure that knowledgeable or powerful individuals would be saved, and thus a lot of technology needs to be re-researched as well. Some of the rules may be different from those in the other games, but the full rules will be posted in the game thread. Any suggestions regarding the rules are welcome.

I want six players, for six civilizations, who can post at least every three days, as I want the game to remain active. I'll probably skip players if they haven't posted by the fifth day, and will then consider if they need to be kicked off the game. There won't be mandatory seconds as in AoR II, but if two players want to collaborate on a single civilization, they're welcome to do so. Players who aren't currently in AoR II will be given precedence over those who are.

Here is what I want from each player:

• The names of your civilization and your first city, as well as an unique color for your civilization.
• Race(s): A description of the race or races that make up your civilization. If the races are common enough, a few words will suffice.
• Theme: Two or three words that describe your civilization.
• Description: Describe your civilization and culture, and any religious beliefs that they have. This will help solidify your RP, and help me with early flavor text.
• History: A brief background of your civilization, and who they were in the Old World. A newly-created/adopted race should also have some reasons why the deity (or whoever) created/adopted them.

From that information I'll create a profile of your civilization - specifically, what traits, buildings, technologies and heroes they start with, and the terrain of the starting city.

[Knight Otu]

I would suppose that a single bump won't hurt to see if there's interest. If you feel that a three-day turn is too short, do say so.

Edit:
Preliminary game rules. Mostly shamelessly stolen from Nirur Torir, who took them from Vanigo:

Spoiler: Turn structure and other fundamentals (click to show/hide)

Each turn represents one year. You direct city production, research, and military units, and may provide as much detail as you like. More detailed plans may give you bonuses to random rolls, so try to be a bit more in-depth than "three guys mine the hills, and I'm building a library"!
Turns will last roughly three days each. If a turn is missed, the minimum food will be produced, and everyone else idles.

Spoiler: City Basics (click to show/hide)

Your city starts with 10,000 people. Each 1000 people generate 1 labor and consume 1 food. Labor points may be used to work the terrain surrounding your city, producing resources, or used in the city to build or staff buildings. The primary resources are food, wood, and stone, along with various ores. Other resources exist, but you won't know about them at the beginning of the game.
Your city is surrounded by 18 tiles of varying terrain types. Rivers and special resources (like ores, luxury foods, or magical reagents) can be found in some tiles. Each tile can be fully worked by one labor point, providing the appropriate resources for the terrain type and any upgrades there.
Labor may also be spent on construction (in or out of the city) or on manning buildings.
Unused resources will automatically be stored. Standard warehouses can store 20 resources of each type. Resources may be used in the same turn they are produced. Extra resources over the storage limit are given away to the populace.

Spoiler: Building types (click to show/hide)

Some buildings are made in the city itself, like a smithy, library, or shrine. Some of these have modest staffing requirements and provide a constant benefit. A generic shrine, for instance, gives a passive bonus of 10 spirituality luxury points. Others allow new types of labor to be performed in the city. A smithy allows ores to be processed, for instance, and a hall of learning allows labor to be spent on research.
You may also construct terrain upgrades. These generally increase the resource output of the tile they are built in. Plains, for instance, can be irrigated to raise their food output from two to three. Most upgrades are mutually exclusive - you can't build a quarry and irrigation in the same tile - but a few, like watermills, are 'free'.

Spoiler: Morale, luxuries, and population growth (click to show/hide)

The attitude of your citizens is very important! The happier your people are, the more immigrants you attract and the faster your population grows. What's more, at very high and low morale, their productivity is affected. Morale ranges from one to ten, with a base of five, and can be adjusted by many factors. The effects of morale are as follows:
Morale:yearly population growth
1:-4%,  -30% production
2:-2%,  -20% production
3:0,    -10% production
4:2%
5:4%
6:5%
7:6%
8:7%,   +10% production
9:8%,   +15% production
10:10%, +20% production
Some luxury goods can be consumed for morale bonuses. Each luxury good may be converted into 10 luxury points. Every 1000 population requires 1 luxury point for a morale bonus. Additional luxury goods of the same type provide no benefit; different types are needed. If you have more than three luxury goods, further bonuses become harder to get; each additional point of morale takes two different resources.
The most common luxury good is clothing, available by refining wool produced by hills. Your people can scrounge for furs and such to keep themselves dressed, but they're happier if they don't have to.

Spoiler: Leaders (click to show/hide)

Every civilization has a few citizens with unusual skills and aptitudes. They may be great military leaders, ingenious engineers, wise sages, or any number of other things. Leaders can provide bonuses to appropriate activities - a sage can lead research efforts in your hall of learning to speed your research, for instance. Possibly more important, however, many buildings cannot be built or operated at all unless you have an appropriate leader available. Without a general, for example, a military school cannot be built, nor can it be used while he is away. Other structures only require a leader to be built - building a huge castle requires a skilled engineer, but once it's done he can move on to other things.
Leaders of the same class have the same basic abilities, but each also has their own special ability. You may not initially know what this ability is, however; it must be discovered either by putting the leader in an appropriate situation or through a random event. Alduf the Sage might be a brilliant teacher of magic, giving bonuses to your wizards, but you might not know it if you never put him in charge of a magical college.

Spoiler: Military units (click to show/hide)

To create a military unit, you must be able to equip them - typically this means creating weapons at a smithy or military workshop. Almost all units may be trained in a single turn, and will be ready to move out on your next turn. Initially, you may only train one unit a turn, but there are ways to increase this limit. Military units draw personnel from the population of your city. Most units consist of 100 population. Units with heavy equipment, such as knights, may require more population to help carry their equipment while traveling. They can be left out, but the unit will travel more slowly.
Simple wooden weapons can be made with 2 labor and 1 wood for a unit's worth, and wooden shields also take 2 labor and 1 wood.
Most units may move a couple hundred miles a turn in known territory - they have a year to do it in, after all! Supplies may be an issue on long journeys, though, so be careful. Also, exploring uncharted territory is much slower. Major battles (including all PVP) takes place in a combat sub-turn at the end of the regular turn.
During combat, players will PM their tactics to me. Conditionals are allowed. Example: My archers will set up on a hill. My swordsmen will be in front of my archers, screening them from attacks. The cavalry will be behind the hill, waiting for a good opportunity to charge. If flanked, my archers will attempt to get away, while my cavalry charge the flankers. Otherwise, my cavalry will attempt to charge the enemy archers.
Units have ratings for attack, defense, range, health, movement, and morale. Special abilities may be learned through a year of training. The exact combat formulas will remain secret. Units will fight at reduced efficiency as morale drops, and units that have 'broken' lose the benefit of any known abilities.
Units will gain experience, and eventually increase their morale. They may be trained for a year to gain the "trained" level of experience, but further levels require combat experience.
Naval units are generally small enough to navigate rivers, although they receive a 50% bonus to attack and defense if at sea. If designed to be too large for rivers, they'll receive a 100% bonus at sea. Each naval unit will be able to transport at least one standard military unit.

Spoiler: Food and your people: (click to show/hide)

As noted earlier, each 1000 people consume 1 food a turn. If extra food is available, it provides morale bonuses - each extra food gives 2 luxury points.
Famine can easily be disastrous. If there is not enough food, your city's population drops by 1000 every turn and morale is reduced by two until the situation is resolved.
Military units consume double food. That is, a standard unit of archers with 100 population will consume 200 food per turn. If forced to forage in the wilderness (Extended global travels without supplies), they'll lose morale and possibly health.
Excess population beyond a 1000 mark will add into a sort of labor pool, to the nearest 100. This will continue to increase each turn. When it reaches 1000, the population will be considered to have an extra 1000 people for the next turn. They'll produce more labor, require food, use luxuries, and be taxed just like a normal 1000 people. This extra will be noted in the turn text.

Spoiler: Money (click to show/hide)

Initially, your people don't use money much. This changes once you research Trade. Money is used mostly for upkeep of military units and for trading. Each 2000 people produce 1 gold in tax income, and each military unit requires 1 gold in upkeep costs. Before trade is researched, you may only support three military units.

Spoiler: Research (click to show/hide)

Research points are produced primarily with labor spent at the Hall of Learning. You may tell your researchers what you want them to work on, but they may surprise you from time to time. Plus, there is a large random component to research speed, so don't assume much.
The technologies given below are a basic technologies to get people started. As the game progresses, you may need to make up new technologies, either by giving a name or a desired effect. In any case, it's advantageous if you state which of your existing technologies you think can be used as prerequisites of the new technology.

Spoiler: City Surroundings (click to show/hide)

The 18 tiles surrounding your city are available for production, but tiles being used for production may need to be protected. Enemies can keep you from working tiles, and may also destroy improvements in them. Units in your city may be ordered to defend terrain tiles, or not, as you prefer. Walls improve the strength of your units when they're defending any tile they enclose, but are of no use outside them.
Your tiles may be referred to by number as follows: The tile directly above your city is tile 1, and the remainder of the inner ring is numbered 2 through 6 clockwise. The northmost tile is number 7, and the rest of the outer ring is numbered 8 through 18 clockwise.

Spoiler: Expanding your civilization (click to show/hide)

Civilizations with an appropriate technology can produce settler units by spending 5 labor, 5 food, and 5 wood. This also reduces the city's population by 5,000. Settlers move like military units, and can be expended to produce a colony or town, depending on the technology used.
Colonies take 10 money in startup costs, and represent relatively small settlements dependent on their parent city for most production. They grow slowly, and require steady upkeep costs (2 money a turn for starting colonies), but send resources back to their parent civilization based on their location. Colonies with little or no farmland may require steady food shipments, as well. Colonies initially have no ability to raise military units, and rely on their parent city for protection.
A player may only control one city at a time, although the possibility exists for independent towns to loosely align themselves with a player, trading resources for protection.

Spoiler: Random Events (click to show/hide)

Random events will probably occur as the game goes on. These can be beneficial or harmful. Bad harvests, raiders, abundant harvests, or traveling merchants are a few possibilities. There is no way to prevent them, but bad harvests can be negated by having a granary with enough food stored. Raiders won't be able to do much if there is an army defending the town.
Colonies will have separate chances of random events.

Spoiler: Beasts of Burden (click to show/hide)

Horses, similar beasts of burden, and slaves, have a few uses. Two maybe be turned into a labor point for the express purposes of working terrain or improving it. They may be eaten if times are hard, for +2 food. With the proper training, horses or beasts of burden may be used as part of a military unit, for cavalry.
Horses or other beasts of burden may be gained through random event, exploration, or raiding. Building a horse farm with them is advised, so that more may be trained.
Horse farms can never be improved to give more then +1 horse.

Spoiler: Magic and Caster units (click to show/hide)

Magic is a powerful force in the world, and a civilization that can harness it can reap powerful advantages. Many magical technologies work pretty much like other techs - they unlock new structures, equipment, and special bonuses. Others, however, require caster units to take advantage of. These spellcasting technologies work as follows:
Each spellcasting tech is linked to a magical resource. Once you have a casting tech and the associated resource, you can create a mage school. This requires, in addition to normal building materials, two units of any magical resource you know how to use.
With a mage school, you can train caster units for two magical resources and three labor. A caster unit is a small group of highly-trained, highly-paid professionals, and creating them has no significant impact on your population. Each caster unit is limited to a single school of magic, set when the unit is created, and must be created with the appropriate resource. Caster units can cast any spell of their school that you know, although their power per turn is limited. A spellcasting tech will give you at least one spell of that school, and further research can reveal more. The MP of a caster unit depends on the school of magic and unit experience, and can usually be improved with further research.
Caster units, like some leaders, are often attached to military units. Caster units have no direct combat ability (unless they have a spell that grants it to them), so they should be protected; they are at great risk if sent away from your cities alone. If their unit gets involved in battle, caster units can use pre-combat buffs to improve their allies, or they can cast combat spells to damage and weaken their enemies. (Or, of course, a mixture of the two.) A caster unit cannot be attacked directly unless they are first separated from any units escorting them, but alone they can be easily destroyed by any military unit. Direct damage spells may be targeted on casters; against such attacks they have four defense and five health, modified by experience. (Caster-on-caster battles tend to be fast and mutually destructive.)
Most caster units have an upkeep cost of three money. This represents both their salaries and the cost of supplying them with spell components.

Reference:

Spoiler: Terrain and terrain improvements: (click to show/hide)

Plains (Yellow)
2 food

Hills (Brown)
1 food, 1 wool

Forest (Green)
1 food, 1 wood

Swamp (Sea-Green)
1 food, 1 wood

Mountains (Grey)
1 stone

Ocean/lake (Blue)
2 food

Desert (Dirty yellow)
1  food

Tundra/Glacier (Off-White)
1 food

River (Blue line)
+1 food

Terrain improvements (and technology required)

Irrigation (Farming)
Plains or hills
Requires river or lake present or adjacent
no resources, 2 labor
+1 food

Quarry (Construction)
Hills or mountains
no resources, 2 labor
+1 stone

Pasture (Animal taming)
Hills
1 wood, 3 labor
+1 food OR +1 wool OR +1 animal (and -1 food)

Woodcutting village
Forest
2 wood or stone, 2 labor
+1 wood

Hunter's camp (Archery)
Forest or Swamp
2 wood or stone, 2 labor
+1 food OR +1 leather

Fishing wharf (Fishing)
Ocean/Lake
Requires land adjacent
2 wood, 2 labor
+1 food

Horse Farm (Animal Taming)
Plains
1 wood or stone, 1 horses, 2 labour
+1 horses
Farms for other beasts of burden can be built with the same technology and resources unless noted otherwise. Certain beasts of burden may require other terrain.

Mine (Mining)
Mountains or hills
Requires ore present
1 wood, 3 labor
Production depends on ore type

Deep mine (Deep mining)
Replaces existing mine
2 wood, 4 labor
Doubles mine production
(You can build a mine and a deep mine on the same turn if you want. There's no discount.)

Watermill (Engineering)
Any land
Requires river present
Stacks with other non-mills
2 wood or stone, 1 wood, 4 labor
+1 to any one resource already produced

Windmill (Mechanics)
Any land
May not be adjacent to other windmills
Stacks with other non-mills
2 wood or stone, 1 wood, 1 wool, 4 labor
+1 to any one resource already produced

Palisade
Any land, including city tile
2 wood, 2 labor
+25% strength to defenders within wall

Stone wall (Construction)
Any land, including city tile
3 stone, 3 labor
+50% strength to defenders within wall

Spoiler: Buildings (click to show/hide)

Hall of Learning
2 wood or stone, 2 labor
No tech required
Allows up to three labor to be used on research

Standard Warehouses
Free
No tech required
Stores 20 of each resource type

Stables
2 wood or stone, 2 labor
Horseback riding
Allows production of mounted units

Dockyard
3 wood, 3 labor
Sailing
Allows production of ships

Granary
2 wood or stone, 2 labor
Construction
Allows storage of up to 20 food. Can be built multiple times.

Warehouse
2 wood or stone, 2 labor
Construction
Allows for an additional 20 goods of a specified type to be stored. This can be changed at any time the warehouse is empty. Can be built multiple times.

Shrine
2 wood or stone, 2 labor
No tech required
+10 Spirituality luxury

Tombs
3 wood or stone, 3 labor
Ceremonial Burial
+10 Spirituality luxury

Library
3 wood or stone, 4 labor
Literacy
Requires Hall of Learning
Increases max researchers to five, unlocks more advanced technology

Smithy
2 stone, 1 ore (any ore allowed), 3 labor
Metalworking
Allows production of metal weapons and armor

Marketplace
2 wood or stone, 3 labor
Trade
+50% tax income

Military workshops
2 wood or stone, 2 labor
No tech required
Doubles production speed of weapons and armor (Normally 2 labor for each)

Clothier's workshops
2 wood or stone, 2 labor
No tech required
Doubles production speed of clothing (Normally 1 labor for each)

Military school:
2 stone or wood, 4 labor
No tech required
Requires General to build and operate
Train up to 2 units/turn

Canoe Workshops
3 wood or stone, 3 labor
Requires Canoe Building
Build up to 1 canoe unit/turn

Fortress
4 stone, 5 labor
Engineering
Requires Engineer to build
+50% strength to defenders in city

Mechanic's workshop
1 wood, 1 stone, 1 wood or stone, 6 labor
No tech required
Requires engineer to build and operate
+33% to all construction

Watchtower
2 stone, 3 labor
Construction
Requires engineer to build
+10% strength to defenders within city radius

Spoiler: Technologies (click to show/hide)

Construction
    Build stone walls, quarries, granary

Animal Taming
    Build Pasture
    Build Horse Farm

Horseback Riding
    Build Stables, Horsemen; works for most other beasts of burden as well, unless otherwise noted.
   
Farming
    Build irrigation

Mining
    Requires construction
    Build mines

Fishing
    Build fishing villages

Archery
    Build hunter's camp
    Build archery units

Literacy
    Build library

Trade
    Enables money
    Build marketplace

Ceremonial Burial
    Build Tombs

Engineering
    Requires construction
    Build watermill
    Build fortress (with Engineer)

Metalworking
    Requires mining
    Build smithy

Deep mining
    Requires Mining
    Requires Engineering
    Allows deep mine

Mechanics
    Requires Engineering
    Allows windmill

   Tactics: Looting
   Allows the looter ability, which grants units an increased chance of returning from a raid with loot

Spoiler: Equipment (click to show/hide)

Wooden spears
No tech, no building
2 labor, 1 wood

Wooden shields
No tech, no building
2 labor, 1 wood

Leather armor
No tech, no building
2 labor, 1 leather

Bows
Archery, no building
2 labor, 1 wood

Spoiler: Leaders (click to show/hide)

Scientist/Sage (+25% research)
Governor (+1 morale)
General (Build and operate military schools, command groups of units)
Explorer (Doubles exploration speed of attached units)
Engineer (Build sophisticated buildings, build and operate mechanic's workshop)

[evilcherry]

I think the most pressing issue is that we have quite a lot of them.

[Shades]

I would but I won't be around in a couple of weeks for a bit, if you've still not started by when I'm back then I'll happily join.

[Knight Otu]

A couple of weeks is a bit longer than I would wish to delay this, but if this one doesn't get off the ground, remind me when you're back.

As for having a lot of strategy games currently, that's true, which does come back to the interest issue. If there's too many, then there isn't much interest in another one.

[RandomNumberGenerator]

I would be interested, but I have a lot going on currently, so I would have to pass until some stuff clears up.

[Cheddarius]

I AM ON THIS LIKE A NOUN, REFERRED TO AS OBJECT A, ON ANOTHER NOUN, REFERRED TO AS OBJECT B, GIVEN THAT OBJECT A HAS A STRONG ATTRACTION TO OBJECT B, OBJECT A IS A QUALITY OF OBJECT B, OR OBJECT A AND OBJECT B ARE OFTEN FOUND TOGETHER

[Knight Otu]

Well, if there are four or five more players with that kind of enthusiasm...

[Cheddarius]

Oh my gosh I might stick this on my forum game list if Toady says it's all right. That might drum up some interest.
I think it'll get started once people know more about it. Just look at the original AoR, there is huge interest.

[Knight Otu]

Well, so far the interest has yet to manifest. Let's see if someone else also comes in, otherwise I'll let this rest for a bit and consider a different game.

[Cheddarius]

Interest will manifest, I promise you. Please don't give this up, it is a game that is super awesome and cool.

[RandomNumberGenerator]

Ehh... Still busy, but I guess I can give it a shot. I should be able to post every 3 days. Now I just need to decide on a race...

[IronyOwl]

Any preferences on races? You specifically going for elves, not-elves, certain archetypes, things that scare small children, etc.?

[Knight Otu]

About anything goes. Dwarves, gnolls, gorons, dragonborn... warforged/golems might be tricky, but should be workable, but don't expect to be able to use dragons or something like that. Just give me a description of the race if it isn't generally known. Err on the side of me not knowing unless it is a "stock" fantasy race.

Edit to add: In case it isn't obvious from the above, custom/homebrewed races are welcome as well. The three-day turn, as noted earlier, can be relaxed if necessary.

[IronyOwl]

I'm in, if this is still happening. I'll have my insidious crab-men up later.

On a related note, I think you're stuck in a catch-22 on the interest bit. Right now you've got a link to some other threads and three people vaguely stating they'll join. Once mechanics and races are up, peoples' interests should be piqued enough for them to join. But since nobody else is in/set up right now, even the people who say they're in aren't particularly inspired/rushed.

At least, that's my take on it.