Ashes of an Empire RP (OOC, Invite-Only)

[Timothia]

Ashes of an Empire

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Rome has fallen. No one can say they didn't see this coming, the only surprise involved is how this didn't happen sooner. But that doesn't mean it doesn't sting.

The date is September 4, 476 AD. Emperor Romulus Augustus - himself the son of a barbarian - has been deposed in an inglorious and dismissive way: the Arian, Germanic king Odoacer marched on Rome and forced the 17-year-old upstart into an early retirement. Odoacer had the stinging disdain to say that he spared the child-emperor only because of his age. Disgraced and embarrassed, it would seem that the western half of the Empire is finished unless some wealthy, wise and powerful citizen intervenes. The chances of this decrease with each passing day...

At the same time, the Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Saxons, Celts, and other various tribes scramble to claim as much land as possible in a mad dash for territory following the perceived weakness of Rome. Germanic tribes jostle for position as they attempt to take full advantage of every flaw and shortcoming they see from their rivals. There are shaky alliances and unclear borders: everything is up for dispute, and perhaps the one who has the best army will come to rule them all in a reestablished Roman Empire.

But the Roman Empire hasn't died yet! The eastern half of the Empire holds fast to their land and to their traditions, boldly protecting the Imperial mantle from the hordes who have come banging on all the borders of the Empire. Emperor Zeno has finally triumphed over the usurping-pretender Basilicus. Now, it seems that the Empire has the goal to free the west from the grasp of the half-insane barbaric warriors and perhaps even reclaim the entirety of the ancient Roman Empire, unified again in a glorious and noble Empire.

Who will rise victorious in an age of doubt, uncertainty and fear? Who emerge more powerful than ever from the ashes of the ancient days? Who will be the one?

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IC

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Battles/Diplomacy

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Welcome, friends and acquaintances, to the Ashes of an Empire RP! This is an invite-only RP. If you haven't been invited, you're welcome to read and watch, but please do not post. Thank you all very much. If you have been invited, you are now among the ranks of some of the most famed, illustrious, and skilled posters on NS. Please try to stay polite and kind to each other, and keep everything at least semi-professional. I should hope that I don't need to post the basic RP etiquette: all of you know what you can and cannot do. Unless you know a lot about this time period off the top of your head (which I'm guessing few of you do), you will have to do some research. I will include some links to sites that will give you a basic grasping of the period. It is your job to make sure that everything you post is historically plausible. The apps that you fill out must be historically accurate, you can make reasonable changes to your nation starting with your first IC post. Now let's get going with the RP!

Nation Types and Modifiers

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Essentially, there will be four potential types of nations you can be: an Empire (the Western Remnant Empire, the Byzantine Empire or the the Sassanian Empire), a major nation-tribe (European barbarian-states like Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, etc.), a steppe nomad tribe (Mongolian tribes, I don't now any off the top of my head), or a chiefdom or minor tribe (bishoprics, single tribes with less than 750,000 people, lone cities that are independent). Each nation-type has it's own unique abilities and will have it's own pros and cons. Your nation-type cannot be changed unless you went through hell and either conquered a ton or lost a ton, in which case myself or one of the co-ops will change it for you.

Select 1 positive and one negative

+ Supreme administration - your many magistrates bring good news quickly across your many roads and into well-planned cities: quicker troop movements and construction times

+ Up-and-coming - your Empire is still growing and conquering: grants claims on all neighboring nations

+ Superior military - your military organization is better than everyone else's: allows a military size of 5% in wartime

+ Matsterful Generals - your commanding officers are perhaps among the best in history, and even more skilled young men show promise to continue the trend: your armies are more efficient and powerful

- Crumbling - your Empire is a shadow of what it once was: all neighbors have claims on you

- Corrupt administration - many of the tax collectors, politicians, and even you take money from the to line your own personal pocket: lower tax collection due to embezzlement, widespread mistrust from populace

- Inglorious - other nations are embarrassed to even deal with you: negotiations often stalemate because you are a disgraced people not worthy of many people's attention

- Target of the Barbarians - you are somehow perceived as weaker than you once were, and everyone wants to overtake your land: barbarians will constantly be a threat at your borders, all barbarians can attack and raid you

Select one positive and one negative

+ Comitatus - German tribe with substantial military organization: allows a 5% military

+ Protector of the Faith - your people fancy themselves the most pious and zealous in the land: automatic reason for war with any heretic, heathen, or blasphemer

+ Heir to Rome - you believe yourself to be the heir to the Imperial title: you have claims on the entirety of the former Western Empire

+ Potential Power - your population shows promise to continue growing rapidly: annual population increase is set .3% higher than the static one

- Overextended - your forefathers hadn't imagined that your victory could be your curse: your nation is prone to civil war and overwhelming by other tribes

- Antagonist - your people are seen as the evil invaders from the north, and are hated by everyone: you fail in diplomatic relations with other nations more often than you succeed

- Decentralized mess - you can't seem to stay in control and no one respects the ruler: the military fluctuates, the rulers often get assassinated, and the taxes rarely get collected properly

- Obscure - Where is your nation again? Your tongue is foreign and your religion outlandish, civilized people cringe when they see you

Select one positive and one negative

+ Unity mindset - your people want to unite with other tribes to form a mighty Eurasian horde

+ Superior horsemen - your bareback are obviously more skilled in horsemanship than their neighbors: military is far more efficient and powerful per soldier

+ Warlord - your ruler's a warmonger who hates science and deals only with blood and land: your scientific advances are 0, but you can raise an army of up to 12-15%

+ Army for Hire - your armies are sought after by the westerners who need cavalry, thus creating a strange bond: your coffers fill up easier but your army is often hired out, reducing wartime numbers to 10%

- Disgraced - other nomadic tribes hate you after one of your ancestors was discovered to have cursed and shamed the family: you can't even step foot into the tent of another nation without being thrown out

- Divisive - hates other tribes too much to unite them under one banner: you cannot successfully bring all tribes together

- Isolationist - your people just want to exist peacefully, avoiding conflict and change: this keeps you out of war but severely limits your interactions with others, keeps your maximum military at 1.5%, and hampers any intellectual advances

- Scourge - you are generally regarded as the child of the evil spirits, and you are feared by the world that wants to gang up on you to see you killed: whenever you go to war, any other nation can tak an "enemies-enemy is my friend" stance and go to war with you

Select one + positive and one - negative

+ Monastic - there are a considerable number of monasteries and religious orders in your territory: science, literature, and learning continue in the monasteries, and you won't be attacked by any God-fearing neighbor

+ Crossroads - your large and burgeoning population promises to transform your small territory into a cultural center: artists, and merchants do a lot of business in your city

+ Ambitious - your rulers all seem to be empowered by the idea that their small city could someday be something more: you have claims on all your neighbors

+ Benefits of Obscurity - no one knows and no one cares what happens in your nation, making it a peaceful and calm land: wars are highly unlikely as babarians bypass you, you aren't threatened because you aren't seen as "worth it"

- Miniscule - your population is so small and dismally apathetic that no one would notice if it fell apart: you have the embarrassing task of explaining where your city is to every nation you contact, and they tend to yawn and not truly care when you contact them

- Worthless - there is simply nothing of value in your territory

- Uber-Agrarian - your nation is overly-dependent on each year's harvest: a famine decimates your population and all enemies have to do to make you buckle is cut you off from your fields

- Trade Deficit - you are importing far more than you're exporting, and it ends up eating most of the small amount of money your nation does have: your nation has financial struggles and owes money to many larger nations

Please select the nation-type and modifiers that most historically fit your nation. This will make the whole game more plausible and enjoyable for everyone.

Military Organization

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This will dictate how the military functions in your nation. this also decides the military size of your nation: this will keep everything within the realm of possibility. Select one of the following. When a modifier and the organization contradict each other, the modifier overrides.

Comitatus - A sort of early German tribal feudalism that places the best warrior-king on top, his mightiest fellow warriors in positions below him, and their armies beneath them. Allows for a 5% military in wartime and a 1% standing military.

Mercenary/militia - A strange fusion employed by the later Roman Empire, the standing army is made up almost entirely of foreign mercenaries, while the wartime army adds a levy of peasants and citizens who protect their city. The quality of the mercenaries is high, but the untrained citizen-army is weak. Allows for the equivalent of .5% of the population to be hired as mercenaries during peacetime and 4% to be raised during wartime.

Steppe horde - Many of the steppe people lived to conquer. Every respectable man was expected to serve at some point or another in his lifetime, and the entire culture circles around war. Allows for a stunning 10-12% of the population to be military at the cost of being nearly totally uncivilized.

Universal levies - The ruler travels the nation whenever an army is needed, bringing together a decent sized and moderately trained army in around six months. The size is 3.5% of the total population in war time, with no standing army.

Imperial armies -The army is a professional force of 1% during peacetime which grows to 4% with conscripts during wartime. The core army is recruited a by the government and are decently-paid, but not extensively. The core army is very well-supplied and excellently run by deserving officers of battle-trained troops. The wartime conscripts are zealous and well-intentioned citizens. This type of military is only available to empires.

All nations can supplement mercenaries to boost their armies an additional 1%, though this is very expensive and somewhat risky. If you fail to pay your hired men, they will turn on you and ravage your countryside. If you are supplementing mercenaries and one of the co-ops or I think you cannot afford them, we will have them plunder your nation to pay them. If you can afford them, however, they will loyally fight for you as long as the money rolls in.

Final notes

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Finally, we are almost ready to start posting. The passage of time will be free-flowing, but if this is abused, I will change it to 3 months/1 IC page. I won't kick you guys off if you haven't posted in a while, but I will send you a TG to remind you. You are all expected to be self-motivated, no one should have to threaten you to get you to post. If you are going to miss a couple days, please let us know so that we can all divvy up your nation amongst ourselves while you are gone put you in a stasis-state.

Here is the preliminary map until I can get a better one drawn up. If you can make a map, let me know: I can get one, but it'll take a while. As this is a Roman themed RP, there will not be much focus on the middle east right now. You are welcome to be a nation there, just be aware that most of the RP-ers will be in Europe. Eastern Asia will exist, but only as non-playing countries. To put it another way, China, India, Japan, etc. are all "computer players". The New World is entirely out of the picture, as is southern Africa and Oceania.

Every 12 months, your population will increase by .2% During times of plague, famine, or disease, populations will drop anywhere from .2-3.0% Duing times of prospering or plenty, population will increase by .3% If you reach the 12 month mark and are unsure of how your population should be adjusted, just TG me and I'll get back to you.

Your co-ops will be Alleniana and New Emphillon, please treat both of them with respect. If there is an issue, contact one of the three of us and let us know so that we can take care of it. WHATEVER WE SAY IS THE RULE. Sorry, but I have to say it somewhere or else one of you might forget. Seriously though, don't argue: it's not worth it and just makes everything frustrating for all of us.

Source to help with population Good ol' Wiki
Population source

I think that's it, if I missed anything, let me know. Here's the app, post it below to get accepted.

App

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Nation name:
Nation-type:
Population (historic population in the year 476):
Military size (see the details for what is allowed in your nation-type):
Land claimed (historic sizes in the year 476):
Flag, banner, badge, and/or seal of your nation (however many you have available, please put in spoiler):
Current ruler:
Primary religion (note the difference between Catholic and Arian):
Other religions:
Primary culture:
Other accepted cultures:
Main industry:
Primary imports:
Military organization:
Government type:
Heir and potential claimants:
Biggest factor threatening your nation:
Biggest factor in favor of you nation:
Describe you nations' recent history:
Describe any present allies or enemies:
Positive modifier:
Negative modifier:
Notes:

Accepted Nations:

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Vredlandia - Aesti
Of the Quendi - Eranshahr
Legital - Saxons
Jamessonia - Munster
Alouite - Visigoths
Thanatttynia - Burgundians
Great Franconia and Verana - Byzantines
Alleniana - Danes
Reatra - Swedes
Emilio Aguinaldo - Vandals
Timothia - Franks
Altito Asmoro - Suebi
Reserved

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Ostrogoths
Odoacer's Italy

[The Jonathanian States]

I'd like to reserve the byzzies.
App incoming
Or Venice?
Arrgh!
I this era makes it so hard to choose!
No stability!
Too many factions!

[Alouite]

I'd like to reserve the byzzies.
App incoming
Or Venice?
Arrgh!
I this era makes it so hard to choose!
No stability!
Too many factions!

I dont think Venice existed this early on.

[The Jonathanian States]

I'd like to reserve the byzzies.
App incoming
Or Venice?
Arrgh!
I this era makes it so hard to choose!
No stability!
Too many factions!

I dont think Venice existed this early on.

Damn.
Exactly 200 years off.

[Jamessonia]

Well, hello.

[Timothia]

If I remember correctly, the Sassanids, the largest Mongolian tribe, a Danish tribe-state, and the Byzantines have all been reserved. Hopefully that narrows this down for a couple of you. I cannot remember who reserved what, though, so you will have to let me know.

[Vredlandia]

Just want to tag this thread
@all: Hello!

[Jamessonia]

If I remember correctly, the Sassanids, the largest Mongolian tribe, a Danish tribe-state, and the Byzantines have all been reserved. Hopefully that narrows this down for a couple of you. I cannot remember who reserved what, though, so you will have to let me know.

Can you post a player list somewhere in the OP? Also, I'm thinking about being the Hiberni...

[Timothia]

This should bring some clarity about how the world looked at this time. Note that the year should be set to 477 to be more accurate.

[Timothia]

If I remember correctly, the Sassanids, the largest Mongolian tribe, a Danish tribe-state, and the Byzantines have all been reserved. Hopefully that narrows this down for a couple of you. I cannot remember who reserved what, though, so you will have to let me know.

Can you post a player list somewhere in the OP? Also, I'm thinking about being the Hiberni...

Absolutely, I'll get to work on it right away.

[Timothia]

Added a basic map that will function as a brainstorming map. I will eventually have a better one, but this one gives everyone an idea of Europe at that time.

[The Jonathanian States]

If I remember correctly, the Sassanids, the largest Mongolian tribe, a Danish tribe-state, and the Byzantines have all been reserved. Hopefully that narrows this down for a couple of you. I cannot remember who reserved what, though, so you will have to let me know.

Aw,seriously.
We get nations caught up even before the thread is up,or even a list of nations is released?

[The Jonathanian States]

Added a basic map that will function as a brainstorming map. I will eventually have a better one, but this one gives everyone an idea of Europe at that time.

You might want to know that it is quite different from the map references on the OP.....

[Reatra]

If you need a custom map........

http://i.imgur.com/TULRnEB.png

[Reatra]

Also you should state that only Europe and N. Africa are available, b/c I know I would want to be China. They had like 90 million people!

[Timothia]

If I remember correctly, the Sassanids, the largest Mongolian tribe, a Danish tribe-state, and the Byzantines have all been reserved. Hopefully that narrows this down for a couple of you. I cannot remember who reserved what, though, so you will have to let me know.

Aw,seriously.
We get nations caught up even before the thread is up,or even a list of nations is released?

Sorry, I just couldn't tell them no when they asked.

[Legital]

Things are really looking good, though my only gripe is the time passage system. I'm not much of a fan having twenty-four hours equal two weeks. I think perhaps a page could dictate being two weeks time. That keeps players flexible and able to post based on the pages, not an actual twenty-four hour period. Say someone misses a day or two and comes back to four weeks passed. They'll get bogged down the more time they miss as they need to incorporate more into their post to detail the time they had missed before. Unless when the IC starts and several pages go up a day, then the above is a general idea of where I sit with the time passage.

[Jamessonia]

Things are really looking good, though my only gripe is the time passage system. I'm not much of a fan having twenty-four hours equal two weeks. I think perhaps a page could dictate being two weeks time. That keeps players flexible and able to post based on the pages, not an actual twenty-four hour period. Say someone misses a day or two and comes back to four weeks passed. They'll get bogged down the more time they miss as they need to incorporate more into their post to detail the time they had missed before. Unless when the IC starts and several pages go up a day, then the above is a general idea of where I sit with the time passage.

I agree, but I think it should at least be 2 months a page.

[Timothia]

Added a basic map that will function as a brainstorming map. I will eventually have a better one, but this one gives everyone an idea of Europe at that time.

You might want to know that it is quite different from the map references on the OP.....

How so?

[The Jonathanian States]

Things are really looking good, though my only gripe is the time passage system. I'm not much of a fan having twenty-four hours equal two weeks. I think perhaps a page could dictate being two weeks time. That keeps players flexible and able to post based on the pages, not an actual twenty-four hour period. Say someone misses a day or two and comes back to four weeks passed. They'll get bogged down the more time they miss as they need to incorporate more into their post to detail the time they had missed before. Unless when the IC starts and several pages go up a day, then the above is a general idea of where I sit with the time passage.

I disagree.
Correct me if I am wrong,but pages are tied to the length of text in them?
Meaning that if a few posts are long enough,which I see as a possibility,seeing that those here were supposed to have been called for being good rpers (Not saying you aren't,but I don't know most of you,so its still an assumption only),then others will not be able to post in those two weeks.
Real time though,is a constant frame,and will not change.So somebody taking up eternal posts does not matter.

You might want to know that it is quite different from the map references on the OP.....

How so?

Odoakers Kingdom,for example,only appears on the OP map.
The Roman Moor Kingdom,too.
The latter maps gives the Gepids a border to the WRE,which in the OP map barely exists.
The most obvious:
The OP map has the WRE defragmented,contrary to the latter one,which still has it in its size.

[Legital]

Things are really looking good, though my only gripe is the time passage system. I'm not much of a fan having twenty-four hours equal two weeks. I think perhaps a page could dictate being two weeks time. That keeps players flexible and able to post based on the pages, not an actual twenty-four hour period. Say someone misses a day or two and comes back to four weeks passed. They'll get bogged down the more time they miss as they need to incorporate more into their post to detail the time they had missed before. Unless when the IC starts and several pages go up a day, then the above is a general idea of where I sit with the time passage.

I disagree.
Correct me if I am wrong,but pages are tied to the length of text in them?
Meaning that if a few posts are long enough,which I see as a possibility,seeing that those here were supposed to have been called for being good rpers (Not saying you aren't,but I don't know most of you,so its still an assumption only),then others will not be able to post in those two weeks.
Real time though,is a constant frame,and will not change.So somebody taking up eternal posts does not matter.

I do understand your point, and it's a real issue I see. While real time is constant, I'm just unsure of a good system where we can keep people who happen to not post for a day or so from getting left behind in a fast moving time frame.

[Altito Asmoro]

Mongols is what I can only say. To the glory and ashes of Europe!

If we can defeat them, of course.

[Great Franconia and Verana]

Hmmm to go with Superior Military, or Supreme Administration? The choices!

[Great Franconia and Verana]

Nation name: The Eastern Roman Empire (The Byzantine Empire)
Nation-type:Empire
Population (historic population in the year 476):20 million
Military size (see the details for what is allowed in your nation-type):200,000 Regulars, 800,000 available levies in Wartime. Calculations may be wrong
Land claimed (historic sizes in the year 476):Controls Thrace and Greece, along with southern Dalmatia, along with Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt
Flag, banner, badge, and/or seal of your nation (however many you have available, please put in spoiler

):

Current ruler: Emperor Zeno
Primary religion (note the difference between Catholic and Arian):Catholic
Other religions:Arian
Primary culture:Roman
Other accepted cultures: Greek, Armenian, Syrian, Egyptian.
Main industry: Imported Silk Silk and textiles, simply trade itself was a massive earner
Primary imports: Silk and spices, many things from the Far East
Military organization: Imperial Armies
Government type: Absolutist Autocracy
Heir and potential claimants: Anastasius, the Empress's Favourite and respected palace official, Flavius Longinus, Zeno's brother
Biggest factor threatening your nation: Long borders, enemies around every corner, and the instability of just having come out of a civil war.
Biggest factor in favor of you nation: Large, well trained army, vastly wealthy, effective imperial bureaucracy
Describe you nations' recent history:In 395, Theodosius I bequeathed the imperial office jointly to his sons: Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West, once again dividing Imperial administration. In the 5th century the Eastern part of the empire was largely spared the difficulties faced by the West—due in part to a more established urban culture and greater financial resources, which allowed it to placate invaders with tribute and pay foreign mercenaries. This success allowed Theodosius II to focus on the codification of the Roman law and the further fortification of the walls of Constantinople, which left the city impervious to most attacks until 1204.

To fend off the Huns, Theodosius had to pay an enormous annual tribute to Attila. His successor, Marcian, refused to continue to pay the tribute, but Attila had already diverted his attention to the West. After his death in 453, the Hunnic Empire collapsed, and many of the remaining Huns were often hired as mercenaries by Constantinople.

After the fall of Attila, the Eastern Empire enjoyed a period of peace, while the Western Empire deteriorated in continuing migration and expansion by Germanic nations (its end is usually dated in 476 when the Germanic Roman general Odoacer deposed the titular Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus)

Describe any present allies or enemies: Enemies are most barbarians, and especially the Sassanid Empire in Persia. Settled barbarians, like the Vandals, Visigoths, and Odoacer's Kingdom, are more ambivalent
Positive modifier: Masterful Generals
Negative modifier: Target for Barbarians
Notes: Glory to Rome!

[Legital]

Hmmm to go with Superior Military, or Supreme Administration? The choices!

I'm still trying to decide a people to take up for my application.