Black Dawn [OOC/Info/Interest]

[The Territory]

Preliminary tag.

As per IRC, will try to figure out my level of involvment.

[Melkor Unchained]

Okay, as people join up some more spacedy assets are starting to come into play, so I'll explain a little about what we have set up so far:

Arda's main offworld holdings are in the Jupiter system with Io as a main base. Depending on who else gets involved (I can think of a couple players whom I've RPd with in the past that may have claims here) I will extend Arda's holdings to include military installations on Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto of varying degrees of completion. Arda also has mining facilities on Ceres and Vesta, and is very active in the Asteroid Belt in general although specific claims to anything but the largest bodies are obviously difficult or impossible to enforce.

Also depending on who else joins, I will add Ardan holdings to Mars, as I need a human population/strategic consideration on the Red Planet. Nathi has an extant colony there as well; the boundaries (and/or their importance) will be determined by us when it's relevant to the story.

The Saturn system is being reserved until further notice, but I haven't talked to the owner of those claims about the story in a couple of months and I need to make sure he still wants in. One player I just spoke to in IRC claims the Alpha Centauri system as their home.

Also, I've got to get this out of the way now that it has come up a couple of times--

Disclaimer for players holding joint assets with other players:

When possible, I don't plan on denying any player any specific military/national asset they may claim, but as the story's GM I am the final arbiter of what claims belong to who in this particular universe. If you don't like it or it's bad for your nation's continuity, either don't join the RP or treat it as an alternate reality. I will try my best to honor all claims however there is one consideration that I must make explicit: I will not have Morgoth's strategic reach be limited in any way by OOC constraints. I hope this principle also exists on a player-to-player level but that's probably out of my control.

What this means is that if you have a base/weapon/joint force/claim or some other asset that relies on the participation of another player, that asset either doesn't exist or has to be re-imagined if the other player in question does not join the story. I can't have players saying "well I have a base in @@nation@@, but he's not in the story so I guess Morg can't attack it because you can't call his losses," I'm not going to go for that. Part of the reason I walked away from my first attempt at RPing Morgoth in NS had to do with the fact that I felt he was being hemmed in by OOC considerations: I couldn't actually be in character because my character wanted to do things to other people/nations that the players had no interest in writing. So now I'm trying to use him more as an NPC, but I'm going to need everyone to work with me if I'm going to make him a believable and competent villain.

[Tarasovka]

I think that previous idea I had for a deeper involvement has come into some difficulties. But that's okay.

As far as general Taraskovyan involvement is concerned, that is without any aspect of that previous idea we've discussed, it would be rather distanced. Taraskovya has no direct interests or interactions with Arda and its involvement would depend on the participation of several other players. Namely whether those nations will indeed participate in the story and whether these nations will drag the Empire into a possible war against Morgy.

So I would value potential Taraskovyan involvement as probable, but not 100% guaranteed.

[Melkor Unchained]

I think that previous idea I had for a deeper involvement has come into some difficulties. But that's okay.

As far as general Taraskovyan involvement is concerned, that is without any aspect of that previous idea we've discussed, it would be rather distanced. Taraskovya has no direct interests or interactions with Arda and its involvement would depend on the participation of several other players. Namely whether those nations will indeed participate in the story and whether these nations will drag the Empire into a possible war against Morgy.

So I would value potential Taraskovyan involvement as probable, but not 100% guaranteed.

Players don't have to RP a war if they don't want, but some manner of conflict will be going on off-camera at pretty much all times. I won't give too much away, but I can see it being difficult for governments to justify military non-involvement once Morgoth's fleet begins to appear. As much or as little fighting can occur off-camera as you like, and some nations will be affected more than others but one of my main themes here is the sheer pervasiveness of Morgoth's evil: everyone will be affected, and in most cases, violence will be involved. His main focus will be Arda of course, but it will become pretty clear early on that Morgoth doesn't have any problems with raining death on all and sundry.

I guess what I'm saying here is that if you join the story, you've pretty much been dragged into a war whether you want one or not--although that won't be evident at first. There won't be much room on the fence for sittin' in this scenario!

[Britmattia]

Tagged for reminder and consideration purposes.

[Butmanlands]

Assuming I am allowed and because we or on this topic I hope to have a solar system close to this one called X-31 or Panther. It has 3 planets. The planet of Iris, revolving around the star Ross 154 as my home planet. The Planet "Vis" is my second planet and grows all the food and "Sol", the 3rd planet is the military base planet.

[Melkor Unchained]

Assuming I am allowed and because we or on this topic I hope to have a solar system close to this one called X-31 or Panther. It has 3 planets. The planet of Iris, revolving around the star Ross 154 as my home planet. The Planet "Vis" is my second planet and grows all the food and "Sol", the 3rd planet is the military base planet.

If you'd like to be based outside of Sol that's fine, but I find that system setup excessive. I'll give you a homeworld plus a colony + agriculture planet with military assets on various moons/asteroids elsewhere in the system, but three (I'm assuming fully developed) planets is probably out of the question.

I'll be wanting Sol to be the most built-up system in this setting for practical and thematic reasons. That is to say, if you have unilateral control over another system and all the bodies in it, I'm going to insist that its level of general infrastructure (at least anything above and beyond modern standards, on the ground and in orbit etc) be inferior to Sol's. That doesn't mean your fleets can't be as big or your force projection as large as any other nation's, but it does mean I won't be letting people claim like five planets with 20 billion population each and cities, cities everywhere unless maybe it's a diaspora or something.

[Weyr]

Am definitely interested, though not sure if Weyr would entirely fit the plot and intended tone. Unlike Ardan alchemists, Weyrean alchemists are quite similar to those found in Fullmetal Alchemist, since I lifted the concept from there back in '04, though it has been modified quite a bit since. Then again, no-one has yet accused me of powergaming, and I try to keep the weirdness to a minimum where it would be inappropriate or wouldn't make sense. Even when deployed, Weyrean magic is rather underpowered, and even the more powerful alchemists and thaumaturges like Kira or Ash won't be summoning demons or hurling tornadoes on a regular basis, if at all. Sad as I am to admit it, Weyr isn't nearly as weird as some nations that I've seen out there; it is quite conventional in most respects. After all, a train is a train whether it is powered by magic or electricity or steam or the blood of virgin cats, and most folk who take that train won't care which it is long as that train gets them to work on time.

All of my characters are killable, and I won't object if Weyr gets flattened so long as there is some sort of reason behind it. Unless someone's claimed them, Weyr should have a sizable population on Ganymede and Callisto and on Mars (Kekkosmaa). All of those are completely open to whatever the plot demands, as is the Weyrean "home island" in the central pacific. There are also negligible extrasolar colonies. Weyr isn't a first-rate power, but it does have a decent fleet, a rapidly expanding industrial base, access to significant thaumaturgic knowledge, and owns some potentially useful real estate in Sol, so could make a noticeable contribution in any armed conflict.

As far as plot goes, there's no real history between Morgoth and Weyr, or between Morgoth's enemies and Weyr, and so Weyr's natural inclination would be to stay out of things. The same would go for the assassination attempt, since Weyr doesn't have close, if any, ties with anyone involved. Weyr has no official allies, and few formal friendships, so Weyr could be induced to side with any party through any number of means. Weyreans aren't suicidal, or at least not so suicidal as to go it alone against a god of sorts, so if Morgoth shows up with a big enough fleet they will simply fold and offer to join him. Those opposing Morgoth could potentially convince Weyr to join them in a similar manner. And while the High King is unlikely to willingly bring Weyr into a war without a very good reason, Weyr's sub-national units can be induced to help or hinder things, depending on what the plot demands or the participants desire. If Morgoth wants third-party support on Mars, all he'd have to do is offer to restore Kekkosmaa to the right members of the Kekko People's Party, for example.

[The Lords of War]

So the control of say a primarily 'settled' planet of New Klathcia in System 788, with several other planets in system having nothing more than large mining operations would be acceptable. And of course our Earth holdings of New Shiron (which will likely be the first bone of contention)

[New Hayesalia]

So, can we have an ETA on the OP?

[Melkor Unchained]

So, can we have an ETA on the OP?

It should be up within the next couple of days. I'd say it's 66-75% 80-85% done.

[Valinon]

I will be keeping an eye for the OP link. Apparently the Forum ate my post earlier...an unwelcome blast from the past.

[Melkor Unchained]

I will be keeping an eye for the OP link. Apparently the Forum ate my post earlier...an unwelcome blast from the past.

Coming up with a good name is the obstacle at this point. Hopefully I'll get the OP finished today.

[Butmanlands]

Assuming I am allowed and because we or on this topic I hope to have a solar system close to this one called X-31 or Panther. It has 3 planets. The planet of Iris, revolving around the star Ross 154 as my home planet. The Planet "Vis" is my second planet and grows all the food and "Sol", the 3rd planet is the military base planet.

If you'd like to be based outside of Sol that's fine, but I find that system setup excessive. I'll give you a homeworld plus a colony + agriculture planet with military assets on various moons/asteroids elsewhere in the system, but three (I'm assuming fully developed) planets is probably out of the question.

I'll be wanting Sol to be the most built-up system in this setting for practical and thematic reasons. That is to say, if you have unilateral control over another system and all the bodies in it, I'm going to insist that its level of general infrastructure (at least anything above and beyond modern standards, on the ground and in orbit etc) be inferior to Sol's. That doesn't mean your fleets can't be as big or your force projection as large as any other nation's, but it does mean I won't be letting people claim like five planets with 20 billion population each and cities, cities everywhere unless maybe it's a diaspora or something.

That true. The pop will be made smaller (11B?) and the agriculture planet would not have as much people as a homeworld. Just saying.

[Dread Lady Nathicana]

If you'd like to be based outside of Sol that's fine, but I find that system setup excessive. I'll give you a homeworld plus a colony + agriculture planet with military assets on various moons/asteroids elsewhere in the system, but three (I'm assuming fully developed) planets is probably out of the question.

I'll be wanting Sol to be the most built-up system in this setting for practical and thematic reasons. That is to say, if you have unilateral control over another system and all the bodies in it, I'm going to insist that its level of general infrastructure (at least anything above and beyond modern standards, on the ground and in orbit etc) be inferior to Sol's. That doesn't mean your fleets can't be as big or your force projection as large as any other nation's, but it does mean I won't be letting people claim like five planets with 20 billion population each and cities, cities everywhere unless maybe it's a diaspora or something.

That true. The pop will be made smaller (11B?) and the agriculture planet would not have as much people as a homeworld. Just saying.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't acknowledge 'billions' if your nation page doesn't reflect that. I know some folks over in II wank up all manner of 'hey I'm FT so I can own multiple galaxies and have infinite number of citizens' but ... no. Just for clarity. Because after a while, that just gets utterly ridiculous. Those of us who've been around for years are already at the utterly ridiculous population point, and have been for some time, but then again we've earned it should we choose to utilize it. Not all do, due to the ridiculous factor. Anyways, just a point.

[Midlonia]

Yeah, I'm seconding Nathi on this. I wont recognize anyone who's needlessly inflating their figures just to try and "fit in" any manner of smaller nations get involved in the affairs or other, larger, or more powerfully equipped ones.

Just look at Estonia and it's task force in Afghanistan, after all.

[The Lords of War]

Yeah, it is kind of sad really that a two + billion pop nation needs to feel it has to triple it size for an Rp.

[Spirit of Hope]

I would just like to confirm, Melkor I TG you my characters and opening post. I would like some confirmation if you got them or not. Sorry, I just haven't heard anything back, don't want to be a bother.

[Butmanland]

That true. The pop will be made smaller (11B?) and the agriculture planet would not have as much people as a homeworld. Just saying.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't acknowledge 'billions' if your nation page doesn't reflect that. I know some folks over in II wank up all manner of 'hey I'm FT so I can own multiple galaxies and have infinite number of citizens' but ... no. Just for clarity. Because after a while, that just gets utterly ridiculous. Those of us who've been around for years are already at the utterly ridiculous population point, and have been for some time, but then again we've earned it should we choose to utilize it. Not all do, due to the ridiculous factor. Anyways, just a point.

Fine, but in RL the earth has 7 Billion people. Very well then, 2 something billion it is. But I still have spaceships

[Dread Lady Nathicana]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't acknowledge 'billions' if your nation page doesn't reflect that. I know some folks over in II wank up all manner of 'hey I'm FT so I can own multiple galaxies and have infinite number of citizens' but ... no. Just for clarity. Because after a while, that just gets utterly ridiculous. Those of us who've been around for years are already at the utterly ridiculous population point, and have been for some time, but then again we've earned it should we choose to utilize it. Not all do, due to the ridiculous factor. Anyways, just a point.

Fine, but in RL the earth has 7 Billion people. Very well then, 2 something billion it is. But I still have spaceships

Yeah. And in 'real life' the earth is not made up of one nation. And in 'real life', logistics on the level we all claim to manage would be ridiculously impossible. And in 'real life' the percentages claimed by most players here for their military are unsupportable.

So much for the 'real life' comparison in a game that is so not designed to replicate 'real life' on any meaningful level.

I don't care what tech level people claim, but whipping up unsupported stats outside the game has, in my circle of rp'ers, been considered poor form overall.

[Melkor Unchained]

I don't have any immediate intention of stressing things like population, raw military capacity and the like. If a nation's exact population becomes important in the story for whatever reason, I'll deal with it when it becomes an issue, but in the general sense I want the players to regard their military/populations as less spreadsheet assets (I'm lookin' at you Nathi ) and more as plot devices.

In general, I will be calling losses anyway as the GM, and it will be the players' responsibility to react to them. So what a player claims population or military-wise relative to these losses will only become relevant when I judge a nation is close to 'elimination,' and I plan on crossing those bridges when we get to them. There probably aren't very many situations where I will come to a player (for IC reasons/considerations) and say "you're out, you can't post anymore," but if people want to minimize their losses, they should think carefully about how they maneuver and how Arda/Morgoth/other PCs might respond.

SO basically what I'm saying here is I don't want to get too caught up with strict mechanical details unless they become specifically relevant. There will be some battles obviously, but I want to focus more on the characters and how they respond to mind-blowing shit going on all around them!

Also, OP will come up very soon. I totally promise. I just have to sort and index all the crap and get my ToC started, pick a good name, and we'll get rolling.

[Butmanlands]

Cool. And I don't think that my nation will be relevent, just my char. They won't launch a rescue op.
EDIT- Name suggestion- Lord of the rings Reloaded.

[Midlonia]

I'm personally wondering why you felt the need to boost your population in the first place Butman. You're nearly 3bn after all.

[Alcona and Hubris]

I'm personally wondering why you felt the need to boost your population in the first place Butman. You're nearly 3bn after all.

Yeah, running around with a bunch of 10 to 17 billion nations. You realize how large the last of the first generation nations have gotten?

[Treznor]

Even those of us who went on hiatus for a while. There is no way the Empire of Treznor has fourteen billion citizens, even with its super-extra-seekrit extrasolar colony. Effectively, my Empire's population should be a moot point unless the demigod Melkor decides to seek some twisted vengeance. At which point this becomes extremely complicated as a half dozen mutual defense treaties are invoked.