Spheres of Influence: Alliance

CODEX

Conventions and Articles of the Alliance:

Show Content

SpoilerAlliance conventions are held every ten years, coinciding with diplomatic turns. At these conventions, new articles are proposed and debated, and the Alliance diplomats are able to meet and discuss the affairs of the world.

The Alliance has a Council, consisting of its more influential members. Currently, the Council consists of Kor Vurneus, The Unity of Nature's Friends, Tiranóg, Nova Kalla, Khuln Kalduhr and Praterre. The Council's main power is that each member is allowed to propose one new article at each convention, to be voted on by all the other states. Each vote is decided by simple majority; if there are more yes votes than no votes, it passes.

Votes are currently assigned as follows;

Show Content

SpoilerKhuln Kaduhr: 8
Kor Vurneus: 13
The Unity of Friends: 12
The Freed Bay Post: 16
Tiranóg: 13
The Crescent Wastes: 9
Nova Kalla: 7
The Antipode Coalition: 5
Orbona: 7
Des-Accor: 4
Ecrithur: 3
Forgent: 5
Bulwar: 3
Margunkyn: 6
Themaran: 5
Elblet: 4
Gundarth: 7
Innis Lorel (unrecognized): 0
Khuln Darihm: 2
Khuln Kalderak: 2
Khuln Thorjron: 5
Khuln Garuhm: 2

List of Past Articles:

Show Content

Spoiler

The Charter of the Alliance

Founding Articles of the Alliance (701AF).

Article 1 of the Alliance: The Alliance shall be formed, consisting of the Signatories listed below.

• Praterre
  
• Kor Vurneus
  
• Tiranóg
  
• The Unity of Nature's Friends
  
• Nova Kalla
  
• Khuln Kalduhr
  
• Khuln Ahrkalde
  
• Khuln Darihm
  
• Khuln Kalderak
  
• Khuln Torjron
  
• Khuln Garuhm
  
• Khuln Paztdin
  
• Forgent
  
• Bulwar
  
• Gundarth
  
• Margunkyn
  
• Ilmarsh
  
• Themaran
  
• Kargrant
  
• Elblet
  
• The Zmon Wastelanders
  

Article 2 of the Alliance: The Alliance is fundamentally a defensive alliance. All members have an obligation to come to the aid of any within it that are attacked, whether by external forces or another member.

Article 3 of the Alliance: To allow for the movement of troops to defend fellow members, armed forces shall be allowed military access through fellow members of the Alliance provided the country which commands them informs the country they are moving through.

Article 4 of the Alliance: To represent the Alliance, conventions will be held where decisions may be made. The next convention will be held in 704 AF. It is the duty of the members to set the date of the next convention during any given convention.

Article 4 (2): The conventions shall be held in the capital of Praterre.

Article 5 of the Alliance: The Council of the Alliance is established; consisting of Praterre, Kor Vurneus and Tiranóg for their military contributions to Bronze Pass, The Unity of Nature's Friends, for the presence of their Druids, Nova Kalla, for the substantial funding of armies and mercenaries, and Khuln Kalduhr, for their leadership of the dwarven contingent at the battle.

Article 5 (2): The Council shall propose new articles for voting on by the members of the Alliance. New articles shall pass if the number of votes in favour outnumber the number of votes against.

Article 5 (3): Each Council Member will have one vote.


First Convention of the Alliance (703AF).

Article 6 of the Alliance: Article 5's third clause shall be repealed.

Article 7 of the Alliance: All states finally agree upon the following assignment of votes, following the two-year census. Representation is not exact, to prevent the domination of the vote by larger countries. The votes shall be distributed as follows;

• Praterre – 23 votes
  
• Kor Vurneus – 13 votes
  
• The Unity of Friends – 12 votes
  
• Tiranóg – 13 votes
  
• Nova Kalla – 5 votes
  
• Forgent – 5 votes
  
• Bulwar – 3 votes
  
• Margunkyn – 5 votes
  
• Ilmarsh – 2 votes
  
• Themaran – 3 votes
  
• Kargrant – 3 votes
  
• Elblet – 4 votes
  
• Gundarth – 7 votes
  
• Khuln Kaduhr – 4 votes
  
• Khuln Ahrkalde – 3 votes
  
• Khuln Darihm – 2 votes
  
• Khuln Kalderak – 2 votes
  
• Khuln Thorjron – 5 votes
  
• Khuln Garuhm – 2 votes
  
• Khuln Paztdin – 1 vote
  
• Zmon Wastelanders – 1 vote
  

Article 8 of the Alliance: Tiranóg shall be exempt from being required to provide military aid on land, and in exchange shall commit their navy to protecting the sea lanes of the Alliance.


Second Convention of the Alliance (710AF).

Article 9 of the Alliance: Article 4 shall be repealed in its entirety.

Article 10 of the Alliance: To represent the Alliance, conventions will be held every ten years, starting from 710AF onwards.

Article 10 (2): The conventions will be held in Dentienne.

Article 11 of the Alliance: To prevent excessive intrigue on the part of proposing states, and to reduce the propensity for conventions to continue on for more than a month as countries make many proposals, each Council member shall be limited to proposing one article per convention. Each article may still have unlimited clauses, but must be voted on as a single proposal in a single vote.


Third Convention of the Alliance (720AF).

Article 12 of the Alliance: Recognizing that the Alliance has already improved trade between members, all members will now allow open trade between themselves and all other Alliance members, without undue restrictions.

Article 13 of the Alliance: Nova Kalla shall be assigned 2 additional votes, bringing their total to 7.

Article 14 of the Alliance: The war of Khuln Ahrkalde against Khuln Paztdin and Khuln Garuhm will end. Any further fighting shall be treated as aggression triggering Article 2 in favour of the defender. In fitting with the agreed arbitration, the following shall be decided;

Article 14 (2): Ahrkalde traders shall be permitted to enter Khuln Garuhm.

Article 14 (3): Khuln Ahrkalde will sell the mines held in Khuln Paztdin territory to Khuln Paztdin for a one-time payment of 400,000 gold.

Article 14 (4):Khuln Ahrkalde shall not attempt to establish mines in any territory held by another country in the Alliance without permission.

Article 15 of the Alliance: Nova Kalla shall be exempt from providing military aid to the Alliance, though they shall be expected to contribute financially to the defence of the Alliance in times of war or extreme hardship.


Fourth Convention of the Alliance (730AF).

No new articles were passed during the fourth convention of the Alliance.


Fifth Convention of the Alliance (740AF).

Article 16 of the Alliance: In order to punish recent insults and attacks on our ships, the countries of Taggar and Borok are to be placed under embargo, and no Alliance nations may trade with them.

Article 17 of the Alliance: The Border Army will be formed by contributions from all countries of the Alliance. This army shall be spread along Alliance borders to safeguard border countries from incursions by hostile raiders. The existence of this army will encourage military cooperation between members of the Alliance.

Article 17 (2): All countries of the Alliance, aside from those already exempted, shall commit a minimum of 100 combat power of ground troops to the Border Army.

Article 17 (3): The participating armies of the Alliance shall maintain their own command structures but work together under the leadership of the Grand Marshal of Praterre.


Sixth Convention of the Alliance (750AF).

Article 18 of the Alliance: Article 10's second clause shall be repealed.

Article 19 of the Alliance: The conventions of the Alliance may be held in different cities, as decided on by the members of the Alliance Council.

Article 20 of the Alliance: Article 17's second clause shall be repealed.

Article 21 of the Alliance: The following states shall have mandated minimum contributions to the Border Army, though any nation may volunteer a larger force if they see fit;

• Praterre – 400 combat power
  
• Kor Vurneus – 400 combat power
  
• The Unity of Friends – 200 combat power
  
• Forgent – 100 combat power
  
• Bulwar – 50 combat power
  
• Margunkyn – 150 combat power
  
• Ilmarsh – 50 combat power
  
• Themaran – 100 combat power
  
• Elblet – 50 combat power
  
• Gundarth – 150 combat power
  
• Khuln Kaduhr – 150 combat power
  
• Khuln Ahrkalde – 100 combat power
  
• Khuln Darihm – 100 combat power
  
• Khuln Kalderak – 100 combat power
  
• Khuln Thorjron – 150 combat power
  
• Khuln Garuhm – 100 combat power
  
• Khuln Paztdin – 100 combat power
  
• Zmon Wastelander Mercenaries – 200 combat power
  

Article 22 of the Alliance: Due to the personal union of Margunkyn and Kargrant under the rule of a single monarch, the votes of both nations shall be recalculated. Margunkyn shall have a total of 6 votes, and Kargrant shall be recognized by all Alliance members as a part of Margunkyn.


Seventh Convention of the Alliance (760AF).

Article 23 of the Alliance: Following their increasing recognition by the countries of the Alliance, the Kingdom of the Crescent Wastes shall be recognized as an Alliance member, and gain all the benefits and obligations thereof. The confederation of the Zmon Wastelanders into this united polity shall be recognized.

Article 23 (2): The Kingdom of the Crescent Wastes shall be assigned 3 votes. This amount shall be reassessed at every convention until such a time as the Kingdom of the Crescent Wastes has fully recolonized their claimed territory.

Article 24 of the Alliance: Tiranóg shall apologise to Nhdit Nuskri for the sinking of the Nybwirm. No further ships shall be attacked by the Alliance within 10 nautical miles of the coast of Nhdit Nuskri, regardless of their presumed status as pirates.

Article 25 of the Alliance: Article 17's third clause shall be repealed.

Article 26 of the Alliance: The mandated contributions to the Border Army shall be changed to the following, replacing the figures in Article 21;

• Praterre – 250 combat power
  
• Kor Vurneus – 250 combat power
  
• Forgent – 50 combat power
  
• Bulwar – 50 combat power
  
• Margunkyn – 50 combat power
  
• Ilmarsh – 50 combat power
  
• Gundarth – 100 combat power
  
• The Crescent Wastes – 100 combat power
  

Eighth Convention of the Alliance (770AF).

Article 27 of the Alliance: The Kingdom of the Crescent Wastes shall be assigned two additional votes, to a total of 5.

Article 28 of the Alliance: The Prince of Ilmarsh's claim to the Kingdom of Themaran shall be recognized by the Alliance in order to end the Themaran civil war.

Article 28 (2): If the pretender in Themaran does not acknowledge this and continues to wage war, the Prince of Ilmarsh's claim shall be enforced by the Border Army.

Article 29 of the Alliance: The Antipode Coalition shall become a member of the Alliance, and will gain all benefits and obligations thereof.

Article 29 (2): The Antipode Coalition shall be assigned 5 votes.


Ninth Convention of the Alliance (780AF).

Article 30 of the Alliance: The Border Army shall be immediately disbanded. Articles 17, 21 and 26 shall be repealed. All troops in the Border Army will rejoin their countries' respective forces. The Border Marshal shall return to the Kingdom of Praterre with maximum possible haste, and turn himself in to the King of Praterre for sentencing.

Article 31 of the Alliance: The King of Themaran and Ilmarsh's efforts to unify his two countries shall be officially recognized, following the precedent of Margunkyn. The votes of the new nation shall be calculated as such; Themaran shall have a total of 5 votes, and Ilmarsh shall be recognized by all Alliance members as a part of Themaran.

Article 32 of the Alliance: The Kingdom of the Crescent Wastes shall be assigned four additional votes, to a total of 9.


Tenth Convention of the Alliance (790AF).

Article 33 of the Alliance: Orbona shall be recognized as an Alliance member with 7 votes.

Article 33 (2): The votes of the now defunct Kingdom of Praterre shall be distributed to the Freed Bay Post and the Duchies of Ecrithur and Des-Accor. Praterre's Council Seat shall go to the Freed Bay Post, as they are the largest of the Pratois states. The Freed Bay Post shall receive 16 votes, Des-Accor 4 votes, and Ecrithur 3 votes.

Article 33 (3): The Kingdom of the Crescent Wastes shall be granted a Council seat in light of their increased strength and population.

Article 33 (4): In light of the proclamation of the High Kingdom of the Dwarves and the subsequent vassalage of Khuln Paztdin and Khuln Ahrkalde to the King of Khuln Kalduhr, the votes of the two states shall transfer to the control of Khuln Kalduhr.

Article 34 of the Alliance: In light of their significant contributions to the advancement of magic and technology, in addition to their status as a significant naval power, the Antipode Coalition shall be granted a seat on the Alliance Council.

Article 34 (2.i): The Alliance shall establish a joint research institute.
Article 34 (2.ii): This institute will be hosted and led by the Antipode Coalition.
Article 34 (2.iii): Any member of the Alliance may contribute resources and personnel to research at the joint institute. Council members are strongly encouraged to invest at least 50k gold a year or equivalent in resources to the effort.
Article 34 (2.iv): All research performed by the joint institute will be made available for sharing to all members of the Alliance, regardless of investment.
Article 34 (2.v): If any member of the Alliance cannot afford to learn the technology, it is suggested that one of the Council members may sponsor them.
Article 34 (2.vi): Research focuses at the joint institute shall be decided by majority vote among Alliance members who wish to contribute.

Article 35 of the Alliance: The Underdark shall be recognized as that portion of the world that lies significantly under the Earth, and under all known Alliance Dwarven forts and their territories that is distinguished by consisting of exceedingly large expansive caverns capable of containing at the very least, great lakes upon which patrolling ships containing great numbers of troops can set sail.

Article 35 (2): Portions of the Underdark as such shall be considered as akin to being continents and lands and thus can be claimed much in the same manner as Alliance Colonies in the East have been claimed.

Article 35 (3): It shall be assumed that if any Alliance member claims and is able to hold territory down there, it shall be recognized as their territory for as long as they can hold it.

Article 35 (4): Alliance members that dig additional ways down to the Underdark shall inform other nations in the alliance of the presence of a new Borehole.

Article 36 of the Alliance: In times of exceeding duress with international risk, an emergency convening of the Alliance may be called by any member nation.

Article 36 (2.i): Exceeding duress and international risk is to be loosely defined but encompass all events whose follow-through may compromise the security of the Alliance or cause immediate catastrophic loss of life such that it cannot be held off until the following Convention.
Article 36 (2.ii) This call cannot be ignored and must be attended by a representative of each member nation.
Article 36 (2.iii) The ways in which the emergency conventions differ from routine conventions will be as follows:
- There will be no council standing, any member nation may propose temporary articles.
- Any Articles passed and solutions less officially offered on the convention floor will be temporary, and dissolved upon either 1) the end of the crisis that necessitated the convention or 2) the next routine Alliance Convention, whichever comes first. For permanent passing, Articles will need to be re-introduced in the normally accepted manner.
Article 36 (2.iv) The caller of the emergency meeting will be responsible for immediate and complete intelligence briefing.
Article 36 (2.v) In the event the caller has invoked this Article for any reason other than the accepted genuine concern of international well-being, they will be punished within reason in a manner decided at the next routine convention.

Power and Numbers:

Show Content

SpoilerMost of everything is measured in some kind of power. This is mostly an abstracted way of representing how powerful your forces are. Mages have magic power, research slots have research power, armies and navies have combat power. Of those, mages are the most flexible, as I'll explain last, since they can fill the others' slots.


Combat Power

Combat power is fairly straightforward. It represents how powerful an army or navy is, and in particular how strong it is in comparison to other forces. Modifiers apply to this; dwarven armies count as double strength when fighting in dwarven holds or underground, the orcs have 50% more strength when fighting on the steppe or similar completely wide open terrain, and there are a couple of special innovations that provide bonuses, such as the flaming chariots of Nhdit Nusri having a bonus in flat deserts.

When attempting to achieve a military objective, such as safeguarding against raiders or pirates, the goal is often to provide a set amount of combat power. For conquest and invasions, the power is slightly more uncertain, usually having about 200 points of variance. Regardless, the target amount of combat power you need is still fairly predictable. Enemy bonuses, like special innovations or defensive structures, will already be factored into the target combat power you need to reach. When conquering a country, if you exceed the target's combat power, you will win the battle, but it will take the rest of the diplomatic turn to do so, tying up your army with occupation. If you double the target's combat power, you will win more quickly, at the cost of taking losses. You will still be able to use a diminished version of the army you were using again this turn. If you triple the target's combat power, you will take substantially less losses, and be able to use most of the combat power you committed again this turn.

Obviously, defensive missions like protecting a border or preventing marauders from attacking your lands or shipping will take the whole turn no matter how much more than the target combat power you commit, as you are simply preventing a threat from doing damage. To find out if a mission or a conquest has a specific combat power requirement, you just need to ask.


Research Power

Research power is only seen in long turns, which is when you have research slots. It is gained from investing in places of learning and research. You have a limited number of research slots in your country decided by the general education level of your people. A research slot may be filled by an investment in a research institute, such as a university, or by a mage team. More on that later.

It takes 2000 points of research to complete the minimum for a research project, though more can be invested to create a better end result technology. Since a long turn is 10 years, this means a contribution of 200 a year will complete a research. The average "good" amount of research in a slot is 200; this means a slot can provide the minimum amount of research power to do a research by itself without any additional investment. Any shortfall in power, say for example you only had 150 or wanted to produce a bigger leap in technology, could be made up by an investment of money - at a rate of 1k per 1 research power - or by applying mages. Some research slots may provide additional research power when working on specific kinds of projects, for example the Royal Dockyard of Tiranóg, a renowned workplace of shipwrights and naval officers, provides only 100 research power but doubles that amount when a technology it is working on directly relates to shipbuilding.


Magic Power

The Magic Power of mage groups is the most flexible, and as a result is subject to the widest array of modifiers. Most mage teams can take on a specialization that gives them a positive modifer, and many kinds of magical advancements and technologies revolve around giving mages even more positive modifiers to specific things, such as being used in combat or specific fields. The number of mages that can be fielded is usually related to your education level, though some races get bonuses or penalties for being natually attuned to magic or opposed to it.

Mages can be applied to different projects for every combination of diplomatic and long turn. During diplomatic turns, they could for example be used in combat, sent on an expedition, or kept in reserve. Any that are kept in reserve during the diplomatic turn can then instead be used in the long turn, where they can either do research or use their magic to further economic developments by magically growing crops or building structures or the like. After the long turn is done, the mages are all freed up to be used again at the start of the next diplomatic turn. When used in combat, mages provide combat power equal to their magic power plus modifiers, such as their specialization or any magical advancements, and likewise when used for research they provide research power equal to their magic power plus modifiers. When used for economic development or expeditions, they usually provide an investment roughly equal to 1k gold per point of their magic power plus modifiers.

Ultimately, these points are just a method of indicating approximately how much the forces at your command are worth in relation to each other, so you can compare them to other nations and approximate how much committing mages in certain fields would help, for example.


Expeditions

Just so people are aware, expeditions cost more depending on how far away from your nearest owned bit of territory they are, so if you intend to do a lot of expeditions you should set up naval bases around the world. Expedition costs are as follows;
100 - an expedition within your own territory
200 - an expedition to territory in the same general region as yours
500 - an expedition to territory anywhere in the world

By adding gold (1k is equivalent to 1 point of expedition investment), army power, navy power or magic power, you can create expeditions. If you invest more than the basic minimum amount in an expedition, and if you get a good mix of different kinds of power on the expedition, you have a better chance of both finding something better and finding the right general type of thing you wanted to find.

Non-Player Countries


Maps

Show Content

SpoilerMaps:
Country Names
Cities and Roads

Previous Maps:

Show Content

Spoiler

• Country Names, turn 0
  
• Cities and Roads, turn 0
  
• Map of the Alliance and its neighbours
  
• Map of the world, with no labels
  

Primary Races of the Alliance

Show Content

SpoilerHumans:

Show Content

SpoilerA varied bunch, humans live for about 70 years and are prone to ambition. Humans are capable of magic, but only the most educated with the knack or determination to persevere through a life of rigorous training are capable of ascending the ranks of mages. Humans are spread across the globe and different varieties are found everywhere, following all manner of strange ideas and ideologies.

Humans have had a varied history. Their first big polity, uniting and conquering the tribes and petty kings of the valley, was the Tharassan empire. When the Empire fell after two hundred years, its capital sank beneath the waves, leaving squabbling kingdoms in its wake. The rise of the swarm queen Xei in the buglands forced the human realms to band together for their own survival. Their victory at the Bronze Pass cemented the creation of the Alliance. As a result, aside from a few minor squabbles, there has been peace between most human kingdoms for the last eighty years.

As they are capable of the most varied forms of government, humans make up the majority of the alliance and most applications should be for human nations.

Dwarves:

Show Content

SpoilerShort, strong and sturdy, dwarves live long lives and have long memories. They live for around 300-400 years on average. All dwarves have mighty beards, regardless of gender. They are adapted to life underground, and direct sunlight makes it difficult for them to see and can damage their eyes. The majority of dwarves live in their surviving underground holds, though plenty live aboveground in human cities, where they have built districts of delvings and near-windowless houses.

Back when the world was young, when the humans were still tribes and city-states, dwarves ruled the area that would become the Alliance. They had an empire that stretched across the entire eastern half of the continent, with colonies throughout the western range as well. But when they fought a war with the elves, the cost was dear – devastating magic brought earthquakes and ruination upon their realm, and though the cracks in the dwarven defences, the bugs attacked in force from the depths for the first time. The resulting battle for survival cost the dwarves their empire's heartland, scattered dwarven refugees across the human realms, and limited the surviving dwarven kingdoms to individual, isolated strongholds struggling to support their large populations.

Dwarven strongholds are highly traditional places, and there is little room for variation in forms of governance.

Other Races of the World

Show Content

SpoilerOrcs:

Show Content

SpoilerLarge, strong and green, orcs are a surface dwelling race that has traditionally been nomadic by nature. Orcs live about the same length as humans, though orcs with an unusually strong connection to magic can live over a hundred years. Magic flows through their veins, carried from their holy places by a network of standing stones that stand as lonely monuments scattered across the steppes. Connected by this network, orcs can wield the powerful magic of the land, but separated from it they slowly wither and weaken.

Orcs have traditionally been fractious and warlike, with competing tribes of nomads roaming the plains and raiding into the neighbouring lands of humans and dwarves. This earned them a reputation as bloodthirsty barbarians. In more recent times, as technological and educational advancements have allowed human soldiers and mages to compete with orcish warriors and shamans, some orcish tribes have become more peaceful, and a few even rode to the aid of the Alliance at the battle of the Bronze Pass. Though most humans still view orcs as violent barbarians, and the children's stories still use them as boogeymen, some are starting to come round to the idea of them as reasonable folk.

Orcs are limited by their territory, though the steppe is vast and they often roam within it. Any orcish faction will reflect that nomadic element.

Elves:

Show Content

SpoilerElves are a dying race, unable to reproduce and growing slowly fewer in number every year. Though immortal, beautiful and inherently magical, elves were always few in number. Elven-crafts are the finest items of their kind, with elven armour being light and durable, and their weapons swift and sharp. Elves are by nature isolationist, avoiding the lands of mortals. When encountered, their pride and arrogance is second to none, and they are willing to do terrible things to mortals to protect even a single member of their kind.

Elves ruled the forests when the world was young. Their hidden cities were glorious places of magic and wonder. For reasons almost every elf remembers but none will share, their utopian lives were interrupted by a war with the dwarves, which grew from an honourable confrontation on the field of battle to the deployment of terrible, destructive magic. The dwarven empire was sundered and weakened, leading to its collapse at the hand of the bugs, and the elves... well, for reasons they do not share, they became a dying race, and their numbers have been gradually dwindling in the seven centuries since.

Lizardfolk:

Show Content

SpoilerIn the west, the lizardfolk – Saaishiv in their own language, meaning moon-people – coalesce around the decadent and decaying Empire of the Moon. Though not cold-blooded as some might expect, they are born from huge communally-raised clutches of eggs. Lizardfolk come in a variety of colours, and are capable of unnatural stillness and moving in sudden, decisive motions. They are mildly venomous demi-carnivores. There are some small communities of them in the lands of the alliance, but they are usually only seen as strange foreigners travelling through.

The Empire of the Moon, and its satellite kingdoms, are ahead of the Alliance in some areas of technology but behind in others. The Empire is crumbling; years of aristocratic decadence has taken its toll on the heartlands. Forest goblins have been growing stronger at its southern borders for years, warlike orcish nomads are intruding in the east, and the northern wall is battered by attacks by ice beasts. The current dynasty cannot maintain power forever, and when it falls, who knows what will happen next?

Goblins:

Show Content

SpoilerThe physically smallest intelligent race, goblins were once orcs, millennia ago. A questionably-successful attempt to free themselves from the magic of the land left goblins reduced and maddened, but free to torment the entire world. They are strong for their size, but still physically weaker than the other races. Goblins are prolific and fast-growing, expanding their population quickly to replace any losses they take, and would rather steal and scavenge than build in most cases – though smarter goblins are more than capable of cunning and surprisingly effective, if ramshackle, devices that often should not work. They dwell in dark forests, mountain caves and deep ruins, and are particularly fond of fallen dwarf cities.

Goblin society has no civilians. They are all trained to fight, and will recklessly throw themselves into combat if they think they have anything to gain, only to retreat the moment it stops going their way. Most goblin cultures tend to be cowardly and vengeful, quick to take out their frustrations on smaller goblins within arms reach. Goblins won't hesitate to stab each other in the back if they think they have something to gain. It is mostly a burning hatred of non-goblins and a desire for loot and victory that keeps a goblin tribe united, though their hatred is not usually strong enough for them to refuse bribes and deals out of principle. In spite of this, they believe – against all evidence – that they are destined to rule the earth.

Bugs:

Show Content

SpoilerNobody knows what the bugs call themselves, as they do not appear to possess language at a level humans can comprehend. They are called a number of names; 'swarmers', 'locusts', or 'insect-men' are popular, and the Empire of the Moon calls them 'aberrants', but most frequently they are just 'the bugs'. Confusingly, they exhibit a great deal of variation in their forms, from short, spindly workers to towering armoured hive guard and colossal queens, but all of them are chitinous, chittering abominations. They are capable of eating almost anything, including each other and any other intelligent race; in fact, one of their greatest desires seems to be to find ever greater stores of other races to eat.

Each bug has a primitive mind, capable of performing tasks it is set to and using basic tools and weapons, but is not truly sapient. They are part of a larger hive mind, ruled by a viciously bizarre queen who projects her intelligence across the swarm. The huge, bloated queens are the least-combat capable of the bugs, and surround themselves with massive swarms that they can command remotely. Each hive can only ever have one queen. When a queen dies, one or more develops to replace them from an existing worker in the hive, in a process that involves a rapid and horrifying change inside a chrysalis. This potentially divides larger hives or those spread across wider areas, as the bugs are split between multiple new queens. So long as a queen lives, however, the hive remains united, and may grow to become a terrifying invasion force. Unlike goblins, who can be easily bribed under the right circumstances, it is impossible to negotiate with bugs; they don't seem to even understand the concept of an exchange that doesn't involve deadly force, and have absolutely no mercy.

History Timeline

Show Content

SpoilerThe history of the world is filled in with broad brush strokes; the recent centuries have plenty of space for the development of the current array of states. Most of this, aside from the very end, is not necessarily required reading.

Millennia ago; Elves rule their forests. Human tribes roam the continent. Dwarves rise in the mountains.

~3000 years ago; Dwarves have united and are forming a colossal empire across the eastern half of the continent. Humans remain tribal. Elves continue as they always have. Orcs emerge tied to their first holy sites, supposedly created by their gods. They begin to build their network of standing stones across the steppe.

~2500 years ago; The dwarven heartland flourishes, and the most far-flung holds on the continent are constructed. The orcs have completed their network of standing stones across the steppe, and are spreading them into neighbouring territories. Some even expand to the western continent. Meanwhile, the first human city-states and petty kingdoms emerge from tribal beginnings. In the far south, a human king unites the southern plains, only for his empire to fragment within a generation.

~2000 years ago; The Dwarven High Kingdom connects the continent. Protected and benefiting from trade, human classical city-states and kingdoms advance to new levels of civlization. The lizardfolk of the far west unite, and the Empire of the Moon's First Dynasty is founded.

~1500 years ago; The Dwarven High Kingdom reaches a level of glory it will maintain for the next 800 years. Expansion slows as it spreads not only into the western half of the continent but also overseas, slowly delving one hold at a time.

~1400 years ago; First Dynasty of the Empire of the Moon falls, resulting in the Years of the Three Thousand Lords. After 23 years of war, the Second Dynasty reunites the Empire of the Moon.

~1300 years ago; An orcish horde under a great leader, known by the humans as Grimtooth the Great, unites most of the steppe and conquers the rest of the tribes. They sweep down, vassalizing and pillaging most of the human lands that would later become the Alliance. Once the bloodshed ends, this actually improves trade between human settlements and spurs advancements. Grimtooth's shamans erect magical monuments throughout the human lands, allowing orcs to roam more freely through their fields, forests and mountains than ever before.

~1200 years ago; Grimtooth's khaganate fragments on his death. Successor khagans would rule in the steppe for another 150 years, but humans would reassert independence in their lands. The legacy of Grimtooth the Great lives on in the histories of the orcs. Meanwhile, humans destroy all the orcish magical monuments they can find in their lands, preventing orcs from living permanently in their lands for the next thousand years.

~1150 years ago; The dwarves settle the great northern barrier mountains for the first time. Unbeknownst to them, their supply lines pass through forests containing hidden elf villages. Since the high king of the elves lives in the northern forests, the elves take this as an insult and ambush supply caravans, laying the groundwork for future relations.

~1100 years ago; A human island city-state, Tharassa, is founded by colonists from a nearby island country and quickly rises to prominence. It conquers some nearby islands as well as a rival coastal city-state, but is restrained from growing further by dwarven discouragement from attacking the dwarf empire's existing trade partners.

~1000 years ago; Megalomaniacal orcish warlocks split themselves from their race through magical experimentation. They are driven by a desire to free themselves from their gods' influence to achieve supremacy over the world in their own name. Their ritual creates a cursed place in the steppe, and the survivors are driven away by a tribe of devout orcs, becoming the progenitors of the goblin race. Meanwhile, the Empire of the Moon's Second Dynasty is overthrown in a brief civil war, and the Third Dynasty takes over.

~950 years ago; War is declared between the elves and the dwarves after attempts to broker peace break down. The elves execute dwarven ambassadors for trespassing upon their lands – despite having invited them to a diplomatic summit there, according to dwarven records – and open conflict begins, featuring the first pitched battles between large professional armies the world has ever seen.

~900 years ago; After over 50 years of war, the elves and dwarves have reoriented themselves entirely towards the conflict. Both bring down terrible magical ruination upon the other; the elves by calling down magical earthquakes and eruptions that caused massive damage to the dwarven empire, and the dwarves by sundering some key monument in the heart of the elven capital that granted elven magi supreme arcane power – and causing feedback that crippled their race's ability to reproduce in the process, as well as causing much of their magical infrastructure that supported their glittering forest cities to collapse. Both sides claim the other fired first.

~900-860 years ago; In the decades after the elves and dwarves dealt each other devastating blows, the dwarves would have to cease all military campaigns against the elves, as the bugs emerged from the deep caverns in force for the first time to assail their holds. It is possible that the elves were responsible for guiding the bugs, previously a minor underground threat, into positions where they would be able to consume dwarven settlements and become a major threat. Bugs also rose to the surface to occupy the areas now known as the buglands. In addition, increasing numbers of goblins were raiding dwarven deep roads and attacking any points with weakened defences after the devastating elven strike. The sheer level of chaos and devastation sent many dwarven refugees into the human lands, and even disrupted the dwarven calendar so they no longer know exactly what year it is. By the end of this period, the dwarves had lost their entire heartland, dozens of outlying holds and countless lives to the bug attacks, and the elves withdrew to their forests, considering the war won and their enemies chastened, though at terrible cost.

~850-800 years ago; Rising into the power vacuum created by the collapse of the dwarves, the militaristic city-state of Tharassa conquers most of the human lands that would later become the Alliance, forming the large, militaristic Tharassan Republic.

Imperial Founding (790 years ago); The Tharassan Republic is overthrown by a military coup led by an ambitious general, and becomes the Tharassan Empire. Human calendars are still dated from this point to this day, with all later dates declared to be After Founding.

116 AF (674 years ago); The Third Dynasty of the Empire of the Moon collapses. After three years of anarchy, the Fourth Dynasty begins in 119 AF.

152 AF (638 years ago); The Tharassan Emperor Nemo convenes a cabal of mages to raise him to godhood. The failure of their spell causes the large, urbanized Tharassan capital city and the entire island it is situated on to sink beneath the sea. This devastating disaster precipitates the collapse of the Tharassan Empire, and the rise of squabbling kings and warlords fighting over the empire's remains.

~153 AF onwards; In the years following the collapse of the empire, local kingdoms arose in the human lands, most of which followed feudal structures. They fought over the land and developed their own societies, moving past this feudal period and evolving into human states on the cusp of industrialization. As a result, this period is going to vary the most depending on the nations that players create.

619 AF; Firearms, a dwarven technology once closely guarded, are finally studied to the point where humans can duplicate their secrets. Over the coming years, the heavy, quality-oriented dwarven guns are refined by human ingenuity into cheap and practical muskets and cannons.

671 AF; A human explorer, who was either very smart or very very lost, discovers the vast chain of subcontinental islands to the east. The islands appear to be mostly wilderness, with the only local intelligent species being sparse and scattered tribes, some of which contain races still not yet discovered. A few colonies are established, and more are planned.

686-698 AF; The swarm queen Xei (so named by the humans) emerges in the buglands, and spends this time uniting the bugs. By 598 AF, the Xei swarm controlled basically the entirety of the bug wasteland, and launched probing attacks on bug- and goblin-held fortresses in the fallen dwarven heartlands.

700 AF; After testing itself against dwarf holds, the Xei swarm launches an assault on the Bronze Pass, attempting to gain entry into the human lands and the poorly-defended feast of flesh within. The human realms mount an emergency defense, with the help of the dwarves and orcs, and form the Alliance. The Alliance successfully defends Bronze Pass, and the camaraderie between the leaders who fought at the Pass allowed the Alliance to endure. The amount of conflict between human realms in Alliance lands massively decreases, as does the focus on outward expansion and eastward colonization, at least for now.

736 AF; The Fourth Dynasty of the Empire of the Moon begins to show signs of weakness and decay.

790 AF; Modern day. The steam pump, a recent invention, heralds a new era as inventors race to turn it into a practical engine. Magic is still a rarity even among the elite, but increasing education across societies could potentially make a magical education a possibility for commoners for the first time. Times are changing...