Caveman to Cosmos 2 - Return of the Ern
The second installment of the CtC series has returned, and once again you will be able to lead an entire civilization to see if it will stand the test of time! Just like last time, CtC is basically an Interactive AAR based on the Caveman2Cosmos mod for Civilization IV. The players will be guiding the nation through the ages and cooperate in forming a civilization complete with religion, government and economy. It won't be all cooperation, there will of course be heavy competition between the players to attain power, just like last time. However, there are significant changes in the game, for instance the players will now be controlling a dynasty instead of just one character.
We will play as our former great nemesis, the Theedish, who have just entered the bronze age, though the use of bronze is still not widespread. Their religion is similar to ours, but their society is very different. The Theedish Rike is a caste society ruled by a caste of priestly matriarchs. The Rike has a relatively small population with a disproportionately large caste of warriors.
Joining the game - it's never too late!
No prior experience with Civilization required! Join CtC today and become head of your very own dynasty!
Unlike in the former version of CtC, time has now become an important factor. Each round is comprised of one Ethemwoman’s reign, so you will be playing as your own House, not a single character, because time will pass quickly to begin with. I will not be regulating your dynasties in any way, however.
Name: Make up a name for your House. Our in-game culture is German, so names shoul be inspired by that language.
Rung: You must choose which rung, or caste, to belong to. The choice of a rung will decide which role you’ll play in society. It is very hard to change your rung when you’ve first chosen one. You can choose between the priestly Witan caste which governs the Rike and seeks knowledge in spiritual matters, and the proud Wyebern, who leads the armies in war. The Wyebern can also go on a raid on their own without a formal declaration of war. There are also two more castes, but these don't have any real influence on politics. These are the Wiffolk, who are mostly workers and farmers, but also small business owners, and then the Esne, who work as thralls for the other castes; obviously, they don't have any influence on politics at all.
Land: Decide upon which land your family calls home. The Theedish Rike is divided into 4 lands; the Braunland, Arnheim, Neuheim and Arnfeld. (see above map)
Biography: If you want, you may go ahead and write a little about the background of your House.
Playing the Game
The game will consist of rounds, each of which will be comprised of the reign of one Ethemwoman. Depending on how long her lifespan is, each round will last up to 70 years at the very best, amounting to 14 in-game Civilization turns.
Government and the Political Game
The political setup is determined entirely by the players, except to begin with of course. The start set-up is devised by me, and is designed to resemble the political system of the last game while still agreeing with what little can be deduced from the game about the political system of the Theedish Rike.
In Theedish society, the only people allowed to be part of the ruling moots and the government are women of the Witan caste. Women of the Wyebern caste hold leading positions in the armies and may use this for attaining political influence. Men are considered to be too closely attached to the mundane world to take up any positions of responsibility.
The Theedish Rike is comprised of 4 Lands; Ernland, Brown Land, Newham and Ernfields. Each land is ruled by a moot composed of elderwomen from the most prominent local Witan families (ie. all the local Witan players). The moots also elect the Ethemwoman; the Witan queen, whose responsibility it is to rule the Theedish Rike.
Of course, all of this can change if the players want to. Changes in government will have an effect in-game if the political shift triggers an in-game change in policies. See which policies are possible and which ones are active here.
Government responsibilities
Below are the government actions that the players are able to control in this game. The players get to decide who is responsible for what. Below are listed the things which must be taken into account every round, though the players can also order anything else they can come to think of; exploration expedition, a raid or a merchant expedition, for instance.
Ethemwoman
Pass new (national) legislation (overrules local legislation)
Foreign policy - (see the foreign affairs doc for current situation)
- Decide our stance towards each of the other nations: Hostile - we are at war, obstructive - deny all requests from them and refuse to cooperate, indifferent - take no stance in particular, but be friendly and agree to fair proposals, cooperative - actively attempt to keep good relations, agreeing to all agreements where we don’t lose anything, appeasing - do everything to improve relations, give in to every demand or request for help.
Espionage Policy:
- Decide how great a percentage of our espionage budget should spent on each country (see foreign affairs doc).
- Order covert spy missions to sabotage nearby countries.
The Moots
Pass new (local) legislation
Economic Policy - What you choose to develop now has a great impact on the nation’s future. The construction focus is determined for each city separately. See current city stats here.
- Production - in order to get new buildings constructed and units recruited faster
- Food - in order to gain more rapid population growth
- Wealth - in order to make people richer
- city defense - in order to make cities safer
- military training - to make the military more experienced and effective
- military recruitment - focus on expanding the military directly. Please have a look at the recruitment doc and specify what units you want
- naval shipbuilding - focus on expanding fleet
- provincial development - send workers to develop the countryside
- culture - in order to make Theedish culture more solid and unassailable
- happiness - in order to keep the masses from rioting or rebelling
- espionage - to help keep an eye on enemies
- health - to increase population growth and decrease unhappiness
- research - to keep us up to date in the technological race
- or any combination of the above.
Labor policy - decide a focus for what people should work with here and now. Choose whether to focus on food, production, wealth, culture or any combination of these for a more balanced development.
Intrigue and Plotting
But, as we know, politics is mostly about counteracting one another, and thus I hope that the players will be plotting against each other, which is of course allowed (according to the rules, you create the laws yourselves!) If you want to assassinate, kidnap or otherwise plot against your enemies, all you have to do is write up a well thought-out plan and send it to me. Additionally, it helps if more people are in on the plot. Of course, it might fail and your entire family might end up executed, so be cautious.
Religion and Culture - make your own cult!
Culture points in CtC2 signifies your ability to affect the viewpoints and values of the Theedish people. Anyone with cultural influence (at least 1 culture point) can call for a culture ‘vote’ on a cultural value, such as ‘women are superior to men’, argue for an alternative, e.g. ‘men are superior to women’, and if she wins the vote, the cultural value is changed in her favor. How much weight one’s vote carries depends on how many culture points the player possesses.
Making a cult can add to your culture points if you are successful. The Theedes worship many different gods, and their religion is very diverse, but there are a few transcending points:
1. There is only one God, who is both here and not here.
2. The world is a wheel that undergoes endless cycles of shaping, upholding and sundering.
3. The law of bring-about and outcome by which each soul shapes her own fate by her thoughts, words and deeds.
4. The soul is reborn, growing through many births, though freedom from this wheel of life can be reached. How to reach this is a matter of some debate, however.
5. Godly beings, ethems, live in unseen worlds and temple worship and rituals shape a fellowship with them. These ethems are all just different aspects of the One God.
6. No faith teaches the only way to wholeness above all others, all are heartfelt attempts at spreading God’s Light and understanding the truth about our world.
But apart from that, you can decide which god to worship yourself. The most venerated gods (all aspects of the are Ern Skyrix, Ethem of the Winds (especially venerated by the Ernish minority of Arnheim), Orel, Ethem of the Seas, Danabel, Ethem of the Earth, and Fearn, Ethem of Fire.
You can make your own cult by inventing a new ethem (or stealing it from wherever), writing up some myth-stuff and scripture and then attempting to build up influence in order to make people start worshipping your ethem. How successful your cult will be in spreading among the population is determined by how many culture points your cult has.
Economic Game
Currently, most things are controlled by the state, but this will probably change later on. Anyway, a short line-up of which kinds of capital and resources are in the game:
- Production is probably the most important capital in this game. Production points are used for establishing businesses, constructing buildings and recruiting units.
- Wealth is not so important yet, and can only be spent on acquiring techs and resources from abroad. Later on, you will also be able to construct and recruit by spending wealth.
- Resources/goods - a resource can be everything from sand to clay pots. Resources can be traded with other players or foreign nations in return for something else. Often, units and buildings require resources.
- Food - makes the population grow.
- Culture is necessary for changing the values and viewpoints of the people. Anyone with cultural influence (at least 1 culture point) can call for a culture ‘vote’ on a cultural value, such as ‘women are superior to men’, argue for an alternative, e.g. ‘men are superior to women’, and if she wins the vote, the cultural value is changed in her favor. How much weight one’s vote carries depends on how many culture points the player possesses. I’ll keep a list of these values here.
Military Game
The military is run by and composed of the Wyebern caste. Who gets to lead the armies are decided by the different moots except for, for the Grand Ward, leader of the united Theedish armies, who is appointed by the Ethemwoman.
Giving Orders
An order must contain the following points, although they need not be stated in exactly this format if you just bold them. If orders are not given properly as per the points below, misunderstandings might occur.
The reactions part is very important, and must be included too:
- State your goal, action or purpose, so that I know when the order has been carried out, and thus also when to request a new one.
- Also state how many casualties your wards are allowed to sustain without pulling back. If you do not state this, your troop will be more likely to run away.
- If you know what you want to be doing after the first goal has been reached, you may state it as a second order. This minimizes the number of time I have to stop playing in order to request orders.
- When giving orders, you also need to state how you will react to any enemy units that you may encounter (see below for reaction stances)
Ideas for actions:
Stay at Home - something we will be doing a lot if we want to survive. The unit may engage in hunting or opportunity ambushes, depending on the set of possible reactions chosen.
Explore - search for riches and explore new lands
Raid - go on a raid to get captives and riches from enemy lands
Attack - Attack enemy troops
Besiege - try taking another tribe’s homestead - usually a very costly and risky affair
Defend - stand guard at a strategical location. The unit may engage in opportunity ambushes.
Possible reaction stances:
- Avoid everyone: Definitely the safest thing to do, but also often unnecessary, for weak units are, well, weak.
- Ignore weak units: leave them alone. Attacking them will likely inflict casualties upon your unit.
- Attack weaker units, but only when there are no other enemies in sight: You can usually take down weak enemy units, but it will leave your own unit weakened, so you may wish only to do it when no enemies are in sight.
- Attack even despite stronger enemies nearby - nothing ventured, nothing gained! After all, there is a good chance the enemy won’t risk attacking you, inflicting casualties on their own troops!
- Attack everyone - sometimes you might just need to do some damage, despite the losses.
Civil War and Rebellion
If you’re the leader of any military unit and don’t like the queen or just want to be queen yourself, you may declare a rebellion. Then, the other players will have to choose sides or remain neutral.
Laws
As opposed to the game rules, the laws are determined by the players and punishment is also carried out by the players. Laws can be broken, and from our own world we know that politicians tend to do this quite often. We do not have a law code yet, however.
Rules
Keep things civil! After all, this is Civilization! Your characters may dislike eachother, but this must never spill over into Out Of Character messages. OOC messages must be marked with a double parenthesis. Don't use personal attacks and the like in In Character debates either though, as that doesn't lead to anything productive in any case. Accusing other characters of political fraud or murder is totally okay though.
So, all in all it is very important that you are able to keep your character separated from yourself, so to speak. Not only to keep things civil, but also because I don't want everything deterministically moving towards a democracy just because that is what people think is best. Try thinking in character - you may not like the current system, but you simply don't know about anything else that is better.
- Remember that out of character messages should be marked with ((double parenthesis)).
- Be nice
- Also, to prevent confusion, please either have your character's name in your signature or sign your posts with it.
- Also, important things such as challenges, political decisions etc. should be bolded for greater impact.
- Silly things should be kept in the IRC channel
- Things that don't fit in the time frame or aren't invented just yet are forbidden.
- Refrain from personal attacks, especially OOC ones!
- No Out Of Character political discussions.
- Stay on topic - this thread is for this game only.
- You may marry each other according to the rules and laws of the society of the People of Home, but there is to be no unnecessary talk of and no crude jokes about sex and such things.
- Follow the forum and Off-Topic forum rules at all times
- You may not make distinctions between NPCs and PC or persecute PCs for being PCs without a good IC reason, because doing so would be metaing.
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Old Cal's ghost lives on.))
