Hegemonia: Koinon ton Boioton
You embark on a journey into Classical Greece and scarcely recognize your surroundings! The Greece of this era is deeply divided politically, ruled by greedy oligarchs who own most of the wealth and keep the other Greeks in poverty. It is a playground for foreign powers intent on using Greece for their own ends.
In this dark world, you eventually arrive at your destination. Thebes, federal capital of the Boeotian League. Many polities dot the countryside of Greece, but all, small or large, compete to rule their neighbors.
One day, with the right leadership, one man may unite all of Hellas and assume the mantle of Hegemon. Will it be you?
Hello and welcome to Hegemonia: Koinon ton Boioton. This is my first attempt in creating a Forum Game/Interactive AAR, and you will probably notice that it is influenced by both Avindian's Tukhachevsky's Army and the Politburo (Interactive TFH 4.02) and XVG's The Twilight of Antiquity. It's essentially an interactive AAR to my game of Hegemony: Gold, playing a sandbox campaign as the Boeotian League. This forum game is based on the principles of Diplomacy. Players have to work together to progress, but ultimately, allies must betray each other to win!
The game can be joined at any time.
To join, simply make a post in the following format:
As players you are oligarchs, the landed aristocrats that guide the fate of the League and provide leadership. While your goal is to successfully guide the League to take over all of Greece and the surrounding regions (including getting revenge on the Persian Empire!), you are also in competition with each other. Each city desires to be the most powerful in the league, and a skilled politician may guide his city to dominate the entire league.
Hegemonia: Koinon ton Boioton is set in a historical setting, not a date in particular. The Peloponnesian War is over, the Spartan hegemony is over, but the Theban hegemony has not (yet!) been established. Many of the generals in the game are historical, but they all appear in the game at the same time, making adhering to history relatively impossible. While I have tried to adhere to history as much as is possible, the dynamic of the game means that the political system must remain stable and the interesting internal conflict (primarily between democratic and oligarchic factions within the same city) of the period will not be modeled. That means no establishing a democracy. Also for this reason, no historical characters will be allowed, but each one of you (at least the first 18 of you...) will have an avatar in game, which means you will have to not only consider your actions, but where you will be traveling as well.
Timeframe:
Time is kept track of in the game as seasons (4 seasons per year) and each year is equal to an hour of real-life time.
The Boeotian League is a grouping of 10 member cities in Boeotia. It has a common finance, foreign and military policy, but each city maintains some level of autonomy and cities must work together if the league is to survive and expand.
The rules and game details explanation:
Cities:
Each of the 10 cities has a base population which is unchanged, which defines how many recruits are available, how fast they regenerate and how much tax income is collected. Each military unit has to be raised in a city, drawing both the initial recruits and any subsequent reinforcements from the city it is raised in.
Power:
To determine how many votes each gets in the boule, every city has a power rating that is calculated every year, before the elections.
Power = tax income + recruits + total men in all of the city's units.
Power can be increased, but not without risk! Enemy cities conquered by the forces of the League provide no manpower, only tribute. Tribute can be added to the tax income of the League city whose forces took the conquered city, increasing their power. However, this also carries risk. If the campaign to take the enemy city is bloody and the city loses many of it's men in the fighting, their power may decrease!
Campaigns/Expeditions:
The Sacred Band (of Thebes) is the only federal military unit, answering only to the League and commanded by the Polemarchos of Military. Each city has it's own forces as well. In order to take an enemy city, a campaign or expedition must be planned and sufficient contributions gained in order for it to succeed. A campaign is a federal event and can only be called either by the Polemarchos of Military. Every city in the League must contribute 1 unit of the Polemarchos of Military's choosing for the campaign from their own city's forces, if the Polemarchos of Military requires them. Further contributions are voluntary and must be negotiated between the Polemarchos of Military and the Boiotarches.
Each Boiotarches can also launch their own expedition on behalf of their city if they wish, from amongst their own city's forces and negotiating contributions from other cities. The Sacred Band cannot be used for expeditions and any contributions from other cities are voluntary, to be negotiated between the Boiotarches.
Proposals:
Apart from the following circumstances, any member, whether in an elected office or not, may put forward a proposal:
-- Creation of a new elected position (requires an elected official to propose)
-- Any proposal which falls under an elected official's bailiwick must be proposed or supported by that elected official
General rules of etiquette:
Aside from observing the forum rules at all times, a few things will help keep information clear in the thread. Each elected position comes with a symbol. Please use the symbol that corresponds to your office to indicate you are speaking as your character. For those of you without positions, standard posts are fine. Please use (( )) when speaking out of character.
Secret Player Actions:
Players are free to secretly plot, gather influence, etc without GM approval. When the plot leader feels they are prepared to act, they must send me a PM detailing the plot goal, its plan, and any who back it. I'll consider any plot you can think up, although the ones that immediately come to mind would be: Interactions with NPCs (to include formal and informal diplomacy, conducted for the League's benefit or your own), assassinations, secret instructions to military units (to give a weak effort on a campaign, allowing another city's forces to take the losses...)
Each of the 10 cities has a base population which is unchanged, which defines how many recruits are available, how fast they regenerate and how much tax income is collected. Each military unit has to be raised in a city, drawing both the initial recruits and any subsequent reinforcements from the city it is raised in.
Power:
To determine how many votes each gets in the boule, every city has a power rating that is calculated every year, before the elections.
Power = tax income + recruits + total men in all of the city's units.
Power can be increased, but not without risk! Enemy cities conquered by the forces of the League provide no manpower, only tribute. Tribute can be added to the tax income of the League city whose forces took the conquered city, increasing their power. However, this also carries risk. If the campaign to take the enemy city is bloody and the city loses many of it's men in the fighting, their power may decrease!
Campaigns/Expeditions:
The Sacred Band (of Thebes) is the only federal military unit, answering only to the League and commanded by the Polemarchos of Military. Each city has it's own forces as well. In order to take an enemy city, a campaign or expedition must be planned and sufficient contributions gained in order for it to succeed. A campaign is a federal event and can only be called either by the Polemarchos of Military. Every city in the League must contribute 1 unit of the Polemarchos of Military's choosing for the campaign from their own city's forces, if the Polemarchos of Military requires them. Further contributions are voluntary and must be negotiated between the Polemarchos of Military and the Boiotarches.
Each Boiotarches can also launch their own expedition on behalf of their city if they wish, from amongst their own city's forces and negotiating contributions from other cities. The Sacred Band cannot be used for expeditions and any contributions from other cities are voluntary, to be negotiated between the Boiotarches.
Proposals:
Apart from the following circumstances, any member, whether in an elected office or not, may put forward a proposal:
-- Creation of a new elected position (requires an elected official to propose)
-- Any proposal which falls under an elected official's bailiwick must be proposed or supported by that elected official
General rules of etiquette:
Aside from observing the forum rules at all times, a few things will help keep information clear in the thread. Each elected position comes with a symbol. Please use the symbol that corresponds to your office to indicate you are speaking as your character. For those of you without positions, standard posts are fine. Please use (( )) when speaking out of character.
Secret Player Actions:
Players are free to secretly plot, gather influence, etc without GM approval. When the plot leader feels they are prepared to act, they must send me a PM detailing the plot goal, its plan, and any who back it. I'll consider any plot you can think up, although the ones that immediately come to mind would be: Interactions with NPCs (to include formal and informal diplomacy, conducted for the League's benefit or your own), assassinations, secret instructions to military units (to give a weak effort on a campaign, allowing another city's forces to take the losses...)
The roles and responsibilities in detail (these may change based on the working relationship between individuals and as the AAR progresses):
Boule:
The boule acts as the legislative body of the league and meets in the Kadmeia, which also functions as the citadel of Thebes, much as the Acropolis did for Athens. Each city elects a representative to this council called a Boiotarches, and this council appoints the four executives of the league: the three Polemarchos and the Archon.
There are two sets of elections, every year. The first election is to elect Boiotarches to the boule. Every character is eligible to run and every character can vote. Once this election is completed and the 10 Boiotarches are in office, amongst themselves they hold a second election to appoint the 4 executives. Only those characters who are not Boiotarches are eligible to run, but only the Boiotarches can vote.
Boiotarches:
There are 10 Boiotarches, 1 for each city of the League. These serve a term of one year. The voting system is dynamic and it matters which city you represent! As cities gain or lose power, the number of votes that the Boiotarches of that city has will change. In the beginning, no one city has enough votes to dominate the League, but as time goes on, a clever politician can tip the scales to secure a majority for their city.
Boiotarches ton Aigosthena
Boiotarches ton Anthedon
Boiotarches ton Coronea
Boiotarches ton Opus
Boiotarches ton Orchomenus
Boiotarches ton Oropus
Boiotarches ton Plataea
Boiotarches ton Tanagra
Boiotarches ton Thebes
Boiotarches ton Thisbe
Executives:
Polemarchos of Finance - This person is responsible for allocating the finances of the league. Since every city has recruits, but raising new units requires money as well, this person has a large influence on the power rating of each city, as their approval is required for a city to recruit a new military unit (decided by allocating or refusing to allocate the funds needed to raise it)
Polemarchos of Military - This person is responsible for the overall planning and execution of the League's campaigns. To ensure that the League can always respond to threats or react as needed, the Sacred Band (of Thebes) is a federal unit under this person's command. As elite as the Sacred Band is, one unit cannot win a city, much less a war. This person must propose and outline a campaign to the boule, then encourage member cities to contribute forces towards it.
Polemarchos of Justice - This person is responsible for the justice of the league and trials. They can, with at least two Boiotarches, indict a third for treason of some sort. I will be the judge ((sentencing)), Polemarchos of Justice is prosecution, and the victim can either defend themselves or appoint somebody to do so on their behalf. The Boule votes guilty or innocent by a simpler majority, and I will issue the appropriate sentence.
Archon - Unlike in Athens, this person has a largely religious/ceremonial role which may seem useless at first but has tremendous power. They may veto any decision of the League (for religious reasons, of course...) and no one has the power to override their veto. If you don't agree with them, the only choice is to wait until next year's elections and hope they don't win again. Also, the year is named after the current Archon. (ie, in the archonship of <player name>)
The boule acts as the legislative body of the league and meets in the Kadmeia, which also functions as the citadel of Thebes, much as the Acropolis did for Athens. Each city elects a representative to this council called a Boiotarches, and this council appoints the four executives of the league: the three Polemarchos and the Archon.
There are two sets of elections, every year. The first election is to elect Boiotarches to the boule. Every character is eligible to run and every character can vote. Once this election is completed and the 10 Boiotarches are in office, amongst themselves they hold a second election to appoint the 4 executives. Only those characters who are not Boiotarches are eligible to run, but only the Boiotarches can vote.
Boiotarches:
There are 10 Boiotarches, 1 for each city of the League. These serve a term of one year. The voting system is dynamic and it matters which city you represent! As cities gain or lose power, the number of votes that the Boiotarches of that city has will change. In the beginning, no one city has enough votes to dominate the League, but as time goes on, a clever politician can tip the scales to secure a majority for their city.
Boiotarches ton Aigosthena
Boiotarches ton Anthedon
Boiotarches ton Coronea
Boiotarches ton Opus
Boiotarches ton Orchomenus
Boiotarches ton Oropus
Boiotarches ton Plataea
Boiotarches ton Tanagra
Boiotarches ton Thebes
Boiotarches ton Thisbe
Executives:
Polemarchos of Finance - This person is responsible for allocating the finances of the league. Since every city has recruits, but raising new units requires money as well, this person has a large influence on the power rating of each city, as their approval is required for a city to recruit a new military unit (decided by allocating or refusing to allocate the funds needed to raise it)
Polemarchos of Military - This person is responsible for the overall planning and execution of the League's campaigns. To ensure that the League can always respond to threats or react as needed, the Sacred Band (of Thebes) is a federal unit under this person's command. As elite as the Sacred Band is, one unit cannot win a city, much less a war. This person must propose and outline a campaign to the boule, then encourage member cities to contribute forces towards it.
Polemarchos of Justice - This person is responsible for the justice of the league and trials. They can, with at least two Boiotarches, indict a third for treason of some sort. I will be the judge ((sentencing)), Polemarchos of Justice is prosecution, and the victim can either defend themselves or appoint somebody to do so on their behalf. The Boule votes guilty or innocent by a simpler majority, and I will issue the appropriate sentence.
Archon - Unlike in Athens, this person has a largely religious/ceremonial role which may seem useless at first but has tremendous power. They may veto any decision of the League (for religious reasons, of course...) and no one has the power to override their veto. If you don't agree with them, the only choice is to wait until next year's elections and hope they don't win again. Also, the year is named after the current Archon. (ie, in the archonship of <player name>)
