Lords of the Broken Empire
Introduction
Introduction
Vyene, the greatest city on earth. The heart of the Gilden Empire. None can compete with it. Not in the vastness of Ling, that mythical land far to the east, nor beyond the Sahar at the heart of Cerana, or somewhere in the dusts of the Indus. The wealth of an empire has been spent in Vyene, year upon year, century upon century, exchanged for stone and skill. But since the death of the emperor more than a century ago, the palace has been empty.
Without an heir, the empire fell to pieces and the nobles who had once held lands in the name of the empire forged crowns and named themselves kings. Every four years the rulers of the fragments of the empire convene in Vyene for Congression - a truce period during which they vote for a new emperor. In the last hundred years no candidate has managed to secure the necessary majority. With this year’s Congression ending in yet another stalemate, the lords of the Broken Empire have four years to try to secure the necessary votes, be it by diplomacy, or force.
The Game
Welcome everyone, it’s Pluto, taking another run at a forum game after my Napoleon’s Legacy game a few years back. Rather than a stat heavy nation game, I hope for Lords of the Broken Empire to be focused more on player interaction, creating an interesting narrative, and IC. This game is going to be based heavily on the Broken Empire trilogy (if you couldn’t tell from the title), a dark fantasy world set one thousand years into the future in a roughly medieval society that exists in the ruins of our world. The “Builder’s Suns” (read: nukes) not only killed billions, but also wrecked havoc on the environment, causing sea levels to rise. To the people of the Broken Empire, the builders are mythical beings, and while you might be lucky enough to stumble upon an old revolver in working condition with a few bullets, don’t expect to roll into Vyene at the head of a column of tanks with a smartphone in your pocket.
Regarding the world, there are only a few set locations at this time. First is Vyene, the capital of the Empire, currently under the protection of the Gilden Guard, an elite army loyal to the empire above all else. Winning the Gilden Throne during the Congression is the goal of any ambitious lord, but only the truly insane would attempt to breach the Gilden Gate to take the city by force of arms. The other set location is Roma, where the Pope hands down edicts from God. The Pope’s influence varies by region, but to ignore the word of Roma completely is a risk that few lords take. As a player, feel free to join as the Pope, a Lord of your own making, or perhaps even a lowly foot soldier, be creative.
Like Agorath and similar games, I’m hoping to keep stats relatively simple. At this point I‘m thinking that everyone will start with one Castle, which will have an upgradable defense level, a set number of soldiers, a treasury, and income. Also, given the competitive nature of attempting to win the throne, I’m hoping that most of the interesting things in the game will be a result of player decisions. However, I may create events from time to time if things seem to be getting slow. Currently I’m thinking that I’ll allow each player to have two orders, one for military actions and one for administrative actions.
Signing Up
In order to sign up, the first thing that you need to do is claim your realm. As you can see on the above world map, Roma and Vyene are already filled in, but for sign ups I invite you to select provinces for your realm, but please, be reasonable. Attempting to claim all of Germany obviously isn’t going to fly. All realms will probably start with relatively similar stats, so if you do end up getting 400 provinces, you won't be much better off than the guy with 4. That said, the goal should be to have fun making your realm. Think of how names might have been corrupted overtime, how new culture might have formed or old ones revived and how that might influence your realm.
In addition, fill out the following sign up sheet for your character and realm.
Realm Name:
Strength: (Name one and describe it, e.g. Viking Raiders for a gold boost on raids or Horse Breeders for increased cavalry)
Weakness: (Again, name and describe one)
Realm Description:
Strength: (Name one and describe it, e.g. Viking Raiders for a gold boost on raids or Horse Breeders for increased cavalry)
Weakness: (Again, name and describe one)
Realm Description:
Character’s Name:
Age:
Biography:
Age:
Biography:
Since this is an interest check, feel free to add suggestions both here in the thread, and in the IRC at #LotBE
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