The Age of Glass

[foolish_icarus]

Excellent! The first update will cover the years 250 to 275 ACC. Of course everyone else can use their own calendar, but for the sake of standardization that's what I'll be using.

EDIT added you guys on the map. Take a look, see if I did the locations okay.

[appleciders]

Looks good.

[Cyclotron]

Doverian Harmonium
Cyclotron
Civil Modernity: 800
Military Modernity: 600
Technological Capacity: 1,000
Espionage: 1 (1)
Army: 1 (1)
Navy: 1 (1)
Population: .4 million
Economic Vigor: 1
Median Living Standards: 4
Contentedness: 5
Notes—
The Harmonium is a strictly ordered community, structured into various caste “societies” (one for each principal trade or occupation) that, theoretically, know their place and exceed in that one area. Formed as a response only a generation ago to brutal strife between tribes and bands of violent cultists, the Harmonium is ruled by the Harmonious Council, which (despite the grandiose name) is no more than a simple group of elders representing all the castes. The Council rules its people with oversight and careful planning, ever fearful of strife and change that once made the Land of Dover a place of chaos, though the council frequently does not see with one single vision, and the less prestigious castes are often sidelined in the council.


We of Dover use a calendar starting from the founding of the Harmonium. This is the Year of Order 60.

Territory on map is great

[Cyclotron]

So, I am correct in assuming that our orders cover about 25 years of history?

[foolish_icarus]

Yep

[Cyclotron]

Then I shall begin work on my orders!

[Cyclotron]

Alright, not having done this much before, here is my attempt to begin the history of the great Doverian Harmonium. Before you read on, a few terms:

- Doveria: The Delmarva Peninsula.
- Dover: What we call the Delaware River. Also, a long-lost city of legend.
- Chessa: The seat of the Harmonious Council, and thus the capital of the Harmonium.
- Chessa Bay: What we call the Chesapeake.
- Chessalia: Land bordered by Chessa Bay (Chesapeake), the Potomac, and the Susquehanna River. I don't know who lives there, but that's what Doverians call it.
- Orderines: The soldier caste of the Harmonium; also, the Society of such soldiers. War is their occupation.
- Society: A statewide organization of people belonging to a certain occupation. Societies are largely autonomous from the Council, choosing how to apply laws and standards to its own. Societies are ordered into four tiers of importance, depending on how crucial they are to the means of living (farming, for example, is done by the Tillers, a first-rate Society).
- Unclassed: Also called the "others." Examples include common laborers, latrine-cleaners and merchants, who have no Society and thus no representation in the Council (and thus no legal rights from the state).


The Doverian Harmonium – Years of Order 50-75

Finally, after more than 50 years of constant warfare, the Orderines of the Harmonium under the command of Councilor Julan Weaver have eliminated the last vestiges of resistance against the rule of the Harmonious Council, and driven the remnants of the once powerful tribal warbands out of Doveria. The Harmonium, oriented towards outside threats for the last five decades, has now been suddenly forced to turn its attention inwards.

The cessation of hostilities on the Doverian Peninsula has left the Council in control of a comparatively vast area of land, largely united by language but lacking any loyalty to the Harmonium or commitment to its ideals of order. The Society system, devised with a few villages in mind, must now adapt to the dimensions of the new state – or perish. After a few manageable but worrisome local rebellions, the Council has decided to grant Society membership to all peoples of Doveria, once they can demonstrate their ability in one of the Society trades. The Council has ordered the Societies to dispatch teachers of their trades – farming, herding, smithing, weaving, carpentry, and so on – to remote areas of Doveria, hoping that granting the rights and resources offered by the Societies will bring formerly tribal Doverians into the fold.

The Council has also established a new Society, called the Masons, elevating workers of stone from the unclassed to a fourth-rate Society. The Council has required the Masons, as thanks for the creation of their Society, to begin construction of stone roads between Chessa and the most important villages and towns in Doveria, as well as a road up to the Isthmus of Doveria. Construction is going more slowly than anticipated, thanks to the lack of knowledge about such road building, but through experience the Masons are hopefully improving their skills. The road connecting Chessa and the Isthmus has already been completed. A project has also begun with the Casters – the Council has decided to build fishing weirs across many of the rivulets and creeks of the Chessa Bay, to head off local food shortages caused by the cumulative effects of half a century of warfare.

There is a growing rift in the Council between the so-called “Expansionists” and the “Old Guard.” The older generation of Councilors, led by the Council Elder Mathas Tiller, views the Harmonium as a defensive structure to keep the people safe from the predations of rogue tribes and cults, while the young Expansionists (who were yet unborn during the years of chaos before the founding of the Harmonium) see their state in a more messianic light, charged with spreading the virtues of order to other tribes and peoples. Some have charged that Julan Weaver was sent to lead the Orderines solely to prevent him from being present at the Council, where he is considered to be one of the key leaders of the Expansionist faction.

Many believed that the Expansionists would now triumph with the return of Julan Weaver, but the Tillers and Shepherds astonishingly overturned a proposal to recall Julan, who now hangs with the Orderines in a kind of legal limbo at the northern edge of the country. A breakthrough was finally achieved in the Council, where the Old Guard proposed an unusually expansionistic solution to the problem – Julan Weaver and the Orderines were ordered by the Council to cross the Chessa Bay (we know it as the Chesapeake) with the aid of the navy and conquer in the name of the Harmonium. It seems nobody actually wants control of “Chessalia,” as the land on the other side of the bay has been called, but the invasion appears to be politically expedient for the Old Guard, who can appear expansionistic and vital while succeeding in keeping Julan Weaver out of the Council chambers for a while longer. The fact that this political solution involves inflicting totally unprovoked violence on the peoples of Chessalia has been largely overlooked; after all, Order is superior to Chaos, and the Orderines will undoubtedly triumph – Julan is clearly a capable leader of men, and popular among the Orderines. His men are already on the move, hopefully to do the will of the Council and cross the Chessa Bay.

Short Version:
- Road construction across Doveria
- Fishing weir construction on the Chessa Bay
- Send out teachers from the Societies to spread knowledge of their trades and the use of modern equipment
- The army unit (Orderines) and navy unit are ordered to cross the bay and invade Chessalia (basically Maryland, between the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac)



Question: Should I give relevant issue about military equipment, tactics, and so on by PM? There isn't much, but it's best to keep even small details from greedy neighbors!

[Cyclotron]

How many players is the minimum here before this goes ahead?

[foolish_icarus]

update tomorrow! (I think that answers your question )

[appleciders]

Sheesh! I'll get right on it, then.

Shenandoah Confederation Orders:

Begin expanding down from the Potomac along the Chesapeake Bay. Set up settlements along the rivers, and send friendly emissaries to established communities, offering them full membership in the Confederation. Back this group up with the army, though only for self-defense. This is not a military expedition.

Send other, similar groups of settlers and emissaries down the James River, to settle in uninhabited areas and contact and invite native communities to join the Confederation.

At the semi-annual Congress of Communities, stress the importance of two facets of our Confederation- technological prowess and commerce. To help improve these areas, each community will be greatly encouraged to build roads between cities and to the borders of other communities and to construct a university in each community.

[foolish_icarus]

Update 1: 250-275 ACC

Question: Should I give relevant issue about military equipment, tactics, and so on by PM? There isn't much, but it's best to keep even small details from greedy neighbors!

If you want to. They're not really necessary.


Doveria

Society membership has grown due to recruitment efforts, but the Unclassed typically remain rather aloof due to the fact that they are denied citizenship. This hasn't led to any problems, but the Unclassed are certainly no more loyal for their exclusion.

Doveria has generally had adequate food supplies, due to favorable weather, fishing, the improved ease of transporting food, and the fact that many Orderines are off in foreign lands subsisting at least partially on forage and raiding, thus reducing the burden of supplying them.

The attack on Chessalia lands has not gone according to plan. While there are no organized states in the area large enough to oppose the Orderine Army, the presence of Doverian soldiers has managed to bring together a loose alliance of some of the sparsely populated residents to oppose the Orderines. Of course many residents are not actively opposed to the Orderines (though few appreciate their presence), but enough bands of war parties exist to harry the Doverian Army into ineffectiveness. The Orderines were initially ill prepared to deal with the locals' sophisticated crossbows, and though they have now consolidated their small territorial gains they are no longer really advancing.

The territory in Chessalia under Orderine control is not really controlled by the Doverian council except nominally, and is not helping the Doverian economy as it is sparsely populated (by natives who are ambivalent at best towards Doverian rule) and the land is undeveloped and regularly stripped of produce by army foragers.

Despite the Efforts of the Old Guard to keep its political opponents out of the country, they have lost a great deal of influence to the Expansionists owing largely to a series of political wranglings and disgraces precipitated by the murder of the Old Guard's senior leader by a cuckolded husband.

The Expansionists themselves have been confronted with internal disagreements almost to the point of splitting apart. While all still hold true to the ideal of a Crusade for Order, many hold varied opinions on the pace, methods, and extent such actions should take. Many point to the attack on Chessalia as an example of unsuccessful Expansion, but what this means for the future ideology and actions of the Expansionist faction (if they can indeed remain as one party and maintain their dominance in national politics) no one can yet say.

-----

Shenandoah Confederation

The Confederation has expanded it's territory peacefully somewhat, and also gained a bit of land and equipment at the expense of local bandits which it has pretty thoroughly cleared from near its borders (though of course many still lurk beyond).

Because several communities have accepted the Confederation's offer of membership, there is now much disagreement in the Congress. These new people have their own ideas on how things should be run due to their previous isolation and are determined that they will get the say in Congress that was promised to them. They are not attempting to make things difficult, but due to cultural differences they will sometimes contest proposals in Congress that Local Shenandoans think are quite obvious.

Government has thus become less effective, and many people are dissatisfied. One tribe who recently joined the Confederation has withdrawn again in frustration, and several older communities are threatening (with various degrees of seriousness) to do the same.

Despite the political instability, the economy has generally been performing well, with transfers of knowledge fragments and equipment and resources raising nationwide technological know-how.

Accompanying this, a new breed of “social-political theorists” have begun putting forward theories about government and civilization, inspired, no doubt, by the technological and political changes that have been occuring.


Other

Several NPCs have been contacted. So far none have come into conflict with you (though not all are necessarily friendly). Their stats will be up later (You don't really know much about them so you can contact them now, before I put the stats up, if you wish).

PC Stats and map updated


As of 275 ACC (update 1)


Doverian Harmonium
Cyclotron
Civil Modernity: 820
Military Modernity: 610
Technological Capacity: 1005
Espionage: 1 (1)
Army: 1 (1)
Navy: 1 (1)
Population: .5 [million]
Economic Vigor: 2
Median Living Standards: 4
Contentedness: 5
Notes—
{The Harmonium is a strictly ordered community, structured into various caste “societies” (one for each principal trade or occupation) that, theoretically, know their place and exceed in that one area. Formed as a response only a generation ago to brutal strife between tribes and bands of violent cultists, the Harmonium is ruled by the Harmonious Council, which (despite the grandiose name) is no more than a simple group of elders representing all the castes. The Council rules its people with oversight and careful planning, ever fearful of strife and change that once made the Land of Dover a place of chaos, though the council frequently does not see with one single vision, and the less prestigious castes are often sidelined in the council.}


Shenandoah Confederation
Appleciders
Civil Modernity: 640
Military Modernity: 660
Technological Capacity: 1210
Espionage: 1 (1)
Army: 1 (1)
Navy: 0 (1)
Population: .5 [million]
Economic Vigor: 3
Median Living Standards: 3
Contentedness: 4
Notes—
{Located in what remains of the Shenandoah Valley, the Shenandoah Confederation remains a largely agrarian society. A tight-knit union of communities does cause some political infighting, but such infighting is a small price for the close contact between communities, which has saved the Confederation several times, both from outside assault and famine. The central government is small and wields little actual power; it serves mainly as a forum for the leaders of individual communties to exchange information and coordinate large projects.}

[Cyclotron]

Several NPCs have been contacted. So far none have come into conflict with you (though not all are necessarily friendly). Their stats will be up later (You don't really know much about them so you can contact them now, before I put the stats up, if you wish).

They have not come into conflict with us, but have they come into contact? Do the Doverians, for instance, know who those orange blob people are, seeing as we seem to share a border?

[foolish_icarus]

yes you have contact (some minor translation issues but nothing you can't quickly get over)

I'll tell you the names, at least, though stats aren't up yet

Orange Blob- Filodelia

Green (Eastern Pennsylvania)- Macry ("Muh*CRY")

Green-brown (Carolian)- Nadan ("NAY*den")

Dark Green Grey (new Jersey/New York)- Mastay ("Mass*STAY")

[Cyclotron]

The Doverian Harmonium
Or "I have too much time on my hands"

For a quarter century, the Old Guard was in a steady decline, owing largely to the deaths of councilors old enough to remember the early days of the Harmonium and its struggle against “chaotic” elements. The assassination of Council Elder Mathas Tiller and the subsequent recall of Julan Weaver from Chessalia delivered the death blow to the faction, and the Expansionists quickly took the reigns of power in the Council.

Unfortunately, this unity within the Council lasted for mere days. Julan Weaver, the presumptive leader of the Expansionists, found himself discredited by the failure of the Chessalian invasion. Tamas Potter, once a supporter of Weaver, has used the opportunity to style himself as the leader of the Expansionists. Predictably, Julan and his closest allies in the Council split from the Expansionists, splitting the Council between what the people have dubbed the “Julines” and the “Tamines.” Julan’s party blames the Old Guard for rushing the expansion before Doveria was ready; Tamas blames the failure of the invasion on Julan’s incompetence. There is a small but growing movement against the Expansionists, calling for a re-evaluation of Doveria’s place in the region, but so far anti-Expansionist voices are weak and disunited.

The Orderines have rallied behind Tamas for the time being; though they have taken some losses in the campaign, the invasion has provided them with a land in which they reign as free overlords. Initially, the Orderines acted as a simple army of occupation, taking as they pleased, but over a generation the Orderines have begun to make a transition towards being a ruling caste of eastern Chessalia. Though they are still very much a warrior society, and have continued their campaigns against the Chessalians who resist Doverian rule, they have also consolidated their power in Chessalia, holding areas of land in which Chessalians farm, hunt, and build. Generally, the Orderines have been (so far) no more benevolent or cruel than the land’s original rulers after the initial pillage; in fact, the Chessalians under Orderine control have lived in relative peace, as the Orderines have had no civil wars and have never drafted the Chessalians into tribal armies, preferring to do the fighting themselves.

Doverian Chessalia has proven to be a haven for the Unclassed; society under the Orderines is more equitable and much less caste-oriented, since the Society system has not been exported to Chessalia. This has attracted the lower classes of Doveria, including many merchants, who have begun to concentrate their trade on the western coast of the Chessa Bay. Trade has begun to relocate, as it was previously stifled by a society that frowns upon the merchant trade as unnecessary to a self-sufficient society and subversive to the efforts of hard-working Tillers, Casters, and Shepherds. Filodelia (totally ignored by the Harmonious Council - it is the policy of the council to treat all outsiders as non-entities) has been introduced to Doverians by way of Chessalia, as newly arrived Doverian merchants ply their trade upriver to Filodelia.

The Council, however, is suspicious of both the Orderine “mini-state” and the new power of the Unclassed in Chessalia. The factions have reached a historic agreement in a governing body which usually arrives at decisions through shouting down one’s opponents. Both factions of the Expansionists call for major changes to resolve the Chessalian stalemate and reign in the Orderines, though some were blocked by the Orderines themselves, as well as the Casters, who are doing quite well from the Chessalian trade in blue crab (which the Chesapeake is famous for, if they still exist), salt, fish oils, and other such things.

The plan agreed on by the Julines and Tamines proposes the following:

- The training of the Orderines is to be revamped, now emphasizing group discipline as much as individual battle prowess, and their organization is to be reworked into smaller units that can more easily deal with raiders and guerilla crossbowmen.
- The equipment of the Orderines, while it is still purchased and maintained by the Society, will now be subject to certain rules of standardization set by the Council. To counter the deadly effects of the Chessalian crossbows, the Council has mandated that the Society of Orderines must supply all their members with large body shields, to be wielded in close formation, to provide cover. Incidentally, the Orderines have begun to make some changes themselves, including adopting the use of crossbows captured from the enemy.
- A new strategy. Rather than moving to take the whole of Chessalia, the Orderines will launch fast strikes into Chessalian territory against power centers, leaders, and strategic points used by the anti-Doverian alliance. The navy will be an important component of this strategy; Orderines will launch their attacks from both Doverian Chessalia and from the banks of the Potomac River, dropped off and supplied by the navy. They will focus their attacks on breaking up the alliance and killing anti-Doverian leaders, not keeping land. Instead, a pro-Doverian alliance will be set up, supported by Doverian soldiers and supplies. Gifts of money, material, and regional power will be given to Chessalian peoples and leaders who adopt a pro-Doverian stance. The Orderines will only administer the land along the Chessa Bay, but fight in support of the pro-Doverian alliance.
- The modest but skilled espionage service that has served the Harmonium before will now be utilized in this effort. They are to find out the lay of the land, identify key leaders and strong points of the enemy, bribe or convince leaders to defect and join Doveria’s side, assassinate enemy leaders when possible, sow discontent within the enemy alliance, and otherwise work side by side with the Orderines and the navy.
- Councilor Jens Caster, a young but popular leader, has been dispatched to lead the offensive in Julan’s place. Some have raised concerns that he is too popular with the Orderines, but without much result.

On the domestic front, society continues as usual – the heated deadlock in the Council and the preoccupation of the Expansionists with foreign affairs have resulted in no major development projects, though the Expansionists have expanded the system of “Society Teachers,” appointing emissaries of the Societies to travel through Doveria and continue teaching their trades to those at the margins of Doverian society. The Council Chamberlain, Jekob Keeper, has begun writing the “Order of Society,” a comprehensive listing of Society chapters and bureaucratic offices, the first time this has ever been written down. The Council has also ordered the expansion of the stone road system to Chessalia, hoping that the roads will both help “civilize” Chessalia and facilitate the movement of the Orderines and their supplies.

Concerned with the murder of the respected Elder Councilor Mathas Tiller, the Harmonious Council has instituted some security measures for the Council Chambers, including the transformation of the Lantern-Bearers, a group of Keepers charged with keeping the Chambers well lit, into a ceremonial but functional "house guard" for the Chambers.

The following map shows (approximate) Harmonium territory in light gray, and territory to be (hopefully) annexed by the Orderines in dark gray. The Orderines will launch their attacks deep into Chessalia in the west, but will not annex anything past this.

[foolish_icarus]

foolish's attempt to make things interesting without plagiarizing himself
or, "I've not got enough hands on my time"

How much are you guys looking for me to "interfere"? For example, I threw in social problem/events descriptions as well as external stuff (which I am happy to do ) but I know that in some games I have a direction I want to take my society and random events can really throw off my plans, and I want to make sure I'm not stepping on any toes (all 20 of them, at the moment).

It's not that I don't have a plan/standard of interference, but because there are only two of you I can basically tailor this game any way you find appropriate.