Meminisse priorum. Remember the past. Long ago in the days of the United Equestrian Empire, there were three factions: the Terii, the Ventii, and the Magii. These factions ruled pieces of Equestria, with Eremus governing the East and Ares governing the West. But, there was a unified emperor of all the lands. The emperor, Honorius, governed the empire as a whole. Octavian Sempronia Honorius was revered a great leader. Sadly, his empire was falling apart. As tensions began to grow, and as schisms began to form, along with barbarians at the borders and the Crystal Empire regaining strength, the empire was in great trouble. Could Honorius prove greater than any other, and keep the empire whole with his generals, or would the mighty Equestria collapse at his feet. Only time would tell. The fate of Equestria is in your hands.
SPIES Spies let you preform actions to hurt others. They can do anything from forgery to terrorism. PM me when you use a spy and I shall use an RNG to decide if it works and if you are caught. Being caught kills the spy, and you must wait for a new one. Being caught also warns everyone that you used a spy. 5 spies can be in service at any given time.
gather information: 50 ducats (overview is given)
assassinate a noble: 75 ducts (can be used against your own nobles)
support rebels: 80 ducats (start a peasant revolt.)
support patriot rebels: 120 ducats (spawns patriot rebels)
support nationalist rebels: 100 ducats (spawns nationalist rebels)
support zealots: 100 ducats (you pick religion for zealots to support)
sow discontent: 110 ducats (spawns faction)
forge claims: 150 ducats (gain conquest causus belli to claim lands)
Papal election: 120 ducats (hold an election for the pope. Possible replacement.)
support pretender rebels: 200 ducats (success means change in government type)
support noble rebels: 150 ducats (success means either switch to feudal or lower income)
coup: 300 ducats (success means target becomes your vassal.)
support heathen rebels: 110 ducats (changes religion)
kidnap noble: 300 ducats (noble is imprisoned)
kidnap leader: 500 ducats (kidnap enemy leader)
Kidnapping is imprisoning the target in your dungeon. A noble can be executed, ransomed, or left in prison. A leader is the same, except they cannot be executed.
NOBLES Nobles are influential people in your country. It is best to keep them happy. Granting them land (like counties or duchies) and giving them special rights will make them happy. Nobles can start rebellions, or create dangerous factions persisting after a specific goal. The factions can be handled diplomatically or militantly. Militancy will make an example of the noble, and others will become afraid. They will not rebel or create factions as often, but plot against you more often. Diplomacy is the reverse, it makes you look weak and so they will rebel and create factions more often, but they will plot less.
TECHNOLOGY The technology will be geographically based. Nations in deserts use group "H", nations near Ares use group "X", nations near Eremus and eastward use group "O". Barbarians use group "W". There are so-called "petty kingdoms". These are barbarians who have civilized. They will use the geographic rules. Keep in mind that "barbarian" does not necessarily mean "savage".
X = Western
O = Eastern
H = Southern
W = Barbarian
Pole axes: XOH
Spears: XOHW
Straight swords: XOH
Curved swords (sabers/sabres): H
Hammers: XOW
Pole-arms (misc. two handed): XOH
Straight dagger: XOW
Curved dagger: H
Broadsword: XO
Scimitar: H
Longbows: XOH
Compact bow: OHW
Recurve bow: O
Catapult: XO
Horseback archers: O
Cavalry archers (less effective): XH
Legions: X
Cavalry: XOH
Trebuchet: XO
Halberd: XO
Javelins: XOHW
if there are any concerns or questions, feel free to ask.
RELIGION Religion is religion. Celestialism was a cult that grew in extreme popularity. Lunarism was made separate in the Great Schism. Yudai does not exist yet. Pagans are everywhere.
(note: "God" is a suitable substitute for the name of all monotheistic deities.)
Celestialism: Celestia is God
benefits: +2 offensive power. Holy War causus belli [reason for war] on all heathens.
hindrances: There is a head religious leader, like a pope. Those in this religion can compete to be the 'papal controller' and be able to excommunicate rulers or call crusades on heathens. Both actions give a causus belli against the target. Papal controllers get double bonuses and higher tax income. Those who do not follow the papal controller's orders will be penalized with higher revolt risk.
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Lunarism: Luna is God
benefits: +2 defensive power. No papal controller. -2 revolt risk.
hindrances: -25% monthly income to churches. Disliked by other religions
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Aragonese Paganism: paganism native to Aragon.
benefits: +5 culture
hindrances: -1 stability
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Crystalline Paganism: Paganism native to the Crystal Empire
benefits: +3 culture, +2 defense
hindrances: -1 stability, -1 offense
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Aresan Paganism: paganism native to Ares
benefits: +1 culture, +3 stability
hindrances: the religion is dying. While tolerated by most, there are fewer followers than the monotheists.
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Jungle Paganism: This is basically animism. Animism is an alternate name.
benefits: +5 culture. No revolt risk from captured lands.
hindrances: higher revolt risk from home lands.
NOTE: does not have to be in jungle to use this religion
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Forest Paganism: This is basically shamanism. Shamanism is an alternate name.
benefits: +5 culture. No revolt risk from home lands
hindrances: higher revolt risk from captured lands
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Discordism: followers of discord. Hates every other religion
benefits: +2 military strength, -5 revolt risk, doesn't need a causus belli
hindrances: -2 stability, highly disliked by other religions.
SUBRELIGION Subreligion is specifying a religion. The following tell you more about the branches, what they are, their abbreviations, and how religions look to them.
Celestial traditionalism: The aforementioned papacy is strongest here. This is the most aggressive form, the kind that would hold large inquisitions. (C/T)
Celestial reformationism: Less strict that traditionalism. More tolerant. The middle ground of Celestialism. (C/R)
Eastern Celestialism: Least strict. Near opposite of traditionalism in views, but nonetheless non-tolerant. (C/E)
Lunar traditionalism: the ancient practices. No papacy. Most strict and thus provides best religious bonuses. The traditionalist religions are the ones to go if you plan to start holy wars often. (L/T)
Lunar reformationism: Similar to Celestial reformationism, but with a few practices of Lunarism. This and Celestial reformationism are the two best religions to get along with each other. They are the only two to tolerate heretics, but only of the Lunar/Celestial reformationist kind. (L/R)
Lunar Orthodox: Free-thinking. Innovative. This is the closest to atheist you will get. They have a light belief on religion, and though it still exists, does not dictate their lives. Provides half religion bonuses. (L/O)
Forest paganism: Basically Shamanism. Spirits are dead people. Spirits have an influence over everything. (P/F)
Jungle paganism: Basically Animism. Spirits control everything we do, everything has a spirit. These spirits, however, are not dead people. (P/J)
Aresan paganism: This is historically the pantheon of the United Equestrian Empire. (T/A)
Discordist separatism: Dissenters from Celestialism, they took a different approach and worshiped the enemy of Celestia. They are mostly comprised of excommunicated individuals who seek revenge upon Celestia. (D/S)
Discordist traditionalism: Simply put, this was the religion before the separatists came. They have always followed discord and take a much more chaotic and violent approach to the religion.
They often have mostly anarchist nations, the leaders serving mostly as representatives and to tell the crazed masses who to attack. (D/T)
Aragonese Paganism: traditionally the pantheon of Aragon, this still lives on amongst the nomads of Aragon as their religion. (P/A)
Crystalline Paganism: traditionally the pantheon of the Crystal Empire, it still lives on as the primary religion. The Crystal Heart is the heart of the king god, Chrysanthus, who as a mortal hid his heart from his treacherous brother to protect it. As long as the heart remains, Chrysanthus will be immortal. (P/C)
Celestial followers: C/T, C/R
Celestial heretics: L/T, L/R, L/O, C/E
Celestial heathens: all else
Lunar followers: L/T, L/R, L/O
Lunar heretics: C/T, C/R, C/E
Lunar heathens: all else
Crystalline Pagan followers: P/C
Crystalline Pagan heretics: P/A
Crystalline Pagan heathens: all else
Aragonese Pagan followers: P/A
Aragonese Pagan heretics: P/C
Aragonese pagan heathens: all else
Forest Pagan followers: P/F
Forest Pagan heretics: P/J
Forest Pagan heathens: all else
Jungle Paganism followers: P/J
Jungle Pagan heretics: P/F
Jungle Pagan heathens: all else
Discordist Seperatist followers: D/S
Discordist Seperatist heretics: D/T
Discordist Seperatist heathens: all else
Discordist Traditionalist followers: D/T
Discordist Traditionalist heretics: D/S
Discordist Traditionalist heathens: all else
Subreligion differences will almost always be considered heresies.
GOVERNMENT I will tell you all right now. Feudal monarchy is the standard for kingdoms and petty kingdoms. You may change government at will, with no backlash.
Feudal monarchy: makes nobles happy at cost of your own power. Nobles have more power.
Despotic monarchy: crown gets more power, but nobles are unhappy.
Noble republic: a republic where every official (including king) is elected. Nobles are very happy, but there is somewhat low crown authority.
Merchant republic: like a noble republic, except everyone can vote (yay), it makes for slightly happy everyone (adding up to less revolts), and the power goes to the local guilds instead of the nobles. The proper title for a merchant republic is "doge", though it is not required.
Empire: there are only 3 groups that hold the "empire" status. These are Equestria, Eremus, and the Crystal Empire. It is arguably the best, for it makes nobles happy, and you have high crown authority, and rebellions are less common. On the downside, empires are also take longer to upgrade everything due to the spread-ness of it. Empires may grant kingdoms to nobles, because "emperor" is a higher title than king. There are many ways to become an empire, the easiest is expanding to a certain amount. Once you have the option to become an empire, I will announce it.
PLOTS A plot is like a spy action, except it is free. In exchange for being free, it takes longer to complete. These happen over time and require "plot power", a percentage based scale on how likely you are to succeed. 100% is not "for sure", but it is quite high. The higher the plot power, the more openings there will be and the sooner they are used. This is where happy nobles come in handy. Spies are not needed for plots.
plots:
assassinate a noble (starts at 40%)
kidnap a noble (starts at 20%)
kidnap leader (starts at 5%)
forge claims (starts at 15%)
steal technology (starts at 30%)
amounts:
count: 5% per county
duke: 8% per duchy, 5% per county
bishop: 10% per bishopric, 8% per duchy, 5% per county
target's count: 8% per county
target's duke: 10% per duchy, 8% per county
target's bishop: 20% per bishopric, 10% per duchy, 8% per county
target's spy (very hard to convince): 50% per spy
FACTIONSThese factions can be formed by nobles. These can be for many different goals, such as revoking a title. The most common faction types are government and independence. A government faction will request some change in government, be it lower taxes or a different government all together. Independence factions can declare independence from another nation. These generally gain more supporters in a quicker time frame, and are more dangerous to both the founder and the nation's ruler. Be aware that rulers can use spies and plots to punish unfaithful nobles, mind you, they are less effective against your own nobles. Negotiation is, again, also an option for those who don't want to use intrigue or violence against their own people.
REBELS A guide to what rebels do what if they win.
peasant: they will lower taxes, and consequentially monthly income.
noble: they will lower crown authority, giving nobles more power.
pretender: they will change your form of government.
nationalist: they will spawn a new country.
patriot: they will annex a country to it's closest neighbor.
zealot: they will install a heretic form of your religion.
heathen: they will install a heathen religion.
NOTES tribes may take on a "horde" status. This lets them field a larger army, but also lowers defensive power.
declaring war without a causus belli causes reputation and/or stability drop. Declaring war on heathens causes stability drop, heretics is reputation drop, and followers is both. Causus belli negates these effects.
Hordes, like Mongols, need no causus belli, but they suffer from it. They are hated greatly by non-hordes and have low stability. They can field a very large army, but are also poor on the defense. Revolts are highly likely, especially in conquered or occupied lands. The government is also considered tribal, so it can not hold large empires at once, having to make vassals instead of annexing the lands. This leaves them open to revolutions, as the vassals can attack the horde for freedom. The hordes, despite having tribal government, are not in the tribal technology group. Their religion decides their tech group. They are also slower to advance to new technologies, and cannot 'westernize' as long as they are at 'horde' status. Westernization changes status to one of the republics or monarchies. This requires research. They must give up 100 ducats and research government until they get 'tribal'. Once they get that, they can drop horde status and westernize when they want to. Hordes may not enter royal marriages with non-hordes.
All tribes start with the "tribal culture" bonus, which means they start with 3 culture. This does not apply to hordes.
Anyone can westernize. This puts them in the Western tech group, religion change is optional. Westernization has initial hindrances of decreased manpower (lack of training in western weapons and tactics); increased revolt risk (traditionalists); and increased chance of religious fanatics (not wanting religion change). All random events will be triggered by me, if I feel it is time for one.
Feudal monarchies allow for more duchies and such. This means that in a Feudal monarchy, the government is focused more on the nation as a whole while the nobles deal with internal affairs. By getting rid of a little bit of power, you allow yourself more management freedom over the whole nation. The nobles will deal with rebels and taxes. You, however, lose control over things like taxes this way, so you cannot raise them.
Pegasi are weighed down by weapons and/or armor. They cannot fly, but they can use their wings to run faster. Keep in mind that you cannot have an army solely of pegasi, for obvious reasons. Different nations have different magic types. Equestrian magic will be more defensive and/or organized, like a band of unicorns forming a wall. Barbarian magics will be more offensive, like projectiles and spikes and curses and pain, Crystal magic will be geared towards healing and countering other forms of magic, but will suffer in combat ability for it. Petty Kingdoms (non-major nations that aren't "barbarians") will be influenced by either Equestria or the Crystal Empire. Their magic will be based on their influencer.
Having a royal marriage, alliance, or good relations with a nation you declare war on will cause damages to your nation. It is even worse if you don't have a causus belli. Crusades have different rules. No causus belli is needed, and relations do not affect it. Instead, crusades damage if you do one against Lunarism. Though it may be tempting, you cannot crusade a heretic. The religion is too similar.
Crusades give Celestialist nations a causus belli against the target. Excommunication can be done to other Celestialist nations, and does the same thing as a crusade. It also follows the same rules, except you can only do it to Celestialist nations.
Sunny proposed music/singing to be incorporated into Kingdoms. After a vote, I have come to a compromise: singing is allowed, but it is canon. This means that singing will actually be singing in the rp, as compared to the show's style of singing and then forgetting about it.
map:
https://2img.net/h/i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r610/somethingidontcare/Kingdoms_reboot_full_factions_map_update_zps746cc58f.png add yourself into the map with whatever, and the picture link in your app. The two empires you see are very large, and other barbarians and petty kingdoms should be significantly smaller. A large petty kingdom would be the size of one of the halves of the Crystal Empire at best.
Certain events will slow down time, like the start with the Aragonese festival. After these events pass, time speeds up to a reasonable pace again.
For all intents and purposes, horses are different than ponies. A horse is like a real-life horse, and is about as big to a pony as it is for a human.
APP Nation name: (do not name after yourself unless it is newly formed, and even then likely not)
Ruler name:
Location on map: (use Photobucket and a picture editor)
Religion:
Government type:
Culture: how rich a culture is, accumulates based on policies and such. Keeps a nation happy and calm.
Revolt risk: chances of revolts popping up. One a scale from 1-10, 1 is low and 10 is high.
Tax income: basically, the amount you get per month/day/whatever.
Treasury: how many ducats you have. Ducats shall be standardized currency.
(You should keep track of your stats, but I will tell you if one increases/decreases. You must, however, keep track of your ducat count.)
THAT'S ALL, HAVE FUN!
Subject: Kingdoms reboot sign ups 
Wed Jul 17, 2013 4:14 am
