Shireling
A Servant of King and Country
The Will to Power
The Continent of Aras has, since time immemorial, been torn apart by civil and international conflict, but none of a greater scale than the Great Conflict (1912-1919) which gouged the continent with artillery fire and laid waste to a generation of young men on the battlefields of August. Now, thirty years after the Armistice, science and peace have progressed the land into a new age of possibilities, but with some familiar old specters. Strongmen and dictators have risen to power, brutish politicians have turned their guile against the people, and the great growth of Industry has left millions discarded as the refuse of society and bereft of the means of life. It is in these uncertain times that men of principle, seizing the Will to Power, must guide their nation from hegemonic power to Empire, or be relegated to the appendix of history and nevermore honored as a conqueror but disgraced as a defeated warrior.
"The Will to Power" is a mostly freeform nation-building game set in a fictional continent that is a mimicry of Europe before the outbreak of World War Two. Thirty years prior to the events of the game, the continent was racked by a protracted war between the Gilded Powers and the Arkavian Pact. The war ended in an armistice with neither alliance gaining or losing any consequential amount of territory.
Since then, nations have risen and fallen in actuality as well as repute. The great Arkavian Empire was cannibalized due to ethnic tensions and split into two separate countries.
Individual battles will mostly be decided on the honor system, although an emergency die-roll can be called if the sides cannot agree on a winner. The object of the game is as much to build a complicated story as it is to actually conquer your opponents. Players are encouraged to be as detailed as they would like with their nations, creating maps, constitutions, and the like, but each nation must have at least:
Nation Name:
Leader:
Form of Government: (de jure and de facto)
Capital City:
Former Member of: (Gilded/Arkavian Pact Powers)
Slot:
Score from Population:
Score from Agriculture:
Score from Research:
Score from Industry:
(Your starting scores cannot total more than 60, and your starting Industry cannot exceed 2)
Nation Slots: The map below has several slots for player nations. Most slots give the players a tabula rasa to give their nation whatever history or character they would like, but there are exceptions for world building purposes.
Slots E and F were once part of the Arkavian Empire, a large empire that collapsed due to ethnic tensions between the two dominant ethnic groups that now make up the separate countries.
The Continent of Aras has, since time immemorial, been torn apart by civil and international conflict, but none of a greater scale than the Great Conflict (1912-1919) which gouged the continent with artillery fire and laid waste to a generation of young men on the battlefields of August. Now, thirty years after the Armistice, science and peace have progressed the land into a new age of possibilities, but with some familiar old specters. Strongmen and dictators have risen to power, brutish politicians have turned their guile against the people, and the great growth of Industry has left millions discarded as the refuse of society and bereft of the means of life. It is in these uncertain times that men of principle, seizing the Will to Power, must guide their nation from hegemonic power to Empire, or be relegated to the appendix of history and nevermore honored as a conqueror but disgraced as a defeated warrior.
"The Will to Power" is a mostly freeform nation-building game set in a fictional continent that is a mimicry of Europe before the outbreak of World War Two. Thirty years prior to the events of the game, the continent was racked by a protracted war between the Gilded Powers and the Arkavian Pact. The war ended in an armistice with neither alliance gaining or losing any consequential amount of territory.
Since then, nations have risen and fallen in actuality as well as repute. The great Arkavian Empire was cannibalized due to ethnic tensions and split into two separate countries.
The Game System
Nations are ranked on the Global Firepower Index every turn. The nations at the top of the GFI are, militarily, the strongest and more likely to win in a conflict. The GFI provides a concrete variable to the game that determines the relative power of factions and avoids power playing and god-moding. Your rank on the GFI is contingent on your nation's Strength. Strength is made up of your scores from Population, Research, Industry, and Agriculture. These scores are subject to change throughout the game and these scores also affect other aspects of your nation. Any of these scores can be upgraded with Improvement Points. Improvement Points are acquired by random distribution and held by a player for an unlimited amount of turns. At the beginning of each turn, two points are randomly distributed amongst the nations and can be used that turn or henceforth. IPs can be bartered for or given as a tribute to other nations. Your Population scores determine the number of people that live in your country. 1 point is awarded for every million people, so a country with a population score of 44 is home to 44 million people. Population naturally increases at a rate of 1 per 5 turns, but Population can also be destroyed in invasions by opposing armies. Improvement Points cannot be used on population. Agriculture is how much food product your nation can produce. Here, a point represents food for 1 million people. Thus, a nation with a population of 23 million must necessarily have an Agriculture score of 23 at least. Thankfully, other nations can ship you surplus food. If no food can be imported, your nation will undergo starvation. It will immediately diminish your national Strength by a number equal to the difference between your Population and your Agricultural scores and prolonged starvation (10 turns) will cause the people to topple your government. Thankfully, spending Improvement Points here increases your score by 5. Agriculture can be targeted by the enemy. Research is your nation's devotion to science. A nation with a higher Research score will have more advanced technology. Improvement Points spent here improve Research by 1. Cannot be destroyed. Your Industry score is a measure of your nation's level of industrialization. Industry is used as a multiplier, which means your Industry score multiplies by your Population, Agriculture, and Research scores to give you your Strength score. For instance: A nation with a Population of 20, an Agriculture score of 25, Research score of 10, and Industry score of 5 will have a Strength = (20+25+10)×5 Industry can be destroyed by the enemy.
Individual battles will mostly be decided on the honor system, although an emergency die-roll can be called if the sides cannot agree on a winner. The object of the game is as much to build a complicated story as it is to actually conquer your opponents. Players are encouraged to be as detailed as they would like with their nations, creating maps, constitutions, and the like, but each nation must have at least:
Nation Name:
Leader:
Form of Government: (de jure and de facto)
Capital City:
Former Member of: (Gilded/Arkavian Pact Powers)
Slot:
Score from Population:
Score from Agriculture:
Score from Research:
Score from Industry:
(Your starting scores cannot total more than 60, and your starting Industry cannot exceed 2)
Nation Slots: The map below has several slots for player nations. Most slots give the players a tabula rasa to give their nation whatever history or character they would like, but there are exceptions for world building purposes.
Slots E and F were once part of the Arkavian Empire, a large empire that collapsed due to ethnic tensions between the two dominant ethnic groups that now make up the separate countries.
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