The Creation-Ruling Mandate

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Chapter I: The World We Rule

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"Every body wants to rule the world..."

- Tears for Fears

 

Some people like being in charge.  Ordering the fates of nations, marshalling empires, sending forth armies to do their bidding.  These are rules for them: a series of guidelines for defining and managing nations.

 

Nations, cults, city-states, etc; all these social organizations are classified as Domains.

 

Domains have the following traits-

 

Military: A measure of how large a Domain's army is.

Power: A measure of how many resources a Domain can bring to bear, to create and

Quality: A measure of how much the people like you, how nice things are for them, and so on.  Higher Quality also slows the growth of Corruption.

Magnitude: A measure of how many people are a part of the Domain.  Acts as an upper bound on Power, and interacts with Quality to describe the typical experience of living in the Domain.

Corruption: A measure of how much lawlessness, corruption and other internal factors oppose a Domain's exercise of Power.

 

A player who wants to create a nation that has always been present, for their character to control, should generally start with a 1 in each trait, and can distribute up to 3 more points between them per social background they control at 4 or 5- and gain an additional point per additional point of starting Corruption.  (Naturally, STs should approve new Nations and adjust starting attributes as they see fit.) 

 

The Military trait, is a measure of the size of your military.  A higher Military means more troops- check Appendix B for the exact numberss.  These Troops are assumed to be of Normal Quality and in Normal Quality gear with a Resources cost of 2 or less.  Each step down in army size Magnitude can improve the quality of either trait by 1, or increase the value of their gear by 2 (to a maximum of 5).  You can also alternatively decrease the quality or cost of the gear by 1 step, to increase the magnitude of the unit by 1 (by 2 for a vast army of ill trained peasants armed with sticks).

 

The Quality trait is the magnitude of the population that lives at a Resources 2 or better lifestyle.  These people are generally contented; you can define a positive intimacy they hold towards the Domain.  If the Quality trait is greater than the Domain's Magnitude, the people have an even higher average lifestyle- averaging 3 for Quality +1, 4 for Quality +2 and 5 for Quality +4.

 

If the Quality trait is less than the magnitude of the Domain, the difference is made up of people who are at Resources 0 or 1.  Slaves, disenfranchised, criminals, and the like.  Such individuals typically hold some negative Intimacy towards the Domain.  Domains with Quality far below their Magnitude have frequent problems with rebellions from the discontented people.

 

Additionally, Domains with higher Quality are more able to resist the growth of Corruption, as fewer people have a cause to work against the Domain internally.

 

An Important Note: The Traits a Domain has in the Creation Ruling Mandate are meant to reflect the state of actual play.  If something adversly impacts a Domain, that Domain's Traits are likely to fall.  If the Domain is burnt and salted so that no two stones stand together and no green living thing takes root by the power of player actions or plot, it is destroyed- no exercise of Power by another Domain is neccesary.

As a general principle, because it is easier to destroy than to create, efforts at building a Nation up will use the CRM timescale, while efforts at destruction may work far faster.

 

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Chapter II: You've Got the Power

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"How about the Power... to move you."

- Tenacious D

 

Once a season IC, and a month OOC, Nations set the course for their upcoming plans and projects- exercising their Power to change the world.

These efforts are collectively called Works.  Works can be broad thought of in three groups: Works intended to change a Nation, Works intended to provide immediate material benefit to someone, and Works intended to otherwise change the world.

 

Nations have a number of Talents equal to their Power x10 + the sum of any Routes they have, to maintain their current state and enact new works.

First, they must maintain their current state- this costs a sum of their Military, Quality, Magnitude and twice their current Corruption.  In addition, they must pay an additional Talent for each Dragon they have active and making war, to pay the cost of moving and feeding large numbers of soldiers.  Luckily, they also probally get a number of Talents from raiding...

 

Second, they /should/ pay any tribute or other taxes they owe to any other Domains.  There are no mechanical consequences for not doing so- although there may be social consequences.

 

Thirdly, they allocate any remaining Talents between any new or ongoing Works.

 

Works intended to improve a Domain's attributes have a difficulty equal to the current Attribute, and require a total number of successes beyond the difficulty equal to the current Attribute squared.

 

Works intended to reduce a Domain's Corruption work in the same fashion, save that Corruption goes down.

 

Of special note, a Military Work may be intended to raise the Quality or Equipment of a given Dragon's worth of people.  Doing so has a difficulty of 3 requiring 3 successes for going from Normal to Fine, a difficulty of 5 requiring 5 successes for going from Fine to Exceptional and a difficulty of 8 requiring 10 successes for going from Exceptional to Perfect.

 

Works intended to create a Route have a difficulty equal to the value of the Route, and a number of successes equal to the value of the Route squared.  Both domains involved in the Route may contribute Talents towards this, although each rolls seperately.  A given Domain can establish a Route worth no more than the higher of Power and Quality, and a given Route can have a value worth no more than the lower of the two Domain's maximum Route value.  Routes also don't have to provide a symetric amount of trade to both nations- if they don't, however, the difficulty is equal to the value of the greater half.

 

Works intended to provide immediate material benefit have a difficulty of 1 for a Resources 4 purchase, 3 for a Resources 5 purchase, and +3 for each Resource level beyond 5 neccesary.

 

Works intended to otherwise change the world have a difficulty and require a number of successes as determined by the ST.

Each Work subtracts a number of dice equal to the Domain's Corruption, and adds a number of dice equal to it's Magnitude.  Additional, Groups can work on no more than their Magnitude in Works at a single time.

 

Finally, they check to see if their Corruption increases.  Roll the Domain's Power + (Trade/5) vs it's Corruption.  If the Power roll gets more successes, increase the Domain's Corruption by 1.

 

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Chapter III: The Cult of Personality

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"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!"

- JFK

 

Leaders are individuals of great skill and accumen, capable of weilding significant influence over their Domains.

 

In general, Leaders can either fight Corruption, purge Corruption or assist with a particular Work.

 

If they opt to fight Corruption, this is a roll with a difficulty at least equal to the Corruption of the Domain.  Each success beyond the difficulty reduces the Corruption that afflicts all Works this season by 1, to a minimum of 0.

 

If they opt to purge Corruption, it is unrolled.  This action automatically reduces the Domain's Corruption by 1, at the cost of also reducing another Trait by 1 as well.  It's something of a desperation move.

 

If they opt to assist with a Work, this is a roll with a difficulty at least equal to the difficulty of the Work.  Each success beyond the difficulty turns one of the dice for the roll into an automatic success.

 

In theory, most any Attribute or Ability can be used by a Leader to fight Corruption or assist in a Work.  In practice, some abilities are markedly more effective.  As a guideline, using Bureaucracy or Socialize towards either effort should operate at the minimum difficulty.  Using War, Performance or Lore should have a +1 or +2.  Using Occult, Craft or Presence should get a 2+ or +3, and needs a good explanation.  Using Melee or Dodge or Athletics could easily be at a +5 to the difficulty, and needs a /really/ good explanation.

 

Now, Exalts can provide that kind of good explanation, and stunts can apply.  However, as a rule of thumb, people with the right tool for the problem at hand are more effective- and Bureaucracy and Socialize are the tools for mass social manipulation.

 

If more than one person has a claim to legitimancy that is heeded by a portion of the Domain, the Domain's talents should be split between the claiments, as they each try and enforce their will.  The Domain still can only undertake a number of Works equal to it's Magnitude- if the leaders, between them, try for more only the works with the most dice are attemtped.

 

Heroes, on the other hand, are simple interlopers who claim no legitimancy but may be able to influence the Domain through sheer power.  In general, these efforts should be considered as a URCT, with a minimum difficulty of the Domain's Magnitude + relevant Trait.  They can do things like add or subtract dice from Works, reduce the Corruption afflicting a Work, or even attempt to damage a Domain's Traits.  Also in general, a Hero can influence no more than one Project per Season.  A Hero seriously trying to influence more than that is less of a Hero and more of a claiment for Leadership.

 

Having a stable of Awesome Bureaucrats working for you can also help- and can generally be considered as Heroes that are working in concert with the Leader. 

 

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Chapter IV: Charmed, I'm Sure

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"I put a spell on you, and now you're mine!"

- Winifred Sanderson

 

Exalts have Charms.  They use these Charms to influence the world, to do things better than normal people.  They're what make Exalts awesome.

In a system with a degree of abstraction, such as this, the effects of Charms are a bit simplified and will require a degree of discretion and judgement.  However, some guidelines may be applied.

* Charms which change the speed of large scale activity instead effectively alter the Magnitude that may be applied to a given Project, as a benefit of the efficency.

* Charms which can impose large scale beliefs or emotions can provide a phantom 'boost' or 'drop' to Power, Magnitude or Corruption.  In general, this shouldn't increase or decrease traits by more than the Essence minimum of the charm.

* Charms which target Corruption can increase or decrease the Corruption penelty of a targetted Work.

* Charms which target Loyalty instead drain Talents away, like an additional Corruption penelty.  If there are multiple claiments for Leadership, the drained Talents may be funneled from one Leader to another.

* Charms which allow a Leader or Hero to divide their attention efficently may let them take multiple Leader actions.

Particular Charm rulings should be posted on the wiki, to help ensure an even power level.

 

Note: After some rough playtesting and brainstorming with Sach, he thinks that the Bureaucracy charms (as well as Socialize and other Large-Scale-Friendly charms) are basically going to need to be rewritten. 

Brainstorming goes here: Creation Ruling Mandate Charms

 

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Appendix A: Magnitude of Nations

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Magnitude	Equivelent	Example
1	Village/Minor Tribe / City Block	-
2	Town / Tribe / Neighborhood	The Plaza,  BoxTown
3	Large Town / Major Tribe / City Borough	Greyfalls, Vir Sidus
4	City / Tribal Alliance	Great Forks, Ten Tribes
5	City-State	Paragon, Lookshy
6	Territory / Major City-State	Nexus
7	Nation / Region	Realm Prefacture / The Scavanger Lands
8	Large Nation	Scarlet Empire
9	Empire	Shogunate
10	Colossal Empire	Old Realm

 

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Appendix B: Size of Military

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Military	Number of Troops
1	1 Dragon
2	5 Dragons
3	1 Legion
4	3 Legions
5	10 Legions
6	25 Legions
7	50 Legions
8	100 Legions
9	250 Legions
10	500 Legions

 

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Appendix C: Magnitude of Armies

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Magnitude	Maximum Members	Equivelent
0	1	Solo
1	10	Fang
2	75	Scale(s)
3	150	Talon
4	300	Wing
5	650	Dragon
6	1,250
7	2,500
8 9	5,000 10,000	Realm Legion First Age Field Force

 

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Glossary

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Corruption: A measure of how much lawlessness, corruption and other internal factors oppose a Domain's exercise of Power.

Domain: A society, organized around a common leadership.

Hero: An individual who's actions impact a Domain without being it's Leader.

Leader: A named and recognized head of state.  Leaders can bend their skills of statecraft to improve the fortunes of Domains.

Magnitude: A measure of how many people are a part of the Domain.  Acts as an upper bound on Power, and interacts with Quality to describe the typical experience of living in the Domain.

Military: A measure of how large a Domain's army is.

Power: A measure of how many resources a Domain can bring to bear, to create and maintain works.  Domains with high Power tend to have growing Corruption.

Quality: A measure of how much the people like you, how nice things are for them, and so on.

Route: A syergistic trade route between two Domains.

Talent: A quanta of applied Power.

Work: An application of a Domain's Power.

 

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