Medieval RP?

I realized that Ras, Grace, and NX is all quite busy with crap... and I also got the message from Isis: Let's go medieval!!!


So I wanted to do so while we wait for the three admins to return... that and it is hard to actually do an RP while half of the community is absent. Not only that, we could all use a break from the previous RPs atm. Not that I'm trying to wiggle my way out of posting =D

So here's the thing... with approval of entire remaining active RPers, I would like to press the "pause" button for the current Tiberiam RP and start Tiberiam Medieval RP.



However... there is also some gist that I would like to change for these RP... for fun of the RP and to preserve its lighthearted nature of this RP.

• Firstly, all threads will be preserved under "sticky" section of the NATIONAL thread. I say it makes things easier to distinguish. Whenever you wish to start the new thread, just be sure to notify me.
  
• Secondly, certain RP rules will change. This is notified below:
  • RPers, with no exception, has 10,000 men at disposal. No million-men armies... please, since when was medieval age that populated anyways?
  • And since military is so small, I won't care as much about economy. But please, when you start getting 100 catapults, I might put a stop to that. =D
  
  
• Also another thing: I'm going to follow KI's plans... to an extent. I'm going to allow three types of "entities" within this RP: King, Feudal Lords (basically high-lords with political influence that of a king), and High-Bishops (religious leaders with political influence that of a king). That should make everyone happy, right? Oh, except poor ol'me, who wants trade unions. Alas, those are created in the later times... T^T
  I'll also distinguish these:
  • Kings: basically your imagination of King. They rule over VAST lands, unlike the other leaders, but their control over these lands are minimal. Kings are their own entity, and they must ALWAYS be independent entity. They key feature of Kings is that while they have 10,000 Royal Army, they can also enlist the service of lesser vassals, and thus increasing their overall military power.
  • Feudal Lords: they are your average high-lords during the Medieval era. They can either be independent or serving the other factions. Feudal Lords start out with smaller land than the King, but they extend greater control over the land, which means that Feudal Lords can defend the land more efficiently. This small size is what gives Feudal Lords their unique trait: through micromanaging, they can construct and recuperate their losses much more easily than other factions. Their construction projects are also very fast, allowing for construction of major fortification within relatively short period of time.
  • High-Bishops: basically the religious leader that holds great power. They cannot work under other entities, as they must always stay loyal to the church. However, they can work alongside either King or Feudal Lords in mutual interest. High-Bishops start out with very small land, but it controls those lands with iron fist. However, they are different from Kings or Feudal Lords in a way that they do not have neither the capital nor manpower to conduct massive construction projects, and thus they are limited in construction of minor fortifications or repairing the existing forts. However, they are by no means defenseless. From Vatican (or other Church authority existing in Tiberiam at that time), High-Bishops can receive quick influx of cash and men, allowing for near-instant replenishment of forces during wartime. They can also enlist the heart of the people during campaigns. Once the High-Bishop personally takes to the field (and thus exposing him/herself into greater threat), he/she can easily persuade the soldiers, and thus being able disrupt the morality of the soldiers in poorly-managed areas. But keep in mind that these Bishops train in minds, not in brawn. While they are effective in mind-games, they can easily be overwhelmed by enemies unlike Feudal Lords or Kings, who can hold their own against several opponents.
  
  
• And since the settings are in Medieval times... I'll restrict the epoch to Medieval. So NO gunpowders!!! Gunpowders were introduced around now, yes, but at the same time, these weapons were ONLY in china... and "Medieval" is usually knights and kings in the West, no?
  
• Also in order to allow for more fun RPs, I'm going to have to forbid crossbows. The reason why is because crossbows started to destroy the role of knights in the late medieval periods. I want Knights and Kings to rule the battlefield to an extent. So... can everyone live with no high-tech missiles? I'll still allow Longbow, since those are always fun to mess around with.
  

That's what I got. Any comments? Concerns? Again, with everyone on board, I'll go ahead and initiate this RP and continue until the admins return. If you have anything to add, please let me know, and I'll certainly change the rules to fit your taste!!!

However, they are different from Kings or Feudal Lords in a way that they do not have neither the capital nor manpower to conduct massive construction projects, and thus they are limited in construction of minor fortifications or repairing the existing forts.

Somebody doesn't know their medieval European history. Bishops were often almost identical to lords. They warred, they bore many children, they were powerful local rulers. There was a spectrum- just like with the lords- from minor to powerful. However, bishops built palaces and castles as often as the lords. Also, it was obviously the Church which bankrolled the construction of cathedrals, undoubtedly the most massive of the medieval construction projects. A quick cathedral required 30 years, a long one 140.

The bishops were AS rich as the lords; they just had different priorities. Obviously both groups spent massive amounts of money on their palace, castle, frequent banquets, and soldiers. The bishops spent the remainder on cathedrals; the lords spent the remainder on more soldiers.

What I'm saying is that in early medieval history, their roles were nearly identical. As time passes, the bishops focus more on priestly duties, but they keep their noble duties going.

Meh, I'm ranting aimlessly.

Osc, crossbows were used as early as the 5th century BC in both China and Greece. They were common in the Roman Empire. Ballistae are pretty much just really big crossbows. The only era of medieval history when crossbows were not in common use was after 1525 when they replaced by handguns. You cannot remove the crossbow from medieval warfare.

Anyways, I'll definitely be the Kingdom of Edes. That would be an absolutist state. (The transition phase between quintessential feudalism and capitalism where the king holds absolute power, kings used to be at the mercy of their lords.) Obviously, Edes would be very Catholic. Crusading Catholic.

A few suggestions if I may? Could my northern neighbors be two rivaling kingdoms: Isis and Rakael. I think that would be interesting. Also, I want to be crusading against the pagan Kingdom of Hijjma.

Obviously, my kingdom's borders would be the Edesu Homeland. Does 1100 AD sound good for a RP date? That's before crossbows became too powerful. So that'd be 587 HE. (In 1394 the Edesus finally throw off their monarchs.) 1100 AD is really early for an absolutist state in Europe, but whatever.

Completely not following you... but I get the gist.

The reason why I say that Bishops do not have capital is in order of balance. The age that I'm thinking of is around late Medieval period, anyways, when Knights wore something more than a tin-can armor. Therefore, both my claims (Bishops having weak power and forbidding morbidly powerful crossbows) stands valid. Regardless, Ballistas were indeed from eons ago, so I have no qualms of letting that out and about... Good luck hitting one with it though XD

In regards to your opinions...

Obviously, I am skeptical about these, EEE. Remember that this is RP... and I have no say in what others do. HOWEVER, I must say that Isis will have his plans for how his countries will work, and Hijima Island would be difficult to get into. Remember that as an island, it is REALLY difficult for any Medieval countries to invade such a landscape. Hijima Kingdom must have had basically no invasion during that time... so I gotta say that crusading in Hijima Island would be pretty hard.

Kingdom of Edes? I was thinking that you might even be a Bishop of sort, but I digress. Kingdom sounds perfect. In terms of lands... I completely forgot about that. We would have to make re-claims about the lands... but can we keep it somewhat in the Southern region? As in... I have hard time believing that there were kingdoms in northern areas of Hiborea during that time, and that it would be way too difficult transportation wise to have countries mobilize using ships. After all, Medieval is Medieval, and having ships-on-sails traveling across the seas would take FOREVER.

So I say that we keep it small... I say around the Luza Sea? I'm sorry for those that have to move... but I do have doubts that certain nations did not exist in those times anyways (Oscal didn't exist at all during that time... not to mention USI was pretty modern state anyways). The only country that I see having problem here is Civa, but I have a feeling that Civa must have moved to that place after getting tired of the politics around the area or something... or I may be guessing, and it developed in arctic climate. Either way, you can create your own original country/lord for the sake of this RP... after all, this is just for fun, no?

King Richard I of England successfully conquered Cypress (a large island nation in the Mediterranean). Remember the distance from England and Normandy, and this being in the late 12th century A.D. Also, he conquered Cypress in a ridiculously short amount of time (in the case of Hijimma, it would probably be longer based on soldiers and tactical competence).

As for the Civa-Orchestra, it wasn't a kingdom at the time, but the Protectorate. Of course, the Lord-Protector was mostly a glorified king with slightly less powers. In fact, people still referred to him as the High King. It was a pseudo-democracy at the time, though I don't think that's much of a surprised during that time period.

Civa-Orchestra has been in its modern lands for eons. We could say that during modern day, I'm experiencing a mini-ice age. Also, I don't think the distance is too ridiculous- just think of the British during the crusades. I'd rather not make another nation just for this, since my current one existed during that time and had much influence.

By medieval standards Edes will be ENORMOUS. I get to be the France of the RP. Sweet. Since we seem to be claiming plots, mine our the boundaries of the Edesu homeland. The capital was moved t Kolbertiko during the Revolution, so Mora would be my capital.

[By the way, has every American figured out the not-so-subtle etymology of Kolbertiko yet? If you don't see it, change the K's to C's. Then watch Comedy Central.]

I'd have to agree with Civa regarding the Crusades. Traveling from Edes to Hijjma is undoubtedly much easier than journeying from England to the Holy Land.

And as the self-apointed dominant nation of this era of history, I think I have the resources to fight with Hijjma. Does anyone want to be Hijjma? Perhaps Ras?

But in 1100 Europe had terrible knowledge of shipbuilding... with the exception of the Basques.

Well, I'm not exactly to contest with that statement. Though sufficient ships should be available for Edes to easily invade Hijmma.

Another suggestion: RP populations for the medieval RP are directly proportional to number of posts.

My suggested formula = (Posts/11) million

Let's face it: if people don't RP much, they're not going to want another RP. Those who do have stacked up a lot of posts.

This suggestion is not biased towards me in any way whatsoever.

Quality over quantity, dear EEE.

Isis Rakael wrote:

Quality over quantity, dear EEE.

Quantity helps. See: Isis Rakael.

Okay, let me clarify certain things...

Firstly, Most kingdoms in Medieval periods kings did not have enough politcal influence to maintain iron control over the lands. That's why vassals (knights, feudal lords, church) had so much influence. So I have little time believing that any kings have enough political and economical power to maintain an massive army in the first place. That's why I limited all the military to 10k men (excluding engineers for siege weaponary, but hopefully that isn't going to be godmoded.)

I'll admit, though, EEE and Isis would have been major power in Terragon Region. And Civa woud have been a power up north that was much feared. Ras and Grace is modern countries to begin with, and NN... is NN even around anymore?... would have probably existed. KingIsaac would have also been a dominant power, and Hijima would have been present.

In terms of EEE's invasion (sorry, meant to say "crusade") is still invalid. The reason why invasions to UK was so successful is because of the short distance from France to England. However... look at the map. There is a huge distance between Hijima Island and EEE. In that sense, invasion to those lands would be difficult unless EEE passes through Isis and onto what would be Oscal and towards Hijima Island. And also keep in mind that Hijima would have had plenty of naval ships to prevent that from happening in the first place (in comparison, England was very disoriented when it was invaded... once island kingdoms have been invaded, it is practically game over situation.). Not to mention... I have a feeling that with the sheer size and rather flat landscape, Hijima would have been a fertile place for multiple nations until the land was unified. Meaning... that there will be a legacy of dominant kings that have their own army (in comparison, England doesn't have such legacy). This means that hijima would have had great land army as well as naval army during this time, making EEE's crusade difficult.

Oh and population with posts... I have no qualms with that (I'm so not indicating that I post often here), but do keep in mind that, again, kings during this time did not have epic administration powers. Meaning that the unit cap of 10k still exists in ALL kings.

Oscalantine wrote:

Oh and population with posts... I have no qualms with that.

I have lost all faith in your ability to lead. -.-

XDDDDD

Forgot that you only have few post counts.

Regardless, the population doesn't equal military here. It means more revolts and peasantry. The more population you have, the less political control you have in the area. Not to mention, more concenyrated population center without proper hygiene is ideal place for plague. Population in medieval RP does not equate to power... And that is why I said I have no qualms. Does that justify my actions?

No.

I don't really see the relevance of post counts, but whatever. It was difficult to sustain large populations during this time, so it doesn't really matter.

Woohoo, I pretty much repeated what Osc just said but in a dumbed down version.

Hmmm... it seems like someone said no to the entire Medieval RP idea. Can someone speak up who doesn't want it? Maybe I can try to persuade yous if you speak up why you don't want Medieval RP.

Similar thing goes to Isis... can you explain why you don't like posts to poplation ratio? I mean... it seems logical for me. Historically, northern empires had comparatively less population, but fiercer warriors during the pre-Modern times. In a way, this evened out as the more successful empires (usu. north due to agressiveness over taking resources) started to grow into vast civilizations while not-so successful empires (large population means more disputes, which spells more wars and eventual decrease in the overall population) died out. That seems to be what happened with EEE and Isis, where EEE had huge communist revolution as well as theological clensing, effectively shuffing itself out, while Isis kept its population in line and prospered into world power.

I can't fathom any reason why somebody wouldn't want this kind of RP. Since they haven't bothered to explain why, the best thing to do is ignore it.

So. . . when are we starting?

I voted "no" and simply because I don't see anything changing for the better. War this. Crusade that. What a bore. I forsee no more activity there than we do now in modern and all of the godmodding unreality will simply carry over. Thank you, but no. We have it all in modern and I find that is all I care to bother with.

Also, in response to the following, which I didn't notice before:

Quote :

A few suggestions if I may? Could my northern neighbors be two rivaling kingdoms: Isis and Rakael. I think that would be interesting.

No.

War. War never changes.

That was a bit corny, but whatever. Do you think that the vices of man change over time? Nope. But since you're complaining about something that what was initially your idea, what do you suggest? There are many other options than war. Conflict=Drama. People like drama. Shit, I need to catch up on missed episodes of Desperate Housewives.

It doesn't really matter to me what happens in the medieval RP. I just think the very idea is cool.

Some people like constant drama. I, for one, don't much care to send my people to doom every other week. I brought it up, but I had no real intent to bring it to fruition. What do I suggest? Sticking to modern since it's already here. *shrug*

My suggestion is to do nothing. Who's with me?

Civa-Orchestra wrote:

Shit, I need to catch up on missed episodes of Desperate Housewives.

I hope you're not serious.

This nigh medieval RP has helped me solidify my understanding of basic Edesu history. I bastardize real history at will!

A Brief History of Edes

Quote :

350 AD (-163 HE): Edes is the first region to obtain a near-100% Christian population. (Christianity is a permanent aspect of Edesu society.) KingIsaac and Isis Rakael are the next to follow suit. Edes considers itself the birthplace of Christianity.
476 AD (-37 HE): The (western half of the) Roman Empire collapses. Edes falls into a persistent near-anarchy.
904 AD (391 HE): The Kingdom of Edes is established.
Medieval stuff followed by the industrial revolution.
1904 AD (1391 HE): The incompetent Tzar Nicholas II augments his crackdown on reformist and revolutionary activity and attempts to separate the Church and State.
1907 AD (1394 HE): St. Lenin leads the overthrow of the Tzar in Mora and establishes a communist government. Kolbertiko, the second largest city, soon falls to the Revolution.
1907-1910 AD (1394-1397 HE): The Edesu Civil War claims nine million lives. The Edesu capital is moved to Kolbertiko.
1910-1985 AD (1397-1472 HE): The Holy Edesu Socialist State hides from the rest of the world, embracing isolationism. Kolbertiko grows into the largest industrial center in the world.
1985-2009 AD (1472-1496 HE): The reign of Catherine the Prosperous establishes Edes as an economic power and greatly improves government services across the board. The HESS ends its isolationist practices and begins allying with its neighbors, most notably KingIsaac.
2009-2012 AD (1496-1499 HE): Roberto VI embarks upon ambitious expansion campaigns.

Isis Rakael wrote:

Some people like constant drama. I, for one, don't much care to send my people to doom every other week. I brought it up, but I had no real intent to bring it to fruition. What do I suggest? Sticking to modern since it's already here. *shrug*

Why not devote 80% of our time to modern and 20% medieval?

I'm so serious that it isn't funny how serious I actually am.