Rules (Medieval World Map Game)

Here are the rules for Medieval World. They are based on those from Principia Moderni II. THESE ARE A WORK IN PROGRESS.

Basic Rules[]

These are the basic tenets, laid down by Cosman246 when he came up with Principia Moderni (Map Game):

The main goal of these rules is to keep the game realistic, therefore every turn must be plausible; one cannot take over the world in ten turns.
A turn is one day. Each turn is composed of one action, which can be militaristic, diplomatic, etc.
Turns begin when the previous turn is over. Do not edit past turns
Exploration (or any sort of sea travel) takes one turn.
Any land which is conquered has inhabitants, and they must be dealt with.
Keep in mind the linguistic effects of conquering and colonizing.
Every person must do an action every year, but only one action.
Every five turns, a map is to be made. A moderator marked as Mapmaker will edit the map.
After a given number of turns have passed, a moderator will make a prose summary of that period and give maps relating to culture; e.g. language spread, religion, etc.
Every map must be saved as a .png on the current map template.
Each player will "call" a nation, one nation per player. Until decolonization
The moderators of this game have the power to grant and regulate technology for every nation, as well as regulate plausibility. They also have the right to create random yet plausible and fair events in any and every nation throughout the course of the game.
Actions like espionage are allowed and will be detailed later.
Alliances and dynastic unions are allowed, as is bargaining to achieve these.
If a nation is inactive (does not respond for more than a week without warning), it is considered in civil disorder and thus fair game for conquering even if one was allied with it. However, resistance is stronger than if it was normally conquered.
There are supernational confederations (e.g. the Holy Roman Empire, the Kalmar Union), and they function like alliances. They can be broken (e.g. the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire) and they can be formed (e.g. the unification of Spain)
You can hire raiders/pirates and make them raid any nation's ship, but this greatly reduces that country's relationship with your nation.
The game ends in the present.
Profile pages for your country are recommended. See here for an example. Eventually, they should resemble pages on countries in non-Map Game timelines, a bit like in 1983:Doomsday
If you are new, you start the game in the turn you joined.
No editing past turns beyond the immediate. No editing any past turns to contradict events which have already happened.
Not everyone can have an industrialized, liberal (by which I refer to the general political 'spectrum' of the Western world, including but not limited to the subset which refers to themselves this way), stable, peaceful nation.

Turns[]

You are awarded turns for the following:

•main nation: 1 turn

•second nation in dynastic or personal union: 0.5 turns

•no expansion in five years: 0.5 turns

Normal turns are as follows:

0: diplomacy not against a player nation, cultural events,
0.5: small economic construction (such as a building), continuing statements (e.g. XXX continues to update its technology), exploration, a full turn can be spread out over two years
1: military, expansion, major economic upheaval, new technology

There are no rules on what you can write about: it just has to be relevant to your country, significant, plausible, and appropriate. Two guidelines for all posts are:

Always include a name for your country. If your country is the United States, you can use "America," "the Americans," "the US," "the USA," etc. Avoid "The White House declares xxx," or "Montana expands north into xxx," but instead "The American government declares xxx" or "American troops in Montana push north into xxx."
When you expand into another country, always include the actual name. A map is included on the Principia Moderni talk page with the names of various countries. But don't write "The US expands into China more," if you are invading Tibetan Kingdoms. It would be even better to write, "The US invades the Tibetan kingdom of Lhasa, expanding south as far as Mount Everest."

Colonial Turns[]

Within each turn, you may expand colonies by a given amount in areas that are black or dark grey on the map. They are given in sq km. Only use numbers divided by 50 in your turns (e.g. do not use numbers like 734, round to 750). This is because 50 sq km is equal to one pixel.

Time Since first Colony founded:	Expansion rate per full turn:
50 years or less	1000
50-100 years	2000
100-200 years	4000
More than 200 years:	8000

With several extra modifiers:

The above chart is for expansion when using a full turn to do so. If you have already used a full turn in your main nation, your colonial expansion is 75% of the normal rate per turn.
If the colony itself is younger than five years, it can only expand by 200 sq km, regardless of any bonuses.
If a colony itself is older than 50 years, a bonus +100 sq km is given for expansion in that colony.
If a colony is older than 150 years, a bonus +500 sq km is given for expansion in that colony.
When areas of the Americas are first contacted by people from Eurasia or Africa, that region that is contacted will have double the colonial expansion rates from those outside nations. Regions contacted in the first 50 years since first contact will have tripled expansion.
Additional bonuses will be received with industrialization, and other bonuses may arrive later.
Expansion into areas which are fragmented (in civil disarray or small states) can be done through colonial expansions, at half the normal rates. Expansion into organized states requires an algorithm.

Colonization Rules[]

Colonies are defined as any possessions separated from its contiguous home country by an ocean (Britain-Canada) or multiple seas (Italy-Ethiopia). This also includes places significantly distanced from a main home country (France-Lebanon).
No colonies until 1500.
No external colonies until your country is "boxed in." There is exception if a state has a special connection to a certain area.
Only two new colonies are allowed per 50 year period. The maximum number is seven at one time, two of which can be "large size." Large colonies are larger than OTL Peru (1,285,216 km²) OR 25,704 pixels. No exceptions.
Colonies begin as a slice off a coast, and expand slowly over a period of 30-100 years to full size.
The maximum number of external colonies after an event analogous to OTL World War II is three, which can't be large. Small exclaves of former large colonies count as 1/3 of a colony, but these may not be large cities.
Colonies are designated on the map with red borders, as opposed to the usual grey.

Multiple Nations[]

It is possible to create multiple nations. However some rules must be observed.

Vassal States[]

You may have vassal states subordinate to your nation, but contiguous to your nation. They are ruled by your first nation's government, but are allowed to keep their own interests. Size rules do not apply, nor do limits on the number of total colonies, except within plausibility. The size and population of vassal states not vassalized through war should not be more than half that of your main nation. It should take 4-5 turns at least to vassalize a state. You can annex vassal states after they have been ruled over by you for a couple decades.

Dynastic or Personal Union[]

Dynastic or personal union is multiple countries ruled by a single dynasty or person, respectively. This can be accomplished by overthrowing the dynasty in another country. The other country must border your first country. The rules are the same as standard expansion, but it may be a better idea than invasion if the second nation is an ally or has a different religion. The second nation may have an extra half turn or full turn, with the first nation having a half turn.

Independence[]

Bordering nations may gain independence at any time. Colonies may gain independence beginning in 1776. Players may add a quarter turn per year and keep alliance with the first nation, or add a half turn and break alliances. Players may also decide to relinquish control over the independent state and come back to it later, although standard expansion rules apply. After thirty years, the number of turns doubles for an independent nation.

Full Unity[]

A nation not in dynastic or personal union and without vassal states is in full unity. When not in full unity, the country is more susceptible to invasion, despite having more turns. Newly independent nations are in full unity after 15 turns.

Moderators[]

There should be a sufficient number of moderators at all times.
Anyone may comment on a post believed to be implausible, but only moderators may roll them back or cross the post out.
Moderators are in charge of inducting new members.
Moderators should be active often to inspect moves for historical implausibility.
Moderators may cause natural events, revolts, NPC . Moderators may cause events affecting all players of a certain region or only players who have expanded implausibly.
Moderators may have specific roles, which they are in charge of.
Inactive moderators may be removed.
Moderators may be impeached. The impeachment procedure can only be initiated by another moderator. Only moderators (minus the one being impeached) can vote.
A moderator may propose that a user be banned from the game, either temporarily or permanently. The moderators will vote upon this.

Requirements[]

Not having expanded implausibly for fifteen turns, as determined by other moderators.
Played for at least thirty moves.
Must use a user account for most of their edits.
Must be active at least six days a week on average.

Plausibility[]

Common sense. If it's not plausible, it shouldn't be on the game. This is an attempt to signify a real-life alternate history. Also, just because it's plausible or even if it occurred in real life doesn't mean it follows the rules. Just because you play as Britain doesn't give you a chance to become a mega-superpower.

Common Implausibilities:

Advancing technology too fast. You should never invent something or discover something more than ten years ahead of real life, If you have a special circumstance, which could occur, please contact a moderator to ask permission.
Expanding too fast. Massive expansion takes time to achieve, and nations that have expanded vast amounts in short periods of time (like the Mongols, Nazi Germans or Napoleonic French) have had their empires collapse, break apart, and be defeated soon after doing so.
Having real-life people exist. No real-life people born after 900 will exist in player nations. There are billions of name combinations, other than very common ones or repeat names in royal families, it is unlikely that any of the same names that are for famous people in our world would be for famous people in others.
Massive cultural shifts. Cultural shifts take many decades, have to have good reason, and tend to not be drastic. Religious changes in nations, other than secularism rising in the twentieth century, will almost always just be a denominational change, unless they have been conquered by another nation.
Being overly liberal for the time period. Especially in the west, religious freedom was a foreign concept in most nations prior to the nineteenth century. In almost all nations, women did not become leaders and important figures with equal rights until the twentieth century. Don't get ahead of real life, like technology

Articles[]

Users are required to create articles for all of their colonies, as well as their main country. Colonies without an accompanying article for ten turns will be confiscated. Articles are highly recommended for regions, events, and famous people that didn't exist IRL. There is an opportunity for bonus and/or awards for creativity and work put into articles.

A main country article must include (recommended headings in parentheses):

capital and other cities (Urban Areas)
administrative divisions (Subdivisions)
official language, culture, and religion (Culture)
ruler or monarch, government system (Government)
a quality picture of choice — map and flag highly recommended (can be under any heading)
history —may be detailed or brief, but must include important dates such as establishment date and any date of change of government (History)
a description of foreign relations (Foreign Relations)
list of colonies and colonial history (Colonies)

A colonial article must include:

list of settlements in their native language and OTL equivalents (Cities and Towns)
cultural description (Culture)
history —may be detailed or brief, but must include date of formation and any applicable dates of transfer or full conquering of a sovereign state (History)
a picture of choice —map highly recommended (may be under any heading)

All articles are placed under the category [[Category:Country Name Here (Medieval World)]].

Maps[]

Maps are updated every five years and are to be posted as soon as possible during the year they are active. They apply to the end of every turn. So the 2005 map will apply to the years 2000-2004.
Only mapmakers (User:Cosman246) may post on behalf of other players. Anyone may dispute the map if they see a problem.
Anyone may edit the map on behalf of their own country.

Types of Countries[]

Countries are added to the map, as is custom, after a few turns of activity. This a measure to keep players involved in the game and prevent spamming and people who join just to make a few turns for a country. Countries are disconnected after an extended period of inactivity, and only when it is nearly certain that a player will not return. A player may always return to a disconnected country unless another user has taken over the country. Move your feet, lose your seat.

Regions in the map in light gray are organized states that have a central government or confederation. These states can see minor expansion but at a certain point there will be a large amount of organized resistance and possible war.

Regions in dark gray are fragmented. Countries which are fragmented may have a weak or powerless central government. This could mean that they are in civil disarray, in which the populace is in civil war, or composed of numerous small city-states. Countries that enter this state may come out of fragmentation, but it will take anywhere from a few years to a few decades depending on the size.. They 1.5 times resistance in wars, but cannot take any territory in wars.. Expansion into these countries is difficult and damaging. You may help set up governments in a fragmented area but this is a messy process and must be done carefully.

Regions in black are dominated by a tribal or nomadic system of society. They are the easiest to expand into although that doesn't mean there will not be strong resistance. Major tribes are marked.

War[]

You may declare a war on any country at any time. You may have any NPC declare war on you as long as it is plausible. Small border expansion can be completed without a war algorithm, but major expansion or invasions require the war algorithm to be completed. In order to declare war, you must specify what country.

An algorithm for war has been developed and is used in any war involving a player. This includes player-versus-player wars and player-versus-NPC wars. Everyone should try to copy the algorithms and construct their own. These algorithms are final. Disregarding the outcome of the algorithm will result in a ban!

In cases of civil wars, other wars where both factions are controlled by the same player, or in an instance where the players controlling the lead nations agree to a fixed outcome, algorithms do not have to be used.

You are not allowed to break off territory into new vassals or vassalize new nations in the middle of a war to increase the nations on your side. Wars can only be retconned if all players involved agree to do so.

Algorithm[]

Location:[]

Location goes by capital city.

at the location of the war: 5
next to the location of the war: 4
close to the location of the war: 3
far from location of the war: 2
other side of the world: 1
Antarctica: 0

Tactical Advantage[]

attacker's advantage: 1
Larger Colonial Empire:5
high ground: 2

Note: A country receives high ground if:

1) Its capital has a high topographical prominence, meaning it is surrounded by areas of significantly lower elevation. Even plateaus count, but it must be so that the enemy has to climb the mountain to capture the capital.

2) For countries being invaded from the coast, they get high ground if their capital is 300 m or higher.

3) A country invading via sea does not get high ground.

4) A country gets high ground if their capital is more than 300 m higher than the capitals of the neighboring countries.

5) A country invaded from a bordering country, and its capital is 500 m higher or more.

Nations Per Side on the War[]

L for leader (+4), M for military aid (+3), S for supplies (+2), V for vassalization or subordination (-1) and then W for withdrawal (-1). So a list of belligerents read like China (L), Zhuang Warlords (MVW), Japan (M), Korea (MW), Hawaiian rebels (MV), Mali (SW), creating a score of 13.
- NOTE:Military aid is defined as sending some troops to join another nation's forces, not declaring full-on war on an enemy nation someone else is fighting. This would result in a coalition algorithm (see below)
The aid scores for both sides will be completed, then the larger side will be divided by the smaller one. The result, rounded to the nearest whole number, will be the number of points the higher scoring side gets on the algorithm. The lower scoring side gets none.

Military Development[]

Country has developed military: +2 for each turn dedicated to military or military technology in the last 15 years gets you the basic military development score.
The military development scores for both sides will be completed, then the larger side will be divided by the smaller one. The result, rounded to the nearest whole number, will be the number of points the higher scoring side gets on the algorithm. The lower scoring side gets none.

Economic Development[]

Country has developed economy: +2 for each turn dedicated improving the economy in the last 15 years.
The economy scores for both sides will be completed, then the larger side will be divided by the smaller one. The result, rounded to the nearest whole number, will be the number of points the higher scoring side gets on the algorithm. The lower scoring side gets none.

Expansion[]

Expansion: -1 for every turn used for non-colonial expansion in the past 15 years

Infrastructure Development[]

+1 for each turn spent developing infrastructure in the last 15 years for the defender

Motive[]

Economic: Fighting for resources= +3
Defending: Fighting to defend territory you already own= +5
Social/Moral Friend: Fighting for social/moral reasons to help an ethnicity/race in the nation= +5
Social/Moral Kinsmen: Fighting for social/moral reasons to help a minority of your nation's main ethnicity/race in another nation= +7
Religious: Fighting for your nation's dominant religion, against a nation which is severely increasing discrimination, increasingly restricting access to or damaging holy sites, brutally opposing conversion attempts, or has recently changed its religion/denomination= +7
Life or Death:Opponents purpose is to destroy your nation= +10

If there are multiple motives, the one told to the army will be selected.

Chance[]

0 to 9 points will be awarded to each person based on chance. Factors will be the opponent's edit count (on Althist's main articles) and the precise time when the country declares war or acknowledges the other's declaration of war. The product of the non-zero digits of the time by UTC (0:00 yields 1) will be written as a percentage of the opponent's edit count at the exact time of the declaration. The result is multiplied by pi and the hundredths digit is the amount of points that person gets (e.g. 123.8377% yields 3).

Edit count=x
nonzero digit in time*nonzero digit in time=y
x/y*pi=z
Chance=Hundredth place of z

Nation Age[]

Goes by the last major change in the system of government.

New nation (less than 5 years since gov change)= -10
Average nation (20-100 years)= +0
Old nation (100-300 years)=+5,
Ancient nation (past 300 years)=-5

Population[]

The population score is the number of digits in the population + the additional bonus, which is below:
+2 to the larger nation that is less than five times the population of the smaller
+10 if the larger nation is between five and ten times the population of the smaller
+20 if the larger nation is more than ten times the population

Participation[]

All nations get a +10 on this

Recent Wars[]

Every war that you sent military aid to in the last 15 years is -1.
Every year of war in the last 15 years that you fought as a leader is -1.

Results[]

The equation for gains from war algorithms is (p)*(1-1/(2x)), where x is the number of the years the war goes on and p is the amount of territory determined by the algorithm ((y/(z+y))*2)-1 where y is the winner's score and z is the losers). So if your war lasts one year, you only get 50% of the territory, but if you let the war last five years, you get 90% of the territory.

Other[]

If your nation has recently had a popular revolt soon after a new weak government was formed (like Adolf Hitler or Napoleon Bonaparte) your score is multiplied by 1.5 for all wars in the next 10 years. However, you cannot have multiple popular revolts of this nature in a row without government changes in between.
Nations in civil disarray cannot take territory in wars. Instead of the final results algorithm being (p)*(1-1/(2x)), they will have it be (p)*(1-1/(x)). This will require wars there to last twice as long to gain the same amount of territory, as it will take longer to subdue them because they are used to civil conflict. The amount of initial territory you can take from them is multiplied by *1.5 due to lack of unity
City-states still get the *1.5 for the amount of territory they lose in the initial results algorithm and can take territory as long as the nation they take it from has territory to take close enough for the city states to rule without it being considered a colony.
If you take 33.33% of your opponents territory or more, you can topple their government and do whatever is plausible to their nation that you wish.
It may be implausible for a nation to take or lose the full amount of territory listed in the algorithm.

Coalition wars[]

For a coalition algorithm, all of the nations that have declared full-on war would have their own algorithm section (with them being the leader, their nation age and military buildup, etc.) The real change is for the results. Then, all the nations on each side would be added up together, and the winning side gets to take territory from each nation. However, the nations that do better on each side would get more, while nations that did really bad may be temporarily occupied.

Example Normal War[]

Castille[]

Location:4
Tactical Advantage:1 (attacker's advantage)
Strength: Castille (L):4
Military Buildup: 7 turns, 7/2=3.5~+4
Economic Improvement: 1 turn, less improved, +0
Expansion:-1
Infrastructure:NA, offensive
Motive: 7 (religious)
Chance:4
- Edit count=95
- 2*1*5*6=30
- 95/30*pi=9.94
Nation Age: 5 (Old nation)
Population:17
- 7 digits in population
- More than five times larger than Granada +10
Participation:+10
Recent Wars:Sent military aid to 2 wars, -2
Total:53

Granada[]

Location:5
Tactical Advantage:0
Strength: Granada (L), Aq Qoyunlu (S):6
Military Buildup: 2 turns, less developed, +0
Economic Improvement: 3 turns, 3/1=+3
Expansion:0
Infrastructure:+2, defensive
Motive: 10 (life or death)
Chance:5
- Edit count=335
- 2*2*1*6=24
- 335/24*pi=43.85
Nation Age: +5 (Old Nation)
Population:7
- 7 digits in population
Participation:10
Recent Wars:Sent military aid to one war, fought as war leader for 2 years. (-1)+(-2)=-3
Total: 50

Result[]

Currently Castillan victory. Castille can take ((53/(53+50)*2)-1=2.91% of Granadan territory at most, and can decide how long the war lasts. Castille's player will have the war last 4 years, so they can gain up to (2.91)*(1-1/(2*4))=2.54% of Granada's territory

Foreign Involvement[]

You control the basic government of your country. To an extent, you may also create the actions of your country's people as long as it is plausible. For example, there is nothing wrong with posting "the citizens begin exploring new art forms." But there is a problem with posting "every citizen decides to paint himself purple from birth."

Player countries (PCs) are controlled by a user. You must ask request to do the following with a PC:

Diplomacy and alliances.
Cut or re-continue trade along trade routes.

You may do the following without permission of the player:

Declare war.
To a limited extent, help encourage movements among the common people.

For non-player nations (who are not controlled by a user), you may do the following. However, these must be dealt with carefully and plausibly:

Sign treaties, agreements and alliances.
Encourage the government of that country to make certain choices.
Create ideas among the common people.

However, unless there is evidence from our timeline or previous years of Medieval World, you cannot simply assume you have trade or an alliance.

There is a definitive line between PCs and NPCs, as should be reflected by the most recent version of the map. If in doubt, ask a moderator.

Industrialization[]

Industrialization will begin in 1700. A player nation will be chosen several decades prior by the moderators as the nation which will begin industrialization. It will spread geographically from there.

Nuclear and Space Technology[]

As these are two major technologies, they will be restricted.

Nuclear Technology[]

In 1920, 2-4 of the most powerful nations in the world can begin to research nuclear technology. These nations will be powerful, not-small, fully industrialized stable nations
For the next 20 years, a turn can be devoted to nuclear research. This counts as a full turn.
In 1940, the nation of those 2-4 with the most turns to develop the first nuclear bomb any year in the 1940s.
The nation with the second most amount of research must wait until two years have passed since the first developed the nuclear bomb to develop theirs. Additional nations must wait, in order, to develop their bombs. Making a nuclear bomb counts as a full turn.
If a nation does not develop their nuclear bomb in the decade given (1940-50 for the first nation, 1942-52 for the second, etc.), then the nation after them can skip them and go ahead and make theirs.
Ten years after the last of the original 2-4 nations has developed their bomb, other nations can do so with help from a nuclear nation.
20 years after the last of the original 2-4 nations has developed their bomb, other nations can do so without help from a nuclear nation.

Space Exploration[]

Space exploration will work in a similar manner, with 2-4 nations being chosen (not necessarily the same as the nuclear ones) in 1930, and having to devote full turns to space research. Then in the 1950s the nation with the most research could send a satellite into space, as a full turn, and the two year rule, based on the number of years devoted to space exploration. Nations would have to leave real-life buffers between stages of space exploration (four years after first satellite to launch the first man, eight years to launch a man to the moon). The same rules about ten year waits for other nations, and difference between independents and with help, would apply.