Arkonos Map Rules

FOUNDATION AND EXPANSIONS:

Foundation is the primary means by which a player gets on the map and is able to directly interact with the world of Arkonos fully, while expansion allows one to grow in size on the map. Expansion is the process of taking counties. An Expansion requires a player to make a post, to be posted on the Regional Message Board (RMB). For founding your nation, a player must make a post at an attempt in quality (be it a long form post, good quality writing, or both). We won’t judge new players too harshly if they’re writing is subpar, but if the writing doesn’t fit the setting or is outrageously awful with little attempt at improvement, the mapmaker can decide to not accept it on those grounds. [url=link]Post a link to the map request thread to the post[url], as well as a valid image of what you’re claiming. Starting out, a new player can claim thirty counties on the map.

Expansion: through expanding into neighboring or coastal counties.
Expansion Max: dependent on quality and amount of posts in a series. Max counties: 100.

CITIES AND SETTLEMENTS:

Should a player desire, one may choose to add things to the map to help decorate and distinguish their nation. These may include settlements, cities, the designation of a capital, points of interest, a national landmark, a natural or historic landmark, and roads.

Settlements are smaller towns and larger villages, rural places home to the peasantry that primarily make up the populace of any given country. A player may add 1 settlement per 5 counties. Should the Mapmaker believe that a player has too many, settlements may no longer be added.

Cities are much larger settlements, urban areas that stand as the shining beacon of civilization. These are larger and more prominent on the map; a player is limited to a maximum of 10 cities per nation, 1 per 10 counties. A player may choose to have one of their cities be designated as their Capital, where the general administration of your nation resides near or in.
Points of Interest are small locations that a player may choose to add to the map, typically to highlight elements of one's nation that would otherwise go unmentioned or unnoticed. A maximum of 5 is allowed per nation.

A National Landmark is similar to a point of interest, but is usually a larger manmade monument expressing a nation's character or power. One might expect this to be a palace or cathedral, or even a graveyard or other similar structures regardless of what it is. Similarly to capitals, a player is restricted to one per nation and is expected to make a factbook entry with a description and image.

A Natural or Historic Landmark is similar to a national landmark, but as the name implies is either a landmark of great historical value, such as a manmade structure from a previously occupying culture or empire or similar structure, or a great natural element such as a mountain or river or other geographic element that has had significant influence upon the land. A player is not necessarily limited in the number of either they may have on the map, but as with settlements, the number included is at the discretion of the Mapmaker. Additionally, there are limited timeframes and amounts during which these may be added. A factbook entry is requisite, with description and image expected.

Roads are purely aesthetic elements, one may reasonably add as many as they like, at the discretion of the Mapmaker of course. However there is some expectation on how roads are to be placed, roads are large investments from kingdoms of this period and are primarily expected to connect the large cities of ones' land. Settlements are too small to require their own connections, but settlements may have a road run through them to connect two cities.

Settlements: 1 per 5 counties.
Cities: 1 per 10 counties.
Capital: A city where your administration resides in/near.
Point of Interest: Limited to 5.
National Landmark: 1, needs an factbook entry into the relevant factbook.
Natural/Historic: Technically infinite, limited timeframes for creation and number of creations though. Need factbook entry.
Roads: Can connect cities and run through settlements, can not connect settlements to settlements.

NATION TYPES:

Nations typically fall into 2 categories: Larger, more formal powers who can easily influence other nations around it, Smaller powers which are typically duchies or city state level, which while having less worldwide influence are typically power brokers in their dedicated region. Valaine Is an example of a Large nation, and is typically expected to interact with its neighbors as well as the Empire, while Tasagne has less overall impact outside the Empire, but is a Regent and one of the strongest powers in said Empire.

Large and small nations are generally informal designations that anyone can fall into based on assumption, and don't have a real impact on how people interact with the world. Tasagne can just as easily be as relevant politically as Valaine is through simply having more posts interacting with more nations.

Large: Typically 50 or more counties.
Small: Typically 20 or less.

NON-PLAYER CHARACTER NATIONS (NPC NATIONS):

In the interest of story and interaction, NPC (Non-Player Character) Nations exist on the map. These exist to add flavor to areas of the map that some may think devoid of it, or to act as third parties for people to have conflicts over. Typically, most people will have at least one NPC around them in some way. New players can found into NPCs, but will need either the approval of the people around the NPCs, the approval of the Adminry, or both in the case of the Empire. Similarly, the same approval is required for removing an NPC, though NPC removal is generally expected to be carried out through story events (such as formal annexation or splitting.)

To add an NPC nation to the map, one has to make a post mentioning said NPC. This can be an offhand mention or fully revolve around the NPC. Either way, the current ruler must be mentioned, as well as what type of government, and what the current happenings in the NPC nation are. As an example, I would write Soirais as being a county led by Raymond II de Soirais, who’s land has minor sway over the western side of the Empire, with ties to the Luxuring’s of Valaine (this would obviously be larger and less summarized.) I would put the post in the map request thread, along with an image of the counties being taken.

NPCs: Limited to 1 city/settlement on the map (generally their capital.) Must have a general summary in a post before being accepted as added on the map.
NPC removal: Need approval from nearby players, the admins, or both in the case of nations within the Empire.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Islands are counties, just the same as others, they are to be expected to be expanded into like any other. They generate counties towards a player's county max. However, issues can be raised on the basis of distance from one's primary location. A player is expected to be reasonable with their expansions, especially in regards to islands. If an island is located in the same sea as one's primary land, it is reasonable for one to expand into. If not, a player should reconsider expanding there. Landlocked nations should not be expected to own islands.

Islands: Claimable counties, reasonable expectation of claim distance.

CLAIM DISPUTES:

Unfortunately, life is not perfect and players may occasionally come into conflict in regards to expansion Claims. Should a player feel another player's claim is unreasonable, they may elect to Dispute the claim. This is typically rare, but not unknown. Should a dispute occur between two or more players, a solution must be found. Players are expected to be reasonable and fair, and to devise a solution amongst themselves. However, should a stalemate ensue, the Administration may review the claim and forfeit the involved players' claims until a solution can be found.

Claims: An expression referring to the process by which one expands into a county or counties.
Disputes: A formal declaration of conflict in regards to the intended expansion of one or more players in regards to another's.