The Really Big Rats (RBR)



Background: The Really Big Rats are the youngest faction on Auriga having only recently been granted (some) intelligence and stature (2 and a half feet) by a mysterious event that they call The Big Thing. Now the rats are looking for The Next Big Thing and if they have to eat half the world's garbage to get it, well that's just a bonus.



Faction Attributes:

-Cities Fed on Scraps: Rat cities start at 1 tile big and must be placed adjacent to the site of a minor faction village not currently controlled by a hostile power. The village will immediately be pacified (if the village had been destroyed it will be restored). In addition to resources from the tile(s) they cover Rat cities gain +3 from the adjacent village an additional +4 of the specific that the minor faction specializes in. (ie Haunts give +4 +4 +4 +7:science Rats may build multiple cities in a region but may only occupy those adjacent to a minor faction.



-Easy to Please: -20% from all sources that would reduce



-Warrens: Rats may not build burroughs in their cities but for 50% of the burrough's or cost they can build a Warren which will add a single adjacent tile to their city.



Adventurous Spirit: Rat settlers cost -50% and -50%



-Helpful: Rats may parley with pacified minor factions for a reduction in the cost of assimilating that faction



-Gregarious: Rats may assimilate one additional minor faction each era.



-Starting Tech: Search party



Gameplay:

The RBR use their cheap settlers, and the pacifying power of their cities, to quickly lock up the best resource spots. While the cities start out small and may be inconveniently placed Rat Warrens allow them to cheaply sprawl out in strange directions giving. Militaristically RBR units start off weaker than average, successful players will make up for this by assimilating Minor Factions to make up the difference.





Here's some Really Big Rats riding an Ice Warg

The Oligarchy



History:

For as long as anyone can remember, a race of amorphous beings has existed on Auriga. Heard in the howling of the wind, the cracking of burning branches, the grinding of ice and the creepy sounds in the dark night, the race was originally revered as gods. People of all kinds sought to avert their wrath and even sought their blessings.

The race delighted in the exchange, and for a time, a form of symbiosis was achieved. The worshippers achieved temporary gifts that aided the bravest, wisest and most cunning: heat resistance, flight, water breath, phasing in out of existence, seeing the spirit world. The Outsiders, as they were called, were now allowed to manipulate the physical world and enjoyed the ability to finally create rather than watch.



And then, it all went terribly wrong. The Outsiders found that infertility was imposed on those who had shared symbiosis: they couldn’t fully return to their spirit form, which was required to procreate (Outsiders clone themselves by splitting off half of their awareness: now made physical, this literally tore them in two, which is not only excruciatingly painful but also guaranteed death for both halves).



Now tied to the mortal plane, they decided fear was a better motivator for worship and existence than kindness, and so they spooked the peoples, withdrew their blessings at a whim, and mercilessly played favorites. The people realized that the Outsiders weren’t gods, could die, and could be punished. And so, the relationship turned sour. Jealous Outsiders vied with each other, mortal heroes and sages turned on their sponsoring Outsiders and a great deal of blood was shed. Unable to spawn, the Outsiders dwindled in number, until a only handful remain: shady husks forced into co-operation with one another, packed with knowledge and with a great deal to grant to those seeking their favor, but always distrustful of their pawns and henchmen, who in turn benefit vastly but grow weary of the commands of their masters. Instead of Outsiders, they are now known as the Oligarchy: a consortium with millennia of understanding the beings and workings of the world that grants power to the ambitious and useful, but one that ultimately has to rely on agents, fortune, intrigue and planning rather than numbers, might or magic.



Appearance:

Agents of the Oligarchy come from any background and value discretion. Any tokens of allegiance are easily removed or hidden. Sashes and scarves are commonly used, the colour of choice ochre or orange. The Oligarchs themselves are nearly see-through, but commonly display the orange-red tinges and shapes of a campfire.



Gameplay Idea + Potential Faction Traits as an insight in gameplay):

The Oligarchy is driven by its agents, which tend to be great warriors, cunning politicians or wise sages (for game purposes: champions). For the legwork, it relies on lesser powers, who need every aid they can get to stay alive in the race for survival; I’d suggest thematic units from the minor factions like Urces Mercenary (infantry), Ceratan Skirmisher (ranged cavalry) et cetera. The settler should be an Outsider (Oligarchy Intrigant as a settler) and the heroes can be Oligarchy 'aided' individuals, like a Jotus Clan Leader or a Sister of Mercy Champion.



Potential traits as an illustration of the gameplay suggestion:

Intrigue over Invasion: can only bribe or parlay minor factions, not conquer them. Heroes might get a discount on Bribe.



Attract the Ambitious: start with the Hero recruitment part of the Marketplace unlocked, and recruiting champions on the marketplace grants an A% discount, which is reduced by B% for each hero currently controlled (suggestion: A = 75%, B = 15%).



Agent of the Oligarchy: Champions pick one additional ability on the first level, and thereafter on every C levels they gain (suggestion C: 3).



Working through the Weak: each Oligarchy city produces an additional D FIDSI per turn. D is a formula that consists of two elements:

1) the number of all discovered, uncontrolled minor factions in the game;

2) the number of minor factions controlled by the Oligarchy.



Agents Everywhere: when another major faction encounters a minor faction, you also discover them. In addition, the buyout fee for buildings is reduced by Y%, where Y is a modifidaction of the number of uncontrolled minor factions on the map.

I know it looks like another proposition but here is my take :

I kept it simple because I think I read that all this content for each proposal was unexpected and out of control (but if you want a full analysis on how the 4x work for this faction, fel free to ask ^^)



The Warmongers



I'm not too strong with serious background writing so let's just say Warmongers are more an Order than a species. Each Warmonger is a champion of a minor faction (you could get a random minor faction unit with an "augmented" skin) and compete with other Warmongers (no alliance possible between Warmongers - but trade is). Their purpose is to conduct a revolt of some sort and make minor factions take over Auriga's control. They're a bunch of sneaky bastards, they make deals with locals minor factions to spy, harass or steal resources from other players. They gain strength depending of the number of conflicts in a chosen area.



Gameplay wise, Warmongers don't settle. They roam through Auriga, looking mainly for minor factions. Once they find one, they nest on them and gain access to various options depending of their prestige value (prestige level up every turn spent in a minor faction village and by doing parley missions) like gaining vision on a minor faction troop, control them in combat, give general direction for the roaming troops, level up their stats, increase the rate at wich minor troops are sent, etc.

Once the Warmonger has gained and spent enough prestige, he can leave the minor faction village while keeping little control on its development and look for another minor faction village.

All the remaining trust can be spent at pacified villages to sabotage production, steal resources, hinder another player's economy etc.

There should be some way to know if a Warmonger is actually plotting something in a specific region but I don't see how right now.



I initially wanted to develop a "survival" gameplay while the Warmonger is roaming and a campfire concept to make the Warmongers global direction "viewable/guessable" but it's already kinda heavy on the asymetric gameplay so let's leave it like that for now.

Since someone said updates are okay to post, I updated the Federation one last time.



Now their play style is a little more defined and has a tie to their lore.



Good luck everyone, may the best faction win.

RariShyZealot wrote:
Good luck everyone, may the best faction win.

The most nervewracking parts are yet to come. Once the polls start... The further you get, the more your nerves will suffer. It's a longwinded torture instrument, a public poll...

Nosferatiel wrote:
The most nervewracking parts are yet to come. Once the polls start... The further you get, the more your nerves will suffer. It's a longwinded torture instrument, a public poll...

Yeah ;-; This competition stuff is tough business

I am sorry, but i have to correct you:

it is a public internet troll :P - no poll

I am wondering why Devs didnt just do it the same way as they did at the Endless Space faction creation competition with several run offs (but maybe they just didnt thouhgt that sooo many people would participate, the fanbase did just grow enormously since those days)

Sovereign wrote:
I am wondering why Devs didnt just do it the same way as they did at the Endless Space faction creation competition with several run offs (but maybe they just didnt thouhgt that sooo many people would participate, the fanbase did just grow enormously since those days)

Well, we do not know the kind of preselection they will apply, yet.



@wahnvorstellung: Troll's get the banhammer or are to be eaten by the SpaceTroll.

I dont like the idea of a preselection, they should have announced it then. Imho run offs would be the better choice.

Sovereign wrote:
I dont like the idea of a preselection, they should have announced it then. Imho run offs would be the better choice.

They have announced that certain stuff is against the rules or against their vision, that'd be the prepreselection and I reckon that to be small (e.g. the french only entry at the beginning of the thread that I, as a non-french-speaker, cannot even read), but in their pdf they speak about the community voting for a week in the forum on which three contributions are put to the g2g vote the week after and we do not know how that middle part of community votes in the forum is working, exactly. That unknown variable is the "preselection" I was referring to. And we're going to do that, one way or another, not the devs. They're just setting the rules, how it's going to be done.

Despite the non english proposals i cant see *many* factions which "broke" the rules.



Amplitude is normaly a studio which doesnt act overhasty and to take a little more time by a such tremendous number of participants wouldnt be a mistake.



BTW: i trust in them and i realy think we will get our run offs even if they just last for a couple of days.

Sovereign wrote:
Despite the non english proposals i cant see *many* factions which "broke" the rules.



Amplitude is normaly a studio which doesnt act overhasty and to take a little more time by a such tremendous number of participants wouldnt be a mistake.



BTW: i trust in them and i realy think we will get our run offs even if they just last for a couple of days.

Its kinda hard to say which ones actually "break" the rules since original post doesn't really define how strict they are <_< They told us to avoid making faction to be too similar to upcoming factions(in case of Roving Clans, there are few faction propositions also based on idea of trading... So I'd say those are in danger if rules are really strict), but we don't really know how much that applies. Like, can we have another dragon faction despite drakken? And if drakken are winter faction, can there be more than one winter faction? And in case of the theme, we don't actually know how much the factions need to follow the theme. Like, if minor factions only give small bonuses to industry, does that still count?



There is also thing about ideas that are "too big in scope" not getting implemented. So if devs feel that idea requires too much work to implement, that idea would get heavy changes before becomnig playable.

Well, the strict rules have been:

Be a natural person, not a group, etc.

Don't post two or more different factions.

Post it in english, unless someone's nice enough to translate your faction.

Even if someone made a winter based Dragon faction he hasent broken the rules imo cause he wasent able to exactly know how the Drakkens will be (in the end they are not released yet)





strict rules are just the ones nos posted.

LegionQC wrote:
Nom de la faction : Les Silhen



Histoire de la faction : Les Silhens sont un peuple vivant dans les profondeur souterraine d'Auriga. Au trait humain,une peau blanche comme la neige, atteint de myopie du a la noirceur des profondeurs, les Silhens ont hantée les rêves de plusieurs car ils ce sont avéré d’être d’excellent chasseurs sournois et hostile. Activent a la surface de jours mais le plus souvent la nuit, ils volent et tue pour ce nourrirent avec un don inné au combat,cannibalise et sans pitié.



Durant l'hiver, saison très attendu par les Silhens, débute la chasse et la moisson de chaire fraîche. Le froid joue en leurs faveur amplifient leur déplacement a la surface. Ils ont un mode de vie très primitif,que ce sois arme, outils, vêtement ou bâtiment, tout es fait a partir du recyclage et du vole, os,peau,cadavres fond partie en grande majorité de leurs ressources.



Un peuple hostile diriger par un instinct quasi animal avec la soif de sang, porteur de maladie et charognard, les Silhens sont le chaos et la noirceur d'Auriga.



Le gameplay des Silens : Hostile, Bonus en hiver pour attaques et déplacement, Déplacement sous terrain, cannibalisme régénératif, chasseur primitif, rage

I'll try to translate it :

History of the faction : Silhens are living in the Auriga's underground. They are humanlike, have a skin white as snow, are short-sighted due to the darkness from the underground. Silhens haunted the dreams of several because they are excellent hunter, sneaky and hostile. Active during the day but mostly at night, they steal and kill to feed themselves with an innate gift for combat, they canibalize and are pityless.

While winter lasts, an eagerly-awaited season, the hunt starts et the harvest of fresh meat. Cold helps them move on the surface. They have a primal way of life, be it arms, tools, clothes or buildings, everything is recycled or taken from steal, bones, hides, cadavers are their main resources.

They are primal people guided by an almost animal instinct with a thirst for blood, illness-bearers and scavengers, silhens are the chaos and darkness of Auriga.

Their gameplay : Hostile, bonus in winter for attacks and moves, underground move, regeneration through scavenging, primal hunters, rage

I didn't corrected the awkward syntax or formulations.

Huh, seems like the poster didn't read opening post or rules at all <_< Anyway, nice to finally know what the post was about, it's been bothering me for a while

Yep, sorry, I should have translated it earlier.



Anyway, it wasn't really easy, as the poster tried to write something "good" but with a lot of awkward formulations -___- You know... when people try to write something they aren't used to write.

This is a conversion of a race I created for a D&D game. I've attempted to edit it to remove all references to D&D rules terminology but please forgive me if I missed some! lol There's a TL;DR version at the bottom of the wall-o-text.



Goals of the Imperium

The Lacertan Empire believes that it exists to impose order on the universe. To this end, they seek to unite all lawful cultures against chaos so that it might be eliminated once and for all.



Personalities: Most Lacerta are deliberate in action and at least verbally honest, although they can often justify bending the truth to themselves. They are abjectly loyal to their superiors and friends, often to the point of self-destruction if necessary.

Lacertan society uses a caste system. While the caste system is not particularly strict (one can change his or her role simply by petitioning to be apprenticed to a member of another caste and trained for 5 years), most Lacerta are keenly aware of their roles in society.

Physical Description: Lacerta are quite tall, with the males averaging 5’11” and the females 5’8” and weighing around 200 and 140 pounds, respectively. Skin color ranges across the spectrum from soot black to deep blue to ivory white, but the vast majority of Lacerta have gray skin (children born with greatly abnormal skin colorations are often seen as prophets, seers, or simply omens). Males are usually very strong and slightly stocky in appearance, and women are built in a typically human manner with the exception of their height. Hair can also be almost any color, but usually ranges between violet and blue.

The Lacerta have a fairly long lifespan, reaching full maturity at 40. Most Lacerta live to about 300.

Relations: Lacerta are incredibly untrusting at first but over time develop incredibly strong bonds to those they feel they can trust (almost always disciplined people). The Lacerta often wage wars of cultural annihilation against savage peoples (often compared to the norm; they're not constantly at war but they are at war much more constantly than most other societies), but prefer never to fight another disciplined group, and enslave those savage peoples they believe can be "redeemed." The Lacerta always scatter the survivors of any conquest across their territory to prevent insurrection, which is poor for their relations with anyone who maintains friendships with their enemies.

This isn't to say that diplomacy is lost on the Lacerta. Depending on who is leading society at the time, the Lacerta can be very diplomatic even toward savage races, but only those races who they see as “redeemable.” For example, if a race of people is savage due to a harsh environment requiring such savagery or if a race has clearly never been meaningfully exposed to a “civilized” society, the Lacerta will usually attempt to “convert” them first by showing them the advantages of a lawful system of government and society. In this way their attitudes toward savages can be compared to real-world cultures like the Spanish, English, or French during the colonial period. At their best, the Lacerta attempt to nurture and teach chaos like a parent raises a child until it understands the “obvious superiority” of lawfulness. At their worst, the Lacerta wage crusades against people they hardly know based solely on the fact that those people are chaotic. Their most common approach when meeting a chaotic society is first to establish relations with the largest authority in the region, second to attempt to convert as many people and authorities in the region to lawfulness as possible, and third, if there is no noticeable effect, to destroy the culture and scatter its survivors across Lacertan lands.

Lacertan Lands: Lacerta live wherever they can expand to, viewing conquest of nature as another victory for law over chaos, although they tend to prefer cooler climates due to their meaty build. The Lacerta are celebrated fortress-builders, and every major city they build is ringed with mighty walls and massive towers. For this reason, Lacertan engineers are frequently contracted by other lawful societies to build forts and walls for them. It is not at all uncommon for Lacerta to set up cities underground where appropriate.

Government: The Lacertan government shifts in methods very rarely, although the amount of authority which is granted to the head of government does tend to change depending on the circumstances present at the time. Typically, the Lacerta are led by a senate elected by members of Priest, Soldier, Noble, and Commander castes. There is very little bureaucracy beneath the senate. This senate then elects a Praetor who has executive authority in Lacertan society and commands the police force. The Praetor serves until he dies or is replaced by the senate with someone else. The senate also appoints an Exarch who commands the military, but Exarchs only serve for 5 years to decrease the likelihood of any soldiers fostering more loyalty to the Exarch than to the nation.

Religion: Lacerta worship a deity of life and death named Tempus. By most peoples' measure, Tempus would be considered an evil deity, for he is perfectly willing to order his followers to commit genocides against savage races, and his blessing carries with it a long, undead afterlife. His most powerful and influential priests have lived for thousands of years as animate desiccated corpses.

Names: I've used Latin names and terms in my original writeup for this race, but would be happy to alter it or see it altered if the designers don't like this.





The Lacertan Caste System:[/u] Lacertan society uses a flexible caste system to determine each person’s station in life, and who is subservient to whom. As stated above, it is a five-year process to change one’s caste, and certain castes are fairly locked out, which will be noted in that caste’s description. Here is a list and description of each caste from lowest to highest:

Slaves (Servi): Slaves in Lacertan society are all either criminals, prisoners taken from foreign lands, or the children or grandchildren of slaves. Slaves cannot change their caste unless they are freed by the state (which almost never happens; only in situations where a slave somehow greatly furthers the cause of order). Slaves are generally well-treated, except that when children are born to them, the children are immediately seized and moved to a different town and taught by non-slave Lacerta in order to prevent any nationalism of conquered peoples from lingering. As alluded to above, the third generation of slaves are not made slaves themselves, and instead are placed into orphanages, told that they are Lacerta, and trained in combat to be introduced to the warrior caste. Heavily nonhuman slaves who would not believe that they were blood Lacerta are told that their great grandparents were immigrants; such freed slaves are subject to very little racism in Lacertan society, as almost all Lacerta recognize the need to assimilate these peoples into their society to prevent future chaos. Almost all Servi are commoners, but they can be from any class if they were captured.

Those Who Serve In Death (Phasmatis): Although most have no will or thought of their own, individuals who willingly serve in Lacertan society as undead laborers are technically in a caste above slaves. Within the phasmatis caste, there are two subcategories:

The Repentant (Paeniti): The Repentant are formerly savage individuals who have been raised as mindless undead against their will. The Lacerta make a regular practice of this under the logic that those who spread chaos in life must remedy the damage they have done in death. Paeniti are the closest thing the Lacerta have to an “untouchable” caste; they are marked with black hoods that bear a white cross that cover their faces and are subject to the scorn of almost all lawful Lacerta. Most paeniti have their flesh flayed from their bones when raised in order to prevent the stench of decay from hanging in the air about them.

The Honored Dead (Custodiae): One of the greatest sacrifices a Lacerta can make is to become a custodia in death; a willing (but still mindless) undead servant. Custodiae hold a place of honor in Lacertan society and are treated in much the same way as elders of other societies are treated. Custodiae are marked with any color of hood other than black with a white cross; the candidate chooses which color hood he desires when he chooses to become a custodia (and most select their original skin color). Some custodiae have their flesh flayed, but some are instead steeped in preservatives so they can retain some of the appearance they had in life (this selection is up to the individual).

Artists (Pictori): Artists are seen as largely unnecessary in Lacertan society, but are recognized for their ability to attract others to Lacertan culture. Although they are the lowest free caste, artists are not held with contempt or treated as lesser by Lacertan society at large; they simply must defer to those of higher castes when a conflict arises.

Laborers (Laboratori): Unskilled labor is the backbone of Lacertan cities, and so the unskilled laborer holds a position of authority over the superfluous artist caste. This category includes any sort of unskilled labor, such as porters, miners, and janitors.

Merchants (Marcatori): The Merchant caste is also seen as moderately superfluous, but is in a position of authority over laborers because it is the merchants who, by and large, contract the laborers.

Artisans (Artifices): Artisans are held in a position of esteem for their very obvious contributions to Lacertan society. This category includes any sort of skilled labor, such as architects, blacksmiths, alchemists, tailors, and fletchers.

Farmers (Agricolae): Farmers are held in very high esteem in Lacertan society due to the necessity to feed the ever-increasing population and Army of Law. Plantation owners have slightly more authority than regular farmers, but only enough to be in authority over those who work under them.

Priests (Clerici): Priests are the most valued members of the local communities, and often serve in government positions. There is a great deal of internal hierarchy within this caste, and some priests rival the Prefecture in power.

Prefects (Praefecti): The prefecture is considered to be any form of government authority, from police to governors to administrators. Hereditary nobility has its own higher caste, however.

Warriors (Militis): The warrior caste is the highest caste one can freely enter into. Those who destroy chaos and spread law are seen as the highest element of society, and even have a fair amount of leeway to disobey the nobility when on active duty.

Nobility (Optimi): The nobility is a caste most can only be born into; however, if a member of a lower caste distinguishes himself enough, the local nobility can choose to induct him into their caste, but this is very rare.

Commanders (Imperatori): Military commanders are the highest caste of Lacertan society, and one can only become a commander through great deeds and victories on the battlefield in the name of Law.



The Lacertan Military[/b]

The Lacertan military operates in a very strictly regimented fashion that relies primarily on lightly armored pikemen to hold ground and super-heavy cavalry to break holes in enemy formations. Peasant levies generally provide ranged firepower in the form of massed crossbow fire and are very rarely called upon to fight in melee. Typical roles include:

Peasant Crossbowman: Usually armed with an arming sword, light crossbow, padded armor, and a buckler.

Pikeman: Members of the warrior caste, the Lacertan pikemen are almost always armed with a long pike, heavy warhammer, leather armor, and a large, rectangular shield. Pikemen frequently fight in phalanx formations, but use battle line and turtle tactics when it becomes appropriate (usually against significantly weaker or significantly stronger opponents, respectively).

Legionnaire: Legionnaires provide heavy infantry support to fielded pikemen, and are generally held as auxiliaries until heavy fighting begins at which point they are deployed to problem areas. Legionnaires are typically armed with a longsword, lamellar armor, and large square shield. Legionnaires are drawn from the bravest stock of Lacertan warriors and almost never break from combat unless ordered to or they are in danger of becoming surrounded. They are frequently used to cover a retreat in the absence of cavalry and are often expected to die in the process.

Cataphract: If the Lacertan pikemen are the backbone of the Lacertan army, then the cataphracts are its arms. Large amounts of resources are expended by Lacertan High Command to field as large a heavy cavalry force as possible, which is why the rest of the Lacertan army focuses so heavily on cheaply armed and armored infantry. Heavy Cavalry are typically armed with a heavy lance, tulwar, lamellar armor, and a horseman's heater shield. Whenever a hole needs to be broken in the enemy lines or a point in the Lacertan lines breaks, you can expect the heavy cavalry to show up there. Heavy cavalry usually have the duty of covering retreats.

Irregulars: Due to the nature of slavery and assimilation in Lacertan society, the Lacertan army frequently contains irregular units. These can range from teams of small creatures being used as sappers, trapsetters, or firestarters to single large creatures being deployed much like heavy cavalry or heavy infantry to support pikemen. The main body of the Lacertan army will frequently field entire teams of large creatures well-equipped and trained to spearhead assaults. Flying creatures are particularly valued and used for harassment of supply lines and of front lines from above by dropping rocks, throwing javelins, or making swooping attacks.







What This All Means to Gameplay[/b]

The Lacertan gameplay theme, therefore, is forced assimilation. Through either aggressive diplomacy or conquest, the Lacertan Empire brings vast and disparate peoples under a banner of law and order, absorbing the best of societies and simply erasing the worst from existence. Diversity is valued insofar as it relates to advancing the cause of universal law and order, and elements of diversity which are not compatible with this goal are extirpated and brought back as undead horrors who have no choice but to serve the regimented demands of Lacertan masters. Basically, here you have a nation which uses what most of us would consider to be evil methods to form a powerful coalition under a single banner, then uses that coalition to conquer the world.





Possible Faction Traits[/b]

(I'll leave specifics out because I'm not familiar enough with the game balance end goal.)



The Dead Serve - During combat, defeated enemy units rise as undead skeletons at the end of the combat round. These skeletons cannot be given orders and are always set to aggressive. They crumble to dust at the end of the battle.

Slaves of Order - Each Minor Faction building constructed grants a production bonus to the city to which it is attached.

Caste System - Player cannot control where citizens are allotted in cities, but each citizen produces bonus resources.

Ashes to Dust - Gain dust for each citizen in razed cities and for destroying Minor Faction camps.

Strength in Diversity - Lacertan units gain combat bonuses when adjacent to allied Minor Faction units in combat.



Horrors of War - The Lacertan Empire can