@Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang of the Hive,
Thank you for your inquiry. I shall attempt to provide information to enable you to better ask questions.
Political Factions – There will be three main political factions. The major political schism followed a short period of political unity when most Atlantean tribes agreed to expel a foreign invasion.
The schism followed plans by some templars to destroy one of a pair of islands connecting Atlantia (an archipeligo) with neighboring mainlands near Old Red Storm City and the Tyrian Metropolitan Orbit.
Proponents of the scheme advocated collection of funds to hire a mercenary (read: sorcerer) capable of destroying one or both of the islands. A surprisingly violent minority of Templars were against the destruction of either island, but they were expediently accused of heresy and arrested.
Waverly Island was destroyed first, taking with it the island's 10,000 or more inhabitants. Circumstances around the island's destruction remain mysterious. Conspiracy theories surround the level of involvement from templars who were eager to hire professional defilers who could then be repurposed for political gain. The destruction itself was accomplished surreptitiously, and celebrated silently in the four corners of Atlantea. A specific agent never took public responsibility. The island was logistically important as an critical waystation on a navigable route to the Tyrian Orbit. With the loss of the island, it was no longer possible to sail to Tyr. This profited Templars who opposed trade from the Tyr region.
Ven Driath Island was subsequently burned and sunk, taking with it the island's (approximately) 20,000 inhabitants, in an event which almost certainly could serve as a theme for a titanic disaster movie. With this the only navigable route to Red Storm was lost. Public debate continues in an effort to finger various socially unpopular groups as architects of the destruction, as many templars stood to gain politically or economically from the loss of the island, or more specifically from destruction of the trade route.
Seven years of warfare followed with disorganized strikes and raids sapping the strength of each faction. This empowered the Driath, several gangs of mercenaries that were the primary beneficiaries of the conflict.
Commonly, the major political faction that historically backed the destruction of Waverly Island are typically called Stormians, because of their assumed allegiance to Red Storm. The political faction that backed the destruction of Ven Driath Island are called Tyrians, out of their presumed interest in closer trade relations with distant Tyr. “Tortoises” were traditionally isolationists that called for the destruction of both islands, although ostensibly the moves were claimed to be strategic efforts to deny Lizard Dead from using them as staging grounds for raids against Atlantea.
Bandits?
Robbery has proliferated across Atlantea to the point where it has become part of the way of life. While a majority of Atlanteans hate street criminals and affirm so publicly, organized nonviolent raids are seen as a slightly more legitimate occupation. It must be remembered that bandits typically accumulate enough wealth to merit the construction of fortified compounds. From that point a raider enjoys enough hegemony and political dominance over some regions within a day's ride of his compound. The tendency to view a bandit as a raider versus a warlord depends heavily upon one's proximity to that warlords territory.
Raiders gain most of their wealth not through violence but through negotiation. Merchants are typically happy to pay a small protection fees, particularly in regions where traditional mercenary forces are found to be ineffective.
Raiders?
Raiding is a traditional cultural practice of Atlanteans. Given the difficulties of transporting large armies either across sand or silt, most war lords prefer to conduct small-scale raids of rival properties in an attempt either to procure resources, sap enemy positions, boost bargaining position, enforce public opinion, to express political criticism or to commit petty theft. War lords are expected to deter unscrupulous raiding practices or risk a loss in social status.
New religions?
The most powerful sorcerers of the land have established themselves at the center of deifying faiths. God isn't someone that your character hears of in ancient tales – he is a being that periodically shows up and immolates your enemies. The public face of these sorcerers are known as Templars, essentially military and religious authorities. A monopoly on literacy and a semi-monopoly on education are guarded and enforced by the Templarate.
Attempting to improve the situation?
Among the greatest social crisis of the land include resource scarcity, environmental degradation, regional security problems, infrastructure decay and educational stagnation.
Towards infrastructure preservation and education there is hope. A skimmer route from the island that players will be starting on is available to the nearby island of Atlantis, where usable legacy infrastructure is still extant, for example some of the Great Steam Engines of the past.
Education, although rare and expensive, is strongly and positively associated with social status. The rich do their best to preserve what little education is available to them. Literacy is stands near two percent. Literacy is ostensibly illegal except for the upper classes.
Resource, environmental and security problems are also critical however these particular crisis are all worse because there is no cultural consensus that they should be solved. Most templars are more interested in using their power to pursue military objectives against political rivals rather than working to improve commerce or safeguard the environment.
How extremely bad has humanity degraded?
Humanity has deteriorated to the point that slavery is openly practiced, but they have not deteriorated to the point where cannibalism is yet accepted. Some of the neighboring sentient species, unfortunately are very enthusiastic about cannibalism.
How far has technology degraded?
Technology has degraded from steam-age into iron age, with signs that further decay into the bronze age is likely.
Several technologies have progressed beyond Earth levels, for example locksmithing, poisoning, animal trapping and a branch of applied biological animal husbandry known as ecomancy.
Legacy steam-equipment is typically better engineered than comparable Earth steam equipment.
Plumbing and glass-work are two examples of technology that is outside of the current range of human production capability.
Adaptation to the natural world is seen as more interesting to Atlanteans than the preservation of older technologies.
What is more valuable, knowledge or resources?
Knowledge is considered more valuable than resources. Most of the inhabitants of Atlantea are unwashed peasants. It is commonly believed that the wisdom of an old person (someone in thirties or forties, for example) is a lot more valuable than the life of a child, or the need to sustain that life.
One possible exception to this is metal. The soil of Atlantea is notoriously poor in malleable metals.
Can an individual or small group survive or are large groups required?
Large groups have a much better chance of survival than small groups. The main problem is nocturnal predators. Even huntsmen or individuals intimately familiar with the wilderness will prefer to be behind city walls come nightfall.
A small group would have better chances than an individual, especially if the group were tough, mobile and particularly resilient.
While most city states have enough wealth to field an army, in practice most remote military actions are accomplished through corsairs and mercenaries. Municipal authorities will typically rank lower in the social hierarchy than tribal chieftans, sectarian organizers, Templars or established merchants, meaning that a small gang of characters can readily survive together inside of city walls provided they are able to pay off the authorities.
Can one enslave the other?
Yes.
There are however a couple of caveats. This sort of role play is best encouraged by mature players. Atlantean slavery is best thought of as a cultural inheritance from a Roman system (or better yet, a Carthaginian system.) It won't make practical sense to enslave an immature player because they'll simpmly rebel at the first opportunity. Obedience, it must be remembered, is a sign of intelligence rather than stupidity. Therefore presumably if you are enslaving another player it will be towards the goal of having a trained, sophisticated and independent slave. Unruly slaves would be better off turned over to the templarate who have greater capacity to (judicially or extrajudiciciously) supervise and to punish. Another alternative for vanquished foes would be dismemberment or exile. Exile from the safe interior of a city-state is tantamount to a death sentence.
can you give us a rough explanation of what your post-apoc setting is now, or what at lest the environment or mechanics are? It'd be easier to fill out and backstory and causes and whatnot if we knew what it was shaping into. Post-apoc is a broad category that can include wastelands to simple infrastructure collapse (no electricity, etc.)
My work utilizes the public domain work of Howard Lovecart to adapt a Mad Max theme for greater brutality in an island setting. Characters will typically play urbanites facing supernatural monsters with medieval technology. Players will typically role play adventurers as they engage in exploration, construction, theft and conquest.
I love this idea of technology degradation. Would be interesting to have a reverse of Tech Advancements found in games like Civ. Instead of deciding what new tech you get you need to decide which tech is dismantled over the course of the game. This would be cool - when can I play!
Thank you. Development time is anticipated at between four and eight years. Most of the work is on the computer code needed to host the online component of the game engine. The code will be open source.
September 11th 2014----
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