God, Gold, and Glory: A 1560 Nation Game Sign up and Rules Thread

[Spamage]

God, Gold, and Glory: A 1560 Nation Game

It is 1560 and Europe is at the dawn of a bold new era. The Reformation has spread like wildfire and in order to counter its success the Catholic Church has initiated a “Catholic Counter-Reformation”. The Council of Trent is nearing its final session and the Church had begun to fight the Protestants throughout the Holy Roman Empire, France, and Scotland all with varying degrees of sucess. What will happen in matters of religion remains to be seen, although it will surely prove to be important and have a lasting impact on the coming centuries.

New faith has not only arisen, but new lands as well. Spain and Portugal have subjugated the indigenous people of South and Central America, but the Northern continent remains open to other claimants, both Protestant and Catholic. The World is becoming a smaller place, although who will take advantage of that fact is yet to be seen for Europe is tense, war is likely, and the Ottoman Turks are ever eager to push into Christendom.

Rules:
Turns: Turns will initially be 72 Hours long, although they can be extended if needed. In game each turn shall be equal to 6 months, January-June and July-December. We begin in January 1560.

Historical Period: The game starts in January 1560, although events such as the joint Swedish-Polish conquest of Estonia and the death of Gustav I have occurred in order to limit the amount of wars in the initial stage of the game.

Intrigue: Covert negotiations and decisions should be sent to me so I can gain the full picture of what is occurring and adjust the contents of the turn updates as necessary. Should I be completely uninformed, the event will not occur. This applies to events such as assassinations, plotting, joint military plans, and secret alliances.

Start of Turn Updates: The map will be updated at the beginning of every turn. Also in each turn events will occur than certain nations have to respond to (crises, assassinations, rebellions, etc.). These will be accompanied by the usual three questions for each player to respond to as was seen in Lumine’s games.

Diplomacy: Player can address each other in public, in the game play thread, or in private via PM (which I would like to have sent to me as well). Players can declare war upon each other in this thread, and the war shall be opened in a new thread. During this time players will send me separate military orders regarding the war alongside the response to their prompts. You may issue your turn responses on the public thread, but military war actions MUST be sent over PM. I'd prefer for two war turns to equal three months, or one regular turn, but this may be changed if necessary.

Assassinations: Seeing as Charles IX and Henri IV were assassinated successfully OTL and there were numerous other conspiracies (Guy Fawkes, numerous English assassination plots) every player will be designated a number between 1 and 100 at the end of the turn and I will have a random number generated for each player. Should these two match, that ruler will be assassinated. It should be noted these assassinations are outside events and are in no way related to any of the actions of the players. If your leader is assassinated, you may keep playing the same nation so long as your heir is of your dynasty.

Succession: If a player should die without an heir, there are several things that may occur. If the correct marriages have occurred a personal union may arise (thereby allowing another player to control both countries simultaneously), if there is a female or a contested succession a succession war can start. If there a clear heir of another dynasty, another person will have to option to take control of the nation during a 24 hour window. If said window has passed and no one has expressed interest, the initial player may resume control. You may designate your heir through an Act of Succession which may or may not be supported (as seen with Edward VI)

Viceroys: Should enough interest arise, and more spots are wanted, nations with vast colonial holdings such as Spain and Portugal shall have the option to appoint Viceroys. Viceroys (other forum members) are required to be obedient to their mother country in regards to European wars, although they can be largely independent in regards to prosecuting wars against the natives and expanding their holding’s colonial borders against other nation's colonies. Viceroys would function as full players in every other aspect and appointing one would reduce the likelihood of revolt, although it reduces coordination between the mother country and her colonies. Viceroys can be removed by the ruler of the mother country at any time.

Governors: Similar to viceroys, if your holdings are too vast to be governed by you alone, you may also designate a governor (this applies to European lands only). This governor shall be subversive to you, and will follow the same rules as a viceroy. (One historical example of a governor post can be seen in the Hapsburg Netherlands).

Rebellions: Rebellions can happen due to religion, unpopularity, attempts to curb the rights of the nobility, or even from the peasant class. Should they succeed; the player will be removed from their position and a new government, or even monarch, will be established.

Colonization: The following nations shall have the initial option to colonize due to their proximity to the New World: Spain, Portugal, France, England, Scotland. Other nations may begin colonizing if they either gain seaports on the Atlantic, or exert significant power over European affairs. Colonies allow increased access to raw goods and more space to expand, although they can also be troublesome and expensive due to natives, pirates, and long distance. Depending on a variety of factors, the success of initial colonies varies.

Players: Players can use their government to respond to events however they see fit during their turns. That being said, they cannot direct the actions or opinions of their subjects. Please post in this thread if you'd like to take control of a nation.

The initial playable nations are as follows:
Spain & Colonies- Phillip II Hapsburg (Cassius)
France- Francis II Valois, under the regency of Catherine De Medici (Lumine)
England- Elizabeth I Tudor (DKrolGa)
Scotland- Mary I Stuart, under the regency of Marie De Guise (Dereich)
Austria- Ferdinand I Hapsburg (Cranberry)
The Ottoman Empire- Suleiman "the Magnificent" Osman (Snowstalker)
Poland-Lithuania- Anna Jagiellon
Russia- Ivan "the Terrible" Rurikid (Cardinal X)
The Papal States- Pius VI de Medici (Rpryor03)
Sweden- Erik XIV Vasa
Denmark-Norway- Frederick II Oldenburg (Sjoyce)
Portugal- Sebastian De Avis, under the regency of Catherine Hapsburg

I look forward to running this! I'll probably wait until Friday-ish before officially starting this in order to allow more people to join and for me to do my research.

[rpryor03]

I will take control of the Papal States

[Spamage]

I will take control of the Papal States

Welcome to the game!

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I guess I can take a stab at this as Ivan the Terrible.

[free my dawg]

I'll take Poland.

[Spamage]

I'm quite surprised no one's jumped on England yet

[Spamage]

I'll take Poland.

I guess I can take a stab at this as Ivan the Terrible.

Welcome!

[Cranberry]

Just a small nitpick, given we start in 1560 I should actually be Ferdinand I, given he didn't die until 1564...

[DKrol]

I'll take England as Good Queen Bess.

[Spamage]

I'll take England as Good Queen Bess.

Awesome! I'll have your prompts at the beginning of next turn!

[DKrol]

I'll take England as Good Queen Bess.

Awesome! I'll have your prompts at the beginning of next turn!

For my planning, when is that?

[Spamage]

I'll take England as Good Queen Bess.

Awesome! I'll have your prompts at the beginning of next turn!

For my planning, when is that?

Assuming everything goes to plan, it should be either Monday or Tuesday.

[Donerail]

Hey, are signups still open/possible? If they are, I'd like to take Denmark.

[Spamage]

Hey, are signups still open/possible? If they are, I'd like to take Denmark.

Sounds good!

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I had debated signing up for this game as Denmark.  I'm glad someone else beat me to it, as I don't really have time for it.  (Neither Sweden nor Portugal are quite as interesting as Denmark.)

BTW, why aren't Denmark and Sweden listed as potential colonial powers?  They both had New World possessions later on.  For that matter, a Polish vassal, the Duchy of Courland, established short-lived colonies in both Africa and the Americas in the 17th century.  (Trivia: A number of pirates ostensibly had letters of marque issued by the absentee governors of Tobago the Dukes continued to appoint after the end of their colony there in 1689.)  It might not be a good idea for them, but...

[Spamage]

Sorry about the wait, writing prompts takes longer than I expected

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

You know, in order not to piss off the Lithuanians it should be Poland-Lithuania

[Spamage]

You know, in order not to piss off the Lithuanians it should be Poland-Lithuania

Poland-Lithuania has not been created yet, as the Union of Lublin occurred several years after the game start

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

You know, in order not to piss off the Lithuanians it should be Poland-Lithuania

Poland-Lithuania has not been created yet, as the Union of Lublin occurred several years after the game start

Well, you have Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania as one on your map

Beside, under the Jagiellons Poland and Lithuania were pretty much working the same way as the Habsburg Monarchy, which was hardly an unified one state.

[Spamage]

You know, in order not to piss off the Lithuanians it should be Poland-Lithuania

Poland-Lithuania has not been created yet, as the Union of Lublin occurred several years after the game start

Well, you have Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania as one on your map

Beside, under the Jagiellons Poland and Lithuania were pretty much working the same way as the Habsburg Monarchy, which was hardly an unified one state.

You got me

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

You know, in order not to piss off the Lithuanians it should be Poland-Lithuania

Poland-Lithuania has not been created yet, as the Union of Lublin occurred several years after the game start

Well, you have Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania as one on your map

Beside, under the Jagiellons Poland and Lithuania were pretty much working the same way as the Habsburg Monarchy, which was hardly an unified one state.

You got me

You know, the Lithuanian part of me had to raise this

[Spamage]

My internet router died today, sending this from my phone. I finised the turn prompts on word (save for formatting and a bit of research) and should have the next turn up when I get my service backk tomorrow.

[Cranberry]

I'm sorry to say, but I am quite busy at the moment and can therefore not play this game in the way I would want it to play. I guess I will have to stop partaking here and rescind Austria.
Have fun playing, guys, and also my congratulations to Spamage, you are doing a very good job.