This is a page explaining what a nation is, what the benefits of a nation are and how to deal with nations in the game.
Definition of a Nation[]
For the purposes of LoC, a Nation is any group of beings who exist as a defined unit with some sort of shared purpose but are not an entire race. Examples can include actual Nations of people, such as the Glass Titan nation of Casaka on Yrie. Alternatly, it could be a group or organization, such as the Loremasters from LoC2. A newly formed Race does not count as a Nation. Furthermore, it should be noted that nations do not encompass the entirety of their race, but only a fraction of it.
Benefits of becoming a Nation[]
Nations are centers of learning and culture, places where those of like minds come together as a unified whole. As such, nations recive certain benefits that races do not.
- They are centralized enough that they can trade knowledge with other nations. Nations benefit wholly from the tech system, while races are left out in the cold.
- They serve as agents for roleplay. Nations gather in certain places... a city, a keep, a temple, and those places as well as their ideals offer strong RP potential.
- Nations can consist of more than one race, which also allows for greater diversity.
Detriments of becoming a Nation[]
Nations are, by definition, not whole races. This gives them a few disadvantages.
- A Nation without techs is weaker than a Race. As a nation is not an entire race, it cannot hope to take on a whole race and survive without the benefits of techs. The tech system is designed to allow nations to rapidly overtake races, but especially early in the game or in secluded regions with little contact with other groups, a nation is at a disadvantage.
- It costs additional PP to create a nation.
Guidelines for Nations and Rules for power calculations[]
- Nations are weaker than Races. As a rule, take the power of the most powerful race in the Nation and subtract 2 for the power of the Nation as a whole. So an epic-population'd Nation would have a power rating of 2 as opposed to 4.
- The appropriate action for getting members to join a Nation is a nourish action. By doing it this way, each new race that joins a Nation imparts a +1 bonus to the end power calculation.
- Nations gain the techs of their composite races at the time the races join and any further techs those races learn as well, assuming contact is maintained between the race as a whole and the nation in question. (An example of when this would not be the case would be the Children of the Aether from last LoC, who were cut off from their source races due to their relocation into the Aether)
- Trade between nations should be clearly defined. Two representatives from a nation meeting once is NOT 'trade'. Ideally, trade should be established with a 1 PP guide action or Nourish action(s). THIS IS NOW A RULE
- A race is any member of a race that is NOT in a Nation but instead still live in a unincorporated manner (small towns, nomadic tribes, decentralized and generally unorganized)