Thursday 12 November 2015

Nuria: Factions, Groups, and Institutions

I was happy about the attention that my first Nuria post gained, and the great comments from around the place. I hope this post gives a slightly deeper understanding of the setting.

Factions
On Nuria there are four major factions wielding political power. Each of them is committed to a free Nuria, but each adheres to significantly different ways of achieving it. These differences place them at odds with each other, despite their common ground.

The Nirsenite faction is the Nurian group currently in power. They dominate the Cultural Council, an institution which was granted limited rights of autonomy by the Turit as a client body. The Turit maintain a strong presence over the orbiter in the form of administration, law enforcement, military, and civil works. Nevertheless, the Nirsenites are given the freedom to maintain Nurian culture for the purpose of ongoing stability on the orbiter. As long as it doesn't threaten Turit sovereignty or taxes, it's likely to be allowed. A free Nuria is a pure Nuria.

Second to this are the Telkomet who are represented in the Cultural Council. This faction is heavily marked by privilege and is largely comprised of academics, scholars, and entrepreneurs. They privately control vast fortunes and have a vested interest in ensuring that trade and commerce continues peacefully. What they don't want, however, is to pay taxes to the Turit. A free Nuria is a wealthy Nuria.

Actively opposing the Turit are the True Nurians. To them, the Turit are violent invaders who ruin the Nurian way of life by forcing themselves onto the orbital. As a result, the True Nurians will gladly use violence against the Turit. They also hate collaborators and will target them if a Turit target doesn't present itself. Their interactions with the Nirsenites and the Telkomet are strained at best, bloody at worst. A free Nuria is an independent Nuria.

The last major Nurian faction is the Delmass. They are passive in their opposition to the Turit, preferring instead to continue to live out the Nurian culture in indifference to everyone else. In secluded parts of the orbital they live in small communes, exploiting a Turit legal loophole about taxation on private property. Although a notable faction, they are the smallest of the four and keep to themselves. On the other hand, they are treated with suspicion by the Turit who make use of spies and infiltrators to watch them. A free Nuria is the Nuria of the mind and the body.

Groups
The Turit themselves are a powerhouse of technology, commerce, and warfare. This isn't only in comparison with the orbitals, however. Although the seat of Turit power is on their orbital, they maintain a presence on the planet as well, using four space elevators as key supply lines. They are also actively engaged in exploration of the solar system's mineral resources, including the moon and nearby asteroids. Their image of themselves is an enlightened nation, not merely the greatest country on earth but the greatest nation in the system.

Institutions
The Cultural Council was formed in the surrender negotiations of the invasion. As a key strategic move by the Turit, they permitted the council to continue looking after the Nurian cultural affairs. The council is active on a daily basis, organising events, publications, festivals, and performances in continuance of the Nurian life prior to the surrender. They receive funding from their activities, but none from the Turit. The Turit allow it but do not actively support it. From time to time the Turit censor the council, especially if anti-Turit propaganda is found in any of the council activities.




Wednesday 4 November 2015

Nagademon 2015: Nuria Setting

*blows dust off blog*

My Nagademon 2015 project is to write a DramaSystem pitch. I have an idea for a setting and I want to see where it goes. Each blog post will be one (or two) of the sections typically used in a pitch. I'm going to write this in the open, rather than write about it while you wait to see if I compile it into a downloadable file.

Nutshell
Rebel factions struggle to overthrow the foreign power which invaded this ancestral orbiter five generations ago.

Setting
The orbiters high above Earth were built in response to the disaster left on the surface. Long after the war stopped and the surface dwellers started cleaning up the pollution, several of the orbiters declared independence and demanded recognition as sovereign states. And soon after that, they developed more weapons and went to war in the heavens.

The first recognised nation-state orbiter was Nuria, previously called Orbiter Artemis. Its people were intensely proud of their place in history, having left behind the confict of older ways in favour of a peaceful existence. Their commitment to a new way of living also made them an easy target for the larger, and more powerful orbiting nations. When the Turit Federation began to expand, it was inevitable that Nuria would fall. The Nurians believed that they represented something bigger than this kind of war, and trusted in the Turit to leave them alone.

They were wrong.

Making short work of the Nurian defences, the Turit absorbed their orbiter into the federation. They let them keep most of their customs, on the proviso that they paid their taxes and remained peaceful. In turn, the Nurians became sullen and resentful. They longed for their independence again but could not agree on how to gain it. Political factions formed quickly, capitalising on the emotions of the populace, and while most people wanted to live a quiet life, they all wanted one of the factions to get rid of the Turit off their orbiter.

You are active members of the factions, though perhaps not all of the same faction. With all your heart, you seek freedom for your fellow Nurians and you know there is only one way to secure it.

You are politicians, rebels, journalists, militants, and terrorists. You destabilise Turit power at all opportunities in order to preserve the Nurian people and the Nurian home orbiter. But you must keep your real agenda secret. The Turit have spies everywhere and are ruthless towards anyone who threatens the peace.
But it could be worse; you might be a Turit spy, sent to infiltrate the factions. Your people will brand you as a traitor if they ever found out, but it's for their own good that you do this.

No matter your faction or your orbiter, what you do you do for Nuria.


Next time: the factions




Labels

1KM1KT (1) 3:16 Carnage Amongst The Stars (1) 4ZZZ (1) A Penny For My Thoughts (6) Abney Park (1) Actual Play (13) Administration (3) Adults only please (1) Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (5) Advanced Fighting Fantasy (4) Agon (14) Andrew Smith (1) Apocalypse World (3) apocalyptic (1) Art (2) Aspects (1) Auscon (11) Australian Game Designers (1) Avengers (1) Battlestar Galactica (1) Behind The Screens (1) Bits and Mortar (2) Blades In The Dark (1) Blank Shield Press (1) Brass Goggles (1) Braunstein (3) Brick Battles (2) Brisbane (5) Burning Wheel (33) Campaign (1) Car Wars (5) Car Wars Tanks (2) Chess (1) Chick Corea (1) Chris Perkins (1) convention (1) Convention tips (1) conventions (1) Cosplay (1) Cthulhu (1) Cubicle 7 (1) CW6 (1) Cylon (1) D&D (1) D&D 5e (1) Daniel Solis (1) David Pidgeon (6) Death Race (1) Design (11) DeviantArt (1) Diaspora (7) Dice and Clouds (1) Dicebook (1) Discordia.se (1) Divine Trauma (2) Do (1) Dogs in the Vineyard (3) Don't Lose Your Mind (2) Don't Rest Your Head (24) DramaSystem (6) Dresden Files RPG (3) DRYH (4) Duel of Wits (1) Dungeon (1) dungeon crawl (2) Dungeons and Dragons (8) Dungeons and Dragons Pennny Arcade (2) Elizabeth I (1) Embers of the Forgotten Kingdom (1) encounters (1) Erick Wujcik (1) Escape or Die (1) Every Gamer's Guild (7) Evil Hat (7) F20 (1) Fat Dragon Games (1) FATE (6) Fate Core (4) Feng Shui 2 (1) Fenix (1) Fiasco (4) Fred Hicks (7) Free RPG Adventure Ideas (2) Free RPG Blog (2) From the news (3) FU (7) FU RPG (4) Fudge (1) fundamentalism (1) Gail Simone (1) Game Chef (1) game design (14) Game of Thrones (5) Game theory (2) Gamer dad (2) Gaming (3) Gaming gear (1) Gary Gygax (1) Gen Con Oz (8) GenCon (31) Gettin' Away With It (4) GM advice (1) GM style (2) GM Technique (8) Go Play Brisbane (26) golf (1) Good and Evil (1) google hangouts (1) Grey Ranks (3) GUMSHOE (1) GURPS (1) Hamlet's Hit Points (1) Happy Birthday Robot (3) Here Be Gamers (3) Heroica (1) Hillfolk (1) Horror (1) Houses of the Blooded (2) Indie Game Designer (4) indie gamers (1) Indie Games Explosion (11) indie games on demand (9) Indie Press Gang (2) Indie Press Revolution (3) Indie RPG (14) Inquisitor (1) iPad (1) IPR (4) Jason Morningstar (1) John Cleese (1) John Harper (5) John Hodgman (1) John Locke (1) John Reid (2) John Wick (1) Kenneth Hite (1) Kickstarter (2) kill puppies for satan (2) Knightmare Chess (1) Kuang Hong (1) Lady Blackbird (2) LARP (1) Lego (4) Lego Agonica (1) Lego FU (11) Long Beach Geeks (1) LoveHate Design (1) Lulu (2) Machiavelli (1) Madman (1) magic (2) Magic Burner (1) Major Wesely (1) Mark McPherson (1) Mark Peric (3) Marvel Super Heroes (1) May The FU Be With You (2) Mechaton (1) mf0 (1) Michael Wenman (6) miniatures gaming (1) Mixel (1) Mobile Frame Zero (5) Monopoly (1) Monty Haul (1) Munchkin (2) Mutant City Blues (1) My Kitchen Rules (1) My Life With Master (1) NaGaDeMon (17) Nagademon 2013 (6) Nagademon 2015 (2) Narrative Control (2) Nathan Russell (9) Neology (1) Neoncon (1) Nietzsche (1) Ninja vs Pirates (1) Nobles (14) Nuria (2) O Mortal (10) One-shot (1) Organising Games (1) Orphan Black (1) parenting (1) Paul Tevis (2) PDF (3) Perception Check (1) Peril Planet (3) Perth (2) Peter Adkinson (1) Peter Adkison (1) Peter Blake (6) Philosophy (3) Pictionary (1) Pirates Showdown (1) Play report (1) play style (1) Playtesting (2) Pocketmod (1) Podcast (3) Podcast of Foes (1) Poison'd (18) Poleconomy (1) Power 19 (1) Primetime Adventures (13) psychology (1) Publishing (2) Quality Comics (1) Queen (2) Religion in gaming (6) Rifts (1) Rob Donoghue (1) Robin Laws (6) Robotech (1) Roleplaying skills (2) Roll20 (1) RPG (9) RPG Advice (2) RPG Podcast Review (1) RPGNow (1) RWBY (1) Ryan Macklin (1) SacredVows (1) Sagefight (2) Scott Haring (1) Scott Vandervalk (1) Scrabble (1) Scribd (1) Sean Nittner (1) Second Generation Gamer (1) semiotics (1) Seth Godin (1) Setting Hack (3) Shakespeare (1) Siege (40) Silence of the Lambs (1) Skrillex (1) Skype (2) Skyrim (1) Smallville (1) Social contract (1) solo gaming (1) Sons of Kryos (1) Sons of Liberty (1) Space Rat (5) speculative fiction (1) Spirit of the Century (21) Star Wars (8) steampunk (1) Steve Darlington (1) Steve Jackson Games (3) Storn Cook (1) Story games (12) Sucker Punch (1) Supanova (2) Super Gachapon Fighter Omega Infinity (1) Superman (1) Swancon (2) Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies (1) Swords (1) Taboos (1) Tactics (1) Tales From The Floating Vagabond (1) Talk Like A Pirate (1) That's How We Roll (1) The Beast of Limfjord (1) The Bones (1) The Cells (10) The Eighth Sea (3) The Forge (4) The Lego Movie (3) The MESSAGE (1) The Mountain Witch (1) The Spark RPG (1) The Stockade (8) The Walking Eye (3) Them They and Those Guys (1) Theory (2) Theory From the Closet (2) Timothy Ferguson (1) Transformers (1) Twitter (1) Unlit Match (9) Uprising (6) Victor Wooten (1) Vincent Baker (7) War Showdown (1) Warhammer (2) Warhammer 40K (1) Will Hindmarch (1) world building (1) WOTC (2) XKCD (1) Zedgames (5) Zombie Cinema (3)