RULES
1) The Affairs of Worlds is a game/sandbox of political hijinks.

2) This game is invite-only. We are not accepting applications from anyone outside our existing pool of players.

3) There is no Activity Check, no character limits, and no HMD.

4) No advertising.

5) Use the OOC community as much as possible for official discussions and plotting. Please do not use Plurk.

6) The mods reserve the right to kick anyone we feel is detracting from the environment of the game.

7) Plot like crazy. Anything your characters can try they can try. In-character actions = in-character consequences.

8) Have fun, bitches.



PREMISE
Did you think you were free? Oh, no. Your planet is not the highest authority there is. Nor your system, your sector, your universe itself. There is one higher.

The Emperor.

His word is law. He is the one who guards the universes from one another, who negotiates between them, who molds them and shapes them, if it is necessary.

His Eminence presides over the Council, anywhere from fifty to three hundred representatives from varied worlds. It is this sample of the Emperor's subjects who govern, effectively.

Welcome to Tauscetan, the planet between the worlds. Remember: you are here to serve.



SETTING

Politics.

Tauscetan, and by extenuation all of the multiverse, is ruled by Emperor Julian Deos. Everyone is subservient to the Emperor, up to and including the Councilors from other worlds.

Law is tradition-based rather than Constitution-based. The Emperor has the right to overrule anything, even set traditions, but he usually does not.

Internal government runs from the Emperor to the Ministers, including Ministers of the Treasury, of Security, of Culture, of Law, of Technology and of Development, along with several Military Chiefs (the number varies). There may also be other Ministers of differing expertise depending on who the Emperor appoints.

Auditors are appointed by Imperial writ and remain in their office until voluntary retirement, death, or impeachment by the Council. They oversee all aspects of government to ensure lack of corruption.

External government runs from the Emperor to the Councilors. Their own chains of authority are their own business; some report to their home planets for instructions, while others remain solely on the Imperial Capitol without contact with their planet. Some are the leaders of their respective worlds.

Councilors each have an allotment of land on Tauscetan, called their District. They may govern the district in any way they choose. The most successful districts tend to be those that offer opportunities and advantages to their inhabitants. Citizens on Tauscetan are encouraged to move to districts that suit their needs; as such, districts that are poorly run are often starved of population and therefore economic resources and then, by extension, political clout for their Councilor.

Councilors are given diplomatic immunity and are not required to follow Tauscetan law -- save for capital offenses, which are poorly defined but generally thought to include murder, fraud, breaking one's word of honor, and rape.

Politically, the Council includes two major factions: Isolationist, and Integrationist. Integrationists believe that the worlds should have contact and relations with one another. Isolationists believe that the laws of nature declare that the worlds should be as separate as possible. The Emperor has taken great pains to ensure that his own private party affiliation is not known.


Culture.

History.
Tauscetan has a long and mostly-unknown history. For thousands of years, the planet has lived under very limited technology, believing in the 'purity' of old ideals. The planet itself depended on very high technology to function in the void between the worlds, and the Emperor's forces wielded high technology in order to govern and control the other worlds, but most ordinary people never saw anything more complicated than, if they were lucky, a basic printing press.

More recently, in the last few generations, the planet has begun to move towards a society integrating technology into its way of life. In a matter of less than a century, it has leaped forward, from backwoods midwife births to uterine simulators where a baby can just be grown, from basic printing presses to comconsoles. The culture is still lagging behind and attempting to adapt.

In recent history, a revolt on behalf of two conflicting claims for the office of Emperor got very, very bloody a quarter-century ago. The Emperor, then the age of five, is now thirty-one; his mother was killed in the war, and the Ministers from his father governed until he came of age. Julian has only been in office for thirteen years, and he is still, after all that time, something of an unknown quantity in terms of political opinion. He has supported and enabled a great deal of technological and social development, but no one is really clear on his reasons why.

Honor.
In terms of what this culture is like, think of a somewhat idealized fairy-tale Empire turned reality. There is the Empire, and then the nobility class, and then a shaky growing middle class of traders and merchants, and then a very, very large peasant class.

Honor is the most important ideal in the whole culture. A person's word literally is the law; all forms of hierarchy are formally solidified through the use of a personal oath. Violation of one's honor, in terms of swearing and breaking an oath, is a capitol offense. Duels of honor (through swordfighting; almost all nobles carry swords), though informally frowned upon by the Emperor, are still very much a practice, and often someone may die in a duel attempting to prove his or her honor.

The conservatives on Tauscetan believe that honor is under attack by new technologies and developments. The progressives… also believe this, but would like to find a way to make the new technologies and their benefits happen for everyone, despite the cost to honor and purity. It's a very conservative planet.

Romance.
Romance and marriage are very old-fashioned, and what comes with this is very traditional gender roles. Women are mothers and men are soldiers, is the cultural ideal of Tauscetan. Women are forbidden to enlist in any military, and they cannot hold office. They can inherit and own property, but are widely regarded as somewhat incapable without a husband around. Security, especially ExSec (External Security), does employ women as operatives -- but only because it has to, in order to blend in on other worlds.

Romance is of the very traditional courtship type. Women are often expected to be virgins, though this expectation is slowly changing with the advent of new technologies and social norms. Marriages are often arranged through go-betweens, and between parents, concerned on finding a suitable match for their children.

Babies can now be grown in a uterine simulator, instead of a potentially dangerous natural childbirth. This has also contributed to the freedom of many women to pursue academics, and possible careers of their own.

Noble ladies are the social powerhouse of the Empire, though. They are at the forefront of every cultural exchange, and plan all the parties and the dinners where the political maneuvering takes place. They tend to be shrewd, competent, and powerful in their own right, despite not being permitted the same liberties legally as men.

Fashion.
Ladies wear gowns, gentlemen wear uniforms. The styles of these are constantly changing with cultural influx from other worlds, but the basics remain the same: ladies must look beautiful, men must look dignified.

Lower classes tend to try to emulate upper classes. Often, male fashion is made to be structured and uniform-like, even when there is no military service involved.

Cuisine.
As far as the nobles go, think French food: small portions, rich and intense flavors, everyone's chefs competing on who can come up with the most unique dishes and the most interesting flavors. Regions of the planet have different specialties, and those are often re-formed and re-imagined at political gatherings.

In the lower classes, think more German: basic flavors, large portions, very hearty. Those who want to seem more genuine and in tune with the people will tend to serve food that's more in this style.


Geography.

- Capital city.
- Surrounding area.
- Planetary geography and environment.
- Assigned land area.



FREQUENTLY-ASKED QUESTIONS

What can I apply?

- Fandom characters.
- Alternate universe fandom characters, where their own timeline went differently than in canon.
- Original characters.
- Original characters native to Tauscetan.



How did my characters get here?

One of several ways. First, they could have been elected or appointed or selected in some way by their native world to go be a representative. (If necessary, you can AU your characters' world to somehow know, secretly or otherwise, about the Emperor's governance.)

Second, they could be selected or appointed by the Emperor, willingly or not. This could be a chance for a character who would be interestingly suited for a role to be pulled against their will into the world, or it could be a way by which a character could make a deal with the Emperor in exchange for service.

Third, they could be part of the Emperor's new pilot program, which selects new Councilors and staff literally by lottery. The odds were not in their favor. And yet.



What roles can my character fill?

Fandom characters can be:
- Councilors, which are representatives of planets, systems, sectors, planes of reality or universes.
- Support staff, which can include analysts, security, embassy staff, cultural exchange people, spies, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

Original characters can be:
- Any of the above.
- Characters native to the planet between the worlds, from peasants to nobility, except for the Emperor and the Chiefs of Security. This includes offices such as the Ministers, who assist the Emperor in governing, the Auditors, who oversee government, Generals/officers in the military, operatives in Security, and more. It also, of course, includes the lady wives of many of these men.



How does gameplay work?

In-character stuff goes in affairsofworlds and out-of-character goes in affairsofplayers. No need to use any particular posting format, though we would recommend that you put the date, location, and open/closed nature of the log somewhere on it.

Interaction that isn't in-person also goes on affairsofworlds. That can be messages, such as letters or calls.



Is there a network?

In a manner of speaking. There are many conveniently placed comm consoles through which one can place calls.

Things that the network can do:
- Text messages from person to person, or to multiple people.
- Voice calls or recorded voice messages directly to other people.
- Video calls or recorded video messages directly to other people.
- Conference calls (voice or video) between multiple people.
- Chatrooms.

Things it can't do:
- Open voice/video/text posts to the whole game.



How does death work?

Death is permanent. If your character has bought insurance, in the form of a clone with memory backups taking place every few weeks, then they can be respawned in the clone body. However, they will be missing their memories in accordance to the scheduled memory dumps.