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PrologueGreetings, historical adventurer! This book contains facts and trivia about the foundation and history of Marisala during the Founders' Era. All facts have been verified by historians and philosophers certified by the Historic Division of the Marisala Science Ministry and Royal University of Marisala. This book is provided courtesy of the Marisala Heritage Museum. Please read the following carefully: Required information due to the Jones-Kennedy Act of 1325 This edition renders all previous editions obsolete. All previous editions are to be removed from public libraries, archives, and other areas where such editions are used as research tools. Any past reports, papers, teaching devices, and/or similar devices that contain data from previous editions are to be amended (using this edition) or terminated immediately. Failure to do so will result in a 1500N fine and/or 30 days jail time, pending action through a civil court. Private sales of previous editions (e.x. book shops, antiques, auctions, etc.) and collection of said editions are approved. Fifth Edition Updates: Founders' landing date recertified. Clarification on the founding of Bamney Religious Seminary provided. Removal of erroneous and conflicting data regarding King Joseph II (herein known as the Tyrant King). Death date for Queen Mary V amended. "Scientiam Et Fidem" Fin Important Facts Name: Marisala Motto: "Scientiam Et Fide" (Science and Faith) Flag: Government Type: Triumvirate Current Leaders: H.M. King Alexander IV (Currently incapacitated. King Regent Prince Jonathan Moore) Executive Chancellor Edwin Brommel Cardinal Daniel Burke Location: Northeastern Polaris (Pending map approval) Timezone: Polaris Eastern Time Currency: Notro (Singular in all forms) Currency Type: Coin and Note Currency Abbreviation: (Proceeds amount. e.x. 20N) Note: N (e.x. 20N) Coin: n (e.x. 20n) Coin Denominations: 1, 2, 5 Note Denominations: 20, 50, 100 National Language(s): Common National Religion: Currently unestablished Timeline Jan. 1029 A.F. The G.S. Bountiful Sea makes it's landing on what is now known as Founders' Docks. The Colony of Bramsea is established w/a population of 545. A hard winter strikes in the coming weeks, killing 50. Supplies from the ship (including the ship itself) are used to make proper shelters and armaments for colony residents. Those who did not survive the voyage are given proper burials and funerals. A protected colony is established by the end of the month. Feb. 1029 A.F. The first Marisalan legal document on record is drafted by Lord Edwin Brooks. This document, The Bramsea Charter, establishes the sovereignty of His Lordship as leader and protector of the colony and acknowledges the rights of The Faithful and The Proletariat. Fellow draftees include Fr. Petyr Willow, Winship Brooks, and Dr. Mathis Black. The document is ratified by the colony in a landslide vote of 495-0. Lord Brooks establishes an exploration party to go west and further chart the land of their nation. Additional instructions state that they are to act as emissaries to other nations. The party contains roughly 50 people. Daniel Lewis is born to Marcus and Sarah Lewis, becoming the first child born to colony residents. April 1029 A.F. Word reaches Lord Brooks that the exploration party entered the nation of Tara and Cambray on accident. While unpunished, the interaction helped to establish a border between the two nations. Two lakes were also discovered, named Hope and Providence (Respectively). Five of the party members return with news of another established colony by the exploration party at Lake Providence, with the colony taking the same name. Aug. 1029 A.F. The first crime in the country is committed. The murder of Lucy Potts of the Lake Providence Colony places both colonies under heavy political strain. At the time, The Bramsea Charter only provided laws for the colony of Bramsea and leaving Lord Brooks as the sole judiciary member. The crime resulted in the first trial in the country. The trial lasted for three days and the defendant, Caleb Potts was found guilty. As a result, The Bramsea Charter was amended to extend all legal authority to Lord Brooks, regardless of what colony or township the crime occurred in. This amendment set the stage for future political problems within the budding nation. Sept. 1029 A.F. As the population between the two colonies increases, so does crime. To purge the criminals, Lord Brooks orders them and their families to be deported throughout the territory en masse. The intent is that the offenders would die off in the wild. This plan backfired with the creation of the Lake Hope, Brooks Folly, Crow’s Landing, and Winchester colonies. Despite the deportation, the colonies now fall under Lord Brooks by virtue of The Bramsea Charter, angering the newly formed colonies. Lord Brook’s son, James Brooks marries Susan Hoff, officially establishing the first Lordly House in the nation. Fr. Petyr Willow is named the Bishop of Bramsea by Lord Brooks. The Bramsea Charter is amended once again to give him parochial and religious authority over the colonies. Nov. 1029 A.F. Several boats arrive, bringing new citizens, goods, and occupations to Bramsea and the budding nation. With the main colony itself almost full to bursting, there is no choice but to expand the colony. This decision destroys a portion of the farmland outside the colony but with ample food stores and help from Tara And Cambray, the colonies will survive the winter. Lord Brooks makes several more amendments to The Bramsea Charter. Most notable changes are the following: · Officially designating the colony grouping as a nation. Named Marisala, after Brooks deceased wife (Marisa). · Appointing Colony Governors to serve in his name in all colonies. · Establishing Founder’s Day (In which the anniversary of the founding of Bramsea and the nation is celebrated annually on Jan. 5). · Creating an official currency (the Notro) and flag. · Allowing the purchase of Lord/Lady titles for a fee. · Establishes the creation of defensive lawyers, law courts, and prosecutors in all colonies. · The colonies are officially designated cities/towns. Ironically, the governors had no jurisdiction in terms of the law and were expected to follow Lord Brooks laws and decisions. Dec. 1029 A.F. Lord Brooks officially declares taxes on all perishable goods moving within the nation. This sparks protests from national farmers and forces Lord Brooks to create a moderately sized army. The army is quickly disbanded after the protesters scatter but has proved that the nation is vulnerable to civil war and has begun to expose political issues. Brooks introduces a new method to pass laws in order to assuage angry political protestors. The process is simply introducing the law to the Marisala Bar and allow it to be voted on by a Governor. If a majority of the six governors approve, the law is passed. After approval from his inner council, Brooks introduces The Conscription Act as a test law. Briefly, all male Marisalan citizens between the ages of 18-25 must serve a minimum of two years in a hastily formed National Army. The law is approved with a vote of 5-2. Those with prior military service are called to serve as commanders and enlisted leaders. The result is the creation of small forts and barracks outside the cities. It should be noted that despite the governor’s votes, most Marisalan citizens were against the mandatory conscription. Jan. 1030 A.F. The first Founder’s Day is celebrated across the nation. Construction of The Cathedral of Our Lady of Great Help in Bramsea begins. Lord Brooks also orders construction to begin on his private residence (now known as Bramsea Palace). June 1030 A.F. Susan Brooks, wife of The Honorable James Brooks, gives birth to twin sons. There are now five additional Lordly Houses established: House Kent of Lake Providence, House Deanbury of Brook’s Folly, House Chichester of Crow’s Landing, House Brough of Winchester, and House Cloddagh of Lake Hope. Construction of The Cathedral of Our Lady of Great Help is complete and Bsp. Willow is installed as rector. Lord Brooks approves the construction of various churches and temples across the nation. Brooks also approves of the construction of Bamney Religious Seminary and a small town around it. Citizens flock to the newly built town. July 1030 A.F. Construction on Lord Brooks’ private residence is completed. The building is named Founder’s Landing. Nov. 1030 A.F. Construction on Bamney Religious Seminary in the town of the same name is completed. The first class of seminarians is admitted later that month. Dec. 1030 A.F. To decrease government debts, Lord Brooks institutes a flat sales tax of 7%. Lord Brooks health begins to fail and his son, Hon. James Brooks, prepares to take his place. Days before the new year, Bsp. Willow complains of displays of public drunkenness. Hon. Brooks then introduces the Alcohol Reduction Act. The introduction of the act sparks outrage from all cities and towns and thousands of citizens turn out in protest in front of the governor’s residences. The National Army is called in to hold back the crowds. Only minor injuries are reported, and the act fails to pass after 3 days of a tied vote of 3-3. Aug. 1031 A.F Both Lord Edwin Brooks and Gov. George Hartman of Lake Providence die of natural causes. Hon. James Brooks inherits his father’s title and installs Prosecuting Attorney James Banks as Lake Providence Governor. Lord James Brooks also inherits all administrative and executive actions of his father through The Bramsea Charter. (WIP)

Biography for H.M. King Alexander IV Name: Alexander Steven Moore Lordly House: Moore DOB: June 2nd, 1365 Reign: October 15th, 1395 - Present Bio: Alexander Moore was born in Kensington Hospital in Brook's Folly, Marisalia. Much of Alexander's formative years are unknown, but he rose to national prominence after his marriage to Lady Louisa Kent in 1386. In June of 1395, Lady Kent gave birth to Jonathan Moore. Alexander succeeded his mother (Queen Angelika II) in October, 1395, taking the regnal name Alexander IV. The marriage appeared to be perfect until November 1395, when a newspaper ran a photo of His Majesty with another woman (The photo had been taken a month before his coronation). While the paper redacted the article almost immediately, the damage had already been done. Alexander had fallen in love with a commoner, Sarah Dawn, causing a scandal within Marisalian high society. Religious leaders reluctantly approved a divorce from Lady Kent and permitted Alexander to marry Sarah, who took the regnal name Queen Marie IV. The marriage formally took place in December 1395 and Lady Kent was forced to return to Lake Providence. Lady Kent's son, Jonathan Moore, remained in the custody of his father as part of the divorce settlement. In a public interview with the Marisalia News Corporation, His Majesty stated that the marriage between himself and Lady Kent was forced. While exact reasons were not given, records show that there was a form of financial instability within House Kent. On November 28th 1396, Queen Marie gave birth to Alexander Moore II. After Queen Marie IV's death in 1410, Alexander remained a bachelor into the present day. In early 1418, Alexander began to show signs of a disease that had swept through the kingdom in the early 1300's. During the traditional welcome speech at the 299th Founders Day Ball, Alexander fell to violent coughing fits and had to be escorted to his private chambers. Personal physicians at first declared this to be signs of old age and permitted the king to continue his personal rule. In June that same year, a second physician diagnosed him with Thresh Variant I, a genetic variant of a flu like disease from the past century. Without proper treatment and constant medical attention, Alexander would be dead within a year. Days after being confined to bed rest, officially named his oldest son, Jonathan, King Regent of Marisalia. Currently, King Alexander IV has not made any more public appearances or statements and as of today, no updates have been given on Alexander IV's health.

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Guide to TWP Roleplay and Esferos Lore Introduction Current map version 1.18, updated 1 April 2024 Esferos Topographic Map | Biome Map | Tectonic Map | Wind & Sea Map TABLE OF CONTENTS: Welcome to the map! Where can I RP? A brief "Session Zero" for TWP Roleplay Esferos lore introduction Welcome to Esferos! The center of roleplay in TWP is the map of our world, Esferos. Our canon is tied to the map and our stories are built by our community—whether you're into nation building, international affairs, or rootin' tootin' cowboys, you'll find something that grips you here. There's no telling how deep you'll go! Citizens of The West Pacific can request a place on the map to develop a history, culture, and people for their nation. While collaborating with others, you will create roleplay like factbooks, news, stories, or sports—essentially, whatever you want to do with your nation within reason. The current RP year is 1422 AF, this translates to modern-day Earth. Most technologies are also roughly equivalent to the modern day. Before we get too into things, if you have any questions, you may address them to one of the Lorekeepers on the TWP Roleplay Discord server. To join the world of Esferos you must be a citizen of TWP, read the rest of this Guide, introduce yourself on the RP Discord server, and submit your Mapplication™ in the Mapplication™ thread. We very strongly encourage you to join RP Discord server before you submit your Mapplication™. Ideally, we want everyone to have the opportunity to get to know the different regions of Esferos (geographically and culturally) and see who is active there so you can decide which area is the right fit for you, as opposed to throwing a dart at the map. Where can I roleplay? TWP's two roleplay locations are the regional forums and the TWP Roleplay discord. However, these two places have different uses. TWP Forums TWP's forums are the official home of TWP's roleplaying—there are four roleplay subforums available for use: Atlas of the Occident - Map and Factbook - Home of the regional map and forum-based factbooks of the nations that reside in it. The Repository - Local & World News - The place to post newswires about the goings on in and around your nation. Roleplay - How the West Was Won - The general RP subforum. If you have an IC roleplay thread to post, it belongs here. OOC Support - Information & Dispute Arbitration - The place where OOC threads belong and where disputes can be resolved. And of course the RP Archive, which is, as you guessed, where really old clutter goes. RP Discord The TWP Roleplay Discord server is the home of OOC discussion and worldbuilding. Its activities include nation building, arts and crafts, regional planning, and all sorts of other things, but it is not the place for in-character (IC) talk. It is also not a gameplay or foreign affairs Discord, nor a substitute for the general chat and spam functions of main TWP server. You can find an overview of the server's rules, roles, and channels and links to helpful resources in the #welcome-info channel. Roleplay Resources Official Resources Big Book of Numbers - This contains the core statistics and basic information for all nations on the map, including capitals, land area, population, languages, and much more. The information you provide in your Mapplication™ will go in the Book, and you can comment on cells to add further information. Session Zero Guidance - This guidance forms the basis of our shared world. No one is allowed to go against the guidelines set in the Guidance. Unofficial Resources Language Table - This spreadsheet contains the names of all Esferosi nations in the different languages of Esferos. Maintained by Giovanniland, based on the spreadsheet begun by Kurabis Legal System Questionnaire / Comparison - Prompts to explore the way your nation's society is constructed through its legal system Nation Building Exercise - A useful exercise for exploring balance in nationbuilding. A brief "Session Zero" for TWP Roleplay The term "Session Zero" comes from tabletop roleplaying games, in which before a campaign starts, the game master sits down with the players to introduce the setting, set boundaries, and clarify expectations for the coming games. For our uses, it refers to the most basic rules and customs you need to know before starting to build your nation on Esferos. When in doubt or in need of help/guidance, ask the Lorekeepers. They are all experienced in subjects related to wordbuilding such as history, military studies, archaeology, anthropology, and political and international studies. They also guide the balance, quality, and realism of our shared world, and may take action to enforce it. Balance An overriding goal of TWP Roleplay is balance—this means everything good comes with drawbacks. No nation can be good at everything, just as no nation can be bad at everything. You cannot “win” the RP spreadsheet Your goal should not be to have the highest number on a sheet. Having a high population, a high GDP per capita, or high military spending each have their own drawbacks. It is a balance. Realism Technological realism: Existing technologies with widespread implementation, such as cell phones or helicopters, are fair play. Advanced technologies with limited or experimental implementation, such as fully autonomous vehicle fleets or advanced laser weapons systems, are guided by balance: if a real-life analogue nation has access to a technology, then you may attempt to justify that access by defining the balance. Historical realism: Real-life religions and languages do not exist on Esferos. Similarly, you cannot use RL religious symbols in your IC religion. You may reference them as inspiration or ‘flavour’ out-of-character. Using similar inspirations to other nations does not mean your nation must be related to them. Your nation didn't always exist in its current form. People probably lived there for thousands of years, but much of it was in a very different form to modern life. It's unlikely that the exact same political entity that exists today existed hundreds of years ago. Ancient developments should follow a timescale with reference or similarity to the real world. If you are interested in exploring the ancient history of your region of Esferos, you should look into real-world societal developments for similar regions and timespans on Earth. Modern developments should also reference the real world. For example, the ‘Industrial Revolution' was a process which unfolded at different scales and speeds around the world from 1760 to today. International relations don't have to be cordial, and your nation can have been friendly and have histories with countries it isn't friendly with today. Miscellaneous realism: Just as RL religions and languages don’t exist here, RL places don’t exist either. Do not name your nation, cities, and other things after prominent RL places like “Shanghai”. Exceptions are common given names like “Georgetown”. If you need help coming up with names, ask in the Discord or check out a random name generator. There is no magic. That doesn’t mean people can’t believe something is miraculous or magical, but you cannot state as an OOC fact that it is. You should make distinctions between historical, semi-legendary, and legendary events and figures. Just because something is not an OOC fact does not mean that it cannot be believed to be fact IC. The laws of physics are the same as we understand them in the real world. They cannot be manipulated or exploited in any extraordinary way. Humans are the only available species to roleplay as. The current year is not the beginning of your nation’s story We recommend avoiding the propensity to make big events happen in the current year; you should roleplay past events or allow them to be a historical fact. Just because you weren’t playing your nation before does not mean it didn’t exist or have relationships. Talk to your neighbours and define your historical relationships with them, it’s all part of the fun! War is difficult, messy, and detailed There is no total victory. You should find some drawback or disadvantage to your activity—there’s no fun in always winning all the time. Just because you have a large army and say military spending is 50% of your GDP doesn’t mean you win. Be tactful and realistic; look to real life examples and ask the Lorekeepers for help if you need it. Yes, North Korea is a “real life example” but their level of expenditure is an extreme outlier and comes at great cost. Border changes will not happen without Loremaster approval. This would be dependent on quality and content of roleplay. Remember that matters of war and military are subject to oversight by the Lorekeepers for balance and realism purposes. You are not a “recently discovered tribe”, and avoiding other common tropes There are no “undiscovered” nations on Esferos, just as there are none on Earth. If your nation is “opening up diplomatic and foreign relationships after a long period of isolationism” you are not going to be up to the modern standard of life or technology. Continents are not “Teams” The Continental Congresses don't have meaning beyond out-of-character (OOC) planning. There is no IC organization called a "Continental Congress". In the Continental Congress channels, we come together to plan histories, geography, and other things that affect our neighbors, but the goal isn't one continent-spanning intergovernmental organization. Avoid treating continents as teams. A few community rules Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Worldbuilding and RP can be daunting, but you’re not alone—we’re a community. Roleplay is multilateral, which means every party has to agree—you only participate in ways you agree to. If any issues arise, please let one of the moderators know. Along with this is zero tolerance for hate imagery or masked clones or iterations of nations like Nazi Germany. This section is adapted from the TWP RP20 Guidance and Rebalancing, which includes a slightly more in-depth version of the Session Zero. Esferos lore introduction Geography Our planet is called Esferos, a medium-sized terrestrial world orbiting a gas giant around a binary star, and is the only astronomical object known to support life. Its surface covered mostly by oceans, with a handful of major continents and numerous smaller island chains. The five continents of Esferos are Andolia, Aura, Doll Guldur, Nur, and Polaris. Andolia is located in the southern hemisphere — a land of broad grasslands and forests in the east, mountainous shores in the west, and deserts and rainforests in between. Andolia also has the most active volcanos of any continent. Aura is regarded by some as the historical center of Esferos — much of the southern part of the continent is tropical, covered in lush rainforests and fertile plains, while the north is much more arid and contains the world's largest desert. Doll Guldur is a rugged land in the northeast of the region — its terrain is made up of great plains and wide forests, with shattered mountain chains along the eastern coasts. Doll Guldur also contains the world's largest endorheic basin. Nur is located far to the east the other continents — its surface is covered by plains and rainforests in the north to mountains, temperate forests, and steppe in the south. Nur is the largest and least densely populated continent of Esferos. Polaris is located in the far north — it is a land of great forests and greater mountains in the west, grasslands and hills in the east, and desert in the center and south. It is also home to the largest freshwater lake in the world. Miscellanea Most of Esferos uses the Markan calendar system, which counts time from the founding of the Holy Principality of Saint Mark. One properly counts time using the BF and AF suffixes, short for "Before Founding" and "After Founding". The current year is 1424 AF. You can easily translate between the Markan and Gregorian calendar by taking the year in the Gregorian calendar and subtracting 600. For instance, 1900 CE in our time is the same as 1300 AF in roleplay time (1900-600=1300). The international language of Esferos is called 'Common'—it originated as a trade pidgin among sailors in the Darkesian Sea and spread from there. Out of character, most players use English to approximate it, but it is not related to English in-character. Esferos is a multipolar world—no single power international power has the strength to dominate the others.