Anyway, I was just thinking about how 'heavy' things have gotten in here (to borrow a beloved Michael J. Fox-ism). Not that there's anything wrong with things being heavy...just that heaviness often leads to potentially low spirits, IMO. So, in an attempt to remedy this, I've devised a very unoriginal game.

It's called...well, never mind what it's called. The objective of the game is to construct a fictional history of an equally fictional country (called Chimerica) piece-by-piece, or in this case post-by-post. The 'genre' of the country itself is not fantasy, though it does take place on another world in what we would consider 17th to 18th century times. Think of it as a nation of a parallel Earth. In this way, we can maintain a semblence of realism without having to worry about synchronizing Chimerican events with historical events of our planet. We can also develop our own technologies and concepts for this alternate world.

Each entry (post) will represent a decade of the country's history, unless the creator of the post wishes to simply describe one day, month, or year (but let's keep the increments fairly simple, okay?). If more than one person posts 'events' in, say, the third decade after Chimerica's formation...no harm done. There's plenty of room in a history book, after all. Just keep the individual events as linearly organized as possible, reasonably logical and in good taste (nothing explicit, by Hatrack's standards). Other than that, there are no other rules.

I'll kick the whole thing off with Year One, and let all of you take it from there. You can follow my format, or simply use your own (as long as the date/year/decade is clearly stated). If you'd like to create your own 'scribe' character for each entry, please do so. It will provide a greater depth for the process, and give this game a bit of a roleplaying edge. You'll notice this first entry has a more tactical edge to it...that's because of the scribe's POV. Just a thought.

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A History of Chimerica: Year One

In the days after the secession of the Outerlands from the Armituan Empire, chaos reigned. Bands of men, labeled 'rebels' by the Armituans, clashed with organized Imperial border forces. Legal trade throughout the region began to collapse as the conflict escalated into full-scale war.

As Armitua began to mobilize its primary military units to crush the rebellion, Outerland resistance efforts increased. Led by a former Imperial officer, General Trius Avarum, the Outerland forces slowly began to take shape.

The well-trained Imperial military suffered few defeats as it engaged the Lands' first lines of defense, concentrated around various centers of economical and political influence. Sarius VI, Emperor of Armitua, was particularly intent on capturing the Outerland city of Remora, as it had been declared the capital of the rebel’s newly formed country. The rebels had dared to name their 'new land,' calling it Chimerica, after a nobleman executed by Sarius for speaking out against his policies years before.

Near the end of the first year of Chimerica's existence, General Avarum laid plans to thwart the Imperial capture of Remora. Though his Outerland army was unseasoned and not yet tested in pitched battle, Avarum carefully positioned his men to deflect the heartward thrust of Sarius' forces.

Scribe: Malacis Uredrum, aide to General Trius Avarum
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So? What do you think? If this turns out to be a dud, we can just let it lie where it falls dead. And no harm done. If anyone would like to suggest modifications to the format and/or rules, please speak up.

Inkwell
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"The difference between a writer and someone who says they want to write is merely the width of a postage stamp."
-Anonymous

That war, fought over Sarius bold move to invade West Epelia ended in disaster, sending Sarius scurrying back to the mainland. Sarius trained his troops heavily over the next twenty years, conscripting soldiers from every province in orer to raise the forces necessary to make another attempt at West Epelia. The rebel secession was ill-timed. Though the soldiers conscripted from the outerland retreated home, the rebel army was no match for the Imperial army. Help was the only answer.

Otis the Blue was captured off the coast of West Epelia, and spent over a year in prison before he convinced the Epelians he was teling the truth about the rebellion of Chimerica.