Fascist Game 8
Rules Section 4: Geography, Exploration, and Colonization

Rules may be followed by a proposal number in parentheses indicating that the given rule was created, amended, or applied at that proposal. THS makes no guarantee that the listed values represent the most recent time a rule came into play. Rules that are considered part of the original ruleset are marked with (*). Rules that by their nature are constantly used are marked (now).

The Rules of Section 4: Geography, Exploration, and Colonization

1. It is the Imperial Cartographer's job to maintain an orderly presentation of the lands in the area and their multiple attributes. This could either be mailed to THS regularly, or could be a WWW page whose link would be incorporated into the cover page for this game. The IC performs all random determinations, etc. regarding new lands.
2. A Land is a group of one or more Fiefs. An Island is a Land of one Fief. "Continent" is a synonym for "Land". An Empire-sized land shall consist of two adjacent Kingdoms, a Kingdom of two Principalities, and a Principality of two Fiefs. (95)
3. All players are at the beginning of the game in the Principality of Atlantis, where TIE's grandiose Palace and his celebrated Municipality of Atlantis are. The fiefdom of Makal can be reached overland (and so fifth mates can get there, but their ship has to stay in Atlantis), the fiefdoms of Takal and Sakal can only be reached by sailing to them. As this is all the land currently in TIE's empire, any land added to his empire in the future must be lands new to the empire. Therefore any time a proposal, proposed after enactment of this rule, creates a land which is immediately part of his empires, no Royal Marines are available for 10 proposals, as they are currently fighting to claim the new land.
4. Every Fief in the Empire was initially guarded by 30 experienced Marines, with the exception of Makal. As the Principality of Atlantis is composed of two Fiefs, should any of the scurvy Pirates attack it, they shall face a total of 60 Marines. Makal, as we all know, is the training ground for the Imperial Marines, and contains more Marines than can be easily counted. However, forces of more than 40 Marines are no more effective than 40 Marines, and the additional soldiers get in one another's way.
5. Each Land initially contains (#Marines/20) (rounded up) Forts of basic strength 3, which engage in combat exactly as ships. They have capacity 40 in the same units as Ships, and initially contain 10 Marines, 1 Cannon, and 1 Keg of Powder. Citizens may transfer Marines, Powder, and Cannons up to a limit of 6 Cannons to any Fort. The Imperial Cartographer tracks these contents. If a Fort is defeated in Battle and contains more than 4/10 of a Keg of Gunpowder, it explodes, killing all Marines therein.
6. All Citizens of the Empire, when docked in Atlantis, may use any money they have in obtaining harmless pleasure. To do this they attend the Emperor's Arms Tavern in the Municipality of Atlantis, and gamble at the tables. The gambling games available will be: Roulette: Pick a number between 1 and 20 (it's a small wheel). A player, called The Tavern Manager (a new Rule 45-type position), rolls 1d20 or otherwise randomises. Odds paid are 18 to 1, bets made in whole pieces of eight. Fantan: Same but odds paid are 2 to 1, number chosen between 1 and 4 and The Tavern Manager rolls 1d4. Note that the Tavern Manager delegates the running of the tavern to commoners when he/she is on the high seas, but is still responsible for the dice rolls. The Tavern Manager receives 10% of any bet placed, regardless of the outcome, but can never gamble there him or herself. (86)
7. Brazil is a land, quite far from Atlantis at distance 20. It has not been explored yet, so it is not known whether it is an island or part of a continent. The natives are unfriendly, and have no central government. There is plenty of wood there, so much that any player can go there to get any amount of wood he can carry in his (or her) ship. However, as it is necessary to go on land to get the wood, for each ton of wood that is taken onto the ship there is a 1 in 6 chance that a fight with the (unfriendly) natives starts. The number of natives in this area is approximately 50.
8. China (distance 30) produces opium and silk, and will buy kegs of gunpowder for 250 Pieces of Eight.
9. Any player having rank of Commander/Plunderer or higher may set sail to an unknown land to discover it. If a player discovers a Land, s/he gives the entire Land a name, as well as the Coastal Fief of that land s/he has newly discovered. A thus discovered land may not have special properties from the start, unless another rule says otherwise. If a new land has been discovered this way, it may not be visited by players of rank lower than Commander/Plunderer for the duration of 15 proposals. After this it is considered a known land. Any land created in another way than according to this rule is directly considered a known land, and not part of the Empire, unless specified otherwise.
10. [Eliminated by rule 1.17. Formerly detailed the "merfolk".]
11. Any player may submit a Rumor describing a Fabled Land to the Imperial Cartographer at any time, although the Imperial Cartographer is under no obligation to publish more than one unresolved Rumor per player. TIE shall notify the THS which Rumors are True, Partially True, or False. Any player with rank First Mate/Mate or higher may Sail Aimlessly in the hopes of finding such fabled lands, with a 2% cumulative chance of finding one true land for each Proposal s/he spends sailing. Discovery of Lands from True or Partially True Rumors may cause Rules to be Enacted from that Rumor. Players may submit Proposals detailing Rules for Fabled Lands even if those Fabled Lands subsequently prove nonexistant.
12. When the fabled lands or creatures of Rumors are found, the discoverer shall be notified via email by THS. THS will inform the discoverer the current rumors and rules pertaining to the newly discovered land and the discoverer may make a Special Report about the land to TIE or TPK, whichever is appropriate. TIE or TPK can decide if he believes this Special Report; if it is indeed true, then the reporter will gain one level of Bravery and one level of Rank, and the Report becomes part of the rules. If the Special Report is deemed too outrageous to be believed, then the reporter gains nothing and TIE or TPK can disclose the real truth about the discovery. TIC will still maintain the original rumor in the list of rumors, noting and crediting the fact that the Rumor had been validated.
13. In the world there shall be a finite number of continents each of a finite size (number of Fiefs), though the players shall not initially know the sizes. Upon its discovery, the size of a continent will be determined by the Imperial Cartographer rolling a fair six-sided die and adding a constant depending on the rank of the player making the voyage of discovery: 0 for a Commander/Plunderer, 2 for a Captain/Pirate Captain, 4 for a Commodore/Notorious Pirate, and 6 for an Admiral/Dread Pirate. In addition, if the player has an Explorer aboard his ship, an additional 2 is added to the die roll. If the continent contains 5 or 6 Fiefs, then four of these will be coastal and the rest inland; a smaller contintent is all coastal. A continent of size 7 consists of 2 inland and 5 coastal fiefs; additional fiefs beyond that shall alternate between inland and coastal, e.g., a continent of 10 fiefs would have 4 inland and 6 coastal fiefs.
14. Any new fief that is discovered can be in one of 2 states: Occupied or unoccupied. A colony can be established regardless of this status, but see Rule 43. If occupied (for instance, the Near Azores), then the occupants can be either friendly or unfriendly (eg the pirates). If the occupants are unfriendly, then the discoverer of the fief may do battle for the land. If the occupants are friendly, then the discoverer may: (i) do battle, in which case the natives will then become unfriendly (and will remain unfriendly for any future visits) or (ii) establish a treaty. If the discoverer loses a battle, then he must return to a known land (if any) for at least 5 proposals to recuperate. IC shall randomly determine if a fief is occupied or unoccupied [1/3 chance of unoccupied - THS] and if occupants are friendly [1/2 chance - THS].
15. All fiefs shall be divided into two categories: explored and unexplored. Any discovered lands which have friendly occupants shall be considered explored. Unexplored fiefs may not be settled. An exploring ship that lands on a continent shall land on a random piece of coast, and that Fief shall be considered "explored", if it had not previously been so. From that coastal Fief a player may explore the next piece of coast in either a clockwise or a counter- clockwise direction by advising THS and IC, at a rate of 1 piece of coast per 5 judged proposals. Newly Discovered Lands will be coastal Fiefs on a new continent.
16. A player may travel overland to any fief in the continent he is currently on in 5 proposals. The player may bring any number of people (Settlers, Marines, etc.) with him. To travel to a fief, a player shall mail THS to inform him that he is doing so: `I am traveling to Makal.' A Player may choose to travel to a random undiscovered fief on a continent; upon arrival, he may give it a name. The nature of its occupants is determined as usual. Exploring a fief shall take 40 proposals. A player may use Settlers or Marines/Buccaneers to reduce the time to explore a fief; each Settler or Marine or Buccaneer reduces the time by one proposal. If the player is an Explorer, or has one traveling with him the time is halved (rounding up). The time to explore a fief shall never be less than 10 proposals. Exploration is a dangerous business. If Settlers undertake exploration without Marines or Buccaneers for protection, THS shall throw two fair six-sided dice to determine the number of Settlers lost. If Marines or Buccaneers are present, THS shall throw throw two fair six-sided dice and subtract the second result from the first to determine the number of people lost. (If the number is negative, no people are lost.) This number shall be evenly divided between Marines and Settlers. Fiefs with unfriendly occupants may not be explored.
17. A load of at least 25 settlers must be present on a ship in order to establish a colony.
18. Once a player has established a colony, 200 Po8 are made available in Atlantis, to be collected on that player's return to the home town. Further, the colony may produce a single product, at the coloniser's discretion, which can be sold for double the initial value on return to Atlantis or Makal.
19. Once a colony is established, it shall grow in the following manner. Note that the term "colonist" refers to any type of personnel, settlers or marines or whatever, but specifically not to Players. (a) Each 10 proposals, a number of colonists equal to half the original number of colonists (rounded up) shall be added to the total to represent growth.
    (b) Every 15 proposals, the colonists shall interact with the natives of the continent on which they have landed. IC rolls a six-sided die and interprets the result as follows: If the fief is unoccupied or has friendly occupants, a 1 indicates a war in which half the colonists are killed, a roll of 2-4 indicates a peaceful agreement, and a roll of 5 or 6 indicates conversion, where a number of natives equal to one-quarter of the current number of colonists (rounded up) become colonists. If the fief has unfriendly occupants, then 1,2 or 3 indicates a war in which half of the colonists are killed, 4 or 5 indicates peaceful agreement - no change, and on a 6, IC rolls again. This time 1-3 indicates peaceful agreement, 4-6 indicates conversion of natives in number equal to 1/4 the number of colonists. If natives convert 3 times, they become friendly.
    (c) The maximum number of colonists in one fief is 200. Any excess colonists are ignored, until the player who owns the colony arrives to lead an expedition to a neighbouring fief. This fief, if colonised, acts in the same way as any other colony, except all increments are halved for inland provinces (i.e. natural increase is 1/4 every 10, war kills 1/4, and conversion adds 1/8 of the appropriate figures). (149)
20. Players may, with the use of non-combatant colonists (no buccaneers or marines), attempt to convert natives to the player's cause. A player gets +1 to their die roll for every 5 colonists being used to convert. With friendly natives, a single 6-sided die is rolled, and on a roll of 1, the natives become hostile for that player only, and execute the colonists. On a 2 or 3, no natives are converted. For every number above 3, that many natives are converted. If the natives were already hostile, then the colonists are executed on a 1-3, no effect on a 4 or 5, and for every number above 5, a native is converted, and the natives become non-hostile toward that player only.
21. When a Citizen forms a colony, s/he is declared governor of that colony. Any Citizen may bring any number of Marines to a colony. These Marines stay under control of that player. If at any time a Citizen has at least 10 more marines in a colony than the governor of that colony, then that player can take over that colony, although s/he will lose 10 marines in the ensuing fight. The losing side loses three quarters of its Marines.

    If a Citizen has at least 25 marines in a colony of which he is governor, he can declare his colony Royal Land. 25 of the marines in the colony will be given back to the king to protect the Royal Land. If a Citizen declares a colony of which he is governor Royal Land, he stays governor. Royal Land can never be taken over in the way described in this proposal. If a player who governs Royal Land ever makes a hostile take-over as described in this proposal, he loses governorship of all Royal Lands he governs, and these become governorless Royal Lands.

22. A player who has made an especially outstanding proposal can be rewarded by TIE by giving him Governorship over any governorless Royal Land. This player then can make his Governorship effective by sending 5 Royal Marines to the Fiefdom. A Governorship counts towards the amount of land added to the Empire by a player, even if it was part of the Empire from the beginning. No other way to claim Governorship or any kind of possession of governorless Royal Lands is possible but the one described in this rule. Atlantis will always fall directly under the reign of TIE. Pirates may not be Governors, so Governors who become Pirates lose their Governor status.