Istion - an Age of Sail Conworld.

[Torco]

So I'm thinking of starting a collab thing: I know, they eventually wither and die, but so does everything else, and they're fun while they last. So here's what I'm thinking: an earthlike planet, maybe a couple more moons or a jovian neighbour for fun, that's mainly islands: some the size of Britain, most the size of Easter Island or Vanuatu, spread across a reasonably large area. The inhabitants, or some of the inhabitants, at least, have reached the level of technological development required to produce the four technological requisites that, I think, define the feel of the age of sail feel.

- Advanced Sailing; this means, advanced carpentry, cartography and astronomical navigation.
- Primitive Gunpowder coexisting with swords and the like: muskets and pistols, perhaps some rifling being explored, while pikes, crossbows and broadswords are still in use
- Mercantilism

This, of course, doesn't mean that the circumstances of the setting would be analogous to those of europe: the musket was being used by Chinese, Korean and Turkish combatants, after all, advanced navigation has been accomplished by the polynesians, the chinese, and the arabs, if I'm not mistaken. Mercantilism isn't so hard to reproduce, it could happen even without anything like the bourgoise revolutions of America and France in the early modern period: mercantilism is just the state being highly protectionist, and heavily involved in foreign trade, and a lot of not-quite-so-advanced-as-us peoples from faraway.

Sooo yeah, that's my idea, an age of sail collab conworld. Hey, collabs are fun, good sources of inspiration, and stuff. Is anyone interested in this sort of thing?

[cromulant]

No thanks.

[Lithray]

No thanks.

Jerkface

@Torco: sounds interesting however I am already involved with Etheria.

[Astraios]

Interested, but not sure if good idea because uni... Persuade me.

[Herr Dunkel]

Interested, but not sure if good idea because uni... Persuade me.

All the islands will have pot and poppy plantations that cover 45% of arable land.

[Astraios]

Great way to persuade someone who can't stand smoking.

[Herr Dunkel]

Great way to persuade someone who can't stand smoking.

Haggis grows on trees.

[Astraios]

Yo' mama grew up in a tree.

[rickardspaghetti]

I'm sure there are loads of pork, Astraios.

[Nannalu]

And young naked men for you to comment on.

[Astraios]

Okay, I'm in.

[Lithray]

Young men who haven't discovered a shower!

or deodorant.

[Astraios]

They don't need those, there's plenty of fresh water lying about.

[L'alphabētarium]

Is it simply a conworld or are there any concultures, conhistories and conlangs involved too?
(I mean extensively, not just by default...)

[Salmoneus]

Something about the idea appeals to me. However, to be honest, it would have to be very in line with my preferences, not just in terms of the conworld but also the project. I don't have the time or the attention span for something like Akana, with so many people producing so much so quickly (every time I looked away, it took me weeks to catch up on Akana, until I was so adrift I couldn't get back in). I also found the variable quality and lack of coherence of Akana to be off-putting. So, if you were doing a small collaborative project with a handful of people, with yourself (or someone else) as dictator imposing (on the basis of consensus) order on everything, I might be interested in it (but no promises yet). Whereas if it's a free-for-all of two dozen people I don't know, I won't be.

[Torco]

Is it simply a conworld or are there any concultures, conhistories and conlangs involved too?
(I mean extensively, not just by default...)

I don't understand the question. of course the point is creating cultures, histories, langs, as well as regions, plants and animals.

[L'alphabētarium]

Is it simply a conworld or are there any concultures, conhistories and conlangs involved too?
(I mean extensively, not just by default...)

I don't understand the question. of course the point is creating cultures, histories, langs, as well as regions, plants and animals.

Oh, ok! That "age of sail" thing got me a bit confused. Sounds interesting so far...
But is there anything that differentiates it from other conworld projects like Akana or Etheria?
A different perspective or a different target maybe? I think I'm personally ok either way, I just need a bit more information about it...

[Astraios]

But is there anything that differentiates it from other conworld projects like Akana or Etheria?
A different perspective or a different target maybe? I think I'm personally ok either way, I just need a bit more information about it...

mainly islands: some the size of Britain, most the size of Easter Island or Vanuatu, spread across a reasonably large area. The inhabitants, or some of the inhabitants, at least, have reached the level of technological development required to produce the four technological requisites that, I think, define the feel of the age of sail feel.

- Advanced Sailing; this means, advanced carpentry, cartography and astronomical navigation.
- Primitive Gunpowder coexisting with swords and the like: muskets and pistols, perhaps some rifling being explored, while pikes, crossbows and broadswords are still in use
- Mercantilism

Lern2reed

[maıráí]

I'd like to join this, although I still want to see what happens before I join for sure.

Just to be sure, would we be working with that one, distinct era? As in, we'd have histories and all, but we wouldn't be entirely fleshing out the previous cultures, etc? Because I'd be much more comfortable committing to something smaller.

[L'alphabētarium]

But is there anything that differentiates it from other conworld projects like Akana or Etheria?
A different perspective or a different target maybe? I think I'm personally ok either way, I just need a bit more information about it...

mainly islands: some the size of Britain, most the size of Easter Island or Vanuatu, spread across a reasonably large area. The inhabitants, or some of the inhabitants, at least, have reached the level of technological development required to produce the four technological requisites that, I think, define the feel of the age of sail feel.

- Advanced Sailing; this means, advanced carpentry, cartography and astronomical navigation.
- Primitive Gunpowder coexisting with swords and the like: muskets and pistols, perhaps some rifling being explored, while pikes, crossbows and broadswords are still in use
- Mercantilism

Lern2reed

I nead moar enformayshon! MOAR!!!

Unless we're free to improvise from that point on...

[Herr Dunkel]

But is there anything that differentiates it from other conworld projects like Akana or Etheria?
A different perspective or a different target maybe? I think I'm personally ok either way, I just need a bit more information about it...

mainly islands: some the size of Britain, most the size of Easter Island or Vanuatu, spread across a reasonably large area. The inhabitants, or some of the inhabitants, at least, have reached the level of technological development required to produce the four technological requisites that, I think, define the feel of the age of sail feel.

- Advanced Sailing; this means, advanced carpentry, cartography and astronomical navigation.
- Primitive Gunpowder coexisting with swords and the like: muskets and pistols, perhaps some rifling being explored, while pikes, crossbows and broadswords are still in use
- Mercantilism

Lern2reed

I nead moar enformayshon! MOAR!!!

Unless we're free to improvise from that point on...

As I said, poppy and pot grow on 45% of all the arable land and haggis grows on trees.

[L'alphabētarium]

As I said, poppy and pot grow on 45% of all the arable land and haggis grows on trees.

That's too much improvising! Let's stick to cake buns and onigiri balls!

[Herr Dunkel]

As I said, poppy and pot grow on 45% of all the arable land and haggis grows on trees.

That's too much improvising! Let's stick to cake buns and onigiri balls!

That's allright, too.
For my Viking island, I'd like haggis trees and dire wolves to be on it.

[Torco]

But is there anything that differentiates it from other conworld projects like Akana or Etheria?
A different perspective or a different target maybe? I think I'm personally ok either way, I just need a bit more information about it...

mainly islands: some the size of Britain, most the size of Easter Island or Vanuatu, spread across a reasonably large area. The inhabitants, or some of the inhabitants, at least, have reached the level of technological development required to produce the four technological requisites that, I think, define the feel of the age of sail feel.

- Advanced Sailing; this means, advanced carpentry, cartography and astronomical navigation.
- Primitive Gunpowder coexisting with swords and the like: muskets and pistols, perhaps some rifling being explored, while pikes, crossbows and broadswords are still in use
- Mercantilism

Lern2reed

Now, now, straio, behave, don't bite the newb.
Yeah, the defining 'constitution of the conworld', as it were, is age of sailing: complex and large sailing vessels, musket-and-rapier combat, and a marked tendency of states to try and establish protectionist thalassocracies, if that's how you spell it.

Something about the idea appeals to me. However, to be honest, it would have to be very in line with my preferences, not just in terms of the conworld but also the project. I don't have the time or the attention span for something like Akana, with so many people producing so much so quickly (every time I looked away, it took me weeks to catch up on Akana, until I was so adrift I couldn't get back in). I also found the variable quality and lack of coherence of Akana to be off-putting. So, if you were doing a small collaborative project with a handful of people, with yourself (or someone else) as dictator imposing (on the basis of consensus) order on everything, I might be interested in it (but no promises yet). Whereas if it's a free-for-all of two dozen people I don't know, I won't be.

Looks like we agree, for a change. Most collab proyects I've seen are of the disordered and unconnected persuasion, where everyone just produces and produces and produces. I don't know if I'll be a Dictator, but my idea is to be a sort of euro monarch: generally powerless, except for the powers of veto, advising and going "whoa, whoa, whoa, shouldn't we be talking about this?"

But yeah, we'd be glad to have ya', if it be in the stars.

I nead moar enformayshon! MOAR!!!
Unless we're free to improvise from that point on...

See the next post, it'll be sort of the flight plan for Age of Sail, which is the name of this collab thing.

Just to be sure, would we be working with that one, distinct era? As in, we'd have histories and all, but we wouldn't be entirely fleshing out the previous cultures, etc? Because I'd be much more comfortable committing to something smaller.

Absolutely, I don't wanna deal with the whole bronzeage-to-musket story: history might well end up being barebones, like this

"ok, so there were some guys called the romans [year 0] and they went and unified the mainland politically, religiously and more or less culturally, then they got fucked by some dudes on horseback over and over again [year 500] and so the big empire became a bunch of big estates ran by chieftains. then those evolved into like feudal multi-tiered confederacies and principalities [1000] but then they got tired of the whole feudal thing, plus gunpowder and other techs allowed for like six unified kingdoms [1400] and then they discovered advanced sailing and decided to OWN ALL THE THINGS [1600, year now]"

So yeah, there might be post-year-zero historical changes, for sure, but I'm not thinking of something with a "lets redo history" thing.

As for straio's request for convincing...
pirates. pirates and uncharted waters. pirates and uncharted waters and conlangs. and pirates.
plus the age of sail in our own world is the moment in time where our own world was made: more than the cold war, more than rome, almost every country in the planet owes its language, economy, legal code, and a big freaking chunk of their culture to the adventures of those brave sailors, gritty pirates, and swaggering privateers. To the exploits of trade companies and all others who sought freedom from stifling civilization upon the waves, the winds, and the shared will to see, and conquer, whatever lies beyond unseen horizons. The age of sail is the crucible in which worlds are forged, the big bang of human mastery over space and time, the death of man as a subject of nature, and the birth of man as the master of matter and energy at such as scale as previous civilizations could not have imagined their own gods to have. And we can be the smiths that work that crucible
and pirates.

[Astraios]

Now, now, straio, behave, don't bite the newb.

My haplologies.

As for straio's request for convincing...
pirates. pirates and uncharted waters. pirates and uncharted waters and conlangs. and pirates.
plus the age of sail in our own world is the moment in time where our own world was made: more than the cold war, more than rome, almost every country in the planet owes its language, economy, legal code, and a big freaking chunk of their culture to the adventures of those brave sailors, gritty pirates, and swaggering privateers. To the exploits of trade companies and all others who sought freedom from stifling civilization upon the waves, the winds, and the shared will to see, and conquer, whatever lies beyond unseen horizons. The age of sail is the crucible in which worlds are forged, the big bang of human mastery over space and time, the death of man as a subject of nature, and the birth of man as the master of matter and energy at such as scale as previous civilizations could not have imagined their own gods to have. And we can be the smiths that work that crucible
and pirates.

So I get to plunder your booty? I'm convinced.