Gameplay

The MUSH server is in part a canvass for the players, within definite parameters. For (O)FCs, the game is power politics, lay nobles, kings, and prelates struggling over how to bring order and peace to an unruly and far-flung realm, and to do so profitably. For OCs, the game is profiting from the machinations of the great and powerful or perhaps avoiding ruin. The organization of space, the progression of time, and the political framework of the game are herein described.

Space
The Empire is first of all composed of the Kingdoms of Burgundy, Germany, and Italy, each of which is divided into distinct regions: in Germany, these are the duchies and their associated marches, Upper and Lower Lotharingia, Franconia, Swabia, Bavaria, Carinthia, and Saxony. The initial focus area will be the southwestern Empire, namely Swabia and Upper Burgundy, plus parts of western Bavaria and Franconia. The IC area will represent the lands controlled by the lords in these regions, with rooms for significant locations within each, especially routes of travel. Only the major houses and ecclesiastical institutions in this area will be available initially. See Characters for more information. Rooms will be labelled according to their location: for example, Front Gate - Burg Staufen. The room is the front gate to the Staufer ancenstral castle & house monestary, Castle Staufen, located in the Staufer Patrimony in Swabia. Another might be Danube River - Below Ulm - Swabia. Redescable rooms will be provided for unique locations or specific scenes.

The Staufer Lands
The Staufers' ancestral patrimony lays in the area of the valley of the Neckar between the Fils and the Rems, the valley of the Rems, and the valley of the Fils as far as Staufeneck. In addition to their Swabian allods, the Staufer control fiefs in Swabia extending into what used to be Franconia, extending along the Fils to the Jagst (which they share parts of with the Hohenlohe, another friendly house owning extensive lands and jurisdictions in central Franconia to the north). When the direct male line of Counts of Rothenburg died out in 1116, Conrad III. was rewarded with their inheritance by Emperor Henry V. The inheritance of 1116 gave the Staufer extensive lands in eastern Franconia, encompassing the Wörmitz and the Tauber as far as the Rothenburg ob der Tauber area. They also control lands along the Neckar as far as the Lorch that straddle the traditional boundary with eastern Franconia, as well as territory around Heilbronn and Weinsberg which they acquired in 1140 under Conrad III., giving the Staufer lands in eastern Franconia. Through his marriage to Adela, Frederick gained control over a significant part of Alsace, mostly northern, or Lower, Alsace.

In addition, while Conrad was King, they controlled what they were able to recover of the Crown Lands, namely what they could effectively take by force if they could not convince the occupants or their overlords (if they had any) that they were not legitimate tenants, or indeed that they were tenants at all. Unfortunately, forged documents of imperial grants are difficult to detect. Now that Conrad is dead, Frederick's control over those lands will be challenged.

The Staufer lands in Swabia are bordered to the west and southwest by the powerful Zähringer family, with whom they have recently concluded a peace treaty after two years of war. To the southwest lie lands belonging to the Counts Palatine of Tübingen. A smaller family, the Counts of Helfenstein, free vassals of the Staufer, as Dukes of Swabia, own lands to the southeast, and the Counts of Hellenstein, supporters of the Staufer but not their vassals, own lands bordering both the Staufer and the Helfensteiner, to the east.

The Zãhringer
The Empire is divided into a number of Duchies, Margraviates, Counties, and other jurisdictions. The following shows the jurisdictions, the region in which they're located, and the modern-day country in which they lay.

Table of Territorial Subdivisions Comprising the Holy Roman Empire
Names have been rendered in their modern English forms where appropriate. The locations given for Duchies, Margraviates, and Landgraviates indicate the region name in which; the locations given for Abbacies, Archbishoprics, Bishoprics, Burgraviates, Counties, and Palatine Counties indicate the Duchy, Margraviate, Landgraviate, or region (in the case of Franconia) in which they lay.

Familiae will control squares by placing manor houses, castles, or other improvements in them. Each district gives a familia a certain number of resources, which can be stockpiled in houses or castles, and improvements must be paid for with these resources. If a certain designated familia members do not visit districts frequently, control diminishes, damaging improvements not kept up by other actors, eventually becoming extinguished. As new districts emerge, familiae can control them. Lineages within familiae can also exercise control over districts controlled by familiae to which they belong; the prime lineage has absolute control and can determine how much the others are allowed. If a familia is at war, and an opposing player or familia enters a district not under their control, the control score of that room diminishes and improvements are damaged. Depending on the improvements made in that district and the equipment possessed by the hostile force, the latter will suffer damage. The longer the opponent stays, the more the owner loses control, up to a certain point depending on improvements. Multiple familiae occupying one district will be in danger of feud and waste if they're not careful (for example, the Burgraves and Bishops of Regensburg).

Symbols (e.g., a, @, é, ß, +) assigned to familiae and lineages will denote control. Certain symbols are reserved: +, indicating control by a religious institution, and ^, indicating control by the crown. The color of the symbol indicates the status of a room's control: Bright green (100 - 91%), dark green (90 - 81%), dark blue (80 - 81%), bright blue (80 - 71%), dark cyan (70 - 61%), dark yellow (60 - 51%), bright yellow (50 - 41%), dark magenta (40 - 31%), bright magenta (30 - 21%), dark red (20 - 11%), and bright red (10 - 1%).

Table of District Control Structures
Silver may be substituted for gold at a 2:1 ratio. Brick may be substituted for stone at a 1:1 ratio.

Familiae and lineages will start with districts and improvements thereto based upon holdings identified in sources. The prime lineage within a familia will have discretion over assigning districts without known lineages controlling them. Districts can be bought and sold, enfoeffed or revoked, to other lineages or familiae by the lineage presently in control of the district or the familia owning it. If a familia or lineage alienates a district under their control without permission of the owner, control points derived from that district's improvements will be worth half value. Control is a combination of the control point value of all control structures and the minimum control threshold of a district.

Time
Game time will advance on an as-needed basis; there is no concrete ratio by which time will be reckoned. During plots, a timescale for the advancement of time therein will be chosen, and at the conclusion of all plots occurring within a relatively similar timeframe, the objective game-clock will be advanced to the beginning of the next scheduled plot.

Politics
The best way to ensure that one's familia or lineage do not fail is to secure inheritances. For lay familiae, this means marriages, and for religious institutions, this means property donations.

The politics of 12th-Century Germany are very aristocratic. The constitution is essentially that any magnate holding fiefs directly from the King/Emperor is considered a prince; the past several Kings have been chosen via spontaneous election of assembled princes. The Dukes are considered to be the top of the food chain, followed closely by the Margraves. The Counts, Burgraves, Landgraves, and Palsgraves are somewhere below them, with the exact precedence being determined by the power of the familia to which the noble belongs. Sub-infeudation is a problem, since the principle that a vassal of a vassal is a vassal is not established; sub-vassals are not expressly required to be loyal to their lord's lord. Alienation of imperial fiefs, however, is expressly forbidden. The problem is complicated by the fact that a great number of wealthy noble familiae own large tracts of allodial property, held free and clear of any obligations to anyone else, in contrast to fiefs which come with certain obligations. There are few formal political structures, so politics is primarily personal and dynastic.

The great magnates are jealous of their position and privileges, and wish to be included in the making of decisions that affect them, to the point of participating in the decision-making process where they see fit. There is little concept within secular political thought of the Empire as a body or constituent whole. Territorially, the Empire is simply the aggregation of all of the lands of the nobles swearing fealty to the King/Emperor or over whom the King/Emperor by right exercises suzerainty (such as sub-vassals). Politically, it consists of the rights and responsibilities associated with the offices they receive from the King/Emperor, his vassals, or those of the King/Emperor himself. Thus the only truly "universal" office is that of King or Emperor. Everyone else is concerned primarily with ensuring that decisions made affecting them as powerful men in their regions are made with their advice and consent or their participation. Thus the consensus is that while a King/Emperor must be powerful enough to ensure that the peace is kept and everyone's interests are looked after, he cannot be allowed to become so powerful as to begin usurping the rights of princes to rule over their own territories and to make decisions which affect their standing or their properties without them.

Since the position is so prestigious, however, and so powerful, the temptation to use this power to advance one's own dynastic interests even at the expense of those of the other princely familiae is great. Consequently,