Mandate of Heaven (Three Kingdom Quest)

For years the country has been ravished by plague and disease. The people suffer starvation. Famine threatens their livelihood and poor harvest upon poor harvest robs them of any hope for the future. While the people suffer, the government is mired in corruption. From inside the palace the eunuchs whisper into the ear of the greedy emperor to enrich themselves and grasp more and more power into their greedy fingers. On the outside the gentry watches jealously and ruthlessly exploits the people for their own benefit, largely thanks to the lack of imperial oversight. In the end the people suffer at the hands of both of them.

Amidst such chaos, a ray of hope appears in the form of Zhang Jue, the founder of the Way of Peace. With talismans and the promise that confessions of guilt help he went under the masses to heal the sick, cure the wounded and spread his faith. His message was a powerful one and his followers grew to number thousands. But seeing the numbers of his followers grow and even prominent nobles coming to him, Zhang Jue grew ambitious. Not content with just spreading his faith he planned to ignite the fires of rebellion in the heart of his followers. Armed divisions were created and preparations made. After years of planning, preparing and plotting, he considered himself ready to act. So he spoke:


Jiazi, this word became a ray of hope for the people. A way for salvation and the followers of the Way of Peace prepared accordingly. In their frevent belief for a better tomorrow they started writing the word jiazi with chalk on walls. In Luoyang, Ye and many other cities throughout the empire walls are littered with these white chalk marks. Their omnious meaning only clear to the initiated.

Ignoring these marks and signs of unrest, the Imperial Court continues its malpractices and follows the path of corruption. Early warnings by Yang Ci and others are disregarded. Such shortsightness rarely leads to a good end. Closing the eyes before a coming catastrophe and putting the head in the sand has never solved a problem. In this case, fate or heaven was still on the side of the Han Empire. A righteous subject saves them in the end.

Tang Zhou, a follower of Zhang Jue, writes a letter to the court and reveals the nefarious plot of his master. This letter reaches the hands of He Jin, brother of Empress He, and his swift actions reveal the truth. Ma Yuanyi, a major organizer of the uprising and recruiter for Luoyang is captured and executed. A purge follows, claiming the lives of most supporters or adherents of the Way of the Peace in the capital. Thousands are put to the sword. With such a threat coming to light, a call is send out.

All men of talent, the heroes of the land, the dutiful officials and sons of valiant soldiers are called forth to help the Empire. To come to Luoyang, to gather behind the Banner of Han, to fight for all that is right and protect the Holder of the Mandate of Heaven.

You are one such hero. A man of talent. Born to a long line of officials. For generations your family served the Han and prospered. It will be your solemn duty to repay such favor and defend the Imperial Throne from its enemies. For a time, at least.

With the Mandate of Heaven in question, will you strife to restore it to its former glory or try to claim it for yourself to establish peace and order? In this era of strife and disorder, a champion was bound to appear. Will it be you? Or will you end up being a side-note in the tale of another?

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Your father is Long Weimin, currently prefect of a county in one of endangered commanderies and your family is with him. As a young man he was nominated as Filial and Incorrupt, passed the muster and served faithfully in minor positions. Known as a charismatic and well-liked figure he earned his rank as prefect through merit. During his tenure as a prefect his served faithfully, recommending the able, punishing the wicked and helping the poor.

While your new home is a nice place, you still yearn for your Clan's ancestral home, where your ancestors are laid to rest and the remaining Clan lives. Your birthplace and where you played with your cousins years ago.

Choose the place of your Clan Estate:
As you chose your birthplace and where your clan has his estates, it is important to remember that you will not get an official station in the chosen province. The same goes for your father! Therefore, choosing the respective province automatically looks you out of getting any high rank there as long as the Imperial Administration functions.

-[X] Donghai Commandery: Situated in Xu Province your family has their estate close to the town of Qu in Qu county. Over time your family has taken many different merchant clans under their wing. Through the patronage given by your clan these itinerant merchants could grow rich through the trade with pearls and the South. Your clan could partake in this wealth through their deep bonds to the merchants. A local ally is the powerful Mi Clan, which is also the Clan of some of your childhood friends Mi Fang and Mi Zhu.

• Richest Origin: Clan has the most accumulated wealth and direct income.
• Historical Characters: Connection to the historical characters Mi Fang, Mi Zhu and Mi Shi.
• Connections to Merchant Clans: They are involved in the Trade with the South and provide a decent source of income aside from land or the Han.

-[X] Nanyang Commandery: Situated in the Jing Province your family has their estate in Xinye county close to the town that gave the county its name. Nanyang is blessed with people and fertile lands. Your family has etched out their own little paradise. Great stretches of land and many tenant farmers, wage-labourers and some slaves work your clans vast fields. These lands have made your clan the dominant force in the county and most of the local posts are filled with clan members or close allies.

• Biggest Landholder Origin: Clan has the most land and the most people under their control.
• Deeply entrenchend: Clan has most local posts filled with allies or family members.
• Biggest armed force: Through their extensive holdings they can call upon the most people to protect themselves.

-[X] Lujiang Commandery: Situated in Yang Province your family has their estate in Shu County near their close allies the Zhou Clan. Together these two clans are one of the commanding presences in the commandery. Alone already considered a considerable force in the region together they cannot be ignored in their home. Your father has become an especially close friend of Zhou Yi and his son has come to see yourself as some kind of older brother.

• Political Power Origin: Clan is one of the dominant forces in the commandery instead of just the county.
• Powerful Alliance: The Zhou Clan is known as a Clan of Ministers with two of their members having served as Grand Commandant, one of the three excellencies.
• Historical Characters: Deep connection to the Zhou Clan and with it to Zhou Yi and his son Zhou Yu.

-[X] Runan Commandery: Situated in Yu Province your family has their estate in Xiyang county close to the namegiving town. The position of the Yuan Clan in this commandery is domineering and other Clans either rise or fall through them. Your ancestors have proven themselves able and have joined the long list of clients of this mighty clan. Your father was during his time at the capital among the many companions of the leading characters of the younger members of the Yuan Clan.

• Client Origin: Clan has the patronage of the Yuan Clan of Runan.
• Historical Connection: Yuan Clan is connected to the Long Clan and Yuan Shu and Shao are known to your father.​

At this time the Clan, your family, is the basis of power for any hero. In your case there was not just your father. There is also your mother. The marriage between your father and mother was arranged as is the norm for this time. Still, there is genuine affection and even love between your parents.

Choose the fate of your mother:
-[X] Mother is alive: Your mother is Long Baiye. She is the official wife of Long Weimin. Their marriage is a loving one, and even though him taking a concubine has soured their relation somewhat, she is the pillar supporting the family. Keeping you and your siblings out of harms way and helping each of you coming into your own has been her life-long dream.
-[X] Mother is dead: Some time ago tragedy has struck your family. Your mother, the lovely Long Baiye perished. Her loss left a hole in your life as well as in the life of your siblings. Your father was consoled by his concubine and she even tried to step into the former role of your mother. But something about your mother's death was suspicious...

But your mother was not the only woman your father had around him. He also has a concubine. Formerly of the noble Yan Clan, which has been in decline for decades, Yan Ying has given your father a son and a daughter. An older half-brother and younger half-sister, their relationship with your side of the family is complicated.

Except for your two half siblings you also had some full-blooded siblings.

Choose the number of siblings:
-[X] Two Siblings: You were not the only talented child of your parents. Your other siblings, while not quite as gifted as you are, can still be considered blessed with talents beyond the norm. (Choose two options from the archtype list)
-[X] Four Siblings: While three of your siblings are following in your footsteps, one among them is a true troublemaker. The black sheep of the family, a headache at the moment he could become a real problem for the future. (Choose three options from the archetype list and one from the Troublemaker)

Choose the archtype of your siblings(Choice dependent on earlier one (2 or 3)):
-[X] Elder Sister: Renowned as a local beauty, your older sister is known for her charm and beauty.
-[X] Elder Sister: Studious, learned and obedient, your older sister is the ideal wife to be.
-[X] Elder Sister: Bold and ferocious, your older sister pursued a path seen unfit for a woman. She wanted to be a warrior.
-[X] Elder Sister: Mischevious and studious, your older sister enjoyed studying the classics but often used such knowledge for her troublesome schemes.
-[X] Younger Sister: Your younger sister is turning into a true beauty and her charm has already produced a small list of suitors.
-[X] Younger Sister: Your younger sister is born a little more on the shy side and has sought refuge in books and ancient journals.
-[X] Younger Sister: Your younger sister has joined you on more hunts than you can count and has pestered everyone for lessons in archery or with the dao.
-[X] Younger Sister: Your younger sister is known as a mischevious little troublemaker, but quick-witted enough to never be blamed for her deeds. It was always 'someone else'.
-[X] Younger Brother: Your younger brother has trained relentlessly with the bow, sword and the horse. He is boisterously claiming to become unrivaled under the heaven in battle.
-[X] Younger Brother: Your younger brother has a deep love for the scholarly arts and has learned to recite the classics by heart.
-[X] Younger Brother: Your younger brother grew up with tales of mighty generals and since then has tried to emulate these tales with an extensive study of the art of war.
-[X] Younger Brother: Your younger brother takes deep pride in your lineage of officials serving the Han and has dedicated his youth to trying to emulate his ancestors in the future.

Choose the Troublemaker: The black sheep of the family. Someone you would like to claim no relation to, but cannot deny their close familial bond to you. (Ignore this category, if the plan for character creation does not include 4 siblings!!)
-[X] Greedy Gambler: Your younger brother is a well-known gambler and in his greed to accumulate riches he never knows when to stop. This is why he has lost a not insignificant amount of wealth to your family.
-[X] Arrogant Drunkard: Arrogance is only a sin, if you cannot back it up. Sadly your younger brothers fascination with drinking addles his formidable mind and this has led to more than one unfortunate event.
-[X] Lecherous Troublemaker: Even at a young age your younger brother has lusted after woman. It started with him harassing the maids at your family manor, but has since then only escalated.
-[X] Wrathful Brawler: Quick to anger and quick to fight, your younger brother has been in fights since he can walk. And most of them have been started by his own hand.

Your story is a tale worth spinning, but every story has a beginning and an end. While the final days of your tale have not been written, the start of your journey could be. Are you a hero who rose to promince with his deeds during the Yellow Turban Rebellion or an unknown youth facing his first obstacle on the path to glory?

When does this tale start?:
-[X]Start with Yellow Turban Rebellion: Your tale begins with the Yellow Turban Rebellion. In times of chaos heroes rise and with your father beset by danger the moment for you to stand up to do your part has come. All he has build up and the fate of your family may depend on your actions.
-[X]Start after Yellow Turban Rebellion: Your name first entered the annals of history with the recent rebellion. While not one of the main actors crushing the rebellion, you still accumulated merits and proved your worth. Enough to draw the attention of the court.

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AN.: The Character Creation will continue and include your education, clan of your mother, possible items, character and character weakness, fate of your father, accomplishments of your father and stat allocation. Altogether it should be four to five parts. If it is not obvious, please use plan voting.

Concerning the Yellow Turban Rebellion, if you decide to not play it out we will have it as something like a tapestry decision tree. You will be able to choose your own deeds, where you served and correspondingly some historical characters you made connections with. Lastly there will also be the option for one major butterfly and some other smaller changes.
If you want to play it out, the biggest difference is that many things will depend on dice. If your father is alive, he will depending on your character not be inclined to let you join the fight. There is no guarantee that you will make such great accomplishments as offered as certainty for the other option and there is the risk of characters dying. But for that you will likely have the chance to meet more characters and more butterflies may start influencing things.

Lastly this was obviously inspired by @Gaz amazing work To Establish Peace , it is deliberately set in another location so to not tread upon the same paths.

Stats
Each character has five Stats that showcase their abilities outside of their respective traits. In order, they are LDR, WAR, INT, POL and CHA. They range from 1-120.

LDR – Leadership is the commander or general stat. It represents the ability of the character to command men. This includes the near totality of taking care of troops. From training them up, raising their discipline or establish it, to the classical command of them during battles, missions or peace-time. The essential stat for a troop commander.

WAR – War or Warcraft is the physical activity or warrior stat. It represents the ability of the character to fight. This includes his skill at handling any weapon and also classical physical activities. From fighting in an army or dueling another character, to hunting or horse-riding. This makes it the essential stat for a fighter.

INT – Intelligence is the adviser or strategist stat. It represents the ability of the character to think on the spot, his amount of knowledge, wit and plot or scheming skill. This includes the common plans that strategist characters propose to their lords, be it about plans for battle or plots to undermine an opponent. This makes it one of the essential stats for an able adviser.

POL – Politics is the bureaucrat, administrator or politician stat. It represents the ability and knowledge of a character to deal with the administration, handle governance and deal with bureaucratic issues. This covers a broad range of tasks from law-making to overseeing the construction of dams. This makes it the second essential stat for an able adviser.

CHA – Charisma is the leader stat. It represents all the things that encompass the personal aura of a person that we normally call charisma and how well a character can apply it. This includes nearly all personal interaction and broader public acts. In an era where personal loyalty superseded most if not all forms of loyalty it is highly important for any leader of man or future warlord. This makes it the essential stat for any leader.

As should be obvious, stats can grow easier in the lower ranges than in the higher ones. Essentially the stats have hidden experience points that increase with every ten points and a hard cap at 100. From this point on only great achievements will grant a bonus to the respective stat. A fitting example would be Guan Yu slaying Yan Liang inside the enemy encampment or Cao Cao's Battle of White Wolf Mountain.

Experience Points List:
The amount will be hidden, but to give a small overview over how long you can expect it to take to train from one stat level to another.
1-10 10XP
11-20 20XP
21-30 30XP
31-40 40XP
41-50 50XP
51-60 100XP
61-70 150XP
71-80 250XP
81-90 500XP
91-100 1000XP

Around Forty is what normal people with such a job have. You can think about common guards, soldiers or clerks. 50 is a talented one or focused on this aspect. These are talented clerks or soldiers as well as people focusing on just one skill like martial artists. 60 is skilled. These would be veteran soldiers who fought many campaigns or hermits spending their time studying. 70 are the characters getting historical mention, you can expect the higher ranks to be normally filled with characters in this stat range. 80 known for it in circles, these the names nominated for posts because they are so good. Think a young Sun Jian after his meritious service in his first campaing. 90 famed for it, this is someone famed throughout the land for his skill, if he got a chance to showcase it. Cai Yong would be a nice example, but he would also be borderline for the next category. 100 pinnacles in history, these are the characters who made their mark in this area. Think Guan Yu's martial prowess, Cao Cao's commanding ability or Zhuge Liang's 'gift' for governance. Even higher is the level of these characters at their peak, the moment in history when they shined brightest. Just that without any other mistakes they committed in that area.

Difference between POL and INT:
Essentially it boils down to INT being the main stat and POL being an outflow of the former. Someone can be intelligent without knowing much about how a government works or how to best make laws. But the opposite is far harder. Being intellectually challenged but somehow ending up as the greatest lawmaker in human history. Hyperbolic in expression, but I hope my point comes across.

I know many people, whom I consider intelligent, but if I give them some legal documents, or they have to fill out some documents they would still ask for help because they are lost. If they showed interest in such things or have learned it, there would be no issue, but without such a time investment they are lacking in these areas.

That is the difference I see between these two stats.

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Resources: The plan is to have five resources to represent the power you wield and what you have to look for. I am still contemplating of splitting one into three, but this should be a workable system.

Wealth is gold in-game and is accumulated through taxes, trade, presents and rewards. To name a few sources. It represents any kind of wealth you possess from that is liquid in some way or another. This includes simple coins, silk and other precious stuff like gems, perls etc.

Wealth can be spent in a multitude of ways. From simply buying things like rations, another resource, to use it to reward other characters, bribe someone or invest it into your troops or holdings.

Then there are rations, which represents agricultural products of the land you own or bought from other sources. Rations can be sold for wealth/gold. They are spent as a form of upkeep for your standing troops. Every region will have a limit most often around 5% of the regions population. These are the ones that the region can sustain without you losing rations. Above the amount and every turn or established interval there will be a cost to pay or moral will get a hit.

A similar mechanic will be used on the campaign. Therefore, keeping an eye on it, if an offensive campaign is planned is a must.

Guanxi or Political Power is the political resource showcasing the influence you can wield without hurting your own position. It represents favors owed, promises made and pressure you can put on others.

When you have reached a certain rank or build a sufficient power base you will automatically generate a certain amount, till then you need to gain it through actions. Court powerful political players, convince nobles to support you or plead for your family to support you. There are many ways to gain guanxi.

Fame is a resource not able to be spent, it just grows the more famous you become. During the time the Imperial government is still functional it is possible to earn ranks or nominations through a high fame.

Merits or Techpoints is the last resource it is earned through achieving merits. It allows progression on a tech chart. This resource is earned through either meritorious service/deeds, reaching achievements or fulfilling ambitions. I will start with it just being one resource, but I may split it up into three categories of Military, Economic and Political Techpoints.

Here is the link for the Long Clan at 184.

Historical Portrayal and certain liberties:
I know history is always a troublesome subject. Therefore, I will give my list of reading material and shortly spell out how I intend to do this.

Let's get one thing out of the way initially the portrayal of women as fighters is a literary liberty I take in line with most media from this era. While there will be certain limits to the power a woman can accumulate in that era, and they will face opposition through slander to outright disobedience if she wants to pick up the sword, they will feature far more prominently than would be historically accurate.

The most we have for the case of women generals or fighters are some who helped defend a city under siege and picked up a crossbow. Even the famous paragon of this trope, the sister of Sun Ce, was never said to have joined any battlefield.

So there will be some female fighters or ones with the dream of joining the battlefield, but they will have to face an uphill fight to earn respect and their leader will face resistance, obstruction and ridicule. Women, who have the reputation of a fighter or wanting to be a general, will also have reduced chances to make a great marriage match on their own merit.

The other big aspect will likely be the personal power displayed by characters. There will be no Dynasty Warriors shenaningans, no magic or weird contraptions that are essentially cannons. It has been some time since I played Three Kingdoms Total War Unmodded, but it is best to think about the power scale, if I remember correctly, on the lower end of Romance Mode. If you are familiar with the Kingdoms Manga about the Unification of China under Qin, it is a good benchmark. But without the weird Wuxia and Xianxia stuff. No little girl with "breath" steamrolling everything else.

Then, as said, this is intended to follow a more historical path of the known story than the media portrayal, so I will not include the better known Romance of the Three Kingdoms plot points. There will be no Diao Chan, while there is still the woman Lü Bu sleeps with, she will deliberately be named differently. Assassination attempts that did not happen will not happen, like Cao Cao's Seven-Star Sword ploy. The alliance against Dong Zhuo is not in one place but split and no duel with the three brothers. Trust me, history is interesting enough. Maybe butterflies will make some of this even go away naturally.

Lastly, we have the portrayal of the known characters. I will go more for a historical character interpretation than a media one. Don't expect Liu Bei to utter the word benevolence in every second sentence or mention his alleged descent from a distant relative of the emperor, which would make him like the 12th​ Cousin 13 times removed of the later Emperor Xian(Yes, I did look that up! I am that petty). For some who know Gaz Quest, it is no surprise that I am not the biggest fan of Liu Bei, but I will not take away from their achievements or skill. Just their characters will be different from what is common RoK media. Also, I will not use the demeaning names for the Qiao sisters. Younger and Older are not names.

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My knowledge about the era is not perfect, and I would never claim it to be. If you think I made a mistake or did something stupid, you are more than welcome to call me out on it. Especially, on the cultural angle I am likely quite blind.

Reference Material:
This is a small list of the books and essays I own or have access to about this era. They are the foundation I will build this quest around. This also makes this kind of reading project for me, because I have not read every book on this list from cover to cover or can recall it perfectly. If someone has a recommendation not on this list, I am always interested in broadening my knowledge.

I put the maps into spoilers, because not everyone would want to look at them or has them take up the displays of their handy.

If someone is interested in other maps, here is the link for some maps done or used by Rafe de Crespigny.

Battle: The goal of a battle is to either kill the enemy or break their moral. Most battles will end with the latter happening. In principle the battles are decided by rolls. The stat most often used is LDR added with any bonuses provided by traits, plots, advantages or other modifiers plus a D100. There are three rounds of rolls for every battle round. These three rolls are then put against the opposing ones and the higher number wins, obviously. But it does not end there, the difference between the rolls, how often one side won and the highest and lowest score also influence things.
Following these results casualties and moral losses are inflicted. Casualties are always a percent of the unit number and moral is a simple number. A battle goes on as long till one side has emerged as the winner or one withdraws.

After the battles comes the pursuit. Here infantry counts normally, but cavalry has its effect multiplied by 5. Meaning 100 cavalry pursue the enemy as effective as 500 infantry. There are roughly three settings, a short pursuit, a normal pursuit and trying to annihilate the enemy. They decrease or increase the effect of the pursuit. Other influences are the terrain, knowledge of the terrain, character leading the pursuit and reforms. Depending on all of this a die is thrown for a specific table.

Units: In this time and age the armies became more and more retainer armies. A great army was in effect a collection of many tiny armies led by their respective leader. If you are familiar with Total War:Three Kingdoms, you will have a rough idea of what I am talking about. A character will always lead units, they will be from a certain predefined type, like militia or light cavalry. They are capped at the beginning at only numbering 700. With certain reforms this number can be increased to 1000.

How many units a character can command is also limited. Like in TW:TK, where a character could only command 6 units, there is a limit to how many can be employed by one character. Without any modifiers this limit is one. This limit can be raised by the LDR stat, titles, rank, reforms and traits. Another method is to put other characters under the leader's command, but this is also blocked with a limit. Compared to the one for units, it starts at zero. It can be raised in the same way as the unit limit.

To be expanded...

Reserved for future content.

Relationships and Bonds:

Hardly anything becomes as important as the personal loyalty a character can hold and inspire in this day and age. Every warlord of note had a special cadre of retainers, who were loyal directly to him.

The friendship between Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei has grown into a legend, but their relationship was only one example out of many. There are also the close friendships between Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, Jia Xu and Zhang Xiu, Cao Cao and Xun You, Ma Teng and Han Sui to only name a few. Often, the decision to follow a certain warlord and stay loyal to him was fueled more by a personal sense of loyalty than by logical reasons or the chance for riches and glory.

Therefore, building a network of friends and allies is important. Some characters will not be swayed by any kind of riches or honors, while others will only care for such things.

Managing the relationships between other characters and the main character can majorly influence the story. Earning the loyalty of characters will make them fall in line behind you and in the same way earning their enmity will make the act against your interests.

• Bond Level (-5): Nemesis/Mortal Enemy (1000)
• Bond Level (-4): Hated Foe (750)
• Bond Level (-3): Despised Foe (500)
• Bond Level (-2): Strongly Disliked (200)
• Bond Level (-1): Annoyed (100)
• Bond Level (0): Indifferent
• Bond Level (1): Distant (100)
• Bond Level (2): Sympathetic (200)
• Bond Level (3): Friendly (500)
• Bond Level (4): Close Friend (750)
• Bond Level (5): Best Friend (1000)
• Bond Level (6): Beloved (1250)
• Bond Level (7): Sworn Blood Brothers (1500)

The moment you hit Bond Level -3 or Bond Level 4, the status of the relationship is cemented for the first time. It makes it far harder for a change in the other direction to happen. Since these levels each one gets harder to be reduced. While you can quite easily lose a bond level in the lower regions, in the higher ones it takes true effort to change things.

If you reach Bond Level 5 with characters there will be a cooperation trait unlocked. For your family there is a separate obstacle to clear. Something in line with a crisis point. Their relationship is already high with Wanru, but there exist some hurdle to pass for them to cooperate.

The points behind the Bond Levels will be hidden during the quest. They are given to hopefully provide an idea of how long it would take to reach certain levels of friendship or comradery in this quest. Increases and decreases in this scale will be descriptive and not mechanically shown. Meaning the result of an action will go from a simple character A loved this to character B despised your decision, instead of X gains 50 Bonds Level points.

Lastly a warning, these bond level are subjective. Considering that plots are common elements in such stories and that not every enemy will announce themselves to you, do not rely too much on these things. Not every subordinate will show his dislike or announce his opinion regarding a decision. I will not simply show them as enemies. In this case you have to suffer the fog of war.

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The list of Wanru's current bonds can be found in the character information post under the corresponding tab.