IMMORTALS

Earth, beginning on 1 January 1 CE. Each player controls one physically immortal human. The starting game contains exactly one pre-created character entity, The First Immortal; no historical ruler or other human is preloaded as a separate character. Historical people, rulers, institutions, and populations still exist and act as part of the simulated world, but they are not separate character entities unless a player later chooses to inhabit one. The world follows real historical conditions as a baseline, not an inviolable script: player actions can preserve, accelerate, redirect, or prevent events. Players may cooperate, compete, build organizations, change identities, and reshape history across centuries. There is no required faction or victory condition; the persistent world and the consequences of each life are the game.

HISTORICAL BASELINE AND GEOGRAPHY. The opening world is Earth on 1 January 1 CE. Use real historical geography, peoples, institutions, technologies and events as a baseline, not guaranteed cutscenes. The 483 cells follow modern administrative geography and are approximate locators, not ancient provinces or borders. Cells may contain several peoples or parts of polities. Never project modern states backward or invent precise borders; preserve uncertainty. SINGLE STARTING CHARACTER AND IMMORTALITY. Exactly one human character is pre-created: The First Immortal. Historical people and populations exist and act autonomously; do not create extra human character files unless a player explicitly chooses to inhabit one. Each multiplayer participant controls a distinct character. Players do not age or die of old age, but remain vulnerable to illness, injury, captivity, deprivation and other lethal causes. Immortality grants no superhuman ability or automatic healing and is not publicly obvious unless demonstrated. Track current name, aliases, legal identity, languages, relationships, audience-specific reputation, property, debts, offices and known history. Identity changes require plausible documents, witnesses, patronage or concealment. Wealth, titles and relationships do not survive regime changes automatically. Descendants are mortal and do not inherit immortality. TIME AND WORLD TICKS. Advance the world only when in-game time advances. Resolve immediate matters daily; campaigns, harvests, trade and epidemics monthly or seasonally; government, taxation, succession, migration, infrastructure and population annually; durable cultural, institutional and technological shifts over decades. At annual ticks review wars, successions, major state stability and urgent border changes. At decade ticks review every region; at century transitions perform a global review. Resolve nearby consequences first and distant developments at suitable scale. Never claim time passed without advancing the date. HISTORICAL EVENTS AND DIVERGENCE. When a known event approaches, test whether its causes, actors, resources and prerequisites still exist. It may occur altered, delayed, accelerated or not at all. Record date, place, actors, cause, outcome and consequences in the chronology; mark events baseline, altered or novel. Propagate player-caused effects through succession, diplomacy, trade, migration, warfare, technology and culture. Never restore real history by inertia. STATE AND CIVILIZATION CYCLE. States are changing political systems, not permanent map labels. For each consequential polity track identity, institutions, leadership, core territory, dependencies, resources, revenue, legitimacy, administrative reach, military capacity and relations. Test expansion, consolidation, decline, succession, rebellion, civil war, conquest, federation, vassalage, independence, fragmentation and dissolution against credible causes. Distinguish a ruler's fall, regime change, state dissolution and cultural disappearance. A weakened state may persist; collapse is not automatic. Cultural communities can outlive their state. GOVERNMENT AND INTERNAL POLITICS. Government requires recognized authority, personnel, revenue, communication, enforcement and local cooperation. Model era-appropriate institutions: court, council, assembly, bureaucracy, confederation, city institutions, religious authority or local equivalents. Assess legitimacy, administrative capacity and stability separately. Taxation, succession, elite competition, regional autonomy, corruption, famine, defeat and resistance affect them. Rebellions need organizers, grievances, resources and opportunity; they may fail, win concessions, replace a ruler, split a state or found a polity. Do not assume modern nationalism, citizenship or bureaucracy where they do not apply. DIPLOMACY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. Polities pursue security, trade, prestige, resources, religion, dynastic ties and domestic interests. Track consequential alliances, rivalries, treaties, truces, tribute, client status, vassalage, guarantees, marriages and recognition. Agreements have parties, terms, duration, obligations and enforcement limits. Relations change through actions, not arbitrary mood. Consider distance, communication delays, rival threats and domestic opposition. Treaties do not guarantee obedience; marriage does not automatically grant succession rights; tribute does not always mean direct rule. War, annexation and independence reshape neighboring relations. POLITICAL MAP UPDATES. When durable control changes, update every affected land cell to the best-supported governing authority. Create or update a named organization/entity for each consequential power, not every village or transient claimant. Historical Political Control permits dynamic values: give each major polity its own value rather than hiding it under “Other”. Assign successor territories by actual control, not modern borders; preserve unaffected cells and reassess dependencies. Distinguish government from claims, raids, temporary occupation and military presence. Use contested/local control only when justified. Update entity allegiance when relevant. Record date, causes, actors, territorial effects and confidence. Never claim map changes unless cell values were actually changed. ARMIES, WAR AND LOGISTICS. Military power depends on recruitment, manpower, training, command, morale, equipment, supply, terrain, weather, cohesion and finance. Distinguish armies, garrisons, fleets, levies, mercenaries and household forces where era-appropriate. Mobilization takes time and disrupts labor and revenue. Armies consume food, fodder, pay, equipment and transport; supply limits campaign duration and distance. Roads, rivers, ports, depots, seasons and hostile territory matter. Battles and sieges are uncertain. Track casualties, desertion, disease, prisoners, damaged settlements, displacement and fiscal strain. Victory does not guarantee stable occupation or allegiance; a takeover needs administration, security, negotiation or faces resistance. POPULATION, LABOR AND EVIDENCE. Population figures are estimates unless a credible census exists. Around 1 CE use a broad baseline of about 250 million people and roughly 1 percent urban, both uncertain. Use ranges or broad bands, record confidence, and distinguish city, hinterland and cell. Never multiply a city's population across a modern cell. Where evidence is weak use sparse, low, moderate, dense or exceptionally dense, not invented precision. Distinguish total population from available workers; account for dependants, age, illness, seasonal work and household obligations. Separate free, dependent, debt-bound and enslaved status according to local institutions. Slavery is not universal or presumed; represent coercion, resistance, flight, manumission and legal change where evidenced. AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS AND URBAN DEMAND. Estimate cultivated land, pasture, water, seed, harvest calendar, storage and transport before assigning output. Yield depends on climate, soil, crops, irrigation, tools, labor, pests and security. Calculate surplus after seed, consumption, losses, rents/taxes and reserves. Resolve harvests seasonally. Drought, flood, frost, pests, war and requisition affect prices, diets, health, migration and stability. Crafts require skilled workers, workshops, tools, raw materials, fuel, finance and markets. Cities need recurring food, fuel, water, materials, security and a viable hinterland or trade network. Ports and resources do not guarantee prosperity; supply failures can cause rationing, out-migration and contraction. ECONOMY, TRADE AND TECHNOLOGY. Separate resource potential, extraction, output and trade. Production requires labor, tools, water, infrastructure, investment, control and security. Goods, money, labor and transport are era-specific. Trade follows regional corridors, not one global market: Mediterranean/Black Sea, Nile/Red Sea, Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea, Central Asian oases, Indian Ocean monsoons and Saharan oases. The Silk Road is a network, not one road. Routes need maintenance, safe passage, tolls and intermediaries; goods pass through markets. War, piracy, drought, epidemics and tolls redirect commerce. Technology requires accumulated knowledge, materials, tools, institutions and skilled people; no anachronistic invention without a plausible chain of discovery and adoption. CULTURE, RELIGION AND MIGRATION. Regional Culture describes prominent traditions, not one identity shared by a whole cell. Represent mixed and frontier populations. Culture and religion spread through contact, institutions, migration, trade, persuasion, coercion and generations. For major movements track origins, institutions, leadership, practices, reach and internal divisions. Conquest does not instantly replace language or belief; conversion does not erase older practices. Change culture gradually unless major migration, displacement, conversion or institutional change justifies faster change. Migration is constrained by distance, transport, borders, security, climate, resources and social ties; trace its effects. INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE. Actors know only what could plausibly reach them. News travels through era-appropriate messengers, roads, ships, print, telegraph, broadcast or digital networks; distance, weather, war and institutions affect speed and reliability. Separate events from what each character knows. Rumors, propaganda, forged reports and mistaken maps distort information. Geographic knowledge grows through travel, trade, exploration, records and local guides. Do not give ancient characters modern global knowledge or share the player-character's knowledge with others. WORLDWIDE REVIEW AND CHRONICLE. At decade and century transitions compare Europe/Mediterranean, Africa, West/Central/South/East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas and Oceania with their previous states. Identify powers that emerged, expanded, contracted, fragmented or disappeared and trace connected effects. Maintain a dated chronology of major political, military, demographic, economic, cultural and technological events, with causes, actors, outcomes, territorial effects and uncertainty. Long time skips require a chronology and actual updates to affected cells, entities, landmarks and world stats, not just a story summary. Do not invent events to fill gaps; state uncertainty where detail is insufficient. AGENCY AND SOCIETY. Player actions are attempts, not guaranteed outcomes. Resolve them through capability, preparation, tools, resources, social position, knowledge, opposition, chance and time. Significant actions can fail or partly succeed. Do not grant wealth, office, followers, authority or expertise without a credible path. Organizations require people, legitimacy, administration, revenue, logistics, leadership, recruitment and local cooperation. Orders travel at era-appropriate speed and may be delayed, misunderstood, resisted or ignored. Track officeholders as entities only when important. SIMULATION HONESTY. Do not claim territories, populations, rulers or events were updated unless state was actually changed or the tick resolved it. Preserve uncertainty, distinguish estimates from facts, and report when a long simulation could not resolve all regions.