Renaissance kingdoms
Renaissance Kingdoms is a MMORPG with a persistent universe set in Europe in the time of the Late Middle Ages. Players lead their character from a humble beginning to a place of fortune and influence by navigating the worlds of production, trade, thievery, politics, education, religion, and war. Game play takes place primarily in The Browser-based interface, but much of the behind-the-scenes decision-making takes place on the official forums. Registration is free, but some game benefits are available to paying-members.
Countries and languages
The game was first set in France, with a French-language interface. An English Language interface was launched in February, 2005 with an English-language forum set in England. The interface is now available in 13 different languages and has 13 countries as settings. The game changes its name depending on the country of the player: Les Royaumes Renaissants in French, die Renaissance Königreiche in German, Los Reinos Renacientes in Spanish, I Regni Rinascimentali in Italian, Koninkrijken der Renaissance, in dutch, Rönesans Krallıkları in Turkish, Os Reinos da Renascença in Portuguese, etc
Players choose their starting country of their characters at the time of their registration, but may travel between them.They may also choose to change their home County, but this may only be done once every 30 days. The countries may conduct diplomacy and trade with each other.
Most countries are subdivided into counties consisting of a county seat a several other towns, each with their own levels of player-administration.
Economic aspects
Game characters need to eat every day if they are to gain various attributes, or to survive. If players wish to get a higher Strength/Charisma/Intelligence level then they must buy a specific type of food. They also need to buy fine clothing to advance in society, weapons to defend themselves or attack others, and raw materials and tools for their trades. Game players can own only 2 fields and have only 1 workshop to ply their trade, so they must buy and sell in the town market (with in-game money) to obtain what they need.
Players may (and do) buy in one town and sell in another.
Most players choose to work every day. There are a limited number of jobs available in the county mines (which produce gold and iron and stone for the county) for a set wage, or in the town orchard/lake/forest (each town has only one of these three) for the chance to produce goods which they may then sell. Most towns also hire guards to prevent revolts and pillaging of the town treasury.
Players may also work in their own fields to grow crops or animals, or may offer to pay others to do the work, there is a preset minimum wage by the County.
Players can gain reputation points by hiring others to work on their fields, by donating money to the town beggars, or by another player giving them trust points.(note: each player may only give their trust to two people per week)
Both labour and good pricing is set by the players according to the levels of competition, with some limits set by government and the game-interface.
Only the owner of a workshop may work there to produce finished goods, which they can then sell at market.
Players can change the production of their fields freely(note:this does cost money), in response to market opportunities, but may only change the type of workshop once.
Political Aspects
Each town is led by a mayor, who serves 30-day terms, and is chosen by election by the town's residents. The mayor can influence market prices, and controls the town's inventory, taxes, and treasury.
The counties are led by a county council, who serve 60-day terms. County residents vote for player-formed parties. Members of the parties' candidate list are seated in the council by proportional representation. After an election, the new council members vote one of themselves to be Count. The Count assigns the other members to various positions; which involve management of the county's day-to-day functions, including trade, defense, and law.
Elections are often proceeded by debates and campaigns on the official forums.
There are normally individual laws set out for each County that the players must follow, or they may be bought up for various crimes and judged by members of the council.
Religion
Each town has a parish church and belongs to a specific diocese. A parish is run by a local priest who sets up masses each week, performs baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Each diocese is overseen by a bishop who has the authority to appoint and dismiss priests from the various parishes in his diocese.
These parishes belong to the Universal and Roman Aristotlian Church. The Aristotlian religion is a religion that was made up for the RK universe. Other religions are planned for the future, but have not yet been implemented.
References
External links
ca:Regnes Renaixents fr:Les Royaumes Renaissants nl:De Koninkrijken der Renaissance es:Los Reinos Renacientes it:I Regni Rinascimentali