/r/DawnPowers is looking for fresh civilizations, players and creativity!

What is it?

In short, DawnPowers is a cooperative worldbuilding and roleplay experience set upon and around the continent of Dawn, an Earth-like (more precisely Africa-like) continent. As a sub, we emphasise the development of culture, language, technology, religion, philosophy and international relationships in addition to the natural history of the world including disasters, disease and discovery of new lands. Dawn knows no magic or monsters… save for whatever its people believe in, or whatever miracles those people’s gods see fit to bestow upon their chosen. Homo sapiens stand alone among the sapient creatures of the world.

DawnPowers is currently in the technological equivalent of 400-350BC, and though continents beyond the eponymous Dawn have been discovered, neither their extent or contents have been thoroughly explored. Perhaps your civilization could be the first to make a key discovery?

How do I play?

DawnPowers is a play by post subreddit, wherein players can make as few as one or as many posts they’d like per week. The first step a new player should take is decide where on our map they’d like to play^1, taking into consideration the topography, politics, and climate of the region they’d like to play in. (Koppen climate key for reference.)

The next consideration one might like to make is one’s primary method of subsistence, be it agricultural, fishing, pastoral, etc, in addition to one’s governmental form and how this might affect the distribution of resources throughout their populace. After making such considerations, one can consult with a moderator to construct a list of technologies their civilization has at their disposal. This will be an amalgamation of technologies from neighbouring civilizations in addition to your own innovations!

Once you’re set with tech and a place on the map, players are ready to start, though may also want to get stuck into a population sheet to get a better handle of quite how many people they have.

Please consult [our wiki](www.reddit.com/r/dawnpowers/wiki) for more detail, or feel free to ask anything of myself, drop a comment or sent a message to our modteam over on the sub!

What do you have so far?

Maps

• Firstly, a cartographical rendition of Dawn

• ...and a map of Dawn taken as if from satellite

• An album of the spread of Dawn’s writing systems over time

• An archive of some of our old claim maps

Politics and War

Horses were not native to Dawn, but rather were brought to the continent from the land of Noon by the Ongin, one of Dawn’s northermost peoples. This access to horses gave the Ongin a profound advantage in both communications and warfare, leading to the foundation of the Esharam-Naqir, an empire with the Ongin and their allies the old Ashad-Naram at the helm. Index of the conflict here.

Of course, we’ve had countless other conflicts ranging from raids for food and/or slaves to religiously mandated wars to conflicts over key resources and trade routes. If there’s a conflict you enjoy writing, chances are there’s a player that would be happy to be your people’s boogeyman. Especially the Aria of the western jungles… they’re a contentious people.

Conlangs and Written Scripts

For those so inclined, we’ve quite a number of player-made languages floating about Dawn including the the Moga alphabet and the abjad script of the Hashas-Naram, but we also enjoy developing the languages themselves. One such example thisfour-way dictionary (English and three distinct but related conlangs) that three of our players have been developing for some time.

A taste of culture and the people

Many of our players have put an awful lot of thought into various facets of their people’s civilizations. For example, what do they look like, who are their heroes and beasts?, what do they consider polite? and what do they eat?

Exploration and Colonisation

We’re currently in an era ideal for exploration and colonisation, a time when states are strong and wealthy enough to send their tendrils and ships of trade out across the world in search of new lands, peoples and riches. A time ideal for the founding of what might someday become the capital of the known world or else a must-visit cultural hub, a Rome or Carthage or Alexandria.

Perhaps you’ll want to learn more about freshly discovered lands, as did the Kwahadi when they first stumbled upon a southern archipelago, or find yet new ones. We’ve had a wee bit of a dearth in exploration recently – all the more reason to claim and get some exploration in yourself!

Natural Disasters

Dawn was recently treated to a rather unpleasant Double famine resulting from a drought followed by a rather hungry locust swam and has previously enjoyed a foreign plague and ash cloud. These are unlikely to be the last crises Dawn experiences.

Everything else

If there's a facet of human culture, we've probably explored it in some fashion or another... but we haven't had your people explore it yet. So join us and show Dawn what your people have to offer - how they think, what they value, and what discoveries they have made and have yet to make.

1. We currently prefer players to claim upon Dawn itself, the origin of humanity and technological hub of the world, but will permit players with an inclination for the more primitive to claim elsewhere with sufficient purpose.