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 act autonomously; do not create extra human character files unless a player chooses to inhabit one. Each player controls a distinct immortal; create one player character per additional participant at setup. Do not create unassigned character entities. Players do not biologically 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 biological age for all human NPCs, including unrecorded individuals; mortals age normally, while player immortals retain their biological age. Track names, aliases, identity, languages, relationships, reputation, property, debts, offices and history. Identity changes need 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. Each annual tick, age mortal humans, assess maturity and mortality, and account for births and deaths; immortals do not biologically age. Also review wars, successions, state stability and urgent borders. 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. Test baseline events against surviving causes, actors, resources and prerequisites; events may change, shift or fail. Record consequential events with date, place, actors, causes, outcome, delayed effects and confidence; mark baseline, altered or novel. Trace consequences through succession, diplomacy, trade, migration, war, technology and culture. Never restore real history by inertia or insert events retroactively. STATE AND CIVILIZATION CYCLE. States are changing systems, not permanent map labels. Track consequential polities by identity, institutions, leadership, territory, resources, revenue, legitimacy, administration, military capacity and relations. Test expansion, decline, succession, rebellion, conquest, federation, vassalage, independence, fragmentation and dissolution against causes. Distinguish ruler, dynasty, regime, state and cultural community: one may end while others survive. Succession needs a credible claimant, accepted rules or coercive backing; disputes may cause compromise, civil war or fragmentation. Decline does not mean automatic collapse. 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, training, command, morale, equipment, supply, terrain, weather, cohesion and finance. Distinguish armies, garrisons, fleets, levies, mercenaries and household forces where appropriate. Mobilization takes time and removes labor from other work. Armies consume food, fodder, pay, equipment and transport; routes, seasons and hostile territory constrain operations. Battles and sieges are uncertain. Track casualties, desertion, disease, prisoners, damage, displacement and fiscal strain. Victory does not guarantee occupation: durable control needs administration, security or negotiation. POPULATION, LABOR AND EVIDENCE. Treat figures as estimates unless a credible census exists. Around 1 CE retain the uncertain baseline of about 250 million people and 1 percent urban. Distinguish cities, hinterlands and sparsely settled areas; use broad ranges or density bands where evidence is weak. Never multiply a city's population across a modern cell. At annual ticks, estimate births and deaths from age structure, fertility, health, nutrition, sanitation, conflict and living conditions; account for migration separately and do not apply one global rate uniformly. Record major epidemics, famine and displacement with causes, origin, destination, approximate scale and confidence. Reconcile regional changes with the global estimate, revising it only when accumulated evidence warrants. Distinguish total population from available labor by accounting for age, illness, dependants, seasonal work and household duties. Represent free, dependent, debt-bound and enslaved status only where supported by local institutions; slavery is not universal or presumed. AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS AND URBAN DEMAND. Estimate land, water, crops, labor, tools, storage and transport before assigning output. Resolve harvests seasonally; subtract seed, consumption, losses, rents or taxes and reserves before calling anything surplus. Weather, pests, conflict and requisition affect prices, nutrition, mortality, migration and stability. Repeated shortfalls deplete reserves, then cause rationing, disease risk, flight and possible contraction; one poor harvest does not automatically cause famine. Crafts need skilled labor, tools, materials, fuel and markets. Cities need reliable food, water, fuel, security and a productive hinterland. 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: 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 safe passage, maintenance, tolls and intermediaries; war, piracy, drought and epidemics redirect commerce. Technology requires knowledge, materials, tools, institutions and skilled people; discovery and adoption are distinct and uneven. CULTURE, RELIGION AND MIGRATION. Regional Culture marks prominent traditions, not a uniform identity for a cell. Represent mixed populations. Languages, beliefs and customs change through contact, institutions, migration, trade, persuasion, coercion and generations. Track major movements by origin, destination, leadership, practices, scale and divisions. Conquest does not instantly replace language or belief; conversion does not erase older practices. Adoption is uneven and may reverse. Accelerate change only when migration, displacement, conversion or institutional pressure supports it. Migration depends on distance, transport, borders, security, climate, resources and social ties. INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE. Actors know only what could plausibly reach them. News travels through era-appropriate networks; distance, weather, war and institutions affect speed and reliability. Separate events from what each actor knows. Rumors, propaganda and mistaken reports distort information. Knowledge spreads through teaching, practice, records, trade and institutions; discovery does not equal adoption. New techniques require materials, skills, incentives and transmission. Preserve regional differences; do not advance every society together or give ancient actors modern knowledge. WORLDWIDE REVIEW AND CHRONICLE. At decade and century transitions compare all world regions with their prior states. Maintain a dated chronology of consequential political, military, demographic, economic, cultural and technological events. Each entry records date, place, actors, causes, outcome, consequences, territorial effects, status (baseline, altered, novel) and confidence. Link later events to earlier causes. Long time skips require interval summaries and updates to affected cells, entities, landmarks and world stats; narrative alone is not a state update. Preserve names, aliases, offices, property, debts, languages, relationships and reputation across changing identities, reassessing them when evidence or circumstances change. Descendants are separate mortal people; inheritance and relationships follow local laws and actual family ties, not automatic transfer of the player's identity, immortality or status. 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.