Guten Abend!

I figured it was time this gorgeous new site got its first new variant. If there aren't any major issues, I plan to host this variant in the near future [I don't really know how to on this new site, so if someone could direct me to the application that'd be lovely]. Assuming I can get together 14 players, of course.

If there are questions, need for clarification, or faulty writing on my part, please leave comments/queries below. If you're interested in playing, please write below!

Without further Aufheben, I give you Deutschland 1600!


Premise: At the turn of 17th Century, the Holy Roman Empire had lost its power and the Catholic Church was losing its followers to dozens of new Faiths springing up in Northern Europe. With only a weak claim to a local Lordship or a sacred relic of unknown origin, you can establish a foothold in German lands and spread your power from there by the sword, the cross, or the pen.

0. All Diplomacy Rules apply except where noted below.
0.1 Notate "Supply Centres" as standard, "Provinces" as any land space without a supply centre, "Seas" as any space only transversable by a ship, "Shores" be any land space which borders a Sea, and "River Spaces" as land spaces containing a River as noted on the map by thick light blue lines.
0.1.1 River Spaces describes both those spaces which have a river within their borders, and directly on their border.
0.2 The game has three (five) seasons as in Diplomacy. The game begins in Spring 1601.
0.3 Cities are captured at the end of Autumn, but provinces are captured at the end of every Summer and Autumn (I.e.: only after all retreats for that season).
0.4 Note that all movement modifications/supports discussed below apply to both regular movement and retreats unless specified otherwise.

Boards and Sign up:
1. The game has 14 players on two boards, seven to eachboard as determined in the sign-up period as below.
1.1 Notate the first board "Military", and all players on that board "Military Powers" or "Militaries" for short. Notate the second map "Religious" and all players on that board "Religious Powers" or "Religions" for short.
1.2 During sign-up, players should list (at least) 3 (ordered) preferences, at least one on each board. Choices are honoured wherever possible, and conflicts between players' choice are resolved at the GM's discretion/preference.
1.3 Each Military and Religion has a default title and flag. Players are encouraged to, before the first Spring turn, send in their own flag and pick a title for their new religion/lordship.
1.3.1 Spaces on the board will not be renamed, only players.
1.3.2 Players are encouraged to keep names relatively clean, but so long as it's unoffensive it will be accepted.
1.3.3 Although historically religions would have been some Protestant variation, Religious Powers may pick any basis for their Religion.
1.3.4 Note that the flags will all be at 15x15 pixel resolution, and as such you should try to make the flag stand out
1.3.4.1 Please make your flag at the least dichromatic
1.3.4.2 Please do not use only black/white
1.3.4.3 If two players issue flags that are, at a distance, too similar then both will, before the Spring date, be asked to redesign theirs flags with this in mind.
1.3.4.4 Try to be unique!
1.4 Each player begins with two cities and two armies. Fleets may be constructed after the first year.

2. Rivers.
2.1 River Spaces are treated as Shores, in that they can support either an army or a fleet, but not both.
2.2 A fleet in a River Space can move to any Sea bordering the River Space, or any River Space bordering that space which is connected at the border by the same stream of the River. I.e.: To move along a River to a new space, you must be able to connect the two spaces by River without entering a third space.
2.3 A fleet in a River Space may convoy up or down a River, but not ACROSS a River. I.e.: a fleet in a River Space may convoy an army if the fleet itself could otherwise move to both the destination and origin of the army's movement.
2.4. For contiguency purposes, if a River runs along the border of any land space(s) without actually entering it/them, treat the situation as if the River had entered it/them.
2.4.1 If, logically, a fleet should be able to move, then it probably ought to. If in doubt, as for clarification with the order.

Play:
3. All rules follow standard Diplomacy rules as if there were two seperate boards/games, except as described below.
3.1. There are 37 Supply Centres, and only 18 are required for Victory. There is only one Victor amongst all 14 players, so if any player has 18 Supply Centres and all other players have at most 17, the former is declared the Victor and the game stops. I.e.: All remaining 13 players have "lost".
3.1.1 After Winter 1610, any player may vote for a DIAS or a player nomination for victory in each spring. All nomination will be taken and voted on for the Fall turn, given with Fall orders. Both Player Victory and DIAS votes require 100% affirmative votes, where abstainence (intentional or through neglect) is read as an affirmative. Vote results are not anonymous to expediate the process of game ends.
3.2. Two battlefields
3.2.1 Religious units are presumed to be stealthy enough to sneak past Military units, while Military units are presumed to be too strong to be affected by the presence of Religious units.
3.2.1.1 A Religious unit may occupy the same space as a Military unit with no direct affect on the other unit. Similarly, a Religious unit and a Military unit moving with/against each other, or into the same space has no bearing on the other unit.
3.2.1.2 A Supply Centre may have both a Religious and a Military owner without conflict, or it may have neither, or just one. In either case, each owning player is always able to claim one supply each.
3.2.1.3 A Religious unit may not offer support to/against a Military unit, or vica versa.

3.3. Condemnation and Sponsorship.
3.3.1 Players in each spring and winter phase may elect two players from the other board [ie: Religions each elect two Militaries and Militaries each elect two Religions] under the following two categories, one for each: Sponsor and Condemn.
3.3.1.1 Players may passively or actively decide to nominate a single power (Sponsor or Condemn), or none at all.
3.3.1.2 If a player does not issue both a Sponsor and a Condemn order, unused orders are assumed to remain as it/they were in the previous movement phase [ie: They will Sponsor and Condemn the same players/lack of players].
3.3.2.1 If a Power [here called the "Sponsor"] Sponsors another Power [here called the "Sponsored"], then for that phase any Supply Centre or Province owned by the Sponsor [note: occupation is not sufficient] at the start of the movement phase issues a passive support to any entering unit of the Sponsored equivalent to half a support, or (+0.5). In effect, the Sponsored Power's unit wins in the event of a "draw" between itself and another Power's unit if both have a destination in the Sponsor's owned spaces with the same level of support.
3.3.2.2 If a Power [here called the "Condemner"] Condemns another Power [here called the "Condemned"], then for that phase any Supply Centre or Province owned by the Condemner [note: occupation is not sufficient] at the start of the movement phase issues a passive support to any entering unit not owned by the Condemned equivalent to a quarter support, or (+0.25). In effect, the Condemned Power's unit loses in the event of a "draw" between itself and another Power's unit if both have a destination in the Condemner's owned spaces with the same level of support.
**Clarification: The Sponsored Power only receives the +0.5 benefit, while other players receive a +0.25 benefit, except for the condemned player. Effectively, sponsored players received +0.25 and Condemned players received -0.25.
3.3.2.3 Note that all spaces owned by the Player may issue both Condemnation supports and Sponsorship supports in the same phase to as many units as are applicable.
3.3.2.3.1 Note that a Razed/Cursed [see below] space will not issue either Condemnation or Sponsorship supports.
3.3.3 If a player has no Supply Centres at the start of a Winter phase, he may maintain one unit without a Supply Centre if at least one player Sponsored him in the Fall. Else, he is eliminated as usual. For the purposes of the game, the player may no longer issue Sponsor or Condemn orders after his last unit is eliminated, and his provinces are treated as Neutral.

3.4. Razing, Repairing, Cursing and Blessing
3.4.1. In any turn, a unit may in place of a regular order issue the order "Raze/Curse" for a Military/Religion unit, respectively. The order is considered "completed" after the Spring/Fall movements are issued, but before the Summer/Autumn retreats. Note: Raze/Curse is seperate from movement, ie: you cannot move and Raze/Curse, or Curse/Raze and then move in the same turn.
3.4.1.1 The Raze/Curse order is only successful if the following conditions are met
(i)The space is a land space, ie: not a Sea
(ii) At the start of the turn (although not necessarily the end), the space is occupied by only the issuer of the order.
(iii) The unit may not be displaced in that turn
(iv) The player must at the beginning of the turn possess at least one Supply Centre
(v) The space may not be either Cursed or Razed already
3.4.1.2 If the Raze/Curse order is successful, the territory is considered Razed/Cursed with the following properties:
(i) The Razed/Cursed property does not naturally expire, even after the Cursing/Razing player is eliminated. The Razed/Cursed property does not identify the Razer/Curser seperately from other players.
(ii) If the Razed/Cursed space is a Supply Centre, that Supply Centre ceases to be a supply centre for both the Religious and Military owners so long as the Supply Centre remains Cursed/Razed. The Supply Centre status is not permanently removed, and should the Razed/Cursed status be removed, the Supply Centre status is immediately restored as before.
(iii) Cursed space lessen the movement strength of any Military unit attempting to leave the Cursed space by 0.5.
(iv) Razed space lessen the movement strength of any Religious unit attempting to leave the Razed space by 0.5.
**Note: (iii) and (iv) are treated as "supports", in that they compound with all support moves and modifiers (such as Condemnation/Sponsorship) to produce a net unit strength.
3.4.2. In any turn, a unit may in place of a regular order issue the order "Repair/Bless" for a Military/Religion unit, respectively. The order is considered "completed" after the Spring/Fall movements are issued, but before the Summer/Autumn retreats. Note: Repair/Bless is seperate from movement, ie: you cannot move and Repair/Bless, or Repair/Bless and then move in the same turn.
3.4.2.1 The Repair/Bless order is only successful if the following conditions are met
(i)The space is a land space, ie: not a Sea
(ii) The unit may not be displaced in that turn
(iii) The player must at the beginning of the turn possess at least one Supply Centre
(iv) The space is Cursed (for Bless) or Razed (for Repair). I.e.: You cannot Repair a Cursed space, or Bless a Razed space.
3.4.2.2 If successful, at the end of the Spring/Fall turn [before retreats], the "Cursed/Razed" property is removed from that space.

4. Typographical and Historical Notes
4.1 Diacritic marks have been removed for convenience sake.
4.1.1 The German Eszett has been rendered as "ss".
4.2 All localities have been rendered in German titles, with major Kingdoms and Duchies rendered in their adjectival form [as in, "Bohemian" for "The Bohemian Kingdom", rather than simply "Bohemia"]. This is not a mistake.
4.3 Given the pseudo-historical nature of the game, while most borders have been faithfully adopted to scale, many slight amendments have been made to ensure that all spaces are at a playable/readable/usable scale.
4.4 While most spaces are named for appreciable local powers, some have been given to particular backwater states in the interest of variety of names or simplification of borders
4.5 Note that the Austrian/Bohemian/Dutch nations were far more contiguous than the map would indicate, but integrity has been sacrified a little early for playability and, given the pseudo-historical nature, on the basis that these Powers could easily have been on the verge of collapse.
4.6 There may be more than one space with the same 3-letter identification -- if you see as much, please notify me so I can fix this.

5. Presentation.
5.1 Every turn two maps will be released, one for Religions and one for Militaries. However, since the movements of the other board can affect your decisions, both sets of units will be shown on both maps. To simplify ownership, coloured territories will be used for the respective maps, while the other map's ownership is indicated by small tabs in each province and Supply Centre which will show a flag to indicate Religious [for the Military board] and Military [for the Religious board] ownership at the end of the turn.

5.2 Units will be represented by Knights [Military] and Bishops [Religion], with a flag to show ownership. Naval units will be represented as indicated in the military sample below.
5.3 Note: The neutral/Sea colours will be more washed out in the actual game to better accentuate player territories.

Powers:

Military:
Holland, Luneburg, Pomerania [at Stettin], Hztm. Sehlesien, Nassau, Breisgau, Tirol

Religious:
Brabant, Hoya, Lausitz, Mainz, Lothringen, Augsburg, Osterreich

Sample Military Map with units, and two sample fleet units [not actually present at the game start]
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Example of the Religious Map with units to help demonstrate the concept of two published maps:
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"Clean" map with unobscured borders/labels.
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