BETA TEST 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO - DSA Focus System

[studentloandebt]

A while back, DSA member Kathina Dakani worked on and created a skill system. This was a system where players picked certain skills that their nations were good at, which helped to ensure a balance of power so that no one player could be overpowered. The system was put into beta testing to see how it would work before reaching it's final stage. However, it did not reach that and was not updated. Recently, the Ministry of Role Play has revamped the system and are reopening it for beta testing again. 

Reintroducing the Focus System


The Focus system is an optional rpg system we will implement that will allow players to pick skills their nations are good at and specific things within said skills they are very good at, this system being to provide a restriction on nations becoming overpowered. Of the 18 skills available, players can pick up to 10 skills that they wish their nation to excel at. Each skill also has a range of subskills called a "focus". When you pick a skill, you can pick a focus from the ones available, which will be the subskill you are most advanced in. Your nation will have access to all skills by default, but the ones you pick are the ones you most excel at.

This system is now in beta testing, meaning that this is not the final product and is being sent out to test and see how well it does. The more people use the system, the more we will know on whether changes are needed or not. If you have ideas as to how the system could be better, please do not hesitate to suggest. This system is meant for the community and community feedback is a necessity to make sure that it works well. 

In this testing, please post your chosen skills and Foci in this thread. To further help, role play using your skills and foci and test it out, see how well this works or doesn't work with your concept for your nation and tell us what you think. While you can always send us telegrams and DMs for feedback, this forum thread would be the best place for it.

Click on the link below for all the information on the skill system.
docs.google.com/document/d/1MutVjEyNc3pJ2llNeH8MWBVMAw5kxROl5_H7INNUk-o/edit?usp=sharing

[studentloandebt]

Debtian Isles Skills

1. Esoteric Studies, focus in Cryptobiology and sacraficing 1 skill for an extra focus in Parapsychology
2. Agriculture, focus in Geoponics
3. Energy, focus in Clean Energy
4. Transport, focus in Rail
5. Physical Health, focus in Pathology
6. Civil Engineering, focus in Urban Engineering
7. Enchanting, focus in Talismans
8. Resource Extraction, focus in Underground Mining
9. Social Health, focus in psychotheraputics

[finnoestonianempire]

The Finno-Estonian Empire Skills

1.) Psionics, focus in Psychokinesis and sacrificing 1 skill for an extra focus in Illusory Projection
2.) Agriculture, focus in Non-Geoponic Agriculture
3.) Energy, focus in Clean Energy
4.) Resource Extraction, focus in Underground Mining
5.) Transport, focus in Rail
6.) Genetic Engineering, focus in Cloning
7.) Biotuning, focus in Illusory Hallucination
8.) Social Health, focus in Propaganda
9.) Physical Health, focus in Biotechnology

[studentloandebt]

An Exploration of Skills In The Debtian Isles

Monsters and Ghosts

The Debtian Isles are a group of islands located off the northwestern coast of Frimunira in the Debtian Sea. For tens of million of years, the Debtian Isles were almost completely isolated after breaking off from the mainland. During this time, the continent experienced numerous changes in climate, but the overall trend was towards greater cold as it drifted north. As the continent drifted north from the Lithaba Peninsula, a unique fauna, flora and mycobiota developed. Because the Isles were more isolated than other lands around the world, very few outside species arrived to colonise, and unique native forms developed unimpeded, making the Debtian Isles one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. Debtian history features a wide variety of both native animal worship as well as monster hunting groups and cultures. Some unique native Debtian animals have also been domesticated by humans and become either livestock or pets.

Of cryptid life, a major population within the Debtian Isles are Debtian Otters, with all native species of the Lutrinae subfamily being sapient and this distincting them from global otter populations and being within their own biological subfamily: the Kóoshdinae family. A major population on the south coast of the Isles, Kóoshdinae live often separate from human populations but are not isolated and interact with humans on a wide variety of occassions. Having existed as societies since around the time of the arrival of humans in the area and grown alongside them, they have been able to resist human hunting efforts and now coexist with humans (Cryptobiology).

The uniqueness of the Isles reflects not only in its biology but also in it's metaphysical biology. Debtian locations appears frequently on lists of most haunted places in the world and rightfully so as the Isles have a unusually high amount of paranormal phenomena. This has reflected greatly in the many religions that inhabit the Isles that place reverence on the spiritual and afterlife.  This, however, has extended into secualr fields as well. In the academic world, the Debtian university of the Carner Institute is a premier university on the academic study of the paranatural and metaphysics. In the field of criminal law and law enforcement, the metaphycial echos of a person is a major tool used by investigators in cases involving death as to investigate the conditions surrounding deaths and has become invaluable in the Debtian criminal law world. Archaeology has also been revolutionized by the implementation of parapscyhology within the field. The invention of metaphysical devices built to detect faint metaphysical echoes that have eroded over the centuries has allowed archaeologists to discover areas of ancestral importance that would have been unknown without them and expand the knowledge of Debtian archaeology (Parapsycology). 

Talismans

Talismans are a frequent object found throughout the Isles. An ancient craft, talismancy is a common staple in Debtian culture, with talismans able to be found in most Debtian households. Most talismans assist in minor ways, from reducing acne to improving mood to inspiring creativity. Talismans also have shopping seasons, increasing in purchase around Jeb!mas and in April and May around the end of the school year as talismans are popular among students, especially during finals time. Students use talismans for a variety of purposes; increasing energy for pulling all-nighters; expanding memory skills for memorization; relaxing muscles to prevent writer's cramp, and many other ways to help with test taking and studying.

Talismans are also associated with certain symbols in Debtian cultures. In the country of Orlyn and surrounding countries, the Magari is a popular symbol to see both on talismans and on buildings. The symbol, a 4 ring circle with 4 spikes ripping open to the outside, is believed to help channel metaphysical threads for talisman creation. The Magari may be etched into a talisman or be drawn on a surface with a talisman placed in the middle of it. The symbol frequently appears in the field of parapsychology as well, with beliefs that it helps in the intercepting of metaphysical echoes. Enchanters in the Oryln area sometimes have the Magari tattooed onto their lefthand in belief that it helps them in the channeling of metaphysical threads into the items they are enchanting. Tattoos are another popular form of talismans with the ink containing metaphysical threads that offer similar protections to those of object talismans. 

Talismans can be found in darker and fradulent fields from the blackmarket to cornerstores. Many cheaper talismans are passed on as authentic but possess no enchantments or have grown weak enough as to be effectively inusable, frequently found in tourist gift shops, cornerstores, and by street vendors. Talismans that bring about negative effects or greater positive protections with negative effects are, while not illegal, very looked down upon as talismans is a craft that many Debtians believe should only offer positive protections and negative effects are seen as disrespectful to the craft, tradition, and spirit of talismans. Cursed Talismans, ones that offer negative effects, and Corrupted Talismans, ones that offer greater protections with negative effects, as they are popularly referred to as, are not often found in many stores out of fear of turning away customers and are mainly found in blackmarkets. Cursed talismans offer a variety of negative effects; weakened energy, irritable moods, increased anxiety, making one more likely to become distracted, weakened immune systems, and other harmful effects. Often these are placed on individuals without their knowledge, sometimes as pranks and other times with malevolent intent. Corrupted talismans offer a variety of stronger positive protections with negative effects, anywhere from increased strength to faster movement to protection from a wider range of diseases but with neagtive effects like any of the listed before negative effects (Talismans)

Nature and How That Altered Stuff

Debtians have a very strong appreciation for it's environment and the land they live on. After major land development and pollution by Debtian farmers and miners caused the Two Year Vernalis event in the 1940s, Debtians began taking environmentalism serious. Coal and gas began quickly being replaced with hydropower and eventually use of wind and solar (Clean Energy). One major resource for the Isles is ores and materials gained through mining of the Krekriaka Mountains (Underground Mining).  Around 92% of Debtians live in cities, largely a result of moving away from the countryside and reducing suburban sprawl. However, many were forced to the cities due to the Two Year Vernalis, resulting in most cities having large slums of poorer citizens who cannot afford housing prices. This reshaped how architects approached city creation and revolutionized city building in the Isles to allows people to live in smaller spaces without negative effects and also saw the rise of Urban Canopies in the Debtian Isles (Urban Engineering).

The main means of transportation long distance is by rail between cities. Only some of the population own automobiles, and the vast majority of them are used in rural communities where rails are not as convenient to have nor readily available as urban areas (Rail). The high population density of the Isles also means a higher ability for disease to spread. Starting in the late 40s with the Urban Revolution, national programs were also being pushed to develop a rigerous healthcare system and increased working population of healthcare workers and providers. Through these efforts as well as successful public campaigns in the 70s, death from disease is a rare occurance in the Isles and contraction of diseases is both drastically low and preventable as well as treatable (Pathology). This not only applies to physical health but also mental health with the campaigns in the 70s also giving more funding towards and public acceptance and support of therapy and counseling. Debtians have some of the lowest rates of mentalhealth issues in the world (Psychotheraputics)

We also got good farms, yeah (Geoponics).

[niasport]

Skills and Focuses of Niasport
1. Transport, Focus: Naval Transport
2. Agriculture, Focus: Non-Geoponics
3. Computing, Focus: Network + Quantum Computing
4. Industrial Tech, Focus: 3D Printing
5. Energy, Nuclear Energy
6. Civil Engineering, Urban Engineering + Aquatic Engineering
7. Esoteric Studies, Cryptobiology

8. Enchanting, Armaments

Skills and Focuses of Darogan

1. Genetic Engineering: Genome Editing

2. Social Health: Psychotherapeutics + Propaganda

3. Geoengineering: Localized Terraforming

4. Civil Engineering: Eco-scaping

5. Energy: Clean Energy

6. Agriculture: Permaculture

7. Robotics: Nano-robotics

8. Electronics: Nanoelectronics

9. Physical Health: Nanomedicine

[Solus Unus]

Aurora Federation

• Agriculture - Permaculture
  
• Computing - Quantum Computing
  
• Energy - Clean Energy
  
• Resource Extraction - Recycling
  
• Industrial Tech - Sustainable Production
  
• Civil Engineering - Urban Engineering + Eco Scaping
  
• Geoengineering - Climate Restoration
  
• Transport - Rail
• Biotuning - Illusory Hallucination
  
  (we must comment that we feel our last focus doesn't fit perfectly to describe the Aurora Federation's pacification magitech, but it's the closest thing)

Xabren

• Computing - Internet of Things
• Energy - Biofuels
  
• Resource Extraction - Surface Mining
  
• Physical Health - Augmentation
  
• Industrial Tech - Rapid Mass Production + 3D Printing
• Civil Engineering - Urban Engineering
  
• Transport - Naval Transport
  
• Materials Science - Metamaterials
  
• Social Health - Propaganda

In terms of Xabren we can comment that we had trouble filling the last couple spots, especially "energy - biofuel" and "materials science - metamaterials" don't feel like they exactly fit well. We don't think the restriction of "only double up on one skill" is very helpful, as it prevents more accurately representing nations whose cultures lend better to minmaxing.

As an overall comment, we feel that "major" versus "minor" focuses in the old system allowed for some much more complex dynamics, and we don't think their lack of inclusion in this system is a good idea. Still, though, this system definitely has potential, and could be really fantastic with some refinement.

[Deleted]

Bhexian Focus Tree 

1. Agriculture: Permaculture
2. Energy: Clean Energy
3. Computing: DNA Computing
4. Material Science:  Biomaterials 
5. Electronics: Printed Electronics 
6. Physical Health: Biotechnology
7. Civil Energy: Eco Scaping
8. Transport: Rail and Naval Transportation
9. Industrial Tech: Sustainable Production

Note: Please tell me if there's a problem 

[studentloandebt]

With critiques taking into consideration, the Focus System has been amended to incorporate these suggestions

[Ezechard]

New Ezechardian focuses:
Major:
1) Energy (Clean Energy)
2) Transport (Rail)
3) Computing (Networking)
4) Phyiscal Health (Augmentation)

Minor:
1) Agriculture (Geoponics)
2) Social Health (Psychotheurapeutics)
3) Biotuning (Faunal Tuning)
4) Esoteric Studies (Cryptozoology)
5) Civil Engineering (Aquatic Engineering)
6) Robotics (Domestic Robots)