It is the year 2007 CE, it's been 16 years since the Cold War ended, and through the use of Alchemy, there are now ample resources to feed the world, create marvels, and begin to explore the stars. The world is at peace, or at least that was the view the world's governments and the IOA (International Order of Alchemists), a United Nations-like group, has been presenting. The IOA has been controlling research with an iron fist, outlawing developments such as Blood Alchemy, Self Replicating Technology, Strong Artificial Intelligence, Nuclear Weapons and worse, leading to a stable, if rather static, period of time.

However, everyone knows that tensions have been at an all-time high since the discovery of a cache of Alchemical Research in the Pyramids of Giza around three years ago. After years of study and analysis, the group of archaeologists from ASU (Alchemical Society University) are going to publicize their findings. All sides know that this has the potential to spark the age-old conflict about the ethics and dangers of Alchemy.

Although continuing the Cold War between those on all sides of the Alchemy debate would be acceptable, rumors have surfaced of rogue groups who are looking to put an end to the debate using more active means. To make matters worse, there continues to be disturbing tales of secret research labs looking into performing even greater Alchemical experiments who want to use the revelations from Giza to gain an edge, no matter how unethical they may be. In particular, the Guild, a group of academic Alchemists from across the globe, has recently surfaced. They seek to reduce the restrictions placed on Alchemy in order to perform questionable research. Even worse, ARIA, the Association for Research of Independent Alchemy, outright rejects the authority of the IOA and seeks to allow any research to be done unhindered. Furthermore, recently, military channels have become rather unreliable, leading to rumors of secret conspiracies.

Under the camera lights of the World Media, representatives of nations and groups around the world must come together and find a way of averting this Great Alchemical Crisis before its too late. Of course, if their group or nation comes out ahead, so much the better....

Crisis is a MegaGame* running on July 25th from 10:30 AM to 6:30 PM with a 40 minute lunch break. The game is made up of a number of groups, representing nations, powerful secret societies, and research outfits, to name a few. Each of which will have a number of players playing roles in the group's government.

* A Megagame is a cross between a LARP, Model UN, and Wargame where people play members of a nation/group's government and have to negotiate and work together within the group and with other nations/groups in order to deal with the impending Crisises that might befall the planet. http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/post/susd-play-goddamn-megagame/ is a good video to give you an idea of the sort of game it is.

While each group will be working closely together, different members of the group will have access to different aspects of the world. There are five main areas of influence that each group will need to carefully manage in order to maintain relevance on the international stage: Economics/PR, Politics, Military, Spying, and Research. Some groups may only care a few of these areas, but can still see and talk to players involved in any part of the game.

The Head of State of each group will need to carefully deal with their economy and relations with the public and other nations in order to maintain their connections to the rest of the world, and to provide resources to the rest of their nation.
The Politician will need to represent their group in the IOA meetings in order to work together with other groups to deal with world crisis and to establish international resolutions that can help "better" the human race. They'll also need to deal with sensitive issues such as garnering influence over other groups through bribes and blackmail.
The General of each group will need to deal with the mobilization of military units around the world, attacking/defending other groups, and helping to deal with the riots that this chaotic world might cause. They are also responsible for their country's strike forces.
The Spy Master will need to gather assets and use them to perform daring and dangerous missions to accomplish tasks that others don't have the resources or compunction to achieve. They'll need to carefully watch as their assets complete their missions, while defending against counter-espionage from other groups.
The Alchemist will need to travel the world, gathering what remains of lost Alchemical knowledge, and use it to create new reagents and products that the rest of their nation can use for profit or power. They'll also need to represent their nation at Alchemy Expos to ensure that they remain internationally prestigious.

We are accepting apps for the Great Alchemical Crisis until July 6th, 2015 (8 years, 9 months ago). If you have any questions, you can contact the writers at crisis-gms@mit.edu.

Funded by the Battlecode Event Grant.

If you fill out at least your name and email and click the "save" button below, your partial app will be saved. You'll receive an email with a link to your app and may resume it at your leisure.