1930. The Depression grips Earth. Millions are offered a domain in another world. Build. Rank up. Wage war. Come home more than human.

MARCH 21, 1930 · THE GREAT CLAIM · A GLOBAL LORD RPG

The Sovereign Frontier

Bread lines on one side of the gate. An empire on the other.

● THE SOVEREIGN SYSTEM

[CHARTER OFFERED · THE FRONTIER IS OPEN]

01 / TWO WORLDS

One day on Earth.
One month in the Frontier.

At the same instant across every time zone, a rectangle of light appears before millions of ordinary people. Accept, and a charter sigil burns into your palm and a gate opens to the Frontier: a continent in another dimension, under strange stars and twin moons, full of ruins, monsters, old peoples and rival lords.

Earth stays the real 1930. Hoover, MacDonald, Stalin and Gandhi carry on, the banks keep failing, and governments meet in emergency session while the lords live thirty days for every one of theirs. By the time Earth finishes its first week of headlines, the boldest lords have built towns.

02 / RANK IS KING

S beats A.
Every time.

F E D C B A S SS SSS

Talents, races, buildings, units, beasts and relics all carry a rank. One rank higher wins easily. Two ranks higher is no contest, no matter the numbers. Earth's mightiest battleship rates only A.

• Choose your race. Kobolds at F, humans at D, elves and dwarves at B, undead at A, dragonkin and vampires at S, all the way up to true dragons at SSS. Higher races start with fewer people.

• Awaken a talent. Ranked F to SSS, defined clearly, ranking up through use and ordeal.

• Raise ranked buildings. A unit can train one rank above its race, but never above the building that trains it.

• Claim your Edge. One secret advantage no other lord has.

03 / COME HOME STRONGER

The bigger your domain,
the stronger you walk on Earth.

Even the newest lord outclasses any ordinary human. Grow your Standing and your power crosses the gate with you.

OUTPOST · E Overpower several trained men barehanded.
HOLDING · D Tear a car door off. Outrun a horse.
MARCH · C Bullets wound, but rarely kill.
DOMINION · B Small arms barely sting.
SOVEREIGN REALM · A A match for a battle fleet.

04 / THE CHARTER WIRE

Every lord on the continent.
One channel. Mostly liars.

● CHARTER WIRE

IRONWOOD CHARTER (Pittsburgh): Have rifle cartridges. Want quinine.
SAINT-LAZARE HOLD: Something with too many legs came out of the ruin.
THE GOLDEN SHEAF: Day 6. Already a cache. Who else is doing well? Ha.
unsigned: Golden Sheaf is a liar. It opens on a swamp.

• Lord Rankings. The top ten lords are posted every Frontier month. Fame brings envoys, volunteers and targets.

• Caches and Blueprints. Iron strongboxes of ranked treasure. Buildings that raise themselves in days.

• Sanctuary. Thirty days behind a veil no rival can cross. Then the veil thins.

• Tide Nights. When both moons go dark, the beasts come for your charter stone.

05 / DOMAIN WARS

Declare. Breach the ward.
Take the stone.

[DOMAIN WAR DECLARED · MERCER COMPANY UPON YOUR CHARTER · BEGINS DAY 74]

Every domain's heart is its charter stone, guarded by a ward that only forces of equal rank can breach. Seal pacts, capture waystones, then annex, vassalize or plunder the fallen. Attack without declaring and the System brands you Oathbreaker for every lord to see.

06 / BEFORE YOU START

How to play

• You are the lord. Any nation, class or background. The narrator plays everyone else and never speaks or decides for you.

• Pick your domain. River valley, wooded highland, coastal inlet, or your own design. Choose from three races or ask for a random draw.

• Name what you want lore on. Three lorebooks hold 389 entries on 1930 Earth, the System, ranks, races and wars. They fire on the words in your message.

• Keep a status line in Chat Memory. Day, Earth date, Standing, race, talents and ranks, Edge, wars and pacts.

• Best on a large-context model. The card is rules-heavy; proxies with big context windows will track it best.

CONTENT War, death, monsters, Depression-era poverty, and period politics and prejudice.

ORIGINAL SETTING · ALTERNATE HISTORY · NARRATOR / GAME MASTER CARD