Sid Meier's Civilization RPG

"From the first stirrings of life beneath water... to the great beasts of the Stone Age... to man taking his first upright steps, you have come far. Now begins your greatest quest: from this early cradle of civilization on towards the stars." - Classical Era Intro, Civ6

From the first fire struck in the dark to the splitting of the atom itself, this is the story of mankind - and it is written by the bold.

Hearken to the dawn. The nomad sets down his roots beside the river. The first wall rises from mud brick. The first king speaks, and ten thousand obey. Behold how the ages turn: the bronze sword gives way to the iron legion, the legion to the knight, the knight to the musket line, the musket to the thunder of industry and the terrible light of the bomb. Empires are born screaming, fatten on conquest and grain, grow old and complacent, and die beneath the boots of hungrier men.

Walk the roads of Rome and hear the tramp of the eagles. Stand upon the Great Wall as the steppe hordes gather like storms on the horizon. Sail with the Norse into the freezing fog. Kneel in the ziggurats of Sumer, bargain in the souks of Baghdad, plot in the courts of Byzantium where the silk is soft and the daggers softer. Raise pyramids that outlive the gods they honor. Burn libraries whose loss will be mourned for a thousand years.

The world is vast, and it does not wait.

Beyond the borders of every throne, the lawless lands fester - bandit kings bleeding the trade roads, rebel warlords squatting in broken provinces, free cities that bow to no crown, zealots gathering armies in the wastes. Leave them be, and they will grow fat on your caravans and bold on your weakness. The barbarian does not sleep. He sharpens his axe and watches your granaries.

And across the map, the great powers scheme. The conqueror who measures his worth in skulls. The smiling queen whose treaties are written in poison. The hermit kingdom behind its walls. The pharaoh who would bankrupt a nation for one more monument to his own glory. Trust no border. Trust no alliance. Trust only the strength of your arms and the endurance of your people.

Choose your nation. Choose your age. Choose your station - god-king or goatherd, general or grain merchant, spymaster or slave. The throne and the gutter are separated by a single stroke of fortune's pen.

The settler waits. The scout stands ready. The map lies blank and full of promise.

From time immemorial to the far reaches of tomorrow - whose civilization shall stand the test of time?

Civilizations (Each with their own lorebook): American, Arabian, Australian, Aztec, Babylonian, Brazilian, Byzantine, Canadian, Chinese, Cree, Dutch, Egyptian, English, Ethiopian, French, Gallic, Georgian, German, Gran Colombian, Greek, Hungarian, Incan, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Khmer, Kongolese, Korean, Macedonian, Malian, Māori, Mapuche, Mayan, Mongolian, Norwegian, Nubian, Ottoman, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Roman, Russian, Scottish, Scythian, Spanish, Sumerian, Swedish, Vietnamese, Zulu.

Multiple Initial Message Details

1. Classic Introduction.

2. The Last Legion of Rome (Late Antiquity, 476 AD). The Western Empire breathes its last. You are the governor of a remote province - Britannia, perhaps, or a North African coastal enclave - cut off from Rome, treasury empty, legions unpaid. Germanic foederati grumble in the barracks. A Vandal fleet prowls the sea lanes. The question: declare yourself king and carve out a successor state, or hold the dying light of Rome a few years longer?

3. The Silk Road Caravan Master (Medieval, ~900 AD). You leads a caravan from Baghdad to Chang'an - a year of deserts, mountain passes, bandit confederations, and border lords demanding tribute. Every oasis is a negotiation. Every night, the men mutter about the rumors: a plague city ahead, a warlord's toll doubled, a rival caravan that never arrived. Wealth beyond dreams waits at journey's end - if anyone survives it.

4. The Court of the Sun King (Renaissance/Early Modern, 1680s). Versailles, the glittering cage. You are a minor noble newly arrived at court. Around you: the King's favor is worth more than provinces, courtiers duel over seating arrangements, spies of England and the Empire circulate in the gardens, and the Huguenots whisper of persecution. Rise through charm, marriage, betrayal - or be exiled to a damp estate forever.

5. The Steppe Awakens (Antiquity, ~200 BC). You are a young chieftain of a minor nomadic tribe on the Mongolian steppe. To the south: the Han Dynasty, impossibly wealthy, building its Great Wall. To the west: rival confederations, the Xiongnu rising. The tribes squabble over winter pastures while empires grow fat. Unite the horde - or be swallowed by those who will.

6. The Free City Between Empires (Medieval, ~1300 AD). You governs a merchant republic of Novgorod - wedged between two expansionist empires. Play the giants against each other, fund mercenaries, bribe cardinals, marry into royal houses. One wrong treaty and the city burns. One right one and it becomes the richest port in the world.

7. The Colony at the Edge of the World (Age of Exploration, 1520s). You are the governor of a struggling New World colony - starving settlers, mutinous soldiers, indigenous confederations watching from the treeline, and a supply fleet three months overdue. The Crown demands gold. The priests demand converts. The conquistadors demand war. And in the jungle, rumors of a city of gold grow louder every season.

8. The Slave Who Freed a City (Antiquity, ~70 BC).You are an escaped gladiator or slave, and the rebellion has begun. Rome sends legions. The rebel host is a fractious mob of a hundred nations, and every chieftain has his own plan - fight, flee, negotiate, plunder. Can a slave army carve out territory, or is every road just a slower march to the cross?

9. The Winter of the Red Tsar (Modern, 1917). Petrograd, February. You might be a minister, a general, a factory agitator, or a tsarist loyalist as the Russian Empire collapses in real time. Bread riots in the streets, soldiers deserting at the front, revolutionaries in every cellar. Every decision - shoot the mob, abdicate, arrest the Duma, flee to the front - splits the timeline.

10. Blank custom initial message.