Nations

In Ascendance, we play as the government of a nation rather than controlling the entire nation itself. Nations consist of many organisations, systems, and characters, each with a function, ambition, needs, and political influence, and the player will need to consider these while governing the nation.

Governments

Governments are in charge of nations. Most government responsibilities are handled by government departments, such as education, diplomacy, space agencies, and militaries, though the player can also get hands on and control those.

Government Departments

Government departments handle most of the responsibilities of the government, These include providing services such as education or healthcare, conducting diplomacy via the foreign affairs office, exploring and colonising via space agencies, providing security and warfare via militaries, and various others. Departments are particularly useful for allowing the player to choose how much they want to control, as they can be as hands on or hands off as they like, as the departments can be control directly or left to carry out their responsibilities with little to no orders. Departments are run by bureaucrat characters.

Political Systems

Every nation has a political system, made up of characters on a council. By default, this is a legislative assembly made up of representatives elected by the general public, but there will be other structures available when the game is released. The council or assembly is responsible for considering and passing legislation. The government, organisations, political parties, characters, and populations all have a set of political values and will participate within the political system through one means or another. Councils/assemblies are populated by political characters.

Corporations

Corporations run almost all of the industry within a nation, and can be owned by the government or privately. They are run by executive characters.

Colonies and Populations

Colonies are the locations of industry and populations, both required to create the economy to allow a nation to function. Colonies can be located on planets, moons, stations, asteroids, and potentially in ships. Planets and moons are also not limited to a single colony, with potentially numerous colonies on developed worlds.