Rules
Turns
For now each turn will take two years. During wars, turns will occur over a shorter period of time (TBD as circumstances dictate)
Remember to be somewhat descriptive with your orders
Personal Actions
Every character will be assigned one "negative" and one "positive" trait. These traits will come from CK2 and will be determined by dice roll for non-canon characters. I will determine traits for canon characters. The traits will either add positive or negative amounts to dueling, battle dice rolls, or economic modifiers.
There will be certain bonus traits that different characters will get beyond the standard two traits. Benders, bending masters, lightning benders, and White Lotus members will each receive a combat bonus. The avatar receives a high combat bonus. All members of the Fire Nation royal house will also receive a lesser combat bonus.
Every character will have three rankings that will be added to dice rolls or economic modifiers: combat, martial, and stewardship. The combat ranking determines your character's ability in duels. Martial score aids the chances of the army you are leading. Stewardship helps you economy if you oversee territory (basically landed characters). I will determine the rankings for each non-canon character via dice roll. Non-benders will have a lower combat score, though they can still fight in duels (more about that later).
Each character will receive one personal order per turn in peacetime and an undetermined amount in wartime. "Landed" characters will receive an extra order that I will talk about later. Personal orders can range from a wide variety of possibilities such as traveling, bending training, meditation, and so on. The more you train, the higher your combat score will increase. However, the older you get, the less you will get out of training. With enough training, you may become a bending master or unlock the secrets of lightning bending. The higher your natural potential (i.e. your starting combat score) the better chance you will have of becoming a master.
Not all characters can be benders, sadly, though of course Sozin and Roku are benders. I will roll a die to determine someone's chances of being a bender. Certain factors will increase a characters chances of becoming a bender (I'll think more on this later). For example, it seems like the Earth monarchy does not produce benders, so the current Earth King will have a lesser chance of becoming a bender. The Fire Nation royalty seems to breed excellent benders, so they will have a great chance of producing good benders. The King of Omashu (presumably Bumi's father) will have a good chance of being a bender. All Air Nomads can airbend, so they will have a 100% chance. The rest of the characters will probably have a 50-50 chance of becoming one.
In Avatar and Korra, duels play a major part. Characters can challenge each other to duels or use a personal order to try to chase someone down and attack them. The duels can be a personal affair or can be a larger affair with multiple characters involved. A die will be rolled for each character to determine the results of the duel and combat scores will be added to the die roll. The Dai Li will fight in place for a non-bending Earth King unless they are not with the Earth King.
The avatar will have a special ability during combat: the avatar state. I have to work out that mechanic more, however. Be warned that it will be very difficult to stop the avatar from reaching you if you wish to avoid him or her.
National Actions
I said before that each "landed" character will receive a certain amount of extra orders. These will count as National Actions. They will function the same way as many other forum games do. You will be able to raise armies, alter your economy, and so on. The degree of success for each order will be determined by die roll. Your character's martial or stewardship rankings can act as modifiers depending on the nature of the order.
Each landed character will receive a military force. At the start of the game, these armies and navies will be small since it is peacetime. Military forces include: infantry, cavalry, benders, elite forces, archers, artillery, tanks (if you have industrialized- more on that later), airships (need industrialization), three-deckers, transports, frigates, and battleships (need industrialization). Each unit will give a certain bonus depending on the terrain and situation (which will be up to my discretion). Generally, "balanced" armies perform better, though the situation depends. Benders are especially important but they are a valuable resource that you do not want to squander. Units can upgrade more rapidly the better your economy is. Elite forces are highly skilled fighters that are unique to each nation. A general's martial score contributes to your army's chance of success.
The military of each water tribe will be in control of each chief since both states are so small. Each air temple master will control their temple's "forces" (unless we don't have enough Air players). The Fire Nation military, as an absolute monarch, stays in the hands of the Fire Lord, though generals will have the latitude to employ different strategies. The military of the Earth Kingdom will be divided up among the different landed characters in the kingdom. Each landed character will control their own army and have the ability to raise troops as they see fit. The Earth King controls the forces of Omashu and the the Dai Li, though the Dai Li commander will have latitude to pursue their own policy and will get a National Action. Monarchs, chiefs, and other landed characters can choose to lead their own armies but their economies will suffer for it, particularly the highly centralized Fire Nation.
Armies will get positive or negative modifiers depending on where or when they are fighting. Fighting on home ground always gives an advantage for the defender. The Water Tribes will get a special bonus called "General Winter" when fighting on home ground and an advantage in naval combat. Sandbenders will fight much better in their home region. Air nomads will have a big advantage while defending their temples. The defenders of Ba Sing Se will receive a nearly insurmountable bonus. During Sozin's Comet, Fire armies will be almost invincible.
Naval units are initially modeled on EUIV and are divided into four classes: heavy, light, galleys, and transport. After industrialization, a nation's naval units will be modeled on Victoria II Consult the list of EUIV and Victoria II naval units to see what your nation/region's next naval upgrade can be. Transports will be needed to transport troops over bodies of water. Nations that industrialize can immediately skip to the Victoria II naval units even if they have not completed the EUIV naval unit upgrades.
Politics and Economy
I mentioned this a bit before but each nation has a form of government.
The Fire Nation is absolute monarchy. This means that the Fire Lord has complete control over the state, economy, and army. However, generals on the front have the ability to influence the Fire Lord and employ their own strategies on the front. Fire Nation princes and princesses can scheme behind the throne and perhaps even do the unthinkable...
The Earth Kingdom is feudal. This means that the Earth King possesses only nominal control over the kingdom outside the walls of Ba Singe Se. Each locality controls their own armies, runs their own economic policy, and so on.
NWT is limited monarchy. The Chief possesses a high degree of authority, though it is not absolute. The chief controls the army but councilors and elders can veto the chief's actions and force him to modify policy.
SWT is tribal elective. The chief is elected among the elders of the tribe. Policy is decided through the council (basically means you will receive a die roll penalty for your policies) though the chief controls the army.
The Air is theocratic confederation. The head of each temple is in complete control of their own temple, though they must coordinate with the other heads of temple for nationwide policy.
Each state receives a centralization score. Rulers can increase their centralization score with National Actions. When one reaches a certain centralization level, they then have a chance to change governments. The success of this attempt will be determined via die roll and is modified by the ruler's stewardship ranking. However, the Air Nomads cannot change their form of government. Each landed character in the Earth Kingdom can use an order to decrease kingdom-wide centralization, however, which could make life difficult for an ambitious Earth King. Certain events can increase or decrease centralization. The "ladder" of centralization goes as follows: Tribal elective--->feudal monarchy--->limited monarchy--->absolute monarchy. If the Earth Kingdom advances from feudal monarchy to limited monarchy, then the Earth regional system ends, though the "rulers" of each region will still possess significant influence.
Centralization also increases the amount of troops you can raise. A more centralized state can put more of their people into the army.
Each state (and region, in the case of the Earth Kingdom) has an economic score, starting at 0. National Actions can be used to improve your state or region's economy. The better your economy, the better your chance at improving it is. The higher your economic score, the more National Orders your state receives (with the exception of the Earth Kingdom and Air Nomads). 0-25 means 1 National Action, 26-50= 2, 51-75=3, and 76 and up means 4. For Earth and Air, each temple or region receives their own economic score.
If your nation reaches the score of 90 (I may change this), then they have discovered the secrets of Industrialization. This allows your state to build tanks, battleships, and other marvels. The higher your score, the more advanced your units will be, and the more industrial units you can build. A higher industrial score will also increase your population over time.
Each state or region will have its own treasury and tax rate. The higher the tax rate or more money the state prints, the more funds your state will receive. The state can also raise money by exploiting occupied or recently conquered territory or stealing another nation's treasury if they have occupied its capital. Both taxes and money printing can potentially harm your economic score. Governments with higher centralization rates will find it easier to tax their citizens than feudal monarchies. With an unlucky roll, an increase in tax rates could result in a peasant revolt. Money from the treasury can be used to raise armies, navies, build roads, walls, and factories, and other things. Roads and factories will increase your economic score while walls will make a city harder to siege. Armies and navies cost maintenance to maintain, so be wary. A higher economic score will also put money in your treasury each turn.
Okay, that's all I have for now. It is a bit complicated but I hope you guys think it is mostly a good system. The die rolls probably need a bit more refining, though I will follow the example of other forum games and how they use die rolls to determine the success of orders and so on. The duel system and power of the avatar system are the things I am most unsure about.