Concepts and Preparation

== So what am I doing? ==
=== Who you are ===
You are the absolute Ruler of your civilization. You get to decide how things run, down to the smallest detail. This.....may have something to do with you having to build everything up yourself (you and any other players you happen to bring along).
=== The Capital ===
The core of the Challenge will be your Capital. It will serve as the Administrative and Trading center of your Kingdom. You will oversee the construction of your Kingdom from here, and will help ensure things run smoothly. Of course, you are not expected to do it alone (per se). Your advisors and an army of bureaucratic interns will help you out. You may not be quite as advanced as some of the settlements in your civilization, but everything, from one corner of your reach to the other, flows through your Capital's streets.
You'll start out as just a tiny little village that can barely manage to do anything right, but will build yourself up to a mighty Empire the likes of which your Cube has never seen before.
=== Outliers ===
The bread and butter of your civilization, Outliers are far more specialized than your Capital. They are essential to gathering resources, food, and turning those resources into something useful. Even more useful are their specialties in Magic and Technology. Sure, their advancements will soon come to the Capital, but let them blow themselves up or turn into zombie pig monsters somewhere safely away from your Palace. Once the figurative and literal bugs are worked out of the system, then they can come and get installed into the Capital.
Page is outdated, and will be updated shortly.
=== Races, Guilds, and Heroes ===
If Outliers are the bread and butter of your civilization, Races, Guilds, and Heroes are its lifeblood. There are many races that walk the Cube, with different strengths and weaknesses. While most of their number are rather mundane, if incredibly useful, occasionally there rise up individuals that are a far sight better than their fellow mobs.
==== Heroes ====
Most Heroes that settle down aren't the roguish adventurer out of story and song. No, they're still off hunting Dragons. Your Heroes are more administrative or inventive. Your Heroes are highly skilled in their specialized field. It is these Heroes that you will have advising you in your Capial. These Heroes that will be heading up your Outliers, and using their highly specific skills to help focus the talents of those that live with them.
==== Races ====
Your Heroes and your citizens are made up of many races, each with their own specialties, likes, and dislikes. Attracting the right citizens is key to helping your civilization grow. Sending the delving Dwarves out to populate or run a surface Farm Outlier would be a disaster. Sending the sun-loving Elves down to your Mining Outlier would be similarly disastrous. But an Elf sent to the same Farm would see the Outlier boom--as would sending Dwarves down into the mines to find resources!
==== Guilds ====
The Guilds are what glues the Heroes together, and keeps everyone fed, research into new Magic and Technology running smoothly, everyone defended, and in general is what makes it better than just being a few Loners out in the wilderness.
=== Collections ===
This is just a fun challenge that you can pick up or leave off anywhere in your challenge. It is a list of items that are either difficult to acquire, or have many variations in-game. Also, consider saving some tools and making a museum of the tools and armor you have left over at the end of every Stage, for posterity.
== Getting Started: What you Need to Know ==
=== Make sure you have lots of Room ===
This Challenge will require a lot of territory to build into. If you place your Outliers 2-400 blocks away from each other, you may quickly find them organically merging and growing into one, enormous city. This isn't an entirely bad thing. However, you may quickly find yourself running out of room to build as the former towns compete for precious territory.
I, personally, recommend at least a 1,000 Block separation between towns, unless you intend them to become separate districts of one giant city. Which, again, has its own unique benefits aside from the drawbacks. 1,500 is better, especially later on when you're just building so much.
=== Estates, Personal or Noble ===
You, as the Challenger, are entitled to a fairly massive Player Estate with all kinds of toys to keep you amused. However, so are your Advisors, and some of the Nobility that will be coming along. In the Capital, you will have an Estate, but as you run through the Challenge, you and the other Noble or Advisors will probably start running out of room fairly quickly.
That is why, on the Residential Page, there is a list of what is expected of a single Player Estate. Once you have built that, it is encouraged (and expected) to build one or more additional Estates where you can REALLY stretch out, and not have to worry about crowding the rest of the town.The listing there is simply the bare minimum for someone of your stature. 
=== Estates do not need to be built up all at once. ===
Indeed, they are generally expected NOT to be built up all at once. In fact, the Dirt or Clay structure that you build in the Dirt Hovel stage will eventually turn into a Food and/or Item Storage Cellar, and form the nucleus of your (and your Advisor's) Estates. 
However, it is expected that they will be completed before work on another Estate for that particular owner begins.
=== This Challenge can be run with or without mods. ===
I may include some mod-specific things here, but whether or not you run with mods or go pure vanilla is up to you. Also, the individual mods that you run are up to you. I try to write for my favorite mods, as well as some of the major mods of the time period, while trying to make sure there's always something for pure VAnailla-ites.
=== Be careful with what mods you apply, it may come back to haunt you later. ===
Some mods that you throw in just for fun may become outdated, and force you to either make major, intricate changes down the road when it's abandoned or just not available for a newer version--or remain in an older version of Minecraft. Always back up your worlds before updating.
Also, be aware that if you have a lot of stuff running, with or without chunkloaders, it may eventually slow down your game. You may also want to turn off Thaumcraft Taint creep. At least until you start using Thaumcraft to the point that you can deal with it.
=== Consider building Horizontally, not Vertically ===
While you could certainly build a few towers from Bedrock to Sky Limit, you would probably find yourself lagging fairly quickly. I personally recommend expanding outward horizontally, as opposed to vertically. Especially if you run on an older machine and/or use a lot of chunk loaders.
=== Have fun! ===
This isn't intended to be a second job, nor a chore that you HAVE to load up or log into every day. If you're having trouble with something, move on to something else. If you're just frustrated with everything, walk away for a few days, or a week or two. Take it at your own pace.
Beware of burning yourself out. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
== Basic Concepts ==
=== Housing is Standardized ===
What I mean to say is that in general, the Requirements for all Houses are the same. There will be some variation, depending on the Stage, and the income level of the Immigrants or members of Guilds that come to live in your towns. 
For the most part, the houses that you are building at the start of the challenge will be mostly the same (except for technology/magic upgrades) that you are building towards the end. Except towards the end you'll have more and more prosperous citizens, so their houses will get bigger and better. 
Generally, in the first few stages you'll only have a few poor sods showing p to help you get set up, and the population concentration will attract and create more and more wealth, which will mean bigger and better houses as you go on. But unless you're dealing with Nobility, the houses won't get *too* much bigger. 
=== You may use Furnaces at any Stage, to make Torches (and other exceptions) ===
While you would generally be restricted from using stone-based crafting until you can use Wooden tools, Torches are such a necessity (and cannot generally otherwise be crafted without specialized machines and/or power), this restriction is lifted.
Shine Brightly, Stay safe(ish).
==== If you can find Gold, you can mine and smelt it at any Stage for breeding Horses ====
Because breeding Horses requires Gold, and is a pain to do if you can't mine it until a lot later in the Challenge. Especially if you have a Creeper accident in juuuuust the wrong place and lose all your Donkeys (or Horses, if you don't have love Donkeys for their chest capacity like I do).
==== Shears may be made from smelted Iron in the Wood Settlement Stage. ====
==== Metals may be Smelted as you gather the ore, but cannot, generally, be used until later. This is intended mostly as a space-saving measure. ====
=== You are restricted in what tools you can use, by your stage. ===
This is a voluntary restriction, and is given on the honor system. Various Races give various bonuses that will change this. Even if you can trade for the Tools that would ordinarily be above your use, you cannot use them. It kinda defeats the purpose of this restriction otherwise. 
The whole point is to see what life is like when you have to struggle through things. Diamond Pick/Axe/Sword, Iron Shovels, and Diamond/Iron armor in the Dirt Hovel Stage kind of defeats the purpose.
* Leather Armor may be crafted at any time
* No Tools in the Dirt Hovel Stage. Only Leather Armor
** Except for the Wooden Hoe. 
** In Early stages, settle near water: Ponds, rivers, lakes, and oceans.
*** Transplant Dirt if you have to.
** Until you can make or find a bucket, consider planting Reeds on the blocks that are directly touching water, with food further in. This gives you a safe jumping-out point that will not wreck your tilled soil, AND will net you reeds for sugar, books, and trading.
** If you can find them, consider planting pumpkins and melons around the far edge of the water's reach, where they will not compete for place to grow in what could otherwise be prime cropland. This also serves as a handy border for farmable land.
** Pam's Harvestcraft Gardens can be picked up by Sneak-Clicking them.
*** They spread like Mushrooms as long as there are not too many (5-6 or so?) in a 7x7 square.
*** Desert Gardens can only be placed on Sand.
* Wooden Tools in the Wooden Settlement Stage, still Leather Armor
* Stone Tools in the Stone Hamlet Stage. Still Leather Armor
** Rails and Minecarts can be used starting here, despite their use of metals.
* All Metals in the Iron Village Stage. Metal Armor, Anvil to throw on fished/traded Enchanted Books
* Diamonds in the Gold City Stage. Diamond Armor. Home-brewed Enchantments.
=== Mining is Dangerous. Be sure you use Supports ===
When you are mining, be sure to prop up your mineshafts to prevent collapse. It is recommended that you make your mineshafts at least 3x3, and put supports up every 15 Blocks (can be brought down to as few as 5 or as many as 50 Blocks apart depending on your bonuses).
=== Underground is Dangerous. ALWAYS wear a Helmet when you go spelunking. ===
Protect your noggin', yo.
=== If you can find it, you can use it* ===
*Mostly.
Basically, except for the Tool/Armor restrictions laid out above, anything you can find can be used. If you FIND a Metal or Diamond tool, you may use it. But once it's gone, it's gone. No trading with Villagers for a replacement.
Also Portal Guns kind of take away the challenge of any kind of distance, so if you use the mod and find one, it gets mothballed until the Iron Village stage.
=== Worldgen doesn't count towards Stage Requirements. ===
You're more than welcome to steal from their chests and take shelter in their homes, but buildings created by the Seed don't count toward any Build requirements. 
Except for the Village farms. Those can count, if you have the manpower to back 'em up.
== Getting Started with a unique Culture and World ==
=== Name Things ===
Whether you are building or exploring, it sometimes helps to name the towns that you build, and major landmarks or biomes. It's a little thing, but it helps make it a little bit more real. Spawn some custom NPCs, or use Nametags on Villagers, pets, or Livestock. It's just a little bit of added immersion that may make things a bit more real to you.
=== Pick a few Building Materials that you really like to make the culture stand out. ===
An easy way to get a unique culture going is to pick out one or two plentiful building materials in the nearby area, and only use those for almost all of the building in the area. In another town, pick different building materials.
One way to augment this would be to have one universal building material the entire kingdom uses, while individual cities or regions use whatever happens to be nearby, or whatever they like best.
=== Use Color Schemes ===
Pick out a favorite color for a town, a Kingdom, or a person, and use it everywhere you can. Dyed Leather Armor, Dyed Wool, Dyed Hardened Clay, different types of wood, and more--the possibilities are nearly endless.
=== Make Banners for your Kingdom, specific towns, and Guilds. ===
There are so many possible combinations, it's ridiculous. One option to make most of your Banners (and Shields) more similar to each other would be to have a base color and pattern that the entire Kingdom uses. Give specific towns their own unique color and pattern. Then, finally, for specific Guilds, give them their own unique color and pattern.
By using a combination of the three, you could be able to tell by glancing at a Banner outside a Merchant's shop front, for example, exactly what Kingdom and Town they are based in.
==== Build a Heraldic Museum ====
If you decide to start using banners, with individual patterns for individual Guilds, Towns, etc, build a museum, and place samples of the individual patterns here, carefully labelled (and possibly a Chest with a spare Banner and/or ingredients that you can use to copy additional Banners and/or Shields quickly). This helps to serve as another thing to collect, as well as a reminder if you step away from your Challenge for a while and need a refresher course on what you were doing.
=== Take some time to plan things out (or just jump right in!) ===
That about wraps things up for me, but I have one last list for you to consider, here. If you want to take a little time to write some things down, it might help spark some inspiration later on. IF you want to skip this and get right to the building, that is perfectly understandable.
* Name of the Nation/Empire:
* Name of the Capital:
* Favored color(s) [Favored Colors would be seen in all Leather Armor, which should be dyed to match):
* Banner Style (Nation/Empire):
* Banner Style (Capital):
* Patron deity (Cubeaism, other; if applicable):
* Main Race (if applicable):
* Favored Building Materials (Pick 3):
* Favored Biome(s) (Pick 3):
* Favored Food:
* Favored Livestock:
* Favored Enchantments (Pick 2):
* Most Hated Enemy Mob (Overworld):
* Favored Fighting Style (Traps, Lava Blades, Minecarts, TNT, Cannons, Bows, Swords, etc):