He looks good, I'm happy to have you on board. However I want to reiterate that this is a fantasy, inspired by Russian Fairy tales. We are aiming for a general ambiance of a fairy-tale Russia/Slavic region, evoking images of red-cheeked people in furs with onion-domes in the distance and sleighs pulled through woods that may or may not contain a house on chicken legs. There is no time period this pulls from specifically. If something adds to the story and ambiance I will use it, but I don't want to be tangled in the details of what/when/how.

There will be serfs if you like and land owners, down in the lowlands, but not up on the mountain. Things are different on the mountain closed off and isolated even more so than the whole country. There is a underlying sense of them and us in their dealings with anyone who does not live on the mountain.

I do appreciate the list of NPC's. Are any off limits? Or are they all free for the taking?

Also, are people checking the OP? I've put a few things up including most of the CSs.

Lillian Thorne said
He looks good, I'm happy to have you on board. However I want to reiterate that this is a fantasy, inspired by Russian Fairy tales. We are aiming for a general ambiance of a fairy-tale Russia/Slavic region, evoking images of red-cheeked people in furs with onion-domes in the distance and sleighs pulled through woods that may or may not contain a house on chicken legs. There is no time period this pulls from specifically. If something adds to the story and ambiance I will use it, but I don't want to be tangled in the details of what/when/how. There will be serfs if you like and land owners, down in the lowlands, but not up on the mountain. Things are different on the mountain closed off and isolated even more so than the whole country. There is a underlying sense of them and us in their dealings with anyone who does not live on the mountain. I do appreciate the list of NPC's. Are any off limits? Or are they all free for the taking? Also, are people checking the OP? I've put a few things up including most of the CSs.

My NPC's are free to use as you (or anyone else) wants.

I'll try to focus on the fantasy as you said, I just love Russian history and find it a little hard to drop it sometimes, but the mountain isolation argument makes sense.

I'm not opposed to hearing about the history, I love history, but I don't want to feel like I have to be tied to it, nor do I want anyone else in the RP to feel like they have to be either. If I don't let the details go and free myself up, I get a little too worried about the details and it impacts my enjoyment and my flexibility as a GM.

But by all means, if something comes up that is pertinent or even just interesting, please tell us about it. I love that sort of thing. I'm currently in a world history class and loving it, but oddly frustrated by the great sweeping movements of information. I'm hoping I have an elective left over at some point to take a more focused history class, for fun.

You might find this interesting, it was this article that got me thinking about this RP in the first place. I've worked things well past the article, using fairy tales to inspire and help me loosen up on the details, but it was a launching point for me.

Lillian Thorne said
I'm not opposed to hearing about the history, I love history, but I don't want to feel like I have to be tied to it, nor do I want anyone else in the RP to feel like they have to be either. If I don't let the details go and free myself up, I get a little too worried about the details and it impacts my enjoyment and my flexibility as a GM. But by all means, if something comes up that is pertinent or even just interesting, please tell us about it. I love that sort of thing. I'm currently in a world history class and loving it, but oddly frustrated by the great sweeping movements of information. I'm hoping I have an elective left over at some point to take a more focused history class, for fun. You might find this interesting, it was that got me thinking about this RP in the first place. I've worked things well past the article, using fairy tales to inspire and help me loosen up on the details, but it was a launching point for me.

I think in the end you might miss the days where you learned about the general large swathes of history dotted here and there with the individual moments of brilliance. When you take it as far as I have you start getting into philosophy and it becomes less about stories and more about complications.

Still awesome though.

I'll be sure to mention anything I remember that's interesting here and there. Also, the article looks interesting. I always found it fascinating that so few people could seize the landmass of Russia in its entirety. Europeans sure as hell couldn't.

Lillian Thorne said
This is a very interesting character but he's not going to fit for the RP. I said from the interest check on that Players would be taking the role of Villagers. There is a reason for this. The isolated atmosphere, the close-knit ties are important.

I can modify him to be a merchant within the village, does that sound ok to you?

That works, so he'll be the Village Merchant. If you look at my CS you'll see their Father was once a merchant who was one of the few to bother with the trip down the mountain to get goods. I envisioned this being done once or twice a year. If you like your character can be his apprentice who took over when he left to be a tavern-keeper.

Up to you. Let me know when you update the sheet and I'll take another look.

Speaking of Stanislav (the tavern-keep), Scoundrel's character's father is a bit fond of drink so they might well be friends with him. And of course Stanislav can be Adrian's biggest customer.

Lillian Thorne said
Speaking of Stanislav (the tavern-keep), Scoundrel's character's father is a bit fond of drink so they might well be friends with him. And of course Stanislav can be Adrian's biggest customer.

Makes sense.

Lillian Thorne said
That works, so he'll be the Village Merchant. If you look at my you'll see their Father was once a merchant who was one of the few to bother with the trip down the mountain to get goods. I envisioned this being done once or twice a year. If you like your character can be his apprentice who took over when he left to be a tavern-keeper. Up to you. Let me know when you update the sheet and I'll take another look. Speaking of Stanislav (the tavern-keep), Scoundrel's character's father is a bit fond of drink so they might well be friends with him. And of course Stanislav can be Adrian's biggest customer.

Alright, I'll be updating the sheet later today.

Great, I can't wait to see it.

Ok, here's my new sheet.

---

Name: Bogdan Matisky
Age: 23
Appearance:
Occupation: Merchant
History and background:
It was said that the Matisky's were not originally residents of Adishi. But rather, migrants from a land in the west. But for all the past that Bodgan, his parents and his grandparents could recount, they lived in this small village for the entirety of their lives. His father was a hunter and adventurer in the mountains, where his natural-born navigation skills carried him through harsh wind and ice. His mother, on the other hand, made craft-works from the hides and antlers brought back by his father. They also had a daughter in the household, however, she passed away early in her youth.

Unsurprisingly, father Matisky became the partner of Stanislav, the old merchant. Travelling the mountains was harsh, and not knowing proper routes could almost certainly spell doom for the travelers. In addition, Bodgan's father had a keen talent for reading expressions, an essential skill when bartering. Therefore, his father accompanied Stanislav on his trading trips. They ventured down the mountains twice each year, exchanging the villagers' surpluses for the larger town's items. They would haul back many unique goods they could get their hands on, and in most cases, these goods would be given to the villagers, in return for products of their daily work.

It was during one of these trips did an unfortunate tragedy befall upon the young Bogdan. His father and Stanislav were caught in an unusually strong storm when retuning. Though Stanislav survived his return, Bodgan's father was not as fortunate. When grim news finally reached Bodgan's home, grief overtook the mother and son. Bodgan remembered crying for nights, begging whatever gods or demons for his father's return. On the fourth night, he would be greeted with complete silence, for his mother also faltered from life.

The boy would be taken into Stanislav's household on the next day. And for many years after, he became a step-brother to the younger twins. Under Stanislav's care, he began to master the arts of trade. On his sixteenth birthday, he would undertake his first journey to the foot of mountain, where a larger town sat with a larger marketplace. Through that trip and many more after, the young man proved himself when dealing with goods and people, leading to his eventual inheritance of the shop.

During the last few years of managing the shop, Bodgan had both successes and failures. He inherited most of Stanislav's traveling supplies and his old husky hound, Svarli. As trading with the town below was a seasonal activity, Bodgan continued his father's hunts in other seasons, but normally falling short of the elder Matisky's kills. However, his biggest joy would come from the books he encountered during his travels. In particular, a collection of fantasy tales captivated his imaginations. It would not be uncommon to find the now adult Bodgan, somewhat solitary and reclusive, losing himself between ink and paper during the cold winter nights.

A couple of things need to be addressed here. The first of which, this is a tiny village with just a few families who have lived there for generations. I can be fine with your insistence that somewhere back in the day his family was foreign. But I think we have crossed wires somewhere about the economies of such villages and the role of such a merchant. Long merchant travels to distant cities and foreign lands are beyond the means of a small village merchant. Such trips are expensive to start with and there is no market for the goods he'd acquire that way in Adishi. Certainly there are people in the time who do this, but not in this tiny mountain village. For start there are few coins to be had in the village, most exchanges are done by barter and trade, this is why the tax collectors rarely bother making the trek up. The role that Stanislav filled was that several times a year he would take the surplus goods his neighbors had accrued down to the small town at the foot of the mountain and exchange them for luxury goods like sugar, candles, etc. His services were paid for with goods and more services and perhaps a cut of the take. He traded their stuff for the things they couldn't make easily up on the mountain. The mountain provides all that they need, what they get are simple luxuries, not things like silk and china and spices from far off lands, those things were dear and few in Adishi could afford them.

Something everyone should note (if they didn't bother reading the above) the road to the village is hard and treacherous. Things, ideas etc, have a difficult time getting up there, for reasons. It is almost as if something were making it hard. Something besides a contrary GM

You all will get out of Adishi, I promise you this. But you will get out as sheltered villagers for whom the wide world is a large and unknown place full of wonders both beautiful and terrible.

Another thing I want so say is I put things in my posts that are subtle foreshadowing of things to come. Look for them. If you miss it, it won't ruin things for you, but it you catch it, such fun. It amuses me to put such things in even though they often get overlooked. In the OOC I mentioned the village Grandmothers and what the remember twice. They are connected, it was deliberate. Will it ruin things if you don't figure it out? Nope. Will it give you insight if you do? Yep.

Evil Ol' Ladies?!

Sounds like Russia to me.

WOOHOO! So excited for evil Russian babushkas!

And Scoundrel, were you still interested in doing any kind of coordination before we start?

It sounds like I wasn't too far off the mark with the old women of the village playing a part in how told my characters history...
I can't wait to see how this plays out!

Not quite. While there may be some evil grandmothers here about, I was simply putting forth the idea that two things I mentioned "in passing" they recalled from when they were girls were related. It's the sort of clue/foreshadowing etc I like to put into my writing.

I've just put in all the accepted characters and a list of existing NPC's into the first post (OP). I try to keep it up to date with the little details that can get lost in an IC, simply so I don't go mad trying to remember what the mother of the passing huntman's horse was called. If you want to write out blurbs about NPC's important to your character's just post them here an I'll stick them in the OP. If you want them off limits but for mentions please say so as well and I will make note of that.

Sorry...

I'm going to take you at your word about OOC chatter and ask how have everyone's days been so far?
My day stared with a headached, but it got better once I decided I wouldn't let it stop me from going to church. This was the week I am a helper in the preschool Sunday School class, and the kids were so much fun that it went away completely.

That is lovely. Kids are such fun. The last time I was involved with a Sunday School class I was attending it and made an art of tying the teacher's (an older boy) shoe laces together, as in this was a weekly activity he was always surprised by but never managed to anticipate or prevent. It became something of an unbreakable routine for me. I will hope you never have a student like me.

I've been baking up a storm today (it's cold, that makes me bake) and am now off to participate in the evils of commerce and then hopefully come home and wrap my hands around a Latte and work up the IC that has been writing itself in my head for days.

Mmm... Baked Goods! You make me want to do a bit of baking myself.
Right now I'm working on typing up an Interest Check for 1x1's, and putting off typing the most recent scene of my novel.

That sounds just wonderful, Numerica, and so glad that your headache is gone in the very nicest way! Sunday school with the preschoolers - so much fun!

And stop putting off the writing Numerica - get on it. Now. Right now. Reward yourself with a 1x1 interest check on the other side of writing your scene, right now! Or better yet, reward yourself with thoughts of Lillian's baking on the other side of that writing - honestly, she's freakin' amazing! *grins*

My day is quiet, just checking back here at RPG every once in a while to see who's said what in my RPs, whilst relaxing and reading the second book of the Sharpe novel series for fun! Emphasis meaning, of course, that reading for fun hasn't happened much of late at all *shrugs*