@Gowi, @DeadBeatWalking, I had some ideas on the Stormbroken Faith while I was writing up a CS - mainly just changing around the four domains into something more Viking/pirate-y. Would it be alright if I ran them by you when I submit the CS?

Which will be hopefully sooner rather than later.

Here's my CS. Not too much, but it's me. Some mention of cities in certain areas, but nothing else should step on anybody's toes.

CS [+]

Character Name

Jock Sturgeon

Age
32

Appearance

Jock is thin and of average height. His dark hair is cut close-cropped. He has a fair complexion and his face is thin with a set of brown eyes deeply set into his face. He has a crooked nose that became crooked due to a break and poor resetting of the bone. He goes clean shaven almost always. The short hair and hairless face leaves it possible to add false facial hair and wigs for disguise purposes.

Personality

Simply put Jock is a hustler. He'll do anything he can to make money. He has the likable and easygoing personality a conman needs in order to survive. Depending on the situation Jock can be very cocky and overbearing. As much as conning is a means of earning money for Jock, it's also a psychological aspect. The years of neglect from his mother left a chip on his shoulder. He just doesn't want to take money from you, he wants to prove that he is the smarter than you. The need to prove his intelligence has led to many cons blowing up prematurely, the mark becoming suspicious due to Jock's attitude. He avoids violence as much as possible, preferring to solve problems with his mind and not his fists.

Talents

Jock is a practiced thief with a variety of physical skills that include sleight of hand, pick pocketing, lock picking, and some acrobatic ability. More impressive are his confidence man abilities. Charismatic and likable, Jock is also practiced in acting, rhetoric, and disguise.

Friends & Rivals

Vesta Sturgeon - Jock's mother. Vesta works for many underworld figures across the world. She only occasionally shows up into Jock's life at the most inconvenient of times.

Tiberius Munroe - Local crime lord Jock pays tribute to in order to operate in his part of Bayyard. Munroe also acts as Jock's fence, paying for any stolen goods he may have to sell.

Commander Normand - A high-ranking member of the Bayyard watch who also demands tribute from any thieves, bandits, or cutthroats operating in his sector. His authoritarian nature rubs many members of Bayyard underworld, Jock among them, the wrong way.

Wallis - An old conman and thief that mentored Jock when he was younger. Wallis still travels across the world, pulling jobs when and where he can get them.

Gingy - Owner and operator of Gingy's, a pub that Jock lives above. Gingy is Jock's landlord and friend.

Monjoni - A fellow thief, Monjoni is leader of a four-man crew that performs burglaries and robberies all over the city. Jock has a tendency to run afoul with Monjoni and his boys anytime their paths cross.

Background

Jock Sturgeon's early life was one of hardship. His mother, Vesta, gave birth to him when she was just thirteen years old. A farmer, Jock's father died a year later when he was kicked in the head by his plowhorse. Vesta soon abandoned Jock and gave him to her parents, running off to Léonez. In Léonez, she fell in with seedy types, men who did bad things for lots of money. She grudgingly came back when Jock was three and her father threatened to abandon the boy as well. She took him to the city and half-raised him, seeing the boy as nothing more than a burden. Men came and went and Jock, as he got older, began to notice the things his mother and her friends did. He watched and quietly learned.

By the age of thirteen Jock and a group of boys from the neighborhood formed their own pickpocket gang. At fifteen he and another man ran a rigged street betting game. A year later Jock was steadily committing burglaries through Léonez. He made the mistake of operating too frequently in too small of an area. Soon the city watch was on to him and he had to flee town, sent halfway across Orlandis to hideout with friends of his Vesta. In exile, Jock's education began properly. He learned from seasoned thieves and grifters about the skill of the con, both short and long. Jock soon began to put the lessons to use.

For ten yearsm Jock operated around Orlandis as a confidence man and burglar. He ran long cons, short cons, heists, scams, and grifts. He pulled every sort of job from the One-Armed Priest to the Steward of Skavia to the Brothers Corletonsia. More often than not the jobs were successful, but Jock had to occasionally pull out of the cons, just one step ahead of the authorities. A decade of running and scamming made him weary of traveling and grifting. Jock soon settled in Bayyard, a large city situated on the coast in Veronia. A month of working on the docks soon took their toll and Jock was back in the game, running a variety of short-term cons through the city and kingdom, learning from the mistakes of his youth to grift smart and to grift quietly.

Other Information

Nothing much to add, really. I love crime stories and I just want to experiment with genres, telling those stories in a setting where they don't always show up. This is just someone who operates on a very small scale compared to the houses, but there ae plenty of chances for him to cross paths with someone if the opportunity rises. I always love the idea of the common man on the street, trying to do his job while bigger things happen behind the scenes. Let the nobles have their intrigue and scandal, Jock just wants to make some coin.

WIP: Reinoa [+]

House Crowe

House Specialty
Reinoan Long Bows, or more accurately, the archers that weild them are unique to Reinoa. The rate of fire and range available to the archers of Reinoa exceed those of other archers, though crossbows have better armor penetration, and short bows can be used while mounted

Ancestral Weapon
A spear of some renkown, made of a sout beech shaft and a cold-iron leaf head. It has served the many generations of the Corwe family well, serving in hundreds of battles through the centuries. Used most frequently to defend the land from foriegn invaders, it is an apptly named weapon, the Boar's Tusk.

Important Members [+]

King Emyr Crowe, the Winter King [+]

Always calm and level headed his capacity to keep his cool in even the hotest of battles and most racous celebrations has earned him the exagerated title of "Winter King." He rules with a just heart and clear head, but sometimes he forgets that even the best of men can make mistakes. He is an excellent commander and administrator, but little grace for those who waste his time or try to trick or cheat him.
Skills: An ardent academic, especially in the needs of a kingdom. A moderately skilled warrior with a spear and shield. Logical and detatched, able to see the bigger picture consistently.
Flaws: A perfectionist, he does not accept failure from anyone. Personal doubt, he views his inability to sire a male heir as a personal failure.

Queen Dilys Crowe [+]

Patient, kind, and always looking to keep the peace where it can be kept. Queen Dilys has been King Emyr's balance in many things, especially in his insistence that everything be done perfectly the first time. She usually handles the arrangements at official functions. Having grown up as the daughter of the previous Duke of Arlvek, she is a skilled warrior in her own right, though few know it, as it has been a family secret since just after the spilt of Stormtir and Reinoa. Proficient with a sling, shield and short spear, she is even more of an oddity on the battlefield in that she is left handed, and is capable of making the most of the awkardness it causes in combat.
Skills: Slinger, diplomatic, good singer.
Flaws: Impulsive, Stubborn

Princess Maudhnait [+]

A headstrong and willful, like her mother was in her youth, Maud, as her friends and family call her, is determined to be the prince her father had hoped for, and his nobles wished for. Her parents, mostly her mother, thankfully has kept her from going to far, though that definition is in dispute. She a skilled rider, and few can handle a mace as well as she, whether mounted or on foot. She is often seen wearing a chain mail hauberk over leggings(the source of many arguments with both her mother and others) with her mace at her side and her shield on her back. She has a royal gaurd of Reinoa's five best warriors(another series of arguments, and eventually accepted as a compramise for the battle dress) who are with her almost constantly, especially when she travels through the realm. Her dark brown, wavy hair is usually pulled back into a single braid that hangs to the small of her back. It is tucked into her jerkin when she fights, so it doesn't catch on something or get used against her. Despite her stubborness, she seems to have inherited her father's abiltiy to see things play out before they actually do, and is not often surprised by events or people and has only had to appologize four times in her life. (three times to her mother, once to the new cook) Her constant state of fighting everyone for something, has hardened her heart, and those that break the law, or take advantage of it, will find no mercy within her heart.
Skills: Natural Leader, good planner, listens to advice and wise council(usually), excellent Kinght(has won three tornumanets, none of which were thrown, as the contestants didn't know who she was)
Flaws: Headstrong, Merciless.

Courtiers & Retainers

Chancellor- Aurbeul Lywelyn
High Priest- Giolla Ruaidh
Marshal- Eoghab Rattray
Sage- Haul Goronwy
Spymaster- Meurig MacNeil, the Wandering Bard (everyone knows who he is, but few know what he is)
Steward- Murchadh Torcuil

Vassals and Holdings

• Rimad, held by house Crowe
• Mocan, held by house Glynder
• Warsten, held by house Caerwyn
• Sengenid, held by house Wynael
• Bledfa, held by house Lewar
• Wrexham, held by house Ryderch
• Randirwyn, held by house Brynearn
• Trefriw, held by house Tudyr
• Cefnar, held by house Gwyntra
• Arlvek, held by house Rudgal

Realm
Kingdom of Reinoa, The Hinterlands of Orlandis

Primary Holding
Rimad, Reinoa.


A notable fortress, not to far from the shore of Reinoa, the better to dissuade raiders, it is supported by nearby towns and serves as the official capitol of Reinoa. Emyr has been able to avoid those member of his nobility who merely whish to hang from his every word by living here sinc his coronation, unfortunately it had other consequences as well. Still, no one has ever successfully assaulted the walls of Rimad in written history, though rumors abound of armies stirring, and these walls may yet again be put to the test...

Influence & Relations
Reinoa's influence is substantial, having spent generations building up their contanental trade routes and improving the survival rates of their maritime routes. It isn't quite enough to start a war by itself, but if paired with any of it's neighbors it is indeed a formidable force. Most of Reinoa's force is economic, in that it supplies a large portion of the continents raw and worked Iron, tin, and copper. If it decided to withhold these, eceonmies all around them would crumble. (of course their own would quickly stagnate and die as well, unless a new buyer was found) Relations with each Reinoa's neighbors are uneasy acceptance. To the north west a common culture is shared, though the difference in religeon has been a sore spot for centries now. To the north, a bastard king rules, so the kingdom is veiwed by many nobles as illegitamate, and a blight on society. To the East a more sensable nation looks down Reinoa as barely tamed savages, and their staunch supporter to the south is little better, and that only because of the shared difficulties with the Stormtir raiders.

Exports & Imports
Exports:
Iron, raw and processed
Tin, processed,
Copper, raw and processed
Precious Stones, processed
Precious Metals, processed
Timber(soft and hard), processed
Slaves, raw
Imports:
Grain
Wine
Livestock
Slaves
Books
Salt

Recent History
Seeking to build a kingdom that will run itself, in place of a proper heir, King Emyr is drafting many changes in the kingdoms laws, changing what taxes are owed to and by whom, how much taxes are owed, number and quality of levies for each duchy, as well as a reducing the restrictions on trade and replacing the previously complex and tedious system of tarifs and import export taxes, a flat rate of a minimum fee per lb of goods being traded, plus a small percent of profits made in kingdom. Other changes are less influencial on the daily lives of Reinoa's populace, and are largely ignored though they often lay the ground work, or make possible the bigger changes being implemnted.

The biggest change is the offer of a grant of title and land to anyone who can prove their citizenship and their worth to the kingdom. Opening up the nobility to men of common decent, if they can prove their worth. The easiest way to do this of course is to lead a company of men into battle and perform some outstanding feat of bravery. This isn't the only way of course, just the easiest. In this provision, nobles and the heirs of nobles already in existence are not permitted to participate, unless they forfiet all their current holdings, or their right to inherit any holdings. Most of the available holding are in Cefnar and Wrexham.

There, rough draft complete. Thoughts, errors, comments?

<Snipped quote by Byrd Man>

Good to go, though I do find it peculiar a lowborn has a family name?

<Snipped quote by Gowi>

Sure. Unless this is early middle ages, people should have last names even occupational ones. My dude isn't exactly a serf bound to the land.