I apologise for the incoherence below - this is a smattering of notes I've drummed up between my lunch break at work, the train ride home and just now before I go to bed so it's a bit all over the place.  I'll better organise it another  time but I wanted to let everyone see what I had thought of so far and allow creative input into the matter.

Of course, if there's a different direction people wish to take then I'm all ears!

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[@Astarael42]

I'll be posting it in Casual but I intend to have it as high-casual (I.e. Advanced level posts, where applicable, but without the pressure to write pages of prose which I find Advanced tends to impose).

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I'm still fleshing it out (and actually writing it up into prose rather than bullet points) but so far the general premise I have is as follows:

This is set a bit longer than century after the events of Abhorsen.  All the characters we know are long gone, as are their children.  The Abhorsen and Royal families are now fairly numerous, enough so to have both head and branch families again although not so numerous that the individual branch families have set traits or traditions.

The Old Kingdom has recovered a great deal with its villages and towns repopulated (and with better day-to-day defences against the Dead, a hangover of practices introduced by Sabriel and Touchstone during the latter years of their reign).  Belisaere has regained its old glory and built upon it further.  The old city which had fallen into ruin was torn down and then rebuilt using the most modern and progressive techniques and styles, more natural spaces and running water incorporated into its sprawling streets than ever before.

However, relations between Ancelstierre and The Old Kingdom have been declining steadily after the Destroyer was sealed.  Animosity, built up by the Destroyer's pawns in the government, against The Old Kingdom was too embedded and became a common consensus.  Meanwhile, more wars on the continent South of Ancelstierre led to an ever-increasing flow of refugees who were redirected to The Old Kingdom.

Word is also spreading of a Cabal, a group of Necromancers, who have built up their strength at the far reaches of The Old Kingdom although their intentions are as yet unknown. 

To add to the tenuous situation, the current Queen is ageing and there is little consensus on whom should succeed her, there being no surviving heir from the main family.  The branch families have put forward their own suggestions, massing support from factions within the city to prepare for the Queen's imminent death so that they may seize power.

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This is just a summary - I will write it into nice prose rather than bullet points, promise!

As far as the characters go - I'd like to see people's suggestions.  Generally, I'd like to follow Garth Nix's habit of fostering a 'new generation' - younger, adolescent characters who challenge the status quo instated by their parents and elders.  Or are forced to.  I myself intend to play as one of the younger members of a branch family, not their candidate for the throne and so somewhat ignore albeit with quite a considerably training in Charter magic and other important matters!