Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Major Sharpe
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In the Court of the High Queen


In the final days of winter High King Childeric IV of Viexmeur died suddenly, at the age of 52. His reign of forty years, which he had begun as a youth, was largely uneventful. Which is to say it had been a time of peace. The lands under Viexmeurite dominion had prospered, and Viexmeur herself even more so. The cities of the Crownlands had grown rich through trade, and were experiencing a cultural flowering- Arcane lore, scholastic inquiry, and the many arts all reached new heights.

To many, the future seemed bright as the temple bells of the capital pealed in mourning. Lord Chancellor Vulmar of Anvers, however, set immediately to his unhappy work. For you see, though Childeric was a wise and benevolent king, he had lacked the foresight to declare a successor, and his legitimate children had predeceased him without issue of their own. Who ought to inherit the High Kingship was, from a legal standpoint, rather unclear. There were cadet branches of the Royal House of Meyrovic, to be sure, though which claim was the stronger had yet to be seen.

Vulmar, and his scribal underlings, spent nearly a week following the good king's death scouring genealogical records and historical annals, trying to discern the proper course of action. In time it became clear that of the cadet branches of the Meyrovics that still existed- chiefly, the Chlotarics of Veterre and the Carlings of Montisle- neither could sit upon the Silver Throne of Clovis. They were alike in hereditary dignity, more or less, but the Chlotarics had been destitute and obscure for generations, and the Carlings were glorified merchants. Alas, the high lords and petty kings whose allegiance belonged to the crown of Viexmeur would never accept so lowly a sovereign.

But one other fact came to light, happily enough. While scrounging the Royal Palace for information, a pair of scribes had come to find that the King had not been so careless with the future of his Kingdom as previously thought. He had fathered a bastard by a tavern wench, they learned from a group of courtiers, a daughter named Gisela. He had quietly legitimized the girl, with the blessing of the High Priest, and had sent her away to study abroad. The King had evidently intended to return her to court upon the completion of her education for some sort of surprise, though his untimely death prevented this.

Now, finally, a clear course of action presented itself to Vulmar. It was obvious that a girl of thirteen could not secure a crown alone, however rightful her claim to it might be. The Great Houses of the Provinces would each take to arms, aiming to seize power for themselves. However there was an ancient custom, one not invoked for over two centuries, that might allow Gisela to take the throne. And avoid a bloody interregnum. It was once common practice in Viexmeur for an advisory council to be assembled from the Great Houses of the Realm in the event the heir to the throne was not yet an adult. This helped avoid civil war by forcing each of the Houses to swear fealty and give homage to the new monarch, and placated them with a significant role in the new government.

With this knowledge in hand, Vulmar of Anvers wasted no time in drafting letters to each of the Lords and Ladies of the Great Houses, and sent a ship to retrieve his new Queen.





Thanks for staying with me so far. In this RP, each player will be the head of one of the provincial Great Houses, or a representative sent by them (most likely, but not necessarily, a member of the House) acting as an adviser on the regency council of the newly-crowned High Queen Gisela of Viexmeur.

The main action of the game will involve advising and sometimes educating the Queen, and of course court intrigue. The story will be driven largely by the interplay between the characters themselves, rather than by some external force. Though, I wouldn't rule out an invasion or a rebellion, to keep things interesting. Each adviser will want to influence Royal policy in a direction that favors their House and Province. Many of the advisers may know each other, and will certainly know of each other. Perhaps some are friends, and others enemies.

Please see below for some background ramblings. I'll also post a character sheet template once we have a few people interested.















In terms of writing style, I'm looking for posts of at least a couple paragraphs, but not exactly novel-length. High Casual, I guess? I'd also like to have about six players, give or take.

Oh, and I've borrowed significantly from Flynn's 'The King is dead, long live the King!' RP.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by rush99999
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I've got my eye on this.
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Genni
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How would you feel about including a daughter of one of the northern-most provinces, which many centuries past had been a Foronian kingdom but pledged fielty to Viexmeur before the Great Schism?

During the Schism the province survived by remaining neutral and offering aid to all who requested it, for a fair price. In the present day the province has gained a reputation for even-handedness and rarely becomes directly involved in conflicts, preferring to remain on the sidelines, profiting from the suffering of others. Due to this residents of the province are often greeted warily, with many not trusting their true motives, while at the same time the sight of one in troubling times is far more warmly accepted, by those able to pay for their services at least.

The idea behind this comes from all the traders, healers and merchants who appear in most RPGs manning stores, stalls or just large backpacks filled with useful items, but who never seem to be willing to use any of them to actively aid the protagonists. Or to provide their goods for free in order to aid the saving of the world.
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@Genni

It's nice to see you back after all this time.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Major Sharpe
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I've got my eye on this.


I'd be glad to have you in, if you're interested.

-snip-


That's actually pretty interesting, and not the sort of thing I would have probably come up with. Sounds good.

Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by OfWindAndRain
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Tentatively interested.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Wernher
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I think I'd be interested with a couple ideas, wondering if they'd be possible before thinking of settling on one.

-Carling Merchant Prince coming to the crown lands along with significant rumors of armies of mercenaries and petty nobles massing in Foronia. I'm thinking him being actually absolutely not interested in rulership and just wanting to make sure the new king or queen, whomever it may, won't screw over his business with things such as ridiculous taxes.

-Chlotaric Prince coming out of nowhere with riches and unnatural charisma. The secret behind him being that he's a demon worshiper that was granted otherworldly favours to claim the throne and destroy the Faith.

-Honest to god Knight and head to one of the most military powerful house of the nation who firmly opposes the idea of a queen because he thinks a woman couldn't have the right values to be proper leaders. Despite the misogyny however is actually a great selfless guy with a flawless sense of justice that want what's best for the realm & someone likely to lay down his life for the queen at any moment should she prove herself to him.

Maybe more ideas later... thoughts?
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by OfWindAndRain
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@Wernher
I'm suddenly interested in having a man who actually does worship, or maybe just uses, a fair few demons, but wants to cement the current system into place to help deflect attention by keeping the goodness prominent.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Major Sharpe
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I've just put up an OOC thread. Feel free to mosey over there at your leisure.

-snip-


Hmm. I actually really like your first idea. I mostly mentioned the cadet families as an aside, and intended for the players to all represent the major Provincial Houses. But I'd be more than willing to make an exception if you did want to play a Carling. Plus, it sort of makes sense that Chancellor Vulmar might want a potential claimant working for the Queen, since it would help keep him (or one of his relatives) from making trouble.

I'm honestly not crazy about number two, mostly because I haven't decided whether or not demon summoning is actually possible in this Universe. I really only mentioned demons to explain why people would be so worried about weird cults.

And number three's good too, really, if you wanted to go with that.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Kazemitsu
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This all sounds interesting...but I'm no good at court subtlety XD Nor trying to gain favor for a province... But I wanna play x.x
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Genni
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This all sounds interesting...but I'm no good at court subtlety XD Nor trying to gain favor for a province... But I wanna play x.x

An unsubtle ambassador who always speaks their mind freely might be just what we need to prevent everyone just lurking in shadows, waiting for opportunities to stab the others in the back.

Not that my character would do anything like that, of course.
She'd hire someone to do it for her.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Artymis
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This interests me a lot.
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Saltwater Thief
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Sounds really cool, you've got my interest. Curiosity question; would a royal guard captain or something similar be acceptable as a character?

EDIT: I could also learn to look properly. I'll head over to the actual thread.
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Major Sharpe
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Sounds really cool, you've got my interest. Curiosity question; would a royal guard captain or something similar be acceptable as a character?

EDIT: I could also learn to look properly. I'll head over to the actual thread.


I think we may have lost one or two interested parties, so a couple more entrants would be fine. I would be willing to accept a royal guard type character. I mentioned a 'Sir Martin' in the Queen's character sheet, who I was planning on using in that role. I could just change the name to whatever you want, if you would like to play that part.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Saltwater Thief
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@Major Sharpe I will consider that! Will have a concrete yea or nay for you by tomorrow evening.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Genni
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@Major Sharpe I will consider that! Will have a concrete yea or nay for you by tomorrow evening.

You could always play as the lord from a province close to the Crownlands, which traditionally provided the head of the Queen's guard, in the same way as the King's Guard works in Game of Thrones.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by RoccanIronclad
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this sounds amaaaaaazing, Can I get in on this?
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Major Sharpe
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this sounds amaaaaaazing, Can I get in on this?


Please do. I'd be delighted.

You could always play as the lord from a province close to the Crownlands, which traditionally provided the head of the Queen's guard, in the same way as the King's Guard works in Game of Thrones.


Another good idea. You're a veritable goldmine of suggestions.
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