[CHAR] Crumbling Kingdoms: A player driven intrigue plot set after the fall of a great empire

[Claw2k11]

House Komos

Basic info

Name: Sylla Komos
Nicknames/Aliases: The Iron Countess
Appearance:

Sylla is a fairly tall, slender woman with long raven black hair reaching down to her waist and pair of deep crimson eyes.

Unlike most ladies who prefer intricate dresses, Sylla prefers to stay in her combat gear most of the time, consisting of a linen shirt beneath a chainmail byrnie and a half-plate suit of armor, with her longsword at her hip and a shield and short-spear on her back.

On the formal occasions that she does have to dress formally, she wears a simple, but well made white silk dress with the sigil of her house embroidered on it.

Age: 23
Sex: Female

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Skill info

Skills:

Personal Combat(**): As the heir to a border county, one must always be ready for combat, and Sylla has been trained by her own father and various trainers both in close and long range combat.
Strategy(**): Perhaps as equally important as the personal combat on a border region such as this is being able to defeat or delay a superior enemy until reinforcements arrive and again, Syllia has absorbed this knowledge as eagerly as possible and has as a result become an adept strategist.
Intrigue(**): Deceit and courtly matters were not often a focus of House Komos, preffering to be an honest folk who choose to have all of their affairs out in the open. However, Sylla is someone who wishes to see her house safe from the machianations of other houses, both greater and lesser and as such, she has created and currently maintains a fairly extensive network of spies around the kingdom, her duchy and her personal county.
Silver-Tongue(*): As a consequence of her intrigue skills, Sylla has become quite an able speaker and persuader, helped quite a bit in this sense by her pleasing look.
Inspiration(*): A must in all skilled generals, Sylla has shown quite a talent for inspiring soldiers and others to go beyond their limits in order to achieve their goals(and by extension, hers).

Magic Skills: N/A

Knowledges:

History*
Politics*
Guerrilla Warfare*
Sieges*(both as a besieger and the besieged)

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Driving info

Goals: Sylla wishes to make her family's name known throughout the kingdom. She wishes to arrange a marriage a royal marriage with one of her children. She wishes to prove herself as a great commander to her current liege.
Belief/Motto: "When we die, our family name will be all that lives on."
Drive: Family

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Power info

Allegiance Owed:

King Emmund Pennikis of Cobsterra
Duke Beldra of Hyuon

Allegiance Received:

Baron Fokkas Sillas of House Sillas, ruler of Irongate Castle and the lands around it, Irongate Castle being the southernmost castle in the duchy and having the role of guarding the kingdom has much stronger fortifications. They are ardent supporters of House Komos.

Baroness Marianna Illin of House Illin, ruler Stonehaven Keep and of the once rich iron and gold mines around the castle itself. However, with the depletion of the gold mines and the decrease of the yield in the iron mines as well, the riches coming from this keep have massively decreased. Though they are loyal to House Komos, they have shown interest in the past to maybe take the place of their current overlord.

The Burgher of Osthaven(someone can sign up as this), is the title of the leader of only city in the county. The city itself serves more as a base for the kingdom's fleet in times of war. However, due to its location on the river, the city serves as a small but significant trading hub, giving a small but noticeable increase in revenue both to the burgher and to the count.

Debts Owed:

Through her father, Sylla has inherited part of a large debt towards her own vassal, Baroness Marianna Illin. The Baroness has specified that the debt can be paid in money, resources or a reduction in taxation and levy supply towards her.

Debts Received:

Past Commendable Deeds:

Despite her own debt, Sylla has used her significant revenue to pay off the debts of various merchants around the county and asking for nothing in return.

Past Condemnable Deeds:

Has executed several people whom she accused of being bandits, despite no proof of that being true at all.

Secrets:

While not an outright sadist, she does enjoy the sight of bloodshed once in a while.

Titles:

Countess of Komos
Shield of Hyuon(Hereditary Title granted by the Duke of Hyuon to House Komos)
Marcher Lord

Marriage Ties:

Currently, Sylla Komos is married to the brother of Duke Beldra and has already had two twin children with the lord, with the daughter(Malla) being just a few minutes older than her brother(Syro). Both are currently five years old.

County of Komos

The county of Komos has a sort of a special status within Hyuon and indeed Cobsterra itself, as its lords have been given the status of Marcher Lords, a status which significantly diminishes the amount of taxes and levies the lords have to provide to their liege and are given a fairly significant amount of autonomy. In return, however, the lords are to use these levies, this gold and this freedom to become the shields of the kingdom and become a buffer between the Kingdom itself and the Anma Coalition.

As a result, watchtowers and small forts dot the border between the county and the Anma Coalition as to delay a possible invasion for as long as possible. However, the most formidable castle on the border is Irongate, as it was designed by the architects of the kingdom to be as hard to siege as possible and to delay an enemy until an army can be raised. Of course, in this fortress are placed some of the best soldiers in the county and indeed the duchy.

And, the soldiers within Irongate, Komos and Hyuon are equipped with the steel that is produced from the iron dug out by the miners and produced by the smiths of Stonehaven. However, with its gold mines gone and its iron yields decreasing each week, the county has been forced to import ever more iron from abroad in order to equip its soldiers.

However, not all the gold comes from Stonehaven itself, the only town within the county, Osthaven is a fairly significant trading hub, as the merchant ships coming from the south, first have to stop in the city itself, either to trade, or to resupply for the rest of the trip north. The main port of the city itself, however, in meant to be as a place where the fleets of the kingdom are supposed to rest, should war start with the Coalition. There is currently no burgher acting as the head of the town and until a new one is elected, a council of prominent citizens have taken over its leadership.

The last and the most important place within the county of Komos is the fortress of Stonefall, being both an impressive fortress and a very important trading hub. The trade passing through the fortress has made some of the people going along the road settle in a town around the main fortress itself called perhaps quite unimaginatively Stonetown. Perhaps some of the desire of the people to settle here is in part because of the reputation of the fortress itself as having never been conquered or breached, plus it being the current seat of House Komos.

Smaller settlements and villages, while not protected by a castle, do have a small watchtower, so that any bandit attack can be seen in time and send word to the local lord to send help. While it does not always work, it has decreased the number of attacks on the smaller villages simply by fear that they are caught.

[o0V0o]

Director Carnith Harrigniad of the Harrigniad Institute in Cseskhill

Basic Info:
Name: Carnith Harrigniad
Pronunciation: The last name is closer to ‘Harriniad’ since the ‘g’ is almost unvoiced in their dialect
Nickname: “Carn”
Appearance:
Carn is a tall, slender man with shiny straight black hair that just barely reached his shoulders. Though the trail of achievements he's made seems like one built over many decades, he still retains a youthful, if androgynous complexion.
When not at work, he can typically be seen walking discreetly around the fields or town in his blue robes, green shirt and white trousers. When at work, one can find him in his office, hard at his duties while wearing his Institute’s white hooded cloak.
Age: 28
Sex: Male

Skill Info:
Skills:
2 - Learning: Essentially his ability to soak up new knowledge and process it. Can be applied to learning from ancient artifacts, etc
2 - Info Gathering: Basically the intrigue skill of being able to pick up on rumors or notice the minutiae. Limited in that he has to be actively using it to notice every detail and even then there are things he can’t realistically know. This skill kinda also covers observation and eavesdropping.
1 - Daggery: Due to the things he’s done in the past, Carin knew he had to find some way to defend himself. He found safety in knives. Though he isn’t ninja-level skilled, he’s at least skilled enough to defend himself and be somewhat terrifying if he ever was alone in a room with you. In fact, he keeps a few daggers on or near him at all times.
2 - Persuasion: He’s got a slippery tongue. Though not good enough to make you believe an enemy army’s right outside the gates when there’s only about a handful, he can make you believe someone’s probably out to get you with some evidence even if there’s none. This skill also extends to allowing him to get his way with other people.
1 - Toxicology: His tendencies, his paranoia and his ambition have led him to study poisons. He knows enough to identify and cure the more common ones and to brew a few lethal toxins.
Magic Skills:
None as of now
Knowledge:
1 - History
1 - Politics
1 - Human Anatomy

Driving Info:
Goals:

To leave a legacy.
Though marrying and having kids is anything but a priority for him, leaving something in this world is. He wants to leave something behind. Something that he knows will stand after he dies. Something that will remind people “I was here and I was alive.”. Something that will be strong enough to withstand the world he is so afraid of. This is why he seeks to protect his work. Because he knows that will be the only thing he’ll leave behind.
He's very willing to protect that legacy no matter what it takes and seeks to gain more power to do that and build himself as great a legacy as he can

Beliefs/Motto: “In life there is nowhere to go but forward”
Drive: Legacy

Power Info:
Allegiance Owed to:
The King Emmund Pennikis of Cobsterra, The Duke Yssi Tamad of Cses, The Count of Cseskhill
Allegiance Due from:
The Harrigniad Institute.
Debts Owed:
None
Debts Received:
None
Past Commendable Deeds:
Reestablishing the Harrigniad Institute as a respected and renowned place of learning bested only by the institutes of the capital in the 9 years he’d served as Head Scholar/Director. Wresting control of the Institute from the incompetent House Yuonard, who had seized the institute from his own house a few years prior.
Also, ending the widespread corruption that had plagued the Harrigniad Institute under the previous administration.
Past Condemnable Deeds:
In the past, Carn had to do some...less than morally acceptable deeds in order to reclaim his family’s institute and to bring it to new heights. These ranged from arranging for certain falls from grace to outright murder.
Here is a chronological list of his dirty deeds:
Killing a former ally-turned-enemy who threatened to expose his true motives to the then-Director Kheuon Yuonard. Victim died in an accident involving a very dangerous experiment-gone-wrong that may or may not have been arranged to go wrong by Carn (Age 17).
Arranging for a horrific scandal to occur right under the then-Head of Life Studies’ nose. Said Head proceeded to resign and was later found dead in his residence. Carn took up the said position (Age 19).
Secretly siding with then-Director Kheuon Yuonard’s enemies and orchestrating his arrest and stripping of titles in collaboration with the Count of Cseskhill. Carn was handed the title of Director of the Yuonard (immediately re-renamed to Harrigniad) Institute (Age 19).
Covering up an experiment gone wrong involving a very dangerous and very rare species of plant. Said experiment resulted in an undisclosed number of deaths. The cover-up was able to dissociate the institute from those deaths, claim that the experiment was carried out by leftovers from the Yuonard Administration and make the Count of Cseskhill look the other way (Age 21).
Using aggressive tactics to absorb other nearby Institutes (Age 21-23).
Arranging for the disgrace of a rival director (Age 23).
Secrets: Refer to condemnable deeds. Also, this character has lost most of his sense of guilt and regret due to all these horrific acts.
Titles: Head Scholar/Director of the Harrigniad Institute, Earl of the Harrigniad Estate
Marriage Ties: House Harrigniad (as far as the character knows) is composed of 9 members (inc. himself). He is also family head.

The House is tied to the following by marriage ties (House - Affiliated Harrigniad member):

The Counts of Hallkh’s Hill - A female cousin married to the Count by the name of “Ynina”.

The Counts of Syouje - A male cousin married to a female member (the Count’s niece).

The Duke of Tra - An aunt married to the Duke Teuoy’s brother.

The Harrigniad Institute in Cseskhill

This is probably what would appear in a pamphlet given to prospective enrollees...

The Harrigniad Institute
Formally known as the Harrigniad Institute of Higher Learning in Cseskhill
Formerly known as the Yuonard School of Higher Studies

The Harrigniad Institute is the premier center of learning and knowledge in the entire Kingdom, rivalled only by the Universities of Cobsterra. Tens of hundreds of scholars come to this school yearly in hopes of enrolling and gaining a chance at fame and glory. If they do manage to enter the school and finish its (in)famously rigorous training and merciless assessments, even those who finish its Primaria Program (our equivalent of a 4-year Bachelor’s Degree) find themselves swarmed by prospective employers from as high as the Upper Council to as far as the Coalition Border as soon as they leave the grounds with their Libellum Facillius in hand.

General Information:
The institute spans 50 hectares (half a square kilometer) of land in the outskirts of Cseskhill. In 48 of these hectares, there are classrooms, laboratories, offices, faculties, a dormitory and a large gymnasium. The other two are used by the House Harrigniad as their family estate.
The Institute’s student population comprises around 700 scholars taking their Primaria Programs, 200 in Secondaria and 50 taking the Totality Program. They study a variety of fields ranging from Life Sciences to Politics and Law.
Students either live nearby or in a dormitory on campus. Students from faraway places like other duchies typically live on-campus. These students are also expected to purchase their own food either from their own sources or from the campus food services (which are themselves sourced from the nearby city market)
Also of note is the relatively high tuition the students are expected to pay. Some students of special aptitudes may be recommended to the Institute, which may avail them a discount (given they pass the entrance assessments). Other students with special aptitudes may be considered for an extreme discount in exchange for services to the school (these range from employment after graduation for a certain number of years to service in the below security force). However, in spite of the high tuition, it is generally considered worth every coin to study in the Institute. The income from these tuitions allows the school to uphold its high quality and to line the pockets of its staff, particularly its director, very well.
Finally, the Institute has its own dedicated security force - the Scholars’ Guard. This guard is composed of 100 specially trained guards who roam the campus. This guard is considered essential due to the immense stores of valuable and sometimes secret knowledge on the campus making it a very viable target. These guards are supplemented by 10-75 students (varies per year) who have signed a special contract with the school to provide security service in exchange for discounts in tuition. These students may be called upon by the administration in times of need.

History:
The Institute is quite old, being only a few years younger than the kingdom itself. Some documents even claim that an Institute of this form already existed in the region before the Kingdom came to be. Nonetheless, it is widely accepted that the Institute was founded and ruled by the House Harrigniad for generations. In this time, the Institute grew to prominence within the duchy, frequently producing some of its most trusted experts in the fields of Life Studies, Material Manipulation and Law. Unfortunately, the reign of House Harrigniad ended after the Institute was seized by the House Yuonard with the assistance of several rival institutes. The “Yuonard Years” ended up costing the Institute much of its prestige and its fame. With time, rival institutes in the Duchy of Cses managed to cast their shadow over the Institute.
However, through the efforts of House Harrigniad, particularly its current head and the current Director of the Institute, Carnith Harrigniad, the House Yuonard was overthrown. In less than a decade, the Director uprooted the Yuonard’s weeds and rebuilt the Institute into a powerful ally to the administration, a reemergent power and a formidable rival to the other institutes in the area.
Today, the Institute stands proudly as a beacon of knowledge and learning throughout the whole kingdom, only outshined by the capital.

Organization:

Director: Carnith “Carn” Harrigniad
The Directorship of the Institute is a hereditary title passed down through members of House Harrigniad selected by the Institute Council of Trustees based on intelligence and skill. The term “Director” is unique to the Institute as is the term “Institute”. The Director is Head of the Institute, all staff answer to him and he only answers to the Council of Trustees. He is the public face of the Institute and runs the day-to-day administration of the institute when he is present.

The Council of Trustees:
The Council is composed of various donors and stakeholders in the Institute. They have vested interests in the school due to various reasons. For example, one of the members is the Duke of Cses, who represents the feudal government. Another member may be a key donor.
The Council only meets in the event of the Director’s death or resignation. Ideally, the Director gives a report to the Council and answers for any problems; however, in practice, the individual members are usually too busy to interfere in the institute’s running.

Second Director:
The Second Directorship of the Institute is the highest a non-Harrigniad may reach in the organization. He runs the Institute upon the absence of the Director. He also serves as a special division head, running the Student Services (dormitories, food services, etc). As of now; however, the Institute lacks a Second Director due to the Director’s refusal to appoint one.

Heads of Study:
These are the heads of the various faculties of the Institute. For the purposes of the RP, they are relatively unimportant.

The Second Directorship and the Heads of Study, being a vacant position, may be occupied by a human player. Just contact me and we can work out an agreement. Though I honestly doubt anyone would want to take these low seats.

[Heyitsjiwon]

Hider

Basic info

Name: Regent Lothar of House Wolff
Nicknames/Aliases: The Wolf of the Vale
Appearance: Lothar has a commanding presence that just draws attention from everyone. Not particularly due to this looks. Rather he has relatively normal features such as short black hair, dark brown eyes and stands are a somewhat tall 5'9". What does set him apart is his radiating confidence and determination. In fact, many people seem to have trouble at maintaining eye contact with him due to his sharp, focused gaze and the burning ambition that lies in his eyes.
Age: 29
Sex: Male

Skill info

Skills:

Diplomacy: 2
Leadership: 2
Animal Handling: 1
Polearm Proficiency: 1

Magic Skills:

Enigma (ævi - 1)

Enigma (Vættir - 1)

Knowledge: Anything your character is particularly knowledgeable about. You have 4 stars to spend here in the same way as skills

History: 2
Linguistics-Speaking/Learning Languages: 1
Magic Theory: 1

Driving info

Goals: House Wolff is a cadet branch of the former royal family. It is the family started by the only child of Cobb, the Princess Alesia, who's dynasty went on to be eventually granted the county of Rouen in the Duchy of Tra, a recently acquired region of the Kingdom. The reason was clear, placing a cadet branch of the royal family would help keep the duke under close watch and discourage any rebellious ideas. However, with the usurpers on the throne who were clearly more powerful and a strong claim... there was little that House Wolff could do.

Thus, House Wolff, and Lothar in particular, have been working on consolidating their power and allies so that one day House Wolff may potentially sit on the throne as true descendants of House Tremmley... or at the very least bring the false pretender, House Pennikis, down. After all, they are at least related by blood to Prince Cobb and House Tremmley. But even worse, Lothar and his ancestors have been subject to unfair treatment by the Royal Family, often giving missions that would draw a lot of hatred to them such as forcefully collecting taxes early in a year from a random village on the orders of the Royal Family.

Belief/Motto: From God the King, From King the Law
Drive: Birthright

Power info

Allegiance Owed:

Count Norman Wolff, Lothar's elderly/sickly father.

Duchess Hamy, de-jure liege. Although historically, House Wolff only answered to House Tremmley. Recent events and the rise of House Pennikis has brought House Wolff closer to the Duchy rather than the new Royal Family.

Allegiance Received:
Mayor Abrams - Elected Burgher of the City of Calae. The city of Calais sits near the northern border of the Kingdom, the Duchy of Tra. and the Duchy of Cses. Thus, it serves as a significant trading city where many merchants find themselves visiting since it sits near the border of three major realms.

Mayor Flemming - Elected Burgher of the city of Bergen. Bergen is one of the closest cities to Bind's Edge and is the center of most of the County's production and industry.

Baron du Valois - Baron of Fort Valor, the County of Rouen's attempt at settling the forest and keeping peace in the rural regions of the County

Head Scholar Rune - President of the Vale Society, a scholarly/monastic order dedicated to studying the mystery of the forest and the region's history. The Society is based near Fort Valor as the Baron and the Head Scholar often collaborate in their expeditions to Bind's Edge. In fact, many Knights who are interested in the region do join the Society and receive formal education. These Knights are referred to as Vale Knights.

Debts Owed:

Head Scholar Rune - Rune had personally educated and tutored Lothar when he was a young lad, which led to Lothar learning a bit of the magic that the Society had learned from studying the forests.

Debts Received: - Lothar and House Wolff has saved countless rural settlements from harm as they made occasional visits to the frontier. And in the event that Lothar was not nearby during a tragedy, he often personally financed the reconstruction of the settlement along with protective palisades.

Past Commendable Deeds: Lothar and House Wolff are ardent supporters of settling and learning more of Bind's Edge. Each successive Count has had times where he sallied out to the woods with his Knights and Men at Arms to help rural settlements defend themselves from bandits, monsters, and beasts. In addition, Lothar and his father began to make the position of Burgher a democratically elected position to better reflect and serve the needs of the locals. Needless to say, House Wolff as a whole has undertaken many reforms focused on making the lives of people, especially those who live in more dangerous/rural areas, safer and better.

Past Condemnable Deeds: Rather than bowing the knee to the new Royal Family, House Wolff has maintained its distance and has yet to attend any feasts or festivals of the Royal Family. A clear sign of unruliness and opposition to the Royal Family. In response, the Royal Family often seeks to "punish" House Wolff by demanding greater levies in the event of conflicts. In fact, House Wolff is often told to raise a small elite force of Knights and horsemen to put down various "revolts" around the Kingdom. Lothar himself had to lead 50 Knights into a village that was "rebelling" when in actuality they were complaining about the sudden raise in taxes and were pleading for more time and leniency. Their orders were clear, to capture and bring back the "ringleaders" of the "revolt" to be hanged. Thus, House Wolff is often doing the dirty work of the Royal Family, which Lothar has no power to resist or deny.

Secrets: At a recent/past tournament, Lothar privately received the blessings of the Duchess Hamy herself in the form of one of her personal scarves, which Lothar casually tied to his lance during the joust. The event caused quite a bit of rumor as no one knew who owned that scarf. How scandalous! But most attendees now know that Lothar, while currently unmarried, is certainly out on the market, searching for suitors and someone appears to have a clear lead.

Titles: Regent and Heir of the County of Rouen

Marriage Ties: House Tremmly

Summary of House Wolff's Holdings:

Hider

County of Rouen - Sitting on the north eastern part of the Duchy of Tres next to the holdings of the Royal Family and the Duchy of Cses. House Wolff's family manor/palace sits in the middle of the eastern and western edges of the County.

Mayor Abrams - Elected Burgher of the City of Calae. The city of Calais sits near the northern border of the Kingdom, the Duchy of Tra. and the Duchy of Cses. Thus, it serves as a significant trading city where many merchants find themselves visiting since it sits near the border of three major realms.

Mayor Flemming - Elected Burgher of the city of Bergen. Bergen is one of the closest cities to Bind's Edge and is the center of most of the County's production and industry.

Baron du Valois - Baron of Fort Valor, the County of Rouen's attempt at settling the forest and keeping peace in the rural regions of the County

Head Scholar Rune - President of the Vale Society, a scholarly/monastic order dedicated to studying the mystery of the forest and the region's history. The Society is based near Fort Valor as the Baron and the Head Scholar often collaborate in their expeditions to Bind's Edge. In fact, many Knights who are interested in the region do join the Society and receive formal education. These Knights are referred to as Vale Knights.

Map soon to follow.