I must agree that this is quite interesting. The topics of politics and different systems of rulership are favorable for a deep plot and tickle my curiosity to see just how far a story, such as this one, can go. To have a character in the setting you place before me will surely provide me with experience and an enjoyable time. You may count me in as a highly possible participant. However, I do have a few inquiries.
1.First of all, I would like to ask about the world we will be placed in. You state that it shall be a fantasy world, but how far exactly can we go?
Is there magic and how much has it influenced the country? Is there a high court of magicians that stands on equal ground with the court of law and justice? Just how much has magic developed in the time we will be placed in? Do people only have the knowledge of how to control the elements or has the teaching gone as far as teleportation, shape-shifting, mind control, etc.? Regardless of the answer, do the people use it with their free will or are they specifically assigned positions for them? Who can use magic in the first place, if it exists at all in the world? Are there only a chosen few or can magic be used by another race? And are those chosen few captured and trained under the watchful eye of the allies of the ruler? Or are they captured and burned at the stake?
If we are going to rebel against the Good Queen, I suspect that the ones capable of using magic would either be hunted down or greatly restricted and trained much like brainwashed soldiers under the pretext that magic can be quite harmful to normal people and, in order to prevent unfortunate accidents (which no doubt could happen when the case involves young users), the Queen bans or restricts magic.
The acceptance of magic and integrating it into society might be interesting to develop. People naturally fear what they can not understand. This would mean that the majority of the population, which I assume would be incapable of using magic, would distrust magicians, even hate and voluntarily hunt them down, thinking that every person that strays from the norm is evil and plots to bring harm upon the simple lambs.
If magic is taken into account in its oppressed state, I believe it would contribute positively to the plot as a whole.
In addition, I would like to ask about the geography of the world. Do fields cover the most of it or are there more mountains and hills? Are there deserts? Big rivers? Does the empire have access to the sea? What is the climate, flora and fauna as a whole? Is it more like the Mediterranean, with typically warm climate, not very chilly winter, with oak forests and the like? Or are the more pine forests or maybe even rain forests? Volcanoes? Hot springs? I can't expect you to have everything covered, but I don't want something like, say, me making a character from a village in the desert when there is no desert to be found happening.
2. Secondly, I would like to ask about character creation and characters in general.
This role-play will be about a rebellion, which means it will require a rebellious group, yet do we start from there or build slowly? Will we begin with already settled relationships in a group or will be begin on our own and have our characters meet through interaction, similar ideals and the like? I would personally prefer the latter, since we would have our characters experiences many events that would gradually form them as a group with one soul purpose. Having the story start with an already assembled group in one place would be a bit distasteful, for we will lose the unique first meeting, initial reactions and bonding. However, the show is yours and you make all the decisions. I am only expressing my opinion.
Also, will we only be limited to the human species or will there be other ones available? What about professions? I was personally thinking of a merchant or a tarot card reader for my character. What is the range or are we unlimited and allowed to let our imagination soar?
Albeit this also falls into the category of my first question, I will ask it here. Are there any slaves in the empire? If so, are they merely captured prisoners from the latest conquest or would they be members of a non-human species?
The existence of slaves is rather beneficial in the maintenance of peace, seeing as the poor but free people would tell themselves "At least I'm not a slave" and not raise their voice. Of course, in the country that is our setting, no one will truly be free, but there is a difference between a slave in soul and partly in body and slave fully in body and soul.
If there are, in fact, slaves, will there be a system such as the one in the Roman empire, where a slave may earn its freedom?
The introduction of slavery will also contribute to the plot, in my opinion, for it is another form of oppression and another spark for the flame of a rebellion.
Since I touched the topic of slavery, would you mind giving us a basic structure of the classes? Is it just [Ruler]-[Aristocracy]-[Priesthood]-[People] or is there more than that? What sort of religion would there be in the empire in the first place? A mix of religions, like it was in the Byzantium empire? I suppose it will be like in the Eastern orthodox church, where the ruler stands above the head of the priesthood.
Is it widely accepted that men stand above women or is it the other way around, seeing as we have a queen rather than a king leading the country and the said queen hasn't been prompted to marry someone for the sake of having a ruler? Or is there gender equality? What about orientations? I expect that anything other than heterosexual will be scorned, just like it was for the most part in our world.
3. Thirdly, I would like to ask about the beginning of the role-play.
Will we start off at the capital city or in some other major town? We could have a traveling episode as well as spreading of the flame before we close in on the capital, if we decide on the latter.
I am well aware that I ask a lot of questions, but I am sure that the requested information would help anyone wondering whether or not to join the role-play. Not to mention I am quite curious X3
In the end, the idea of a rebellion against a seemingly good ruler has my attention. You will definitely hear more from me. =3
~Thank you for your time~
