ladyanglaise

Wych (open and accepting!)

@Simple Unicycle I mean, idk who Garrett is so that's fine by me as long as you make it work in this setting. :p

Wych (open and accepting!)

@Grimmdreamer13 approved, but a lot of thegns might have a problem with a pagan viking in their midst. could make for some interesting interactions!

Wych (open and accepting!)

Name:Lord Banweald Gudethbill-Eordhweall
Gender: ♂
Age: 46
Rank: nobleman

Appearance

on the left

Personality: The Lord of Cirencester is boisterous and mirthful. He is a prized hunter, with many war dogs and horses in his keep. Banweald yearns for a male heir, and as he realizes his wife cannot give him this, he has been looking among the thegns for a new one.
History: As a young man, Banweald was a knight under Offa the Great who fought in several campaigns against the Welsh. For his glory in battle he was made a thegn and given dominion over the recently assimilated Hwicce, and resides at a lavish estate just south of Cirencester called Celnaer Manor, which is connected to the barracks and dungeon of the region. He took a teenage pagan as his wife, and proceeded to live a debauched and drunken life of fresh meat and wine. After ten years, Hwithryth has yet to bear him a living child, and his patience with such things is wearing thin and his eyes are drifting to nearby towns, searching for a concubine.
Loyalties: Coenwulf the King of Mercia, and The Church when it suits his purposes.

Name: Hwithryth the Barren
Gender: ♀
Age: 24
Rank: noblewoman

Appearance

on the right

Personality: Icy and distant, cold and calculating. It's no secret that she despises her husband, who killed her pagan kinsmen and married her for her beauty when she was just a child.
History: Before Hwicce was fully assimilated into Mercia, pagans were given reasonable freedom within the Wych to do as they pleased. Hwithryth and her family lived there, and she was meant to become a prophetess. After 780AD all pagans who didn't flee or convert were put to the sword, and she was taken by Banweald as a wife at just 14. She has been seething and stewing ever since, waiting for an opportunity to escape him.
Loyalties: the Wych

Name: Winoc the Dog, or more formally "Winoc Beordhorthinen Draefends-Ealdgeneat"
Gender: ♂
Age: 33
Rank: freeman

Appearance

Personality: Winoc is a gentle, quiet Welshman. When he does venture into town he is known to be kind in his dealings, never overcharging for whelps, and a good listener in conversation. Despite his typically distant nature, he's often very curious about foreigners and newcomers. Some pious among the community find it odd how much time he spends "hunting game" in the Wychwood, but his good nature deters most serious suspicions.
History: Winoc grew up on a modest piece of land along the River Churn where he and his parents raised sheep and sold their wool. His parents died of sickness when he was just thirteen, leaving him to tend the farm alone. He took in a wild dog shortly thereafter and named her Queen Brig; she lived for half a decade and had many litters in that time, each more profitable than the last. Since then he's become quite wealthy breeding, training, and selling hunting dogs, each a descendant of Brig herself. He now resides on a sizable estate of two hides on the northwestern side of the Churn past Cirencester. He lives a simple life, seeming to spend all of his time tending his estate, raising his hounds, and more recently reading old manuscripts at the local abbey. It's rumored that he helps hide pagans who are trying to escape to Jutland, but no hard evidence of this has been found.
Loyalties: the Wych

Name: Mildemaer of Crowland
Gender: ♀
Age: 15
Rank: freewoman

Appearance

Personality: Mildemaer is fiery and talkative, disrespectful towards her elders and unafraid of holy men. She's full of energy and has a nosy thirst for knowledge, not shy about asking improper questions or striking up conversations with strangers. She loves animals of all kinds, from sparrows to stallions. It's rare to catch her without a chicken or pup in her grasp. Her resourcefulness and quick thinking make her a force in the market, but with such a short temper, she's been known to get into screaming matches when merchants won't deal fairly with her. In the short time since she came to live in Cirencester, Mildemaer has made herself quite a spectacle; she no interest in marriage or in becoming a nun, and often prefers belted tunics and trousers more typical of a small boy than a young woman.
History: Mildemaer was born in Crowland, near East Anglia. She was the only child of a Celtic scholar and a Welsh dairy maid; both Christians who frequented a large cathedral. She lived in a tiny village near the coast just outside the marshes of Crowland her whole childhood until just two years ago, when the church and the town were victim to a viking raid. She claims that she fled into the marsh, pursued by two vikings, and was saved from a gruesome death by the lost Icling Queen of Mercia. Naturally no one believed these claims, and her only proof is an odd war axe. She was sent thereafter to live with Winoc, her only living relative. She now helps him around the estate and frequents the markets in town.
Loyalties: The House of Icel

Name: Justiciar Alexius
Gender: ♂
Age: 47
Rank: nobility
Appearance: {image WIP} Alexius is a very tall and quite lean man, with severe features and dark, sunken eyes. His hair is dark brown and already graying, particularly on his face. He almost always wears dark robes typical of a judge or church official of his status, akin to a very long tunic, and a red belt or wrap on his waist or shoulders.
Personality: Justiciar Alexius did not get where he is today by being kind and generous in his dealing; he has a reputation not just for being harsh and severe, but for being lethally effective in his work. He has no qualms about playing dirty to root out pagans and criminals, fully willing to break the law to make it right. This has not made him a popular man, but certainly he's a feared one.
History: The good judge was born Brennus Maccaba, an orphan thrall in East Anglia. From a young age he served many holy men and members of the clergy in various monasteries, where he learned to read and write. He was granted his freedom on the condition that he join the church, which he happily agreed to do, becoming a translator for officials and missionaries coming from distant and powerful empires. Such a position allowed him to make acquaintances among the English nobility, eventually coming to Mercia to aid in the culling of heretics.
Loyalties: the Church

Name: Wilmot
Gender: ♀
Age: 22
Rank: thrall
Appearance: {image WIP} She is slender and quite tall, seeing eye-to-eye with most men. Wilmot's hair is raven black and curly, but cropped close to her head and often covered with a cowl. Her eyes are dark brown and somewhat narrow; her skin is translucently pale and free of freckles or marks. Typically she wears a modest dress of light grey or beige, and a darker cowl and shawl.
Personality: Like most thralls, Wilmot is very quiet and humble. She is quite easily amused and distracted, often lost in her own thoughts and wondering or getting lost while doing errands for her master. She's good natured and sweet, but quite naive; easily impressed but shy.
History: Wilmot was sold as a thrall just before her tenth birthday. Her mother died shortly after giving birth to a dead son, and her drunken father was incapable and uninterested in raising her alone. She was purchased by a lowly lord near Tamworth, and spent her teenage years doing menial housework around his family's estate. Her master found himself indebted to Justiciar Alexius, and thusly sold her to him two years ago. He told her that she may have her freedom if she finds a husband or joins the nunnery, but she's not eager to do either of these things.
Loyalties: the Church

Wych (open and accepting!)

Wych

806 AD

The oldest stories tell of the Britons, your ancestors, and their home within the wood. They were placed among the sacred trees by Woden, the ruling god of knowledge, and this place was called Wych. The ancestors built beautiful villas in the meadows of the wood, where the earth goddess Frige blessed them with cattle and wheat, and they called their home Cerney. When the Romans came they saw how clever the Britons were with their blessings, and in their wonderment called your home Corinium, and named it the capital of Britannia. The Romans built marvelous structures, making your home yet more glorious a tribute to the gods that blessed them so. As time passed the Romans fell out of the gods favor, and with them fell the ancestors, who had abandoned the old gods for the cults of Rome. The gods cast them all from the Wych and from Cerney, leaving the ancestors to fight with rival tribes for their folly.
From the peoples cast out arose the Hwicce. These ancestors were faithful to the gods, and thus the gods allowed them back into the Wych, and they were blessed, creating a kingdom whose wealth rivaled the southern coasts. Alas, a line of weak kings lead to the subjugation of Cerney and the Wych to the Saxons, until the Mercian king Penda finally took it once and for all in the name of the old gods, and renamed it Cirencester. But that was many years ago.
Today the old gods have been forgotten, cast into the fire by bishops and kings loyal like whimpering dogs to their southern masters. As servants of Woden threaten the north, the king scrambles to defend his empire, and it’s time for the faithful to descend once more into the Wych.
Where does your loyalty lie? Will you defend the kingdom of Mercia, or the old ways of the Wych?

---

CIRENCESTER

THE TOWN CENTRE

The Romans built walls around Corinium just south of the River Churn, gave it with markets for trade, a forum for government, and a colosseum for bearbaiting. Today the colosseum is in ruins and the forum has been lost to time, but the walls have held strong. It's Briton and Anglo-Saxon residents live in thatch-roofed houses on dirt roads, barter for goods in the new market founded the ruins of old. Though the town is home to craftsmen and businesspeople, most who live in the town center are lowly free peasants who can't afford their own land.

THE RIVER CHURN

Just outside the northern wall is the River Churn, a tributary to the Thames. It's a small but deep river that sustains a surprisingly robust stream of goods to the town. There are modest docks just against the Roman wall where a few fishermen and traders live in wooden huts by the water. It's common to see thralls scavenging the river for freshwater mussels, in hopes that the pearls they conceal could afford their freedom.

THE FARMING HIDES

Crossing the bridges out of town will lead one into the unwalled family farms of Cirencester, mostly owned by Britons who can just barely afford their small piece of land. As one goes further north these estates grow into large hides, over 120 acres each with stone manors built at the centers, surrounded by lush crops and cattle. This is the realm of the thegns and their thralls; rich men and those that they own.

THE OUTSKIRTS

Far beyond Cirencester are vast meadows and the Wych, a woodland that anyone will tell you is full of Christian-eating witches who cavort with demons under the full moon. Only a fool would go there.

---

Ranks

THE NOBILITY

thegn
Any member of the ruling class of the Heptarchy. Descendants of kings may be called 'high-born.' The nobility of Mercia are rulers and justiciars over villages, fortresses or counties. They are wealthy, influential, and live on massive estates with luxurious villas on several hides* of land. The most trusted among them have Coenwulf's ear as aeldormen as part of the Witangemot; the king’s council.

THE FREEMEN

ceorl
While they may not lead glamorous lives like the nobility, freemen are not called to compulsory military service or under the same scrutiny from the high-borns. Freemen are typically simple peasant farmers, and while most are quite poor, some do have large plots of land and live quite comfortably.

THE THRALLS

thēow
Slaves are at the bottom of the social ladder. They are bought and sold as property, both by their owners and as children by freeman parents indebted to another. In Mercia, slaves are usually Welsh or Celtic, but Saxons who cannot repay debts also sell themselves and their families into servitude. Particularly in cases of debt, it is within possibility to earn ones freedom, but even in other cases this may be possible.

THE FOREIGNERS

wealh
Mercia has an uneasy but necessary relationship with outsiders. The Irish who brought faith to the Saxons also make up a majority of their thralls, and wars with the northern barbarians seem endless. All the same, Cirencester sees it’s fair share of foreigners travel through its streets. Being half a day’s ride from Gloucester, many traders pass through on their way to London. Soldiers, scholars, and thegns seeking audience with the king pass through on their way north to Tamworth. As long as you have something to offer to the populace, be it coin or service, you can find a place in Cirencester.

---

Loyalties

THE KING OF MERCIA

Rex Coenwulf
A decade has come and gone since the coronation of Coenwulf, the self-proclaimed “emperor” and of Mercia. He has a mind for battle, conquering the southern kingdoms as he sees fit and stirring up trouble with bishops at every turn. Under his command many soldiers have found themselves thegns on large estates, and many traders found themselves wealthy and with Mercian contacts all across the heptarchy. However, his reign has brought ruin to many freemen and thralls who have been displaced by war, as well as many disaffected clergy, monks, nuns and other faithful who find themselves uncomfortably underneath the king’s thumb.

THE HOUSE OF ICEL

Iclingas
Only one Mercian king was ever called "great," and he was Offa of the House of Icel. The Iclings were descendants of Woden, strong men who conquered Britain for Mierce, the border people. From this house was born the first and greatest kings of Mercia; the pagan king Penda and his brother Eowa, who brought Mercia into a golden age of dominance over the Heptarchy, Penda's son Wulfhere who avenged his fathers death and lead his people to revolt against their Northumbrian overlords, and Aethelbald who restored Mercia to glory until he was betrayed and killed by his own guards. From the civil war and chaos rose Offa, who deposed the false king Beornred and created a Mercia so prosperous that its only rival was that of Charlemagne.
Offa had but one son, Ecgfrith, who died within a year of the great king, and to his grave he took the line of House of Icel. Coenwulf hastily took the throne after the boy's sudden death.
The last remaining Icling vanished into the Crowland marsh even before this, and little is known about them.

THE VIKINGS

Dene
It was thirteen years ago that Vikings attacked Lindisfarne, and just six that they began raiding the Irish coast. They are the Norsemen, coming mostly from Jutland in search of wealth.
Since the attacks, Christian refugees have begun moving inland while some hopeful pagans have done the opposite, in faint hope of joining these men. So far, the king has paid the Vikings little mind as he has his hands full enough with Wales and East Anglia, but as the Vikings grow bolder in their attacks his patience will surely fade.

THE CHURCH

Diocese of Lichfield
As the Imperial borders pushed to the far ends of Europe, so came Romans to govern the barbarian provinces, so came the monasteries and missions that converted the provinces and indeed outlasted Rome. It was a humble Irish mission that brought Christianity to Mercia, and most practices remain quite Celtic in nature. While the church is openly and unapologetically hostile toward heathens, they provide aid to the needy and provide education to scholarly men in monasteries. They frequently butt heads with Coenwulf over matters of authority when it comes to monasteries and the laypeople.
Though it's easy to overlook, the church provides many freedoms for the people. They keep Coenwulf and other kings from having absolute authority over others, and can grant freedom to thralls even when the nobility objects

THE WYCH

Hwicce
The church will tell you not to stray into the Wychwood forest, for it's full of devils and witches who will eat your children's eyes and sacrifice you to their heathen idols. It's indeed very few who know what lies in Wych, and even those who believe themselves to be pragmatic and not given to superstitious thinking may think twice before stepping foot into the dark thickets, or taking a stroll down the narrow dirt paths. Indeed only those who have kept the old ways would brave a venture into the Wych, and they must keep their beliefs secret if they hope for a life of normalcy in Mercia.

---

RULES

(I know it's intimidatingly long, I promise I'm nice! I'm just thorough!)

• Read the entire intro carefully, and contact me or a Co-GM with any questions you may have.
• This is a low fantasy RP. That means that while you cannot be a wizard casting magic missile on king's guard, you can certainly make use of mysterious magical forces in the world. This includes things like:
  • alchemy
  • divination/augury
  • shamanism
  • blessed and cursed items (amulets, for example)
  • charms or incantations(intensive, ritualistic spell casting)
• I will select Co-GMs before officially starting the IC, so if you're interested, DM me!
• Though this is slightly fantastical and it's a free RP, this is still based in real history and requires a certain amount of foreknowledge. I'm not asking for deep research, but I am asking you to check out the links page below and do a little digging on Wikipedia from there, or at least google the points the catch your interest. DM me with any questions you may have about the setting, history, or anything else; I'm more than happy to help you understand anything! Remember, the only stupid question is a question you don't ask ;)
  • On a related note, this is tagged both free and casual for a reason. If you enjoy writing in-depth replies of a few paragraphs each, great! If you believe brevity is the soul of wit and you can give quality responses in a small paragraph or the occasional one-liner, great! Whatever your comfortable with, as long as they're competently written.
• Please submit your CS in the OOC for approval and in a plain format; this may seem petty, but I have ADHD and I find highly stylized posts to be very distracting. I have no problem with minor things like using a certain color for dialogue or using lines or headers to distinguish between characters (if you have multiple), just don't go really overboard because then I'll probably miss most of what you type.
• CS must be filled out completely, leaving a section blank will result in an automatic rejection.
  • After submission and acceptance, you're permitted to tweak and refine your CS as needed once it's in the character tab. If you plan on making a major change, though, I would appreciate some notice either in OOC or as a DM.
• You may post an image or a description for Appearance.
• If you ignore everything above, I reserve the right to ask you to change something in your CS or reject it outright, or ask you to reread this OP or even tell you to leave even after accepting your CS. The last thing I want to do is stifle your creativity, but if you start being deliberately disruptive (eg godmodding), I will bring the hammer down.

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CS

Name: (note: Anglo-Saxons and Britons don't use surnames but may have titles, while Norsemen have surnames derived from their fathers' names)
Gender:
Age:
Rank: (nobleman, freeman, thrall, foreigner)
Appearance: (image or description)
Personality:
History:
Loyalties: (at least 1 required)

medieval roleplay, possible low fantasy elements [accepting!]

@MissCapnCrunch@Ylrud@Pyromaniacwolf@MikkishtheLeprechaun@Cliffspiracy@TwilightShadow@Leo Khan@Lurking Krog@Emma@Noodles@SantosGabriel77@SantosGabriel77@twannyman@bloonewb@Arya10108909@Quasar

Forgot to tag y'all in the link the the OOC. My bad.

medieval roleplay, possible low fantasy elements [accepting!]

It's up! If you still have questions or comments, you can post here, there, or DM me. I'm not picky lol.

Wych (open and accepting!)

A pale and cloudy dawn over Mercia puts one wise of coming spring rain. Peasants emerge from thatch huts, clothed in rags and clutching what little gold they can muster, making their way to the still-sleepy market. Smoke is rising from the chimneys of tiny inns as breakfasts of ham and porridge is being prepared, with colorful patrons groggily partaking in the meal. Justiciars and learned men dot the road from the abbey to Celnaer, seeking audience with the local lord. A young woman in a flax cowl wandered among them, seeming quite aimless, quietly observing her surroundings.
In Celnaer Manor, the lord is still asleep in a silken bed. Hooded men wander through his dungeon, glancing in at the various prisoners held there to see if any have died in the night.
The distant hides of the wealthy begin to rouse with the work of thralls and leisurely thegns. Some of these slaves, mostly very young men and women, pick up their carts or the leather leads on their livestock and tote them into market to make coin for their masters. One such is an auburn-haired girl clutching a fat hen, with a young hound nipping at her ankles as she walked along the Churn.

Wych (open and accepting!)

RESEARCH & RESOURCES

You don't have to use all of these, or even any of them if you find sources that suit you better. However, I realize this is considerably more intensive than most Free RPs and I don't want to leave you with your head spinning. This some of what I'm using to create this RP and they may provide you with some sparks of inspiration as they did me. It may be wise to check back here from time to time, as I plan to add more links as I find them. If you find another resource you liked or found interesting, PM me, and I'll add it here so it can help others too!

NAMING
Anglo-Saxon names were typically Old English words, compound or singular, and often they combine elements of the parents names. I've also included resources for Viking, Briton, and Celtic names below.
Old English Translator
Old English Core Vocabulary
Name Elements (set to my preferences, you can change usage filters with "more options")
Ancient & Mythological Names (includes more Welsh and Celtic options)

HISTORY
Wikipedia sources denoted with a W; those article typically cover all or most of Anglo-Saxon history, but only general information and events before the year 806AD is relevant here.
Who were the Hwicce?
How did Anglo-Saxon nobility work?
Anglo-Saxon paganism W
Anglo-Saxon Christianity W
Mercia W (linked specifically to the section describing events 757AD-830AD)
Offa of Mercia W
Coenwulf of Mercia W
Anglo-Saxon Paganism (links in the bibliography to other great pages!)

MISCELLANEOUS FLAVOR
These are somewhat esoteric, but may give you an idea of how these people spoke, lived, and understood their world. I like it, anyway :)
Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon Kenning W, and Examples of Kenning both Modern and Historic

medieval roleplay, possible low fantasy elements [accepting!]

@Arya10108909That's fine if you don't know a whole lot about it yet! This will be more history inspired than historically accurate, and I'm more than happy if you just do simple Wikipedia-level searching when creating a character. I posted some links on page 2 that you might find helpful, and feel free to DM me if you have any specific questions :)

@QuasarIn this case what I mean is, while your character can't be a wizard who runs around throwing magic missile in peoples faces, magic is still a present force. It's very subtle and more ritualistic and shamanic than it would be in a straight fantasy RP, to the point where most people don't believe in it at all.

medieval roleplay, possible low fantasy elements [accepting!]

@bloonewb That sounds right! It was so long ago that the only thing I remember is my characters name was Cooper and the RP died about ten posts after the very first time skip. RIP in peace, lol.

I think that's an interesting idea! Feel free to DM me!