Sovi3t

Age of Steam- Fantasy/Steampunk NRP

Intrigued, may do a application

Beyond Odyssey (Int Check)

Interested, either as Head of Security or a scientist.

A Gilded Throne - A Shadow Looms (Closed)

Ereden, Sakera

Port of Ereden

The city of Ereden was abuzz as always. Markets flowing with vendors from across the empire, people buying and trading wares by the pound. To carriages of goods and materials being sent up and down the streets. It was one of the busiest cities in the Kingdom. The port of Ereden was especially busy due to the amount of trade that happened through here on a daily basis. To the point where even the East Empire Company has set of shop and trades with Sakerian merchants regularly. Some of the lower-class merchants complain, since the buying power of the company exceeds many fo these merchants incomes combined. But the elite insist on keeping the company.

Elite’s in Sakerian society are your snobby bunch. You see, in every major city besides Ereden there’s a governor. The governor is often a member of a family that helped House Winterfield to prominence during the coup d’etat a 2-3 decades ago. These families and their friends control the city by the balls in terms of local issues. Just recently there was a fire in Knoxville at a blacksmith’s practice. Rumor has it that the blacksmith wasn’t commissioned to operate so the ruling family in Knoxville (Ran by the Murlock clan) “took care of it”. The thing is however the elite’s don’t even attempt to hide these facts and prance around doing whatever they want. People complain, Damien at times intervenes but overall he keeps to himself. As long as public happiness is somewhat good, the gold is flowing through and the armed forces in that region are happy, he stays out of it.

Tony Mangano was spotted getting out of the carriage with a man in a blue garment and a fur coat over him. A trade guild logo on his right breast pocket for the fur coat.

“The election is coming up, and you people already know who your voting for?!” Exclaimed the fur coat male.
“Enough Julian, Damien went over this with me and Randall. We have a good idea from the discover’s and the talks on the road and we know somewhat to an extent of what each of them brings” Tony replied.

The male on Tony’s left, Julian was the son and heir to Family Green. Family Green was politically involved in the city of Gemfield. Their patriarch, Hugo Green was the governor of Gemfield for the past 6 years. The family in terms of people wasn’t as bad as compared to say the Murlocks, Benns or even the worst of the brunch the Fords. Yet the Green’s were notoriously known for leaving bastard children in their wake…

The duo entered into a office with the Sakerian Trading Logo on it. The office was medium sized room with two people, one male and one female working at a desk. A map of Sakera and the Empire was on the wall with various small flags, lines and notes on it. To this date, Sakera has roughly over 50-60 trading posts spread across Empire land. This amount isn’t even including the one’s in Sakerian land. These trading posts serve a key purpose in allowing the flow of goods in Sakera to remain constant and not stop or stick as the guild calls them. But also they act as the eye’s and ear’s of Sakera…

“Guildmaster, present surprise” the male said, as he stood up.
“Guildmaster, what brings you here?” Asked the female, at her desk still.

Tony sat at one of the seats, and gestured to Julian to sit at another.

“Sitdown Apprentice Urich, learn from Journeyman Marigold here.”

Urich sat down, and nodded, looking at both males.

“Right, a few things. One, instead of sending 5 guards we’ll send one less, reports of highwaymen and cargo lost have gone down, run the numbers Urich and see how many guards we have left over” commanded Tony.

Urich without word began to work on the number crunching.

“As he does that, Julian you’ll be officially overseeing the docks of Ereden from now on, I’ll speak with your father and we’ll make a formal arrangement about his matter soon yes?” Tony said.

“Right, Journeyman Marigold will help you get into the loop on operations in Ereden, another thing.. Any news from our friends about the EEC?” Asked Tony, looking straight at Marigold.

“They been buying a lot of wares, wines, fish and furs. Probably preparing for the summit in the capital city” Journeyman Marigold stated.

“Have they paid or is it on account?” Asked Julian.

“Paid, with 2 more shipments paid for in advance” Marigold countered.

Tony nodded as he heard this news.

“Right, go along with the orders. Our Prime Magistrate is already at the estate. Is his order their?” Asked Tony.

“Arrived three days ago, with another one arriving midnight” stated Marigold.

“Guildmaster, we’ll have roughly 50 men to spare” stated apprentice Urich.

Tony nodded before he looked towards Julian.

“Get in the loop, I’ll be going” Julian stated, before departing the office.

Lalrial Outskirts , Imperial Heartlands

On the outskirts of Lalrial, a manor with the House Winterfield banners is spotted. Gated around the initial front and back of the manor. Marble walls, windows with the finest of wood and pathways with perfectly cut stones were common site for this manor. Two fountains with the dragon, seen on the House Winterfield Banners were visible as well. Yet what alluded people wasn’t the large manor itself with many rooms, it was what was behind it. A pathway that lead straight to a horse track

The city of Lalrial didn’t have a horse track, for racing horses. At most it had a few jousting fields for local jousting competitions. So, with permission from Damien and the city’s approval. The Sakerian elite raised a fund to create a five mile long horse track. The track is moderate to hard in terms of difficulty to even some experienced riders. Varying elevations, tight bends it requires the rider to be focused and remain in control at all times. Two major straightways exist, one is the starting straightway and the other is when the riders hit the third last turn near to the finish line. The thing about this track is however organizers for whatever events can slim it down to even a mile long if needed to, and has been done before. The Sakerian elite’s often ride horses here, or host local competition to pass time. The track itself has become some sort of local phenomenon in the capital city, attracting crowds of 200 to 300 people for it’s events that are hosted once a month in the spring, and twice in the summer months.

Maintenance of the track is done by local workers, some of diverse ethnic backgrounds and a few Sakerians work here. The nearby stable houses 6 horses, one owned by Damien. Construction for another stable was on it’s way, to increase the capacity to 14 horses. Not to mention more bleachers were being made for the ever increasing demand of people wanting to see horses race. In the middle of the bleachers and at the top deck was where the nobility sat. 4 tables with bottles of varying wines were common sight. While people on the bleachers tend to drink local ale sold at stalls on the pathway leading to the horse track. Beside the bleachers was a small tent in a orange color with blue stripes. Usually, in that tent would be a bookie. The bookie would take bets on the race, on behalf of the Sakerian Trading Guild. It was a small time money maker since the city took “generous” taxes for the gambling profits.

Now, back to the manor. The manor besides from being well built and kept was home to the Prime Magistrate or as the court called him: The Ambassador to the City. His name was Solomon Benn. Solomon was a interesting character to say at least. Everyone in Sakera knew he was a wild party animal who enjoyed the company of whores, booze and illicit activities. His father, the governor of Old Redden, a city known for it’s fur industry. With this the Benn family was a extremely rich bunch, after the state’s taxes. With a lot of money in his bank and influence, Senior Benn suggested to Damien that his son, Solomon took over the reign of Ambassador. At that time, Benn was a great man. Religious, church hell he even had a wife. But ever since his wife’s death to childbirth and his disownment of that child, he hasn’t been the same…

“Get the fuck off me you filthy whore!” Solomon said as he threw a random whore off of him.

He got up and changed into a simple silk shirt and some pants as the whores scampered out of the master bedroom.

“Timmy! Get me a fucking cold glass of water!” Shouted Solomon, hung over from the night’s events.

Two figures were seen entering the room after Solomon had called for his butler Timmy. One of them in a black cowl and the other in the red cowl. Randall let out a smirk as he held the glass of water in his hands. He then mimicked Timmy’s voice

“Here ser” Randall said.

“Thank fuck you can listen”, Solomon snatched the glass of water without even looking up at the face of Randall. He chugged the glass of cold water down before handing it back to Randall, who didn’t bother to grasp onto it.

“Grab the fucking glass Timmy, I ain’t in the fucking mood” grunted Solomon.

The second figure behind Randall closed the door, and stood near to it.

“What the fuck are you doing you chum-..” Solomon began to say as he spun around only to face Randall.

“Well well, Mr.Benn enjoying the life of opulence and luxury are we yes?” Chuckled Randall as he sat down on one of the chairs.

The second figure removed her hood obscuring her face, she was a women.

“This the diplomat you were speaking about Master Randall?” Asked the women.

“Solomon, meet Lauren, one of my trusted advisors.” Stated Randall.

“What.. what the fuck are you both doing here.. So fucking close to the city?!” Exclaimed Solomon, in shock of who he encountered. He gently place the empty glass of water down.

“Lord Damien wanted me to check up on you, ensure you know what you are to do in a few days time yes?” Randall stated, before pointing to Lauren. She withdrew a sheet of paper with a strange red seal, the seal had a Dragon on it, probably representing a royal order straight from the desk of Damien.

Solomon grasped onto the letter looking once at Lauren before opening the letter up.

“Lord Damien, said that you and a party of 4 other people will be attending this function. Master Randall, I, Officer Henry York and Captain Madam Rogers. You’ll be with us the whole event and not to leave our sight since we four are your formal escorts. At the manor roughly 10 stationed men will be here at all times, with five plain clothes officers at the horse track guarding your assets. Your booze intake will be restricted to at most 3 glasses of wine and 2 mugs of ale as your booze intake-..” Lauren stated before she was cut off by Solomon.

“Whoa whoa, I appreciate the protection and everything but your limited my drink, i think that’s abi-..” Solomon said before Randall cut him off.

“Everyone in the fucking city know’s you're an alcoholic son, I’d rather not have you throw up over the royal carpet and become the new political mess for our House yes?” Randall stated as he got off from the chair.

“Everything else is on the letter ambassador, your butler has gotten jewelry for you and the set of clothes for the day of the event. Don’t damage them before hand please. The guild paid good money for them” Lauren stated as Randall left the room without a word. She followed behind him, and placing her cowl over her head.

“Wait, are you free on Thursday?!” Shouted Solomon as Randall and Lauren departed the manor.

Amongst the Lonesome- A return to Santa Somabra [Fantasy Noir]

Placeholder for Black Market/Information Broker Character

Jermija Turov

Name/Nicknames:

Race: (The species of the character you wish to play)

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Appearance: (Short, physical description of your character/picture/both)

Personality: (A couple of paragraphs to describe how your character behaves, and what drives them)

Bio: (A brief synopsis of what got your character to this point, and where they fit in to Santa Somabra)

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A Gilded Throne - A Shadow Looms (Closed)

EREDEN, SAKERA
ONE WEEK AGO, 9:00 AM

Damien sat inside of a large hall, on top of a stone throne.Infront of him, was an debate between two noblemen of a personal issue.
“You fucked my sister without my permission staining our line with your foul blood!” Exclaimed the noblemen.
“Nonsense! Can you back those claims up you whoreson!” Shouted the other noblemen back.Damien sighed as the debate went on and on, no evidence of course was provided for these debates just racial and insults were thrown. What changed this time though was one of the noblemen withdrew his blade. As he tried to swing at the other noblemen, two palace guards intervened. The blade was withdrawn from the hand of the noblemen while the guards dragged him to the keep. The other noblemen looked at Damien.
“He tried to kill me!” Exclaimed the Nobleman
“Do you press charges?” Asked Damien.
The nobleman gave the statement some thought, and stood there for abit.
“Uh..no-.. No!” Exclaimed the Nobleman.
Damien singled one of the guards to take the nobleman away. He was escorted out of the palace. As the noblemen was escorted, Damien singled the court servant to close off the public session for the day. Damien preceded to the war/planning room to meet with a man of simlar stature. Tony Mangano, the guildmaster or the head of trade.
“My lord” Tony bowed.
“You called for me Tony?” Asked Damien
Tony nodded and tapped on the landmass map, he pointed to two provinces.
“I request your permission to send messengers to three high houses, and one of my scribes to one high house as well M’lord.” Asked Tony.
Damien placed both of his hands on the table and observed the locations. Tony set aside the Trade Guilds paperwork and plans for both. He skimmed each of the documents and also viewed the blueprints for the trading posts.
“Bring me the spymaster.” Damien commanded.
A servant quickly jogged off before coming back with a man in a blue cowl wearing formal attire. He walked into the room before bowing to both men.
“You called for me lord?” Randall asked.
Damien nodded to Randall before tapping on two regions on the map. Randall walked towards the map and looked to the regions, before nodding.
“Our neighbours are a peaceful bunch, nothing really harsh among them.. However rumors of family strife are common in that land, up north the lands of Violette there also pretty calm and peaceful folk for our knowledge so far, a post has to be constructed.. And the land south of our neighbors was recently taken over by new leaders.. Early rumors are that he is a “proud” fellow, if you catch the drift sire..” Stated Randall
Damien nodded before he skimmed over the paperwork again. He waved Randall away and Randall nodded once and returned to his tower. While Damien looked to Tony.
“I hereby authorize you to make trade decisions on behalf of our empire including sending trade requests and creating trade posts.” Stated Damien
Damien grabbed a paper from the side and quickly wrote down what he said, he signed the paper before grabbed a red seal from the drawer. He rolled up the paper and applied the red seal on top of the paper.
“See Randall for information, go.” Stated Damien.
Tony nodded with a big smile on his face, and holding the scroll, he quickly went to the trade office with the scroll to plan everything. Damien in the meantime looked to the map. Plotting his next move.

A Gilded Throne - A Shadow Looms (Closed)

House Winterfield

House Name:
House Winterfield

Head of House:
Sir Damien Wilkerson IV

House Specialty:

House Winterfield is known for its navy. The country of Sakera being surrounded by water for the most part lead the house to invest a lot of money into it’s Navy. The Navy prides itself in it’s training, in officials that don’t take bribes or any form of corruption among its ranks but also it’s state of the art fleet. It’s affectionately been given the name by opposing admirals as the “Armada of Death” due to its ships but also their power.

House Ancestral Artifact:

The Sword of the Last Rebellion - A cutlass but with a solid gold handle and a red ruby at the end of the hilt. Village folklore say the sword was used by the ruling house to murder the leader of the house that came before them, cementing their place in royalty. The townsfolk argue that the sword was used by an admiral who ended a promising among the navy and brought reform and pride into the navy as people say it today. The cityfolk and scholars simply say the sword was a family heirloom from Sir Damien Wilkerson the first and passed down, as a symbol of power but also a symbol of authority over the state, the people and the armed forces. Stories differ, however all people agree this sword is a state artifact and something of “Mythical” proportions (Well, not the scholars)

Important Members:

Lady Catherine Wilkerson - The Wife of Damien
Shipmaster Joseph Green - Head of Navy
Noblemen Tony Mangano - Head of the Trade Guild
High Marshal Benjamin Fields - Head of the Armed Forces
Nobleman Green - Head of Family Green
Spymaster Friedrich Randall
Governor Robert Murlock - Knoxville
Governor Glenn Benn - Old Redden
Governor Jeff Ford - Elnora

(More to be added as story goes on)

Nation Name :

Sakera

House Motto : “Power, Loyalty, Respect”

Race Name:

Sakerians

Racial Appearance :

Sakerians are often decently tall, ranging from five foot nine to six foot six for men and five foot four to six foot three for women.Both genders tend to have larger chests due to bigger lungs. Skin complexation is mostly white but entering into a light shade of brown. The average hair color for Sakerians is black, yet some ethnic groups in mountain tribal regions have blonde and even red hair.

Racial Traits :

Sakerians are known be good swimmers, fishers and can life at the sea with ease. But Sakerians on the land are no more than capable as well. Good at farming, woodworking and various other tasks they tend to be hard working at whatever trade they do. Food wise the Sakerian diet is mostly fish, meats and vegetables.

Capital: Ereden

Capital Population: 23,445 (Inner and Outer City Limits)

Other Major Settlements:

Major Cities

New Knoxville - 10,545 People
Old Redden - 12,432 People
Gemfield - 14,121 People
Elnora - 11,543 People

Towns

Hazlehurst - 1,505 People
Clear Shores - 1,664 People
Glenvar - 2,254 People
New Eagle - 4,323 People
Salix - 5,231 People
Hartland - 6,123 People
Oak Leaf - 5,321 People
Wind Lake - 4,153 People
South Point - 5,311 People
Lloydminster - 2,734 People
Weston - 4,321 People

Population: 789,121 People

Culture:

Sakerin culture is differs from the grand cities, military forts to the humble towns and villages. In the cities, science and knowledge prevails over religion for the most part. Churches do exist in the city but religion is second hand by most people. The cities taste in food his more refined in terms of dishes and meats. Spices are often used, wines are drank. Music is also mostly “refined” in the sense proper instruments are used like harps and lutes.

Yet in towns the culture is more religious than the cities. Sunday Morning and Monday Night are day of prayers for town people. Food is more basic, and spices aren’t often used. Booze of choice is mostly ales and beers while music tends to be of a few chords from the lute and here and there a harps is used for town pieces

But when the topic comes of military forts and villages, the culture varies. Most of the time the location has a huge effect on what beliefs people follow. Reasons like what food can be gathered or the climate around it set the standard to how people live. In the army, religion is given and practices are set aside for soldiers who are religious. Conversions often do occur in the army, but yet religion isn’t forced on and more of a “moral choice”

Type of Government:

Monarchy
Agnatic Cognatic Primogentiure

Influence and relations: None

Military -

Sakerian’s take pride in their army. Being a army men for some is considered a decent life. Women do serve in the ranks in some disciplines however some sexism does exist, especially among the cavalry divisions.

Active

1,000 Men stationed at Military Installations across the country (Mix of archers and infantrymen)
250 Cavalry Officers
1,750 Guards Active
5 Warships Patrolling
2 Carvels Patrolling Trade Routes

Inactive
9,000 Infantrymen on reserve
1,750 Town watch
4,000 Archers
2,500 Cavalry Officers
10 Trebulats with 50 officers
20 Warships Ready with 400 seamen
10 Warships decommissioned (Hulls intact)
12 Carvels with 100 Seamen
3 Carvels decommissioned (Hulls Intact)

Landscape: Fertile regions in the nothern parts, lakes and rivers play a good role in this. Yet the mountain regions often bring colder climates. Forests are a common sight in the land. A road network is being somewhat developed.

Wildlife:(Optional)

Economy: Above Average. Due to the experince of House Winterfield in trading beforehand.

Religion: People in the area worship Kammeth and the Sky pantheon however some villages tend to have local gods and goddess that they follow.

History:

The land of Sakera and House Winterfields role in it is dated to stretch back over 100 years ago to present time.

House Winterfield was at first, a noble house. A house that had decent control over the wood industry in Sakera. Yet it didn’t have power in terms of politics. They mainly were a major player economy wise. Sakera back then was dominated by King Isaac the Feeble. A weak king as his name implies but also a king that people didn’t think deserved the throne. You see, people thought that Isaac was a bastard. A mistake that his father hid from his affair with a mistress. The mistress, as you can guess was executed on the counts of “treason” but people somewhat knew the true cause of her execution: she was a loose end that needed tying.

The weak claim to the throne presented an interesting situation for the 3 houses at the time, including Winterfield. You see, the other houses (House Reddon and House Greenbelt) were involved in various other industries. Reddon controlled the lucrative fishing market while Greenbelt had a stake in the wine market. The houses in essence controlled every coin that flowed through Sakera. But also, they had stake in other industries as well. Winterfield had a stake in the ship builders union for instance. These “stakes” were mainly because the lax economic policy set by the King. So what did this bring you ask? Monopolies.

The houses devised a plan, with their iron fisted grasp on there in industries. Simply put there were gonna ask the King to step down and a king installed, based on the house's choice. Isaac, used to his life in luxury and decadence, declined and threatened to have the house’s trading licenses revoked if they dared to ever question the king or tried to remove him from power. The House’s gruntly agreed but they began to hatch a plan behind the kings back..

The plan was merely to destabilize the region or well that was House Greenebelts plan. You see the House’s after their failed attempt to force the king were more desperate for power. Each house had there own way of going at it. Greenbelt wanted to destabilize the whole region to force the king to surrender. Reddon was more into the approach of blocking off food shipments, supplies for the army and the people into forcing a inner revolt. Winterfield on the other hand wanted to control the region without both houses in the picture. So, what better way to do that than to pit both houses together?

The way Winterfield did this was by hiring a few spies. Then what they did was dig up dirt on both houses. For example, in Greenebelt incesterous relationships were going on between various high profile family members. Reddon was more juicer in the fact that affairs and mistress’s were going on also. With the evidence of this “hot gossip” in their hands, they began to leak it out to both House’s in the form of messengers from the other house, or they thought. With things getting heated Winterfield tried to intervene, but both houses denied the intervention. Instead, they took it out on each other via a house civil war. Street’s were bloody, territory was claimed and the king had to intervene to protect the general populace. To place the cherry on top, Winterfield via their spies leaked the information out to the general public. The king, was forced to exile both houses and the leaders.

House Winterfield soon after that began to take over the economic side of Sakera. Industry by Industry monopolies were formed under the King’s nose. People didn’t mind it at all, since House Winterfield was more “kind” and offered a tad more time off for people if they needed it. The goal was to have such a strong hold on the economy to the point where House Winterfield IS the economy of Sakera. Again, this was done due to the King not knowing jack shit about ruling and policy making.

With the economy in there hands House Winterfield preceded to meet with the King. The King in his usual self simply just sat at the table and nodding, speaking only where needed. He really wasn’t a fan of the economic meetings. The leader at that time, Damien the second began to talk about the king’s “personal life”. Mainly information gathered from the robust spy network they’ve devolped over the years. The King, slowly as the conversation on became enraged at the topic of dicusssion. The tipping point? Damien called the king a bastard. The king at that point snapped and charged at Damien. On-lookers and guild leaders at that time recall a brawl. The brawl was so brutal that at the end of it? The king took a knife to the neck.

Now, with the king dead in a brawl he started Damien was imprisoned and his son, Damien the Third was in charge. Damien the third placed pressure on the royal family and threatened a coup d’etat if Damian wasn’t released. The royal family, simply ignored the requests. But also, to add more heat to the fire they revoked the trade license of the Winterfield. The Winterfields took offense to this and began to hold a revolt all across the nation of Sakera

The revolt was well funded, something that the Royal Family lacked. You see, the king only charged a tax of 250 gold pieces per industry per month. The sum of the wealth that was kept by the Winterfields was massive since, like earlier said they were the economy. The Winterfields used the working class, middle class and even portion of the high class to stage revolts all across the nation. Giving as little as 5 gold pieces to as much as 500. In response to this, Damien the second was executed.

With Damien the third at the tender of 18 taking control of the house, he ordered the spy network to take control of the navy and the army. Commanders and Admirals were disposed using blackmail and one’s installed that abided by the House. Slowly the armed forces began to be converted and fueled by the Winterfields.

The Royal family during all of this didn’t like what was happening. So, they attempted to hire mercenaries to defend their last remaining assets. Yet those mercenaries were destroyed to bits by the navy. The exact same navy that the family trained to protect them. Asset by asset the army marched on by and took over. The Royal family then asked or well begged for peace talks. The Winterfield agreed, but they weren't talking. As the location was being finalized the royal family was ambushed by a unit. The family dead, and the Winterfields claimed absolute power over the island of Sakera

Now, Damien the third has handed control to his successor, Damien the Fourth. The province of Sakera remains peaceful yet as always, needs some sort of improvement.

Strengths:

Strong Navy - The navy of Sakera is one of their strong points. Disciplined, well maintained and large in scope. The people of Sakera even go as far as saying it’s the best in the whole landmass
Robust Spy Network - Years of experience and expertise have allowed House Winterfield to build a state of the art spy network with cells all over the land.. Even some on other countries.
Great Traders - The markets of Sakera are known to be some of the best for trading wares. Fair taxation and banking laws give the Sakerian people an edge
Forfeited Army - Tough, Morale is always high and the army is ready for whatever campaign that may happen

Weaknesses:

Lack of Basic Minerals - Sure the mountain ranges have gold in them but the lack of Iron and Steel are troubling, and sources of Iron and Steel are hard to mine to the point where the nation officially imports them
Scholars vs Priests - In cities and even in towns there is a lot of hot debates and often brawls between educated men and religious men. To the point where some times some cities are divided on supporters for both side
Trouble Making Noblemen! - Some Noble Families are always on the news. One day you hear about a incest scandal to the next day hearing about a rape. These noblemen in some parts decrease trading and diplomatic relationships…
Elite's - Due to some families siding with the Winterfields during there reign they tend to hold more power over there cities and assets, to the point where they prance around and think they "own" the city.

Export:

Strong Wood (Various Types, like Oak, Birch, Mahogany)
Fishes
Fruits
Wines
Furs

Import:
Iron
Steel
Silk
Cotton

Map

A Gilded Throne - A Shadow Looms (Closed)

Am I cleared to move the NS to the Character tab and begin work on my intro post?

A Gilded Throne - A Shadow Looms (Closed)

@GreivousKhan

Fixs

- Replace "Continent" with country
- Toned down populations to medieval standards

A Gilded Throne - A Shadow Looms (Closed)

House Winterfield

House Name:
House Winterfield

Head of House:
Sir Damien Wilkerson IV

House Specialty:

House Winterfield is known for its navy. The country of Sakera being surrounded by water for the most part lead the house to invest a lot of money into it’s Navy. The Navy prides itself in it’s training, in officials that don’t take bribes or any form of corruption among its ranks but also it’s state of the art fleet. It’s affectionately been given the name by opposing admirals as the “Armada of Death” due to its ships but also their power.

House Ancestral Artifact:

The Sword of the Last Rebellion - A cutlass but with a solid gold handle and a red ruby at the end of the hilt. Village folklore say the sword was used by the ruling house to murder the leader of the house that came before them, cementing their place in royalty. The townsfolk argue that the sword was used by an admiral who ended a promising among the navy and brought reform and pride into the navy as people say it today. The cityfolk and scholars simply say the sword was a family heirloom from Sir Damien Wilkerson the first and passed down, as a symbol of power but also a symbol of authority over the state, the people and the armed forces. Stories differ, however all people agree this sword is a state artifact and something of “Mythical” proportions (Well, not the scholars)

Important Members:

Lady Catherine Wilkerson - The Wife of Damien
Supreme Admiral Joseph Green - Head of Navy
Noblemen Tony Mangano - Head of the Trade Guild
Supreme Commander Benjamin Fields - Head of the Armed Forces
Nobleman Green - Head of Family Green
Spymaster Friedrich Randall
Governor Robert Murlock - Knoxville
Governor Glenn Benn - Old Redden
Governor Jeff Ford - Elnora

(More to be added as story goes on)

Nation Name :

Sakera

House Motto : “Power, Loyalty, Respect”

Race Name:

Sakerians

Racial Appearance :

Sakerians are often decently tall, ranging from five foot nine to six foot six for men and five foot four to six foot three for women.Both genders tend to have larger chests due to bigger lungs. Skin complexation is mostly white but entering into a light shade of brown. The average hair color for Sakerians is black, yet some ethnic groups in mountain tribal regions have blonde and even red hair.

Racial Traits :

Sakerians are known be good swimmers, fishers and can life at the sea with ease. But Sakerians on the land are no more than capable as well. Good at farming, woodworking and various other tasks they tend to be hard working at whatever trade they do. Food wise the Sakerian diet is mostly fish, meats and vegetables.

Capital: Ereden

Capital Population: 23,445 (Inner and Outer City Limits)

Other Major Settlements:

Major Cities

New Knoxville - 10,545 People
Old Redden - 12,432 People
Gemfield - 14,121 People
Elnora - 11,543 People

Towns

Hazlehurst - 1,505 People
Clear Shores - 1,664 People
Glenvar - 2,254 People
New Eagle - 4,323 People
Salix - 5,231 People
Hartland - 6,123 People
Oak Leaf - 5,321 People
Wind Lake - 4,153 People
South Point - 5,311 People
Lloydminster - 2,734 People
Weston - 4,321 People

Population: 789,121 People

Culture:

Sakerin culture is differs from the grand cities, military forts to the humble towns and villages. In the cities, science and knowledge prevails over religion for the most part. Churches do exist in the city but religion is second hand by most people. The cities taste in food his more refined in terms of dishes and meats. Spices are often used, wines are drank. Music is also mostly “refined” in the sense proper instruments are used like piano’s and lutes.

Yet in towns the culture is more religious than the cities. Sunday Morning and Monday Night are day of prayers for town people. Food is more basic, and spices aren’t often used. Booze of choice is mostly ales and beers while music tends to be of a few chords from the lute and here and there a piano is used for town pieces

But when the topic comes of military forts and villages, the culture varies. Most of the time the location has a huge effect on what beliefs people follow. Reasons like what food can be gathered or the climate around it set the standard to how people live. In the army, religion is given and practices are set aside for soldiers who are religious. Conversions often do occur in the army, but yet religion isn’t forced on and more of a “moral choice”

Type of Government:

Monarchy
Agnatic Cognatic Primogentiure

Influence and relations: None

Military -

Sakerian’s take pride in their army. Being a army men for some is considered a decent life. Women do serve in the ranks in some disciplines however some sexism does exist, especially among the cavalry divisions.

Active

1,000 Men stationed at Military Installations across the country (Mix of archers and infantrymen)
250 Cavalry Officers
1,750 Guards Active
5 Warships Patrolling
2 Carvels Patrolling Trade Routes

Inactive
9,000 Infantrymen on reserve
1,750 Town watch
4,000 Archers
2,500 Cavalry Officers
10 Trebulats with 50 officers
20 Warships Ready with 400 seamen
10 Warships decommissioned (Hulls intact)
12 Carvels with 100 Seamen
3 Carvels decommissioned (Hulls Intact)

Landscape: Fertile regions in the nothern parts, lakes and rivers play a good role in this. Yet the mountain regions often bring colder climates. Forests are a common sight in the land. A road network is being somewhat developed.

Wildlife:(Optional)

Economy: Above Average. Due to the experince of House Winterfield in trading beforehand.

Religion: People in the area worship Kammeth and the Sky pantheon however some villages tend to have local gods and goddess that they follow.

History:

The land of Sakera and House Winterfields role in it is dated to stretch back over 100 years ago to present time.

House Winterfield was at first, a noble house. A house that had decent control over the wood industry in Sakera. Yet it didn’t have power in terms of politics. They mainly were a major player economy wise. Sakera back then was dominated by King Isaac the Feeble. A weak king as his name implies but also a king that people didn’t think deserved the throne. You see, people thought that Isaac was a bastard. A mistake that his father hid from his affair with a mistress. The mistress, as you can guess was executed on the counts of “treason” but people somewhat knew the true cause of her execution: she was a loose end that needed tying.

The weak claim to the throne presented an interesting situation for the 3 houses at the time, including Winterfield. You see, the other houses (House Reddon and House Greenbelt) were involved in various other industries. Reddon controlled the lucrative fishing market while Greenbelt had a stake in the wine market. The houses in essence controlled every coin that flowed through Sakera. But also, they had stake in other industries as well. Winterfield had a stake in the ship builders union for instance. These “stakes” were mainly because the lax economic policy set by the King. So what did this bring you ask? Monopolies.

The houses devised a plan, with their iron fisted grasp on there in industries. Simply put there were gonna ask the King to step down and a king installed, based on the house's choice. Isaac, used to his life in luxury and decadence, declined and threatened to have the house’s trading licenses revoked if they dared to ever question the king or tried to remove him from power. The House’s gruntly agreed but they began to hatch a plan behind the kings back..

The plan was merely to destabilize the region or well that was House Greenebelts plan. You see the House’s after their failed attempt to force the king were more desperate for power. Each house had there own way of going at it. Greenbelt wanted to destabilize the whole region to force the king to surrender. Reddon was more into the approach of blocking off food shipments, supplies for the army and the people into forcing a inner revolt. Winterfield on the other hand wanted to control the region without both houses in the picture. So, what better way to do that than to pit both houses together?

The way Winterfield did this was by hiring a few spies. Then what they did was dig up dirt on both houses. For example, in Greenebelt incesterous relationships were going on between various high profile family members. Reddon was more juicer in the fact that affairs and mistress’s were going on also. With the evidence of this “hot gossip” in their hands, they began to leak it out to both House’s in the form of messengers from the other house, or they thought. With things getting heated Winterfield tried to intervene, but both houses denied the intervention. Instead, they took it out on each other via a house civil war. Street’s were bloody, territory was claimed and the king had to intervene to protect the general populace. To place the cherry on top, Winterfield via their spies leaked the information out to the general public. The king, was forced to exile both houses and the leaders.

House Winterfield soon after that began to take over the economic side of Sakera. Industry by Industry monopolies were formed under the King’s nose. People didn’t mind it at all, since House Winterfield was more “kind” and offered a tad more time off for people if they needed it. The goal was to have such a strong hold on the economy to the point where House Winterfield IS the economy of Sakera. Again, this was done due to the King not knowing jack shit about ruling and policy making.

With the economy in there hands House Winterfield preceded to meet with the King. The King in his usual self simply just sat at the table and nodding, speaking only where needed. He really wasn’t a fan of the economic meetings. The leader at that time, Damien the second began to talk about the king’s “personal life”. Mainly information gathered from the robust spy network they’ve devolped over the years. The King, slowly as the conversation on became enraged at the topic of dicusssion. The tipping point? Damien called the king a bastard. The king at that point snapped and charged at Damien. On-lookers and guild leaders at that time recall a brawl. The brawl was so brutal that at the end of it? The king took a knife to the neck.

Now, with the king dead in a brawl he started Damien was imprisoned and his son, Damien the Third was in charge. Damien the third placed pressure on the royal family and threatened a coup d’etat if Damian wasn’t released. The royal family, simply ignored the requests. But also, to add more heat to the fire they revoked the trade license of the Winterfield. The Winterfields took offense to this and began to hold a revolt all across the nation of Sakera

The revolt was well funded, something that the Royal Family lacked. You see, the king only charged a tax of 250 gold pieces per industry per month. The sum of the wealth that was kept by the Winterfields was massive since, like earlier said they were the economy. The Winterfields used the working class, middle class and even portion of the high class to stage revolts all across the nation. Giving as little as 5 gold pieces to as much as 500. In response to this, Damien the second was executed.

With Damien the third at the tender of 18 taking control of the house, he ordered the spy network to take control of the navy and the army. Commanders and Admirals were disposed using blackmail and one’s installed that abided by the House. Slowly the armed forces began to be converted and fueled by the Winterfields.

The Royal family during all of this didn’t like what was happening. So, they attempted to hire mercenaries to defend their last remaining assets. Yet those mercenaries were destroyed to bits by the navy. The exact same navy that the family trained to protect them. Asset by asset the army marched on by and took over. The Royal family then asked or well begged for peace talks. The Winterfield agreed, but they weren't talking. As the location was being finalized the royal family was ambushed by a unit. The family dead, and the Winterfields claimed absolute power over the island of Sakera

Now, Damien the third has handed control to his successor, Damien the Fourth. The province of Sakera remains peaceful yet as always, needs some sort of improvement.

Strengths:

Strong Navy - The navy of Sakera is one of their strong points. Disciplined, well maintained and large in scope. The people of Sakera even go as far as saying it’s the best in the whole landmass
Robust Spy Network - Years of experience and expertise have allowed House Winterfield to build a state of the art spy network with cells all over the land.. Even some on other countries.
Great Traders - The markets of Sakera are known to be some of the best for trading wares. Fair taxation and banking laws give the Sakerian people an edge
Forfeited Army - Tough, Morale is always high and the army is ready for whatever campaign that may happen

Weaknesses:

Lack of Basic Minerals - Sure the mountain ranges have gold in them but the lack of Iron and Steel are troubling, and sources of Iron and Steel are hard to mine to the point where the nation officially imports them
Scholars vs Priests - In cities and even in towns there is a lot of hot debates and often brawls between educated men and religious men. To the point where some times some cities are divided on supporters for both side
Trouble Making Noblemen! - Some Noble Families are always on the news. One day you hear about a incest scandal to the next day hearing about a rape. These noblemen in some parts decrease trading and diplomatic relationships…
Crime - Serious crime like murder and kidnapping are often easily dealt with in a good manner. But dealing homemade booze to prostitution, even rape in some instances are often easily “forgotten about”.

Export:

Strong Wood (Various Types, like Oak, Birch, Mahogany)
Fishes
Fruits
Wines
Furs

Import:
Iron
Steel
Silk
Cotton

Map

A Gilded Throne - A Shadow Looms (Closed)

nvm