Templar Knight

Intrigue in the Fifth City - A Fallen London RP

The Ruinous Captain silently puffed his cigar as he listened to the Master, his demeanour beneath the mask as cold and indifferent as the frozen north, though he did cast a glance at the one-eyed gentleman who cast his lot in with Gideon's. More used to formalities than he was, yet carrying a grim enough demeanor to indicate that he'd seen things that would make lesser men tremble, probably a soldier or formerly. This pleased Gideon, he'd enlisted his fair share of veterans on several voyages, many came to Wolfstack to drown the horrors of campaigns in the same way many Zailors did for their more unfortunate voyages, and often many found a second calling as officers or crew under private Captains if their pensions proved inadequate or they grew tired of sitting in London. Many had seen Hell after all, quite literally, ones who had come back relatively sane and mostly whole were a commodity for people like Gideon.

But the Jackdaw was out of commission for the time being, and Gideon simply kept his thoughts to himself as first the former soldier, then Mr. Spices himself spoke inbetween partaking in his hookah and got to the meat of the situation. He took mild amusement from how their talk had made some of the more elevated persons in their gathering nervous of the Master's reaction, but he knew better than to let that show on his face.

They wanted a certain person found who was formerly their agent. Obviously the agent was of such character that for whatever reason the Masters couldn't just use their influence on the Constables or any of the handful of private investigators known in London to find them, then again maybe they simply hadn't bothered and wanted to make an amusing game out of this whole business? Such behaviour wasn't above the Masters, what with people guessing at their schemes.

Regardless, now the situation was a bit more clear. This wouldn't be the first person Gideon had to track down, he'd done similar jobs for The Cheery Man and his boys or the Devils of the Brass Embassy, the difference now would be that he'd actually technically be doing it on the side of the law rather than to shake down people for their material goods or their more immaterial souls that they thought they could cheat their creditors out of. Plus, the favour of a Master or two can go a long way regardless of one's standing, if they did the task to their satisfaction, of course.

His cigar burned as he took a fresh drag out of it and tapped some of the ash into a convenient ashtray, he gave a slight nod, almost to himself moreso than the Master or anyone else gathered around. He'd have to get to know many of the others, he supposed, if they truly were all to work together. He foresaw that as a . . . interesting experience. But no matter, he'd cross those bridges when he came to them.

"Alright then, one of the more clear statements I've heard all night."

He knew full well the irony of such a notion, given the situation, but he couldn't deny it.

"Consider me interested, Master."

City-State Nation RP, Frostpunk Theme

@Sierra

Honestly, three reasons on the numbers.

1) I forgot how much some of them made specifically.

2) If I were to make the numbers all line up exactly with the game's mechanics, nobody would have much reason to go find Steel, Coal, or Wood sources, because every city location in-game has at least 1 (often 2) of each that is enormous and practically impossible to exhaust in current game modes even with maxed out tech and 24 hour extraction. I'm aiming to avoid that, because that IMO limits RP options and variety.

3) I'm still trying to iron out how much I want this to be resource numbers focused, and if so, what for? Considering the time of the RP within the setting, I cannot realistically use the classic tech tree, and any tree that I come up with would arguably inadequate for the task of this kind of RP, considering others could say: "Well why can't we built X" because I happened to forget or simply because others are more creative in different manners than I. Currently, I'm leaning towards less resource numbers just to simplify things.

I'm mostly curious what others are thinking on the last bit.

But no, I don't have a problem with the simplification and sum-up, I haven't GM'd many RPs before, personally.

Glad to see others are interested, I will probably setup a OOC shortly just to move things there.

City-State Nation RP, Frostpunk Theme

Valhalla

City Name: Valhalla

Flag/Insignia:

Location: TBD

Population:(Total | General Workers/Engineers/Children) (298 Citizens | 213 General Labourers/42 Engineers/45 Children)

Government Type: Theocratic Monarchy

Established Laws:
-The King's word is law, and his declarations are thus stricken into records or struck off at his desire.
-Child Labour is permitted for non-Industrial Jobs, with the age of recognition of adulthood lowered to 14 years old. All can be compelled to work if the King demands it.
-24 Hour long shifts are a power the King can invoke.
-Alcohol is allowed to be consumed with no age limit, though moderation for children and expectant mothers is highly encouraged.
-All accused and accusers have a right to have their case heard by the King, though there is penalty for abusing this privilege on trivial disputes and is meant for crimes only.
-Crimes in Valhalla include: Thievery, Murder, Arson, Rape, Workplace intoxication in excess of specified limits (as set by workplace), Assault of any kind, openly promoting blasphemy against any of the established Cults, and inciting or engaging in treason against the crown.
-Holmgang, or duels can be called to settle disputes between citizens if both agree to its terms as a form of legal remedy, in which case they shall engage before witnesses in a controlled duel of arms. The other punishments for crimes include ration limitations (as well as compensations in kind for the victims), public mutilation in the form of lashings or branding, exile, or even public execution as decided upon by the King.
-Registration to the lists of at least one of the Cults of the Aesir or Vanir is required for all citizens, with Inspectors ensuring that at least one shrine or idol to one of said Gods is in a household. Copies of the Elder and Younger Eddas, are also to be checked for.
-Huscarls are the King's enforcers, and are to be obeyed in their administration of law and order, as it is their duty to protect the city both from within and without.

Major Industries and Supply Stockpiles:

Major Industries/Professions: Hunting and Food Processing, Coal Mining, and Woodcutting are the main industries of Valhalla, with 160 of its Labourers participating in these industries. (60 Laborers in Hunting/50 Laborers in Coal Mining/50 Laborers in Woodcutting).

Minor Industries/Professions: Steel Production and Scientific Research are the minor professions. (20 Laborers in Steel/20 Engineers in Research).

The remaining 33 Laborers and 22 Engineers are spread out among Huscarl and Cult positions. Children are currently not forcibly employed, but they can be drawn upon if demanded.

Coal production and consumption per Day (Average): 1000 units of Coal per day produced, 800 Units consumed per day.

Food Intake/Food Outtake per day: 120 Units of Raw Food per day converted into 480 Standard Rations per day, Outtake per day is 308 Standard rations.

Wood Stockpile: 300 Units of Wood, with a production rate of 100 Units per day.

Steel Stockpile: 40 Units of Steel, with a production rate of 20 units per day.

Steam Core Stockpile: 2 Steam Cores, impossible to manufacture in Valhalla.

History: (Where did your people come from when the global temperatures dropped and the new ice age began? How did they learn of the Generators in the North? Are they a singular group or are they a mix of various groups that banded together? Was there conflicts? Resource shortages? How did they deal with them? What major events punctuated the time from establishing the city up until the end of surviving the Great Frost?)

Significant Figures in your City: (Mostly the people you'll be role-playing as, and likely will be the leaders of your cities or other figures who oversee processes within the city. No hard limit on this, but fewer is obviously better just for simplicity's sake.)

ex.
Character Name:
Age:
Sex:
Birthplace:
Occupation:
Background/Personal History:

Extra Notes:

This is a WIP example based off of my current outline.

For those curious as to how I came up with the numbers for the various production levels, this is basically the equations I am working with.

Coal: 1 Labourer = 20 Units of Coal Produced per day.

Food: 1 Labourer = 2 Units of Raw Food per day. 1 Unit of Raw Food = 4 Units of Rations.

Wood: 1 Labourer = 2 Units of Wood per day.

Steel: 1 Labourer = 1 Unit of Steel per day.

*I am open to adjusting these equations for city-states that specialize their industries, or utilize laws to effect productivity, but I mostly expect numbers that make sense.

**Note that nations that include automatons can work 24/7 regardless of conditions (so long as they can refuel) and will produce double what 7 Labourers can do in a day for any given industry. The catch? Automatons cost a lot of resources to make, including a Steam Core for each, and they displace 10 workers for every one of them that is introduced.

Consumption numbers of Food is simple. The number of people you have in your city-state is the number of rations you go through daily.

Coal consumption I'll admit is hazier. I have no real solid equation for this atm, but for now I'm considering the idea of tying it to Generator operation levels (1-4 with 1 being the lowest level of heat generation and consumption, and 4 being the highest), because all nations will be assumed to have survived the Great Frost, all nations will have access to these levels and essentially mean that they have a fully-equipped generator. Temperature fluctuation will require changes in Generator power levels to either lower or increase heat production based on how much you're using it, and thus will determine consumption.

I'll be honest again, I'm not a big fan of using complex equations for RPs, but this is a nation RP that revolves around a fair bit of resource management detail by virtue of its premise, so I have to include them, but I'd aim to try and keep them simple.

City-State Nation RP, Frostpunk Theme

Thanks.

I mean, if anyone has questions about the lore, I feel that I have enough of a grasp on it to answer any questions people may have on it. I also intend to give a more detailed summation of the lore that will be necessary for people to know in an actual OOC post if enough are interested.

In most regards though, aside from a couple basic things, most of the stuff I am intending to leave open for personal invention. The lore of Frostpunk by and large is very indirect and left for interpretation anyway as to why the world is and what the world was before and why the situation has largely happened, hence why there isn't too much detail to start off.

But I appreciate the comment.

Intrigue in the Fifth City - A Fallen London RP

The Ruinous Captain sighed from his position on the wall near the Master and his Constables, taking a drag out of his cigar and blew the aromatic smoke like the smoke shaft on the Jackdaw into the air above from beneath his mask. As per usual, a Master can often raise more questions than they answer, even if one is lucky or unlucky enough to have business with one of the more "plain-speaking" Masters, as if such terms apply to them.

Regardless, Gideon was running low on patience, and was beginning to get bored with the situation. To hell with protocol, he thought, if he was invited for business, he figured he may as well be direct and their patron wouldn't be offended by such a thing. Worst that would happen is that he'd get tossed out and he'd find his own way back to Wolfstack and The Medusa's Head . . . or he could end up spending the night in the Constabulary, but as much as he had no qualms for giving a Constable or two a what-for, he'd also rather save himself the bruises.

Stepping up and walking a few steps to hang around the sitting guests, some of whom he recognized from earlier as various people of more respectable standing than him, and keeping his eyes on the Constables presiding about, Gideon dispensed with the pleasantries.

"Look 'ere Master, grand as this whole business is, and a real show of your generosity (indicating the cigar), some of us are here for actual business moreso than a social call, if you understand my meaning."

He took a another drag from the cigar and spoke again, the smoke puffing out of his mouth as he did.

"Call me forward if you like, but if you're the one who did the inviting, I wager you know damn well I'm not much of a "masquerade"-goer. So kindly either tell us what you and your . . . peer? (glancing over at the more active Mr. Wines across the room before turning back) Want with us, or kindly allow me to excuse myself, take my leave, and seek other prospects. Because right now I hardly see what any of this lot want with me besides to look down upon as trash in the street."

@Hekazu @Sofaking Fancy

City-State Nation RP, Frostpunk Theme

IDK how many on here saw or have played the recent City-Management sim Frostpunk by 11-Bit Games, but I was inspired by it to think of an RP concept around the world after the events of the main campaign. As in the initial crisis of survival has passed and various city-states have been founded around the Generators, and now this new world begins to function in a way beyond mere survival.

Here is the intro trailer, and those who don't know, this is the game itself and its concept:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqEpSOFDXGA

Essentially, alternate reality late 1800s Steampunk world, where the entire world enters a major ice age, civilization collapses, and now the survivors are trying to survive and re-establish themselves by whatever means necessary to fight the cold.

This RP would take place after the events of the main campaign and initial survival problems culminating in the coming of the massive storm called The Great Frost, your cities will be assumed to all have survived such events no matter how costly it was. The survival elements will still be in there, but the RP will mostly focus on City-State interactions, competing over resources and expansion, diplomacy, dealing with major crisis, and any other scenarios I or you guys would think to throw into this situation.

Here's my initial idea for Nation Sheets, subject to change but includes most of what I'm thinking of:

Nation Sheet

City Name: (Ex. The name of the city in the main campaign is canonically called "New London", but other examples of various settlements you come across are Tesla City, Winterhome, New Manchester, etc. British references are not required, but remember that the setting is both Steampunk and is basically just an alternate late 1800s, so cities based from places like Modern Russia or North Korea are obviously unlikely.)

Flag/Insignia:

Location: (I intend to use a regular world map, though for the purposes of the setting, the area for possible locations will be restricted to the further Northern Hemisphere, I'm thinking.)

Population:(Total | General Workers/Engineers/Children)

Government Type: (This can literally be anything you can think of, though bear in mind you'll have to eventually justify as to how your City managed to survive The Great Frost and not descend into complete panic and self-destruction. Government Type can factor into this majorly. The game itself gives two basic types, Totalitarian State a la Orwell, or a Religious Theocracy, but I can imagine all kinds of other government types from the other scenarios, if one is creative enough).

Established Laws: (This can be as long or as short as you like, this is mostly to understand how your government works, and what laws they put in place to survive up until this point. Do they reserve the power to compel people to work extended shifts or even 24 hours for whatever reason? Did they implement child labour? How extensive? Did they set various medical laws to save, or condemn, or merely comfort the sick or injured? Did your government enable torture to gain information and maintain public order? Do they allow alcohol or other drugs or are they banned? Do they set strict ration policies? Do they segregate classes, ages, or any other demographic in their city? The list is limited only to your imagination as to how long you want it to be.)

Major Industries and Supply Stockpiles:

Major Industries/Professions: (Which jobs do your people focus more on? How many people are in each?)

Minor Industries/Professions: (Which jobs do your people focus less on? How many people are in each?)

Coal production and consumption per Day: (Since its the most important of the resources, this is one of the only ones that requires a daily consumption number on the outset, as you will always be in a position of consuming coal to keep everyone, or at least the people you care about in your city, alive. Note that more larger advanced cities with lots of automatons and advanced heating and production facilities usually consume coal.).

Food Intake/Food Outtake per day:(How much Raw Food do your people collect versus how much processed food do they consume? Higher outtake versus intake will eventually lead to starvation, with higher populations naturally needing more)

Wood Stockpile: (Needed for building, research, and potentially charcoal manufacture if you have no coal supplies)

Steel Stockpile: (Building material needed for advanced construction)

Steam Core Stockpile: (Rare components necessary for high-tech machines and buildings, almost entirely needed to be scavenged from outside of your cities.)

History: (Where did your people come from when the global temperatures dropped and the new ice age began? How did they learn of the Generators in the North? Are they a singular group or are they a mix of various groups that banded together? Was there conflicts? Resource shortages? How did they deal with them? What major events punctuated the time from establishing the city up until the end of surviving the Great Frost?)

Significant Figures in your City: (Mostly the people you'll be role-playing as, and likely will be the leaders of your cities or other figures who oversee processes within the city. No hard limit on this, but fewer is obviously better just for simplicity's sake.)

ex.
Character Name:
Age:
Sex:
Birthplace:
Occupation:
Background/Personal History:

Extra Notes:

I'll be honest folks, I've never run a serious nation RP before, so feel free to give me any thoughts on how this looks in any respect, any questions on the setting or lore, and obviously if you're interested in it.

Intrigue in the Fifth City - A Fallen London RP

I'll give a post shortly, but I'll give a little bit more time for others to move first.

Intrigue in the Fifth City - A Fallen London RP

Gideon tapped his fingers in boredom from his position, the conversation with the Cat had stalled, their curiosities satisfied. He really was not well-suited for this kind of business, nor did many of the patrons have more than a material interest in him or passing fancy before turning to more tantalizing prospects. Spiders in their webs, at least those far and away out at Zee he could see plainly.

Finally removing himself from his pillar, he sought out a fresh glass of Greyfields, he would at least partake in their benefactor's generosity before deciding whether or not to leave. This time he seriously took a look around the room as he walked instead of casually, and to his internal surprise, he was shocked to see that not one, but Two Masters had walked in with a small contingent of Constables under his nose . . . though they kept themselves separate as was usually characteristic.

He must not have paid attention to who the Constables were escorting as they walked in, habit for these situations. From having so many run-ins with the Constabulary, Gideon would be surprised if not every other Constable in London knew him by reputation, and often to not even give the chance to recognize him so quickly, he'd make a habit of just acting uninterested and not bother even giving them a glance. While being similarly stone-faced the well-trained ones could recognize miscreants with an interest in them a block away.

But Masters . . . of course, he was foolish to suspect anyone else of organizing such a strange, yet well-stocked event and yet raise no ruckus. He knew for a fact that neither were Mr. Iron, the lack of writing equipment confirmed it, and that it was unlikely that one of them was Mr. Fires, meaning they were not Masters he'd worked with personally. They cut quite a mirror image with the one positively animated by the party, making him guess it was Mr. Wines, while the other sternly held a hookah a clawed hand, feigning aloofness and presenting disinterest as the creature blew smoke out from its hood in a smooth manner. Perhaps Mr. Spices? That would explain why the Master seemed less than enthusiastic to be anywhere near Wines, even if they had to share the same room. But at least now Gideon found someone with a commonality . . . even if it was ironically enough a Master.

The Ruinous Captain made the silent choice to forgo more wine. Best not to make the Master even more pissed if it was Spices and the rumours about it and Wines' feuds were true. Instead, he decided to try a bit more tact, and ordered a decent cigar instead, lighting it up with a match from his pocket, he took up a new post, standing near, but not too close to the hookhah-imbibing Master and his bodyguard of Constables, he didn't want to piss them off anymore than the Master, and in silent solidarity with the creature, enjoyed his smoke as he regarded the rest of the place with general disinterest beneath his mask.

Intrigue in the Fifth City - A Fallen London RP

Gideon turned his head idly to the cat, cunning and insightful beyond its appearance as many of his ilk. Small wonder The Duchess was said to have "employed" many of them. If such a term was even suitable for such a relationship, Gideon himself was not familiar Though admittedly, he wasn't really trying to hide his background, so he shouldn't give the cat too much credit. All the same, the Cat was likely among the more tolerable company he'd find at the moment, some of his fonder memories were of their isle.

He finished the last morsels of his bite to eat before responding to the query the feline had posed. He could afford to offend the odd party-goer, Cats not so much, he had to at least show some respect, lest word get back to his mouser cousins.

"Any Docker could tell you this isn't standard fare, even if they were drunk off their arses they'd probably still notice."

He hazarded a glance around the active room again, not so much in paranoia but moreso in watchfulness, before turning again.

"But . . . if you wanted my guess? My wager is on somebody upstairs, but one who's not too privy to Society's 'standards'. Doubtful its a Master, but you can never rule it out. Wines would be the likely one, but had this been his, he'd have his name plastered all over it like he's known for, and it'd be over the moon for beings like you and I. Well, maybe not you, but I for sure . . . No. Whoever it is, its someone with some power and standing, perhaps not outstanding, but considerable. But also someone who can get away with being a little more . . . risque than the average noble."

He sighed as he shook his head, taking another opportunity to glance around.

"I hope its not some tromped up artist playing at potential scandal for the Dailies over in Veilgarden. But then one of them likely couldn't even afford this building unless it was handed to them, let alone walk over here, the lazy sods."
@shylarah

Intrigue in the Fifth City - A Fallen London RP

Gideon's look of amusement faded when the gentleman, now dancing with the presumably more French of the two ladies -like such things mattered much down here in the Neath- spoke to him. The Ruinous Captain moved one of his hands in a light dismissive gesture gesture in response to the jest. His voice resounding like a deep Zee tremor, for while he didn't speak loudly, his voice carried.

"Nay, don't mind me, sir. She's far fairer on the eyes than I, and thus I can see why you asked to dance with her. Though I'll admit I'm not well-versed in eloquence of words, so I'll stick to plain-speaking. If you're worried about your life here, fret not, I didn't come here to give the vermin a free dinner tonight. I'm merely trying to figure out why and to what purpose I, among many of our fellows here, was invited, and doing so in my own fashion."

He grabbed a passing appetizer off of a waiter's tray, some kind of antipasto they may have called it above so long ago, something far more fancy and refined than he'd find over at the docks, albeit not as filling.

"Please, don't stop on my account, I'm in no rush."

And though he relaxed his form where he was leaning, Gideon did not move from his position, watching the dancing pair and enjoying the provided fare of the party. A dark voyeur of sorts, or a black gadfly on the wall of the events. He was starting to think that the Raven mask very well may have been an ironic joke a Devil pulled on him by giving it to him, if he even was remembering the circumstances as that. Though that mattered little to him if it were the case, ironic jokes for them, were often terrifying to others.

@Gordian Nought@Lady Selune