Tortoise

The King is dead, long live the King! [5/5]

<Snipped quote by 6slyboy6>

Oh that's because we have the best lawyers!

@Tangletail

*offended in Selemont*

The King is dead, long live the King! [5/5]

@Jeyma
I love it! A nice mixing pot of cultures.

@Flynn

Thankyou!

In the history of Sinverland, you mention Emperiat. That should be Torivian. Emperiat is the old name I gave to the kingdom before. But I disliked it. I probably skipped it somewhere in the intro text.

There's a "History of Emperiat" hider in your initial post. Also, the "Magic," "Location location location," and "Religion" hiders all refer to it as Emperiat. That left me pretty confused, so I eventually decided that Torivian must be the name for the Empire and Emperiat must be the name for the capital province that founded Torivian.

I edited my N.S. and plopped it in Char.

@Flynn I'll have a character sheet going later on tonight.

The society the bard is coming from would likely be from a kingdom that takes logistics, bureaucracy, rhetoric, music, and art very seriously.

@Tangletail

Sounds a bit like Sinverland, at least in the terms of music and art. I wonder if that'll make an interesting dynamic between our characters- especially since you're making a bard.

The King is dead, long live the King! [5/5]

The Sinverland Kingdoms

Liege

King Chales Copperin IV

The current Chales Copperin is the fourth in an unbroken line of Chales Copperins, but he may be the last. The good King is sterile. Infighting and political maneuvering has already begun to determine who will next claim the throne.

---

Position

Sinverland guards the north-west territory of Torivian, held between the mountains and the unconquered West, just far enough south from icy Galhma to keep the Winters reasonable. It's a semi-forestal, semi-mountainous land marked by very mild heat and very snowy cold.

Note: While the Sinver live directly south of Galhma, a foreboding chain of the infamous mountains divided the two peoples, allowing them to develop separately and form disparate cultures.

---

Specialty

Art, music and finery are the trades of the Sinver. Bright paintings and marble sculptures dance across the streets of Sinverland. The old knightly orders have long-since traded out war-ready armor for decorative bejeweled shields, and their swords have been engraved with gold. The craftsmen learn to carve intricate rings before they learn to forge horseshoes. The wealthy and royal across Torivian have taken to hiring Sinver bards to entertain their courts.

Little of what Sinverland provides is "necessary," per se, but the Sinver would argue that the world would be all the lesser without it. It is a land in a renaissance born from excess.

(That said, they do have some very strong trade routes set up to maintain all this wealth, backed by a trove of natural resources to pay for it, and the empire certainly would feel their absence.)

---

History

Ancient Times

Current Sinverland is known for it's high society. It's a place of expensive art, noble farces, and fine wine with a hint of poison. Power is divided into two sectors: money, and popularity. Knightly orders exist, yes, but only as a game for dashing young nobles to play. The Sinver do not fight with weapons, but with words and with wealth. They are the traders, noblemen and politicians of the world.

But this was not always so. Countless years ago, the men who would become Sinver were brutish invaders. It began with a small, powerful culture of warriors: the Kret. Like a lion charging at it's prey, Kret poured into nearby nations centuries ago. They ruled everything they touched.

The names of those lands they conquered are barely remembered today. Each new victim was quickly absorbed into the Kret culture. The Kret's tongue assimilated words from the languages of the same men they made war on, just as the Kret's faith grew by accepting fragments of defeated religions, and the Kret's scholars learned from foreign records. The great irony is that they accepted as much from their "vassals" as the vassals did from them. The various cultures fused seamlessly over the years. They eventually adopted a new name for themselves- Sinver, meaning "united." The conquered lands and the Kret had already merged in spirit, but the new title made it official. They were one.

The society slowly shifted as much as the name. They put down their swords, and took up their quills. Sinverland became a society of thinkers, not killers. They kept the aesthetic of knights, without the practice of violence to back it up. They learned to regret that when Torivian came.

---

Modern Times

The war to overtake Sinverland was long- they had become too proud to simply surrender peacefully to the growing empire. The Sinver outnumbered the Torivian troops two to one. At least, they did at the beginning. Troops in gold-painted armor lined up out in the open, wielding swords more decorative than effective, practically daring the invaders to charge in. But pride comes before the fall, and Sinverland's pride was great.

While some still hold a secret grudge for their loss, most are untroubled. The new unification has brought peace, and with peace comes trade, and with trade has come overflowing coffers. The old Kret warriors might have kept fighting, but these men are no longer warriors. They are content to continue their more modern, more civil lifestyle, now under the banner of Torivian.

Of course, it's not all perfect. With that surge in wealth and industry has risen a new class of merchants, more powerful politically than ever before. Merchant princes, as they have come to be called, are slowly amassing a treasure trove of money that threatens to rival that of the nobles. It has reached the point that the nobility is starting to look weaker than their new counterparts. Before his death, the good King Anderis was attempting to smooth things over.

Now the tension has resumed in absence of his wise council. While the Nobleman wear shining clothes and throw exclusive parties, the merchant princes counter them with even more extravagant outfits and even wealthier parties. No words are spoken openly, but in the land of Sinverland, none are needed; a war between the new wealth and the old nobles is being waged quietly, through passive-aggressive insinuations and subtle displays of superiority.

The king's sterility has not helped matters.

Selemont of Sinverland

Inwin Selemont

---

Age and Appearance:

Inwin is unremarkable. His straw-brown hair is common. His flabby features are typical of a Sinver in luxury. His skin is pasty. He stands at the totally average height of 5'10 feet. His only saving grace is a bright pair of greedy green eyes, and a propensity for nice clothes.

---

Known for:

The Selemont family is well-known in Sinverland. They're a disproportionately powerful family of bankers, investors and- in Inwin's case- lawyers. In his youth, Inwin became known for traveling across Torivian in the service of nobles and merchants alike, working out deals on their behalf or weaseling them out of contracts they shouldn't have signed. Eventually, Inwin's reputation grew enough that- in combination with his family's omnipresent connections- he was able to secure a job with the royal family: working out a minor, insignificant trade route.

Inwin managed to transform that unimportant, low-profile deal into a massive contract. He convinced the foreigners to add on twice more than they originally agreed, and he negotiated a third-party deal for workers to pave a more efficient road along the route. All the while he made it sound like their idea, so when the bill came due, it was dirt-cheap. The King was, to put it lightly, impressed.

And when you impress a King, it shows. The entire Selemont family was elevated. In a mere few years, Inwin went from being only a glorified lawyer to becoming a negotiator on behalf of the Royal Family. He made his fame cutting golden deals with merchants and foreign princes alike. And the more he ingratiated himself to the King, the more high-profile his cases, and the more wealthy he became.

That wealth was not spent idly. He has also become known, in more recent years, as a successful business investor. In fact, before Inwin was selected as the ambassador, he seemed to be making the preliminary steps to starting his own trading company- which would have elevated him even higher on his climb to the top of Sinverland's social ladder.

---

Dirty little secret:

It's sometimes suspected that much of the Selemont family's original wealth comes from black markets, brothels and crooked bankers. That Inwin is so skilled at refuting these claims has helped keep their reputation mostly pure- but not completely.

On a more personal note, some of the smaller, less powerful clients Inwin has so charitably worked with have claimed that signing his deals did them much more harm than good. However, if he does have contracts bearing fine print and hidden fees, he only offers them to clients he knows won't be taken seriously when they complain.

---

Skills:

-Connections: not only with Sinverland, that is. Money passes all borders, and royal favor still opens a few. Inwin is that man who always "knows someone." Before he was a royal negotiator, Inwin worked with a variety of smaller clients. He still has a few old contacts in the more minor provinces and groups, who wouldn't usually get a voice in grand politics. And if push comes to shove, his family might know a man or two in the criminal underworld as well.

-Persuasion: trained and practiced in rhetorical techniques, Selemont's words flow like honey. The honey might be poisoned, but it's a very smoothly flowing poison.

-Observant: Inwin always pays attention to the little things. The details. That's more useful of a skill than it might sound.

-Languages: You can hardly negotiate with men you can't speak to.

---

Motto:

"'Business' and 'politics' are both words for 'war.'"

The King is dead, long live the King! [5/5]

@Tangletail The crowd demands a CS! *slightly angry crowd noises*

@6slyboy6

I actually really hope for the bard idea they mentioned. Amid all the strategy and intrigue, we need someone who can just let loose and shred on the lute

Getting Super Powers

If it's not too full, I might be interested in this.

The King is dead, long live the King! [5/5]

Submitted for your approval

Selemont of Sinverland

Inwin Selemont

---

Age and Appearance:

Inwin is unremarkable. His straw-brown hair is common. His flabby features are typical of a Sinver in luxury. His skin is pasty. He stands at the totally average height of 1.78 meters, or 5'10 feet. His only saving grace is a bright pair of greedy green eyes, and a propensity for nice clothes.

---

Known for:

The Selemont family is well-known in Sinverland. They're a disproportionately powerful family of bankers, investors and- in Inwin's case- lawyers. In his youth, Inwin became known for traveling across Torivian in the service of nobles and merchants alike, working out deals on their behalf or weaseling them out of contracts they shouldn't have signed. Eventually, Inwin's reputation grew enough that- in combination with his family's omnipresent connections- he was able to secure a job with the royal family: working out a minor, insignificant trade route.

Inwin managed to transform that unimportant, low-profile deal into a massive contract. He convinced the foreigners to add on twice more than they originally agreed, and he negotiated a third-party deal for workers to pave a more efficient road along the route. All the while he made it sound like their idea, so when the bill came due, it was dirt-cheap. The King was, to put it lightly, impressed.

And when you impress a King, it shows. The entire Selemont family was elevated. In a mere few years, Inwin went from being only a glorified lawyer to becoming a negotiator on behalf of the Royal Family. He made his fame cutting golden deals with merchants and foreign princes alike. And the more he ingratiated himself to the King, the more high-profile his cases, and the more wealthy he became.

That wealth was not spent idly. He has also become known, in more recent years, as a successful business investor. In fact, before Inwin was selected as the ambassador, he seemed to be making the preliminary steps to starting his own trading company- which would have elevated him even higher on his climb to the top of Sinverland's social ladder.

---

Dirty little secret:

It's sometimes suspected that much of the Selemont family's original wealth comes from black markets, brothels and crooked bankers. That Inwin is so skilled at refuting these claims has helped keep their reputation mostly pure- but not completely.

On a more personal note, some of the smaller, less powerful clients Inwin has so charitably worked with have claimed that signing his deals did them much more harm than good. However, if he does have contracts bearing fine print and hidden fees, he only offers them to clients he knows won't be taken seriously when they complain.

---

Skills:

-Connections: not only with Sinverland, that is. Money passes all borders, and royal favor still opens a few. Inwin is that man who always "knows someone." Before he was a royal negotiator, Inwin worked with a variety of smaller clients. He still has a few old contacts in the more minor provinces and groups, who wouldn't usually get a voice in grand politics. And if push comes to shove, his family might know a man or two in the criminal underworld as well.

-Persuasion: trained and practiced in rhetorical techniques, Selemont's words flow like honey. The honey might be poisoned, but it's a very smoothly flowing poison.

-Observant: Inwin always pays attention to the little things. The details. That's more useful of a skill than it might sound.

---

Motto:

"'Business' and 'politics' are both words for 'war.'"

The King is dead, long live the King! [5/5]

My character is soon to follow, but I'm gonna go ahead and leave this here. I didn't want to deprive y'all of my nation any longer

The Sinverland Kingdoms

Liege

King Chales Copperin IV

The current Chales Copperin is the fourth in an unbroken line of Chales Copperins, but he may be the last. The good King is sterile. Infighting and political maneuvering has already begun to determine who will next claim the throne.

---

Position

Sinverland guards the north-west territory of Emperiat, held between the mountains and the unconquered West, just far enough south from icy Galhma to keep the Winters reasonable. It's a semi-forestal, semi-mountainous land marked by very mild heat and very snowy cold.

Note: While the Sinver live directly south of Galhma, a foreboding chain of the infamous mountains divided the two peoples, allowing them to develop separately and form disparate cultures.

---

Specialty

Art, music and finery are the trades of the Sinver. Bright paintings and marble sculptures dance across the streets of Sinverland. The old knightly orders have long-since traded out war-ready armor for decorative bejeweled shields, and their swords have been engraved with gold. The craftsmen learn to carve intricate rings before they learn to forge horseshoes. The wealthy and royal across Torivian have taken to hiring Sinver bards to entertain their courts.

Little of what Sinverland provides is "necessary," per se, but the Sinver would argue that the world would be all the lesser without it. It is a land in a renaissance born from excess.

(That said, they do have some very strong trade routes set up to maintain all this wealth, backed by a trove of natural resources to pay for it, and the empire certainly would feel their absence.)

---

History

Ancient Times

Current Sinverland is known for it's high society. It's a place of expensive art, noble farces, and fine wine with a hint of poison. Power is divided into two sectors: money, and popularity. Knightly orders exist, yes, but only as a game for dashing young nobles to play. The Sinver do not fight with weapons, but with words and with wealth. They are the traders, noblemen and politicians of the world.

But this was not always so. Countless years ago, the men who would become Sinver were brutish invaders. It began with a small, powerful culture of warriors: the Kret. Like a lion charging at it's prey, Kret poured into nearby nations centuries ago. They ruled everything they touched.

The names of those lands they conquered are barely remembered today. Each new victim was quickly absorbed into the Kret culture. The Kret's tongue assimilated words from the languages of the same men they made war on, just as the Kret's faith grew by accepting fragments of defeated religions, and the Kret's scholars learned from foreign records. The great irony is that they accepted as much from their "vassals" as the vassals did from them. The various cultures fused seamlessly over the years. They eventually adopted a new name for themselves- Sinver, meaning "united." The conquered lands and the Kret had already merged in spirit, but the new title made it official. They were one.

The society slowly shifted as much as the name. They put down their swords, and took up their quills. Sinverland became a society of thinkers, not killers. They kept the aesthetic of knights, without the practice of violence to back it up. They learned to regret that when Emperiat came.

---

Modern Times

The war to overtake Sinverland was long- they had become too proud to simply surrender peacefully to the growing empire. The Sinver outnumbered the Emperiat troops two to one. At least, they did at the beginning. Troops in gold-painted armor lined up out in the open, wielding swords more decorative than effective, practically daring the invaders to charge in. But pride comes before the fall, and Sinverland's pride was great.

While some still hold a secret grudge for their loss, most are untroubled. The new unification has brought peace, and with peace comes trade, and with trade has come overflowing coffers. The old Kret warriors might have kept fighting, but these men are no longer warriors. They are content to continue their more modern, more civil lifestyle, now under the banner of Torivian.

Of course, it's not all perfect. With that surge in wealth and industry has risen a new class of merchants, more powerful politically than ever before. Merchant princes, as they have come to be called, are slowly amassing a treasure trove of money that threatens to rival that of the nobles. It has reached the point that the nobility is starting to look weaker than their new counterparts. Before his death, the good King Anderis was attempting to smooth things over.

Now the tension has resumed in absence of his wise council. While the Nobleman wear shining clothes and throw exclusive parties, the merchant princes counter them with even more extravagant outfits and even wealthier parties. No words are spoken openly, but in the land of Sinverland, none are needed; a war between the new wealth and the old nobles is being waged quietly, through passive-aggressive insinuations and subtle displays of superiority.

The king's sterility has not helped matters.

Whew! I didn't intend for the history to get that long, but I can trim it down if @Flynn asks me too.

The King is dead, long live the King! [5/5]

@6slyboy6 I don’t think there will be all out war or secessionism either, but there’s always the possibility of a slight skirmish happening now and then, IMHO.

@The Senate

I agree. I can see small fights breaking out, maybe some courtroom swordfights over "honour" or something, but no real war.

The King is dead, long live the King! [5/5]

At least 1 mandatory Tarvak story arc where players can show off their brawl.

@6slyboy6

I fully embrace this idea. I'll lose, but I embrace it.

The King is dead, long live the King! [5/5]

Just wanted to drop in and say I'm still working on mine. I found a nice flag and everything!