GENERAL / MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES
1) Everyone to put up a basic sketch of their character. I haven't checked recently, so there might be more up than I expected.
OK…I think most of us have put forth a *bit* about their characters. So…not too bad! :)
2)Where the action will go (I'd hide in the city if no one else is going to leave it, to preserve interaction, but leaving it would make more sense, at least temporarily)
Ron mentioned, and I think it might be best, if most of us remained in the Threshold for at least a week game time (other than perhaps the actual assassin, if anyone chooses that role?). Anyways, it might look suspicious if we left!
3) When do we start?
Can we, can we, can we please start on the 25th??????
POLITICAL ISSUES
1) I'd like Nick to decide on how the royal family is set up (bastards, ages, etc). I know we've set up a couple of 'what ifs', and Nick might not want to do the deciding…but I think he should.
Nick has been busy. Do we think we can get things rolling slowly until we can get specific feedback from him?
2) Why hasn't he managed to get a hold of a title? What I mean is, how does one get elevated to the ranks of the nobility? Obviously you can't just buy a title, or he would have done so by now. Is birth or marriage the only path to nobility? Right now I'm planning on being a part of the conspiracy just because there are other nobles involved in it and I desperately want to be a part of that world, but if the King was capable of granting titles to anyone he wished, maybe my character feels (right or wrong) that he deserves one and the King's refusal to recognize that would lend a more personal motivation for my getting involved in the plot against him.
Unless anyone has objections, I would say that is a perfectly fine way to address the aristocracy. In general, titles are passed down through families but also the King has the ability to grant new ones. Seems pretty straight forward.
3) Factions! Or, yeah, what Ron said, conspiracy details. I need to know who the major driving forces are. Do we go with our supplemental proposal and establish the Princely faction and the Marjin faction and…? Who allies with whom? Where is your chracter placed? (My to-be-constructed character would either be with a possible Aldith faction or the Princely faction. Definitely closely linked to the Islands, though.)
This *might* belong under the 'Conspiracy' part…but the way it's phrased I'm thinking this is more political, pre-conspiracy. As far as anyone would know, my character is 100% behind King Marrister and would uphold any decision he makes for the realm. I would think that outwardly, we would have Prince Aldwin constituents and Marjin constituents….and anyone else possibly we want to write in.
4) political system. Modified feudal system seems to be agreed on, but what does modified mean exactly? Ties in to Ron's 'title' question. How weak/strong is the king? What classes do exist? as in, is there a strong citizenship, or do the nobles hold most of the political(->economic?) power? (e.g., is trade mainly in the hands of noble families and are bourgeoise traders seen as upstarts?)
Heh…I'd say 'yes'. I see a relatively strong King. I think the simplest approach would be the best. Royal family, the nobles, traders/tradesmen, "workers", and possibly slaves. Of course, as in any system, there will be some minor movement and such. What does everyone else think?
GEOGRAPHY/TRADE/TECHNOLOGY ISSUES
1) I agree, at least a sketchy map of the city would be excellent. I don't want to make anyone one (or two!) people do that by themselves though…unless they were willing to volunteer…. :)
Do you guys really want to let *me* make a map? Hehehehe….
2) geography/natural set-up. I just want to know what kind of climate we operate in etc. Rwa materials, plants etc., this would also be a valid point for Wolfshade, I'd assume? We already discussed some ideas, if it's alright with you, I might just drag Xavie over and come up with a few suggestions that you can vote on.
I think Ron's idea a northern Italy-esque landscape would be just fine. Any objections? And if you leave me to do a rough map of the city…then I'll just steal something from somewhere in Italy. Italy is by Cambodia…right? ;)
2) What's the trade situation like. We've got at least two traders in the game now, so it's probably a good idea to decide what we're trading and with whom. If we decide slaves are ok, then where do those slaves come from and what do we use them for? If I'm a smuggler, what exactly am I smuggling?
3) economy! How's it work? Trade & possibly slave economy has been mentioned, what does that spell for Yironben's economical system?
I kind of lumped these together since they seemed very similar. If there are no objections, I will be having my character trading ores (since we have a lovely mountain to rape) and prob. grains to his "home" country (I can't think what I named it!). In return, he will bring fine spices, cloth, exotic fruits, etc. For this specific trade, he will practically have a monopoly. This is how his family has gotten it's power and money. *I* fancy the idea of having at least a limited number of slaves (especially for the nobles), as I would like to put them to work in my mines! Muhahahaha… Other trades could obviously exist and you could smuggle anything you wanted!! Specifics of economy, I'd say whatever works for you. :) I'm not that interested in the details and if there's something specific requested I'm sure it'll be fine.
4) technology level. I might want to play a ship-builder or astronomer (urgh, the research…) and for this, I need to know what goes in terms of technology. There have been ideas, but has there been a consensus?
Again…I'm of the 'whatever works best for you' opinion. As long as there are no specific objections, mix/match institute any level of technology you'd like.
5)Medicines of the time?
See above for my opinion! :)
CONSPIRACY ISSUES
1) The conspiracy. Now…we all know we tried to kill the King, but…are any of us the *actual* assassin, *how* was it done (poison, dagger, hunting "accident"). *Someone* of us knows, hell…I'd be willing to have *my* character know if you want your characters to not know…and I'll make the decision (does that make sense). But if someone else wants to play the "killing arm" of the conspiracy…I won't stop them. Maybe a little chart on how everyone is involved would be a good start? I know Lian and Xavie said they don't want their characters to know they were involved, and I think it would help them if we fleshed out what happened, so they can decide on how they became involved, albeit unknowingly.
2) Everyone else's specific involvement (if my character is going to know)
3) Like everyone else has said so far, details about the conspiracy. Especially if I've been passing information back and forth between people, I'm going to need to know who those people are and what they've been up to. My character may very well have the clearest idea of any of us as to just who's involved and to what extent they're involved. And yeah, I do realize this is going to make me a prime target once everyone's realized the plot's failed and paranoia begins to set in. Bring it on! ;)
4) Closely related to the above: I think we all need to know not just about the conspiracy, but about the relationships between the conspirators themselves. Who like who, who hates who, who has no idea who exists? In short, we need a relationship map.
1) Wolfshade's character provided *some* substance to kill the King. I think we can leave it up to him to decide *what* substance killed him (unless there's an objection).
2-4) OK..my sucky attempt at a relationship map, based on what *I* think we know right now. If I misunderstood someone's position…let me know!!!
| Baildan Zimrilim (major financier) | ||
| / | ||
| Ron 2's character (middleman) | ||
| | | ||
| Ron 1's character (lower middleman?) | ||
| | | ||
| Wolfshade's character |
We'll obviously need to fill in the rest of the characters and their relationships (and it will prob. be much more complicated than the above). As it stands right now, my character would only know Ron 2's character. Ron 2, may or may not know the extent to which I'm funding. (He'd also obviously know the Queen, but I'm uncertain how she fits into the plot, and if my character would know that). Perhaps, if there was a smuggler…my character might know them (although not well) also…hell, I'm will to work on any relationships that make this easier.
And…I *think* I got everything…anything brought up that I missed, please just add it on!
