Recruiting: high scale Pathfinder, Taldor, aka Byzantium focused

Started by Kolbrandr, June 02, 2013, 03:46:12 AM

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Kolbrandr

Quote from: kckolbe on June 20, 2013, 05:52:28 AM
I have to find a way for Larsen to have ties to this.  Also, fun question, but why no paladins?  They are charisma heavy and the Order's alignment isn't far off.

I was going to say that given the whole Rrrrooxxaaanne, you don't have to turn on that red light, aspect of things, probably Paladins wouldn't work there particularly as far as the gods that have them, but hey, Arshea and Lymneris can have paladins as far as the Empyreal lords of freedom/physical beauty/sexuality and prostitution/rights of passage/virginity respectively (yes, that last might seem contradictory, but Lymneris makes it work).

Still, the order doesn't really come off as leaning to the sacred or holy all that much, and the potential for ruthless skullduggery and capping people in such styles and all.

Phaia

Quote from: Kolbrandr on June 20, 2013, 06:25:25 AM
Very quick notes.. as I noted before, if the nobility outright don't like them, their function as desired courtesans and companions to the aristocracy doesn't super work, that part should be edited out.

this bit:

They're after more a sponsored imperial order than anything, the nobility aren't super likely to see themselves being infringed on. The bit with senatorial maneuvering is fine, as the bureaucracy does try to run as much of Taldor as possible, and being otherwise outside of their decision making process would mean they would try to have them brought under or influenced by it.

Cut out the Grand Prince part, duder has the Ulfens after all, so they're more known for guarding the rest of the imperial family.

Put in something to emphasize the social primary function of the House so as to not feel infringing on the shtick of the Lion Blades.

Something like, in house overview or such..


"For single or widower Grand Princes, the House serves as a source of elegant companions for event and function that allows them to remain somewhat above otherwise frenzied jockeying for a union with them. They are often found otherwise serving as ladies in waiting to members of the Prince's family, as a source to draw on for such figures without having to allow the influence that would come from picking them out from other factions. This has of course lead some detractors to deride such Grand Princes as have favoured that course of actions as "having the imperial daughters trailed after by whores". The House is otherwise renowned and valued amongst those that appreciate it for providing an elegant and exquisite set of companions and courtesans that fit seamlessly into any event of any scale. While by this point a basically open assumption that any grouping with imperial patronage relates such as it knows to the imperial family, many amongst the royal and senatorial families drawn to their allure simply try keep as much focus as they might to meaningless pleasantries when in their company. This doesn't of course entirely prevent the members of the order from marking out useful bits of information all the same, nor from managing to ferret out the secrets they look for in the first place.

The Order also sees a brisk business in serving to acclimate the often foundering newly raised members of the senatorial or royal castes to their new level of society, often hired to provide crash courses in etiquette and bearing to whole families, or to hang off the arm of a raised up from the common man senator or royal caste noble at enough events until they manage to seem at least somewhat like they fit in. The Grand Prince himself, when looking to seem either magnanimous or to indebt a struggling new noble to his person, will often command the Order to offer such services without cost, on his behalf. They are often otherwise called on to consult in the planning of the various galas of the upper crust by those otherwise without such expertise to draw upon."

great ideas and thanks

Final and finished story will have all that [I may just use the entireity with no changes]

Phaia

Ebb

I'm working on a writeup of some of the other criminal organizations in Oppara. I should have a rough draft up later today.

kckolbe

Ebb, are you going to do Brotherhood of Silence?  I did a partial write up for the Oppara Constabulatory that involved them, would like to coordinate that a bit.

Also, Phaia, given the large amounts of bards/sorcerers in your order, you wouldn't happen to be friendly towards Nethys, would you?
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

Ebb

Quote from: kckolbe on June 20, 2013, 10:39:00 AM
Ebb, are you going to do Brotherhood of Silence?  I did a partial write up for the Oppara Constabulatory that involved them, would like to coordinate that a bit.

Also, Phaia, given the large amounts of bards/sorcerers in your order, you wouldn't happen to be friendly towards Nethys, would you?

I have a section on the Brotherhood of Silence, mostly cribbed from canonical stuff. Can you PM me what you have and I'll merge? I was planning to twist things a little -- having a single all-powerful guild makes things more boring, imho.

Phaia

Quote from: kckolbe on June 20, 2013, 10:39:00 AM

Also, Phaia, given the large amounts of bards/sorcerers in your order, you wouldn't happen to be friendly towards Nethys, would you?

Not offically, there may be some members that worship him though there will be an adept [maybe cleric] of Calistria as one of the Cohorts of the order and yes she will be very passionate and at times deadly

as for paladins...I have to agree with Kolbrandr they do not fit with the shaddy and at times unhanded dealings the order is often involved in and there have been rumors the order has hired assassians to deal with something they discovered that they felt was  threat to the royal family.
There have been rogues and even a rumored assassian within the order.

Phaia

Phaia

The Royal Order of Companions

House of the Setting Sun: The Royal Order of Companions [Non-Humans only]

Over all House Alignment: Lawful Neutral [neutral good tendencies]

Favoured Deity: None Officially [unoffically the order has a temple to Calistria located at The House]

House Blazon: Taldor Shield of Green and Blue with red Sunset in place of White Lion

House Motto: Honour from Service

Common Classes: Bard, Rogue, Courtesan, Expert, Adept

Uncommon Classes: Sorcerer, Cleric, Fighter

Rare: Wizard, Ranger

Never: Monk, Druid

House Structure:
The Royal Order of Companions include some of the most exotic and alluring non-humans within Oppara and is the only fully Non-human royal order. The Order’s chain of Command is clear and well defined. Only one wears the title of High Domina gifted by the Grand Prince in 4080 after 13 members of the House of the Setting Sun, one of the best Brothels in Oppara, died protecting the Royal family. The High Domina is chosen by ballot from the senior ‘Ladies’ of the order and then has to be confirmed by the Grand Prince, normally in an elaborate ceremony with a party afterwards. This Confirmation is oft times marred by Senatorial maneuvering, mainly to delay but at times to try and force the 'Lady' they would prefer to be the High Domina.

The order acts as unofficial guards to the Royal family. They also serve as eyes and ears among the various houses and senators keeping track of plots and dangers to the crown and royal family. The Order has learned many secrets over the years, secrets that many families would much prefer no one ever knew of. As such the 'Ladies' have given their lives protecting the royal family. It would be wrong to think that one of the 'Ladies' is nothing more then the delicate and exotic courtesan they appear to be when in fact every single one of them graduate from one of the Bardic Colleges which no only includes performance abilities but also training in weapons and armor.

The current High Domina, Ahrainna ndu'Aran was recently approved in a very quick almost effortless fashion with almost no ceremony and no party afterwards. She replaced the former Domina Faerlena who along with 5 other 'former' members died trying to protect Princess Eutropia.

The full members of the order are called "Ladies" and when ready to be a full member [through testing and gradutating from one of the Bard Academies] they are presented to the current Grand Prince for approval. This often takes the form of intense questioning over night. Normally out of tradition the order has 33 Full members but after the upheavals of the past year or so and with several deaths from the actions of Grand Duke Maxentian of House Branas, the order stands at 22 members. Once approved as a member of the Order, Tradition requires a Lady to take the surname ndu'Aran -a version of elvish loosely meaning Setting Sun.
A 'Lady' can leave the order, for various reasons [often being marriage or retirement] by presenting a written and carefully prepared letter to the Grand Prince. A few of the letters have been presented after the Lady in question has left.

Grand Prince Stavian has of late been asking when the next Lady or Ladies would be ready for approval. He disapproves of the order not being fully staffed as tradition allows and has mentioned considering a Royal Command to fill their ranks, which the new Domina has quietly and very effectively been able to side step.

General Overview:
The House itself had existed for nearly a thousand years in one form or another. Starting as a Tavern catering to the nonhuman with a clear Elf influence and named after an Ancient elven site. As the years passed and Women of the tavern found they were in high demand by the nobles and upper society the House shifted from a tavern into a high society Brothel offering the best [or so claimed at the time] and most exotic of Courtesans. As the years passed this claim actually began to be a fact. Ladies of the house were well educated in the arts of the court and known for their beauty and quality even if they were nonhuman. The ladies grew close to the royal family over the years many of them becoming part of the royal ensemble and keeping the Grand Prince privately informed on happenings they knew off and becoming wealthy from the patronage.

That Changed in 4079 with the invasion of Qadira. As with many things a grand party was thrown showing the world that everything was fine and no one was concerned, even as the enemy closed on and assaulted the city. A force was able to get within the walls and made their way to the Imperial Palace. There they attacked and while panic filled the palace the Ulfen guard fought the enemy forces and spirited the Grand Prince away from danger. The Royal Family, the grand princess and her two children were left behind. As various attendants and noble forces threw themselves at the enemy the Ladies of the House spirited them to a far corner of the palace and when Qadira forces broke through 13 of them split from the rest and fought back. The rest of the ladies, who many called royal whores, guided the royal family through the streets by ways normally only taken by locals and to the House of the Setting Sun. The next day the Royal family returned to the palace and the Grand Prince to find that all 13 of the ladies that had stayed behind had died. Most had at least one Qadira dead with them and they had blunted the assault.

A famous painting, called 'Knives of the Courtesans', still hangs in the palace. The painting shows one woman in a lovely sensual gown clinging to the back of a large furious Qadira Knight with a dagger raised high as a second bleeding woman clung to his legs with another dagger raised.

A grateful Grand Prince in reward for their bravery and sacrifice formed the Royal Order of Companions and degreed the House of the Setting Sun as the orders resident. Since then other 'Ladies' have died defending the Royal Family.

The Order is the eyes and ears not only for the current Grand Prince but often for the heir as well. Helping to groom them. The Ladies also are normally close companions with the women of the Royal Family. The order receives Royal Patronage which aids in their wealth. For single or widower Grand Princes, the House serves as a source of elegant companions for event and function that allows them to remain somewhat above otherwise frenzied jockeying for a union with them. They are often found otherwise serving as ladies in waiting to members of the Prince's family, as a source to draw on for such figures without having to allow the influence that would come from picking them out from other factions. This has of course lead some detractors to deride such Grand Princes that have favoured that course of actions as "having the imperial daughters trailed after by whores". The House is otherwise renowned and valued amongst those that appreciate it for providing an elegant and exquisite set of companions and courtesans that fit seamlessly into any event of any scale. While by this point a basically open assumption that any grouping with imperial patronage relates such as it knows to the imperial family, many amongst the royal and senatorial families drawn to their allure simply try keep as much focus as they might to meaningless pleasantries when in their company. This doesn't of course entirely prevent the members of the order from marking out useful bits of information all the same, nor from managing to ferret out the secrets they look for in the first place. It also allows the House to at times circumvent the vast and layered bureaucracy by presenting to the Grand Prince, or the heir, someone with an idea or gift that would benefit the crown. Several times Ladies of the house have influenced actions and orders of the heir and how he acts once becoming the Grand Prince. This has of course put them at odds with many of the senatorial families and a few noble ones.

The Order also sees a brisk business in serving to acclimate the often foundering newly raised members of the senatorial or royal castes to their new level of society, often hired to provide crash courses in etiquette and bearing to whole families, or to hang off the arm of a raised up from the common man senator or royal caste noble at enough events until they manage to seem at least somewhat like they fit in. The Grand Prince himself, when looking to seem either magnanimous or to in-debt a struggling new noble to his person, will often command the Order to offer such services without cost, on his behalf. They are often otherwise called on to consult in the planning of the various galas of the upper crust by those otherwise without such expertise to draw upon. This happens more when a gala or party is expected to a bit more racy and offering unusual entertainment




Updated italicize is from Kolbrandr and new underlined is also new

how does this work?

Phaia

kckolbe

Quote from: Ebb on June 20, 2013, 10:46:33 AM
I have a section on the Brotherhood of Silence, mostly cribbed from canonical stuff. Can you PM me what you have and I'll merge? I was planning to twist things a little -- having a single all-powerful guild makes things more boring, imho.

I PMed you and Kol.  Basically, at the time I'd written it, all the concepts we were getting were spy/assassin/thief guilds, and the setting just had the one major one, so I wrote a bit of an epic explaining how the Brotherhood got deregulated.

Quote from: Phaia on June 20, 2013, 10:48:48 AM
Not offically, there may be some members that worship him though there will be an adept [maybe cleric] of Calistria as one of the Cohorts of the order and yes she will be very passionate and at times deadly

as for paladins...I have to agree with Kolbrandr they do not fit with the shaddy and at times unhanded dealings the order is often involved in and there have been rumors the order has hired assassians to deal with something they discovered that they felt was  threat to the royal family.
There have been rogues and even a rumored assassian within the order.

Phaia

Fair enough on paladins, worth throwing out.  I'll PM you with an idea for an arrangement.  It just seems like too influential an order for him to not attempt to create ties.
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

Ebb

The Underworld and the Law

Okay, I hope this isn't stepping on any toes. I wrote up a fairly detailed page pulling in as much as I could find canonically about the Oppara criminal world and merging in work that kckolbe had done on the police force. Then I made up a bunch of shit.

This page currently does not include any references to other player-made organizations. I'd like to work those in as they come in; it looks like we have a very rich and intertwined criminal underbelly to the city, which should be great for roleplay. Consider the stuff on this page to be the 'supporting players', free to use by anyone.

And of course none of this is real until it gets the GM's review and blessing.

https://elliquiy.com/wiki/Taldor--Underworld

(I've been reading "The Lies of Locke Lamora" recently, which I highly recommend. It might just be possible that some of the atmosphere of that book has merged with Taldor in my head. It's actually a pretty good match in a lot of ways.)

Phaia

Just curiuos what year is the story taking place in...working up names for history and just wanted to be sure I was correct in placement

Phaia

GingerOne

Quote from: Phaia on June 20, 2013, 10:52:25 AM
The Royal Order of Companions

House of the Setting Sun: The Royal Order of Companions

Over all House Alignment: Lawful Neutral [neutral good tendencies]

Favoured Deity: None Officially [unoffically the order has a temple to Calistria located at The House]

House Blazon: Taldor Shield of Green and Blue with red Sunset in place of White Lion

House Motto: Honour from Service

Common Classes: Bard, Rogue, Courtesan, Expert, Adept

Uncommon Classes: Sorcerer, Cleric, Fighter

Rare: Wizard, Ranger

Never: Monk, Druid

House Structure:
The Order’s chain of Command is clear and well defined. Only one wears the title of High Domina gifted by the Grand Prince in 4080 after 13 members of the House of the Setting Sun, one of the best Brothels in Oppara, died protecting the Royal family. The High Domina is chosen by ballot from the senior ‘Ladies’ of the order and then has to be confirmed by the Grand Prince, normally in an elaborate ceremony with a party afterwards. This Confirmation is oft times marred by Senatorial maneuvering, mainly to delay but at times to try and force the 'Lady' they would prefer to be the High Domina.

The order acts as unofficial guards to the Royal family. They also serve as eyes and ears among the various houses and senators keeping track of plots and dangers to the crown and royal family. The Order has learned many secrets over the years, secrets that many families would much prefer no one ever knew of. As such the 'Ladies' have given their lives protecting the royal family. It would be wrong to think that one of the 'Ladies' is nothing more then the delicate and exotic courtesan they appear to be when in fact every single one of them graduate from one of the Bardic Colleges which no only includes performance abilities but also training in weapons and armor.

The current High Domina, Ahrainna ndu'Aran was recently approved in a very quick almost effortless fashion with almost no ceremony and no party afterwards. She replaced the former Domina Faerlena who along with 5 other 'former' members died trying to protect Princess Eutropia.

The full members of the order are called "Ladies" and when ready to be a full member [through testing and gradutating from one of the Bard Academies] they are presented to the current Grand Prince for approval. This often takes the form of intense questioning over night. Normally out of tradition the order has 33 Full members but after the upheavals of the past year or so and with several deaths from the actions of Grand Duke Maxentian of House Branas, the order stands at 22 members. Once approved as a member of the Order, Tradition requires a Lady to take the surname ndu'Aran -a version of elvish loosely meaning Setting Sun.
A 'Lady' can leave the order, for various reasons [often being marriage or retirement] by presenting a written and carefully prepared letter to the Grand Prince. A few of the letters have been presented after the Lady in question has left.

Grand Prince Stavian has of late been asking when the next Lady or Ladies would be ready for approval. He disapproves of the order not being fully staffed as tradition allows and has mentioned considering a Royal Command to fill their ranks, which the new Domina has quietly and very effectively been able to side step.

General Overview:
The House itself had existed for nearly a thousand years in one form or another. Starting as a Tavern catering to the nonhuman with a clear Elf influence and named after an Ancient elven site. As the years passed and Women of the tavern found they were in high demand by the nobles and upper society the House shifted from a tavern into a high society Brothel offering the best [or so claimed at the time] and most exotic of Courtesans. As the years passed this claim actually began to be a fact. Ladies of the house were well educated in the arts of the court and known for their beauty and quality even if they were nonhuman. The ladies grew close to the royal family over the years many of them becoming part of the royal ensemble and keeping the Grand Prince privately informed on happenings they knew off and becoming wealthy from the patronage.

That Changed in 4079 with the invasion of Qadira. As with many things a grand party was thrown showing the world that everything was fine and no one was concerned, even as the enemy closed on and assaulted the city. A force was able to get within the walls and made their way to the Imperial Palace. There they attacked and while panic filled the palace the Ulfen guard fought the enemy forces and spirited the Grand Prince away from danger. The Royal Family, the grand princess and her two children were left behind. As various attendants and noble forces threw themselves at the enemy the Ladies of the House spirited them to a far corner of the palace and when Qadira forces broke through 13 of them split from the rest and fought back. The rest of the ladies, who many called royal whores, guided the royal family through the streets by ways normally only taken by locals and to the House of the Setting Sun. The next day the Royal family returned to the palace and the Grand Prince to find that all 13 of the ladies that had stayed behind had died. Most had at least one Qadira dead with them and they had blunted the assault.

A famous painting, called 'Knives of the Courtesans', still hangs in the palace. The painting shows one woman in a lovely sensual gown clinging to the back of a large furious Qadira Knight with a dagger raised high as a second bleeding woman clung to his legs with another dagger raised.

A grateful Grand Prince in reward for their bravery and sacrifice formed the Royal Order of Companions and degreed the House of the Setting Sun as the orders resident. Since then other 'Ladies' have died defending the Royal Family.

The Order is the eyes and ears not only for the current Grand Prince but often for the heir as well. Helping to groom them. The Ladies also are normally close companions with the women of the Royal Family. The order receives Royal Patronage which aids in their wealth. For single or widower Grand Princes, the House serves as a source of elegant companions for event and function that allows them to remain somewhat above otherwise frenzied jockeying for a union with them. They are often found otherwise serving as ladies in waiting to members of the Prince's family, as a source to draw on for such figures without having to allow the influence that would come from picking them out from other factions. This has of course lead some detractors to deride such Grand Princes that have favoured that course of actions as "having the imperial daughters trailed after by whores". The House is otherwise renowned and valued amongst those that appreciate it for providing an elegant and exquisite set of companions and courtesans that fit seamlessly into any event of any scale. While by this point a basically open assumption that any grouping with imperial patronage relates such as it knows to the imperial family, many amongst the royal and senatorial families drawn to their allure simply try keep as much focus as they might to meaningless pleasantries when in their company. This doesn't of course entirely prevent the members of the order from marking out useful bits of information all the same, nor from managing to ferret out the secrets they look for in the first place. It also allows the House to at times circumvent the vast and layered bureaucracy by presenting to the Grand Prince, or the heir, someone with an idea or gift that would benefit the crown. Several times Ladies of the house have influenced actions and orders of the heir and how he acts once becoming the Grand Prince. This has of course put them at odds with many of the senatorial families and a few noble ones.

The Order also sees a brisk business in serving to acclimate the often foundering newly raised members of the senatorial or royal castes to their new level of society, often hired to provide crash courses in etiquette and bearing to whole families, or to hang off the arm of a raised up from the common man senator or royal caste noble at enough events until they manage to seem at least somewhat like they fit in. The Grand Prince himself, when looking to seem either magnanimous or to in-debt a struggling new noble to his person, will often command the Order to offer such services without cost, on his behalf. They are often otherwise called on to consult in the planning of the various galas of the upper crust by those otherwise without such expertise to draw upon. This happens more when a gala or party is expected to a bit more racy and offering unusual entertainment




Updated italicize is from Kolbrandr and new underlined is also new

how does this work?

Phaia

Phaia, I think that looks wonderful. Looks very well thought out.
Sweet as can be, but I bite.
Getting the hang of things again for now. No promises.

Come join our Speakeasy!
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=300370.0

My Ons/ Offs
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=166545.0

Ebb


Phaia

I guess my write up was not clear on something

The Royal order of Companions is a NON-Human order. Every lady is non human the majority are Half elfs, several tieflings, a few elves, a couple of halflings and gnomes and even a dwarf.

I had considred at first a house of courtesans but it was made clear that there are no non human noble or royal houses within taldor society and so far all I have seen is House Barnas and House Durahan that even allow a non human to marry into the house and even they would not allow a non human to hold a title.
I will make sure to change the final description of the house to show that in the house scructure and apologize for any problems or misconceptions


Phaia

kckolbe

Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

Kolbrandr

Quote from: Phaia on June 20, 2013, 12:36:41 PM
Just curiuos what year is the story taking place in...working up names for history and just wanted to be sure I was correct in placement

Phaia

4711 is the year

Kolbrandr

Quote from: Ebb on June 20, 2013, 11:38:01 AM
The Underworld and the Law

Okay, I hope this isn't stepping on any toes. I wrote up a fairly detailed page pulling in as much as I could find canonically about the Oppara criminal world and merging in work that kckolbe had done on the police force. Then I made up a bunch of shit.

This page currently does not include any references to other player-made organizations. I'd like to work those in as they come in; it looks like we have a very rich and intertwined criminal underbelly to the city, which should be great for roleplay. Consider the stuff on this page to be the 'supporting players', free to use by anyone.

And of course none of this is real until it gets the GM's review and blessing.

https://elliquiy.com/wiki/Taldor--Underworld

(I've been reading "The Lies of Locke Lamora" recently, which I highly recommend. It might just be possible that some of the atmosphere of that book has merged with Taldor in my head. It's actually a pretty good match in a lot of ways.)

Give me a bit to eyeball all of it

RubySlippers

Quote from: Phaia on June 20, 2013, 02:39:33 PM
I guess my write up was not clear on something

The Royal order of Companions is a NON-Human order. Every lady is non human the majority are Half elfs, several tieflings, a few elves, a couple of halflings and gnomes and even a dwarf.

I had considred at first a house of courtesans but it was made clear that there are no non human noble or royal houses within taldor society and so far all I have seen is House Barnas and House Durahan that even allow a non human to marry into the house and even they would not allow a non human to hold a title.
I will make sure to change the final description of the house to show that in the house scructure and apologize for any problems or misconceptions


Phaia

See they are biased unlike the Whores Guild, bitches.  :P

The Whores Guild takes anyone, that is why we need one.

Phaia

Quote from: RubySlippers on June 20, 2013, 04:59:28 PM
See they are biased unlike the Whores Guild, bitches.  :P

The Whores Guild takes anyone, that is why we need one.

damn straight...those unwashed low class uneducated whores need a guild to make sure they come no where close to the palace and galas  :o :P

proper courtesans are of course welcome to the galas since there are never enough companions

phaia

Kolbrandr

I'm still sort of debating the idea of guilds and Taldor. Mostly for that especially large guilds more or less regulate their industry and represent those within it (whether they like it or not in some cases). While the royal caste wouldn't likely give a crap about that notion (and indeed, likely try and be heads of guilds or what have you), the Senate, holders of the vast bureaucracy of Taldor that they are, would likely have a violent giant screaming fit at that level of challenge to their authority.

I'm not thinking that it reaches Korvosa levels of that anyone who tries to remotely build a guild ends up contracting a severe case of the being deads, but it does incline me to view guilds in Taldor as being far from monolithic entities in any industry or even dominant ones, that it would basically amount to a funny way of saying "group of people providing goods or services for money that focuses on X". That those trying to rise above that level would find the Senate crushing them.

kckolbe

I think there would still be a lot of guilds, much in the way we have unions, the Better Business Bureau, and other influence-based organizations.  Granted, I agree they would have less power, but I do think they would exist.  Some less legal or clean professions may have more powerful guilds.  I think there might be rival guilds in the case of some industries, especially thief guilds. 
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

Kolbrandr

Quote from: kckolbe on June 20, 2013, 06:59:43 PM
I think there would still be a lot of guilds, much in the way we have unions, the Better Business Bureau, and other influence-based organizations.  Granted, I agree they would have less power, but I do think they would exist.  Some less legal or clean professions may have more powerful guilds.  I think there might be rival guilds in the case of some industries, especially thief guilds.

I feel like all the stuff you mention would more fall under bureaucratic ministries. A guild of thieves is a completely different animal, and an illegal secret anyway.

Meliai

Quote from: Phaia on June 15, 2013, 12:07:06 PM
this may sound like a weird question...but I am looking at various images

How does pathfinder and the group see elf/half elf appearance mainly concerning ear shape and size

These days elf blood have these huge anime bat like ears ...I tend more toward a vulcan look my self but especially for the exotic tastes of Taldorian society appearence would be very importent

phaia

Oh hey, I was looking through older posts for something and noticed this never got answered. Pathfinder elves have long ears, but not cartoonishy warcraft-long ears. Half-elves would probably have ears closer to to the vulcan type.

In general Golarion's elves are taller than humans and quite thin. They have large pupils with little to none of the whites of their eyes showing (like sharks! :D)

Here's the official art for the iconic rogue, Merisiel, who happens to be an elf:

    {{A/As updated 5/8}}           

Phaia

Quote from: Meliai on June 20, 2013, 07:13:23 PM
Oh hey, I was looking through older posts for something and noticed this never got answered. Pathfinder elves have long ears, but not cartoonishy warcraft-long ears. Half-elves would probably have ears closer to to the vulcan type.

In general Golarion's elves are taller than humans and quite thin. They have large pupils with little to none of the whites of their eyes showing (like sharks! :D)

Here's the official art for the iconic rogue, Merisiel, who happens to be an elf:



thanks I did figure it out from reading and looking at various art work...I personally hate the weird long ears they give elfs now

I need some advice
I have several images of a tiefling and cant decide which to use for the main cohort and number 2 in the order...she is a duelist as well as a bard

#1 #2 #3 #4

what do ya all think? who looks sexy enough to be a courtesan yet able to be a skilled duelist?

Phaia

kckolbe

#1 is my vote.  #4 would be possible if the eyes didn't look so weird.
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MrBubbles

#1 for the Duelist, #4 for Lavender Lil Bard. (could have #1 used when it's killing time, while #4's for barding it up.)