An Empire Asunder ~ In Need of An Emperor

[doodasaurus]

Name: Aurelius Magnus the Explorer

Title: Prince of Selicia

Faction: Selician Empire

Age: 29

Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

Goal: To neutralize the enemies of the Empire to allow the Empire to refocus its energies internally, restoring good administration to the metropole and defend the remaining periphery.

Personality: Aurelius is a quick witted man and he knows it.  He has great confidence in his own abilities, his position and he seems to have an absolutely certain knowledge of where he's going and how to get there.  In public, he is fond of wit, athletic contests, fine wine, music.  In private, he is interested in navigation, astronomy, mathematics, geography, history and their intersections in politics and war.

Appearance: Aurelius is a big man, broad-shouldered, long limbed with big hands.  He smiles a lot, his eyes are piercing blue and he laughs loudly, his hair is light brown.  In court, he is a bit of a peacock - he shows off his immense wealth by dressing to impress.  At sea, he's all business, but almost no one other than his sailors see him there, it is the general consensus among aristocracy that he's a popinjay.

Biography: Aurelius, though a prince, is the third son from the throne.  His mother died in childbirth and his father has never forgiven him for it.  His early years were spent entirely in the company of nannies and the children of lesser imperial noblemen, but even then his proclivities showed.  By the time he was ten, he was organizing the boys into regiments and setting them into battles against each other, making siege engines that threw leather balls instead of stones and commandeering small watercraft to act out naval battles and marine landings.

He was also a big, athletic boy.  He was always running about, full blast, climbing and jumping over things, getting into wrestling matches, swordfights with sticks.  He was full of energy, often frenetically so, often unable to sleep due to his restlessness where he snuck around the castle, hearing and seeing things no young boy should.

When he started to train in arms, he took to it as a natural.  He not only did the physical exercises, but he devoured arms manuals and books of combat ranging from archery to wrestling.  He found that fighting was as much an exercise of the mind as the body and developed a concentration that would serve him very well, indeed, in the years to come.  In time, of course, he would develop preferences - the longsword and an anelace, an aggressive grappling style, time spent climbing mountains and exploring the heights of the world around him.

Initially, he was paired against his elder brothers in order to set off their skills, but even at a younger age, Aurelius was time and again able to overcome his brothers' achievements.  He would unseat them with the lance, beat them in melee.  He could pick up a glove on the ground at a full gallop.  He was strong and charismatic, seeming to thrive in his father's dislike, all the while getting a group of loyal men about him.  It was becoming a serious problem.

When he was nineteen, the age at which a younger son often becomes dangerous, when they start to feel their power and dream of a crown, the Emperor put Aurelius at the head of a fleet with orders to explore the southern waters.  It was considered a death sentence.  He left with nine ships and almost a thousand men.

Six-and-a-half years later, he returned with three ships, and half of the remaining crew exotic foreigners.  Only a hundred Imperials survived.  But the holds of the ships were filled with gold, jewels, ivory, spices.  He had explored two-and-a-half thousand miles of coastline, not even counting the rivers.  He returned with maps and journals of his explorations and even conquests of strange places and strange peoples.  He brought back the hides of exotic animals and even a few living ones.  Even after the crown took sixty percent, what remained was enough to make Aurelius one of the richest men in the world.  It was a total triumph for the young prince, who afterward was nicknamed "the Explorer" and his journey "the Grand Expedition".

Since then, he has made it a point to support the crown prince.  He has been a model aristocrat, performing all tasks with great efficiency.  He has made an additional trip, lasting a year, to southern waters, returning to expand his fortune, he has lead armadas against the Empire's enemies with valor, daring and wisdom . . . the plunder of cities also tending to increase his wealth and prestige. 

He is considered the foremost sailor in the Empire and a skilled general, too, using rivers and seas as highways to transport large numbers of troops across large distances swiftly, to strike against undefended or unprepared targets and escaping.  Against the rebels, he has the nickname of "the Barracuda" because his ships turn up in unexpected places in a bloody frenzy - but have vanished by the time the Empire's enemies arrive in force.  Some people say he only fights easy battles and gains easy victories - he laughingly agrees, turns it into a joke that he is smart enough to only fight those battles he can win.  (People who know him better, especially those who were the Grand Expedition, realize this is nonsense - he wins battles because he is a master navigator and admiral, showing great fortitude and leadership at sea to project overwhelming force where he needs it to be.  But the land armies favored by so many see only the end result - destroyed cities and surprise attacks in supposedly safe places, then a rapid retreat.  He doesn't want to conquer the land of the Empire's enemies, simply destroy their ability to wage war.)

He is now well past the age where he would be expected to have a wife.  He has had plenty of mistresses and more than one bastard, but marrying him has political complications.  He is already a powerful and extremely wealthy lord.  If he marries into more land, wealth and titles, he would rival the Emperor in power.  But a lesser marriage would be an insult to his power and wealth.  It is an intractable situation, but also politically useful because whoever did marry him would be party to his political power and incredible wealth - so the idea of marrying him is a good political bargaining chip.

He is also a noted duelist.  He's fought seven duels, including one against three brothers with on him and a single second, and won them all.  He loves athletic contests of the catch-as-catch-can variety, and boasts of only having lost twice in all his bouts, as well as footraces across difficult terrain and steeplechases.  He jousts when he can and is considered excellent.

[doodasaurus]

And I agree about Kate McGrath.  ;D

[Caela]

Katie McGrath is a dream for sure. Love her!

As do I. I love the depth she managed to give Morgana in "Merlin". You knew she was a conniving bitch...but you also knew why she was a conniving bitch and could actually manage to feel sorry for her!

[doodasaurus]

A question, GM-type people!

A couple of players seem to make mention of gunpowder, including naval bombardment and use of pistols in battle.  I had been assuming that the technological levels of the game were essentially medieval and that if gunpowder existed it was not yet a major battlefield weapon, but the technologies described appear to be Age of Sail, sixteenth century and onward.  Additionally, the suggestion seemed to be that the Sahalians (Sahalese?) either didn't have or had far fewer guns.

So, I guess I have two questions.

To what extent does gunpowder play a role in war in the game?  And if it plays a significant battlefield role, is there a serious technological or material advantage enjoyed by one side over the other?

[Caela]

A question, GM-type people!

A couple of players seem to make mention of gunpowder, including naval bombardment and use of pistols in battle.  I had been assuming that the technological levels of the game were essentially medieval and that if gunpowder existed it was not yet a major battlefield weapon, but the technologies described appear to be Age of Sail, sixteenth century and onward.  Additionally, the suggestion seemed to be that the Sahalians (Sahalese?) either didn't have or had far fewer guns.

So, I guess I have two questions.

To what extent does gunpowder play a role in war in the game?  And if it plays a significant battlefield role, is there a serious technological or material advantage enjoyed by one side over the other?

The Empire and the Grand Duchy are roughly on even terms when it comes to technological advancement, as they possess their own manufacturing bases. They sort of straddle the line between the High Medieval and Early Italian Renaissance eras. As you rightly point out, the Kingdom of Sahal is much more behind them in terms of technological advancement. They manufacture little beyond the most basic products and the majority of what they possess comes from what they're able to capture or plunder from others.

[Chronoclasm]

I asked a similar question of our esteemed GM, and this was the response:

Self destruct engaged: Technology straddles the line somewhere between the High Medieval period and the very, very early Italian Renaissance. Things like cannon and primitive, single-shot firearms are in existence, but in limited number and often designated to priority regions or armies.

EDIT: P.S., I like your character, doodasaurus.

[doodasaurus]

Chronclasm, ah!  I had missed that.  That exactly answers my question.  My assumptions of 14th century technology were more or less right!  Thank you!

[CurvyKitten]

Doodasaurus we should chat a bit since we both have Royals in the Selician Empire. With him being their prince I am guessing that makes them siblings? I'm just a bit confused if there is more then one Royal family?

[Countdown0]

A question, GM-type people!

A couple of players seem to make mention of gunpowder, including naval bombardment and use of pistols in battle.  I had been assuming that the technological levels of the game were essentially medieval and that if gunpowder existed it was not yet a major battlefield weapon, but the technologies described appear to be Age of Sail, sixteenth century and onward.  Additionally, the suggestion seemed to be that the Sahalians (Sahalese?) either didn't have or had far fewer guns.

So, I guess I have two questions.

To what extent does gunpowder play a role in war in the game?  And if it plays a significant battlefield role, is there a serious technological or material advantage enjoyed by one side over the other?

My understanding is that gunpowder is relatively new and not in wide use. My character makes regular use of it, and even favors using pistols over any other means of combat, but he is a very young naval officer. Most of his elders in the Imperial Military probably don't bother to take the time to understand, and the Sahali likely don't have the funding to properly produce and maintain the most advanced weapons of the time. Again, my character has a ship armed with cannons, but it is a new ship, and likely one of only a small number in the world.

The Empire and the Duchy, by what I've gathered, do have access to gunpowder based weapons, though not in any great number, and the Warlods of Sahal probably only get any if they steal it or take it from battlefields after the fact.

Of course, I could be entirely wrong.

Also, I don't think that there is more than one royal family in the Empire, so they are probably siblings. This does create a problem though, in that CurvyKitten's character was made as the Imperial Princess before hand, so it brings up the issue of Aurelius' mother dying during child birth, since Elizabetha is younger by 10 years right now.

[Ember Star]

Doodasaurus we should chat a bit since we both have Royals in the Selician Empire. With him being their prince I am guessing that makes them siblings? I'm just a bit confused if there is more then one Royal family?

Yes. There is. There are multiple "royal families" within each faction from my understanding,

[CurvyKitten]

Also, I don't think that there is more than one royal family in the Empire, so they are probably siblings. This does create a problem though, in that CurvyKitten's character was made as the Imperial Princess before hand, so it brings up the issue of Aurelius' mother dying during child birth, since Elizabetha is younger by 10 years right now.

Nods~ hence my confusion with it all, but I am sure we can work it out together. Perhaps his mother died giving birth to her? And I think MarissaSeraphOfInsanity wanted to have the whole family alive? Not really sure.

[Countdown0]

Yes. There is. There are multiple "royal families" within each faction from my understanding,

I don't think there would be multiple royal families within just the Empire. There would be the Emperor and Empress, and their children, who would be the Princes and Princesses. The idea that Imperial Royalty would allow other peoples' children to also be referred to as a "Prince" or "Princess" of the entire Empire doesn't seemed right to me.

[Caela]

My understanding is that gunpowder is relatively new and not in wide use. My character makes regular use of it, and even favors using pistols over any other means of combat, but he is a very young naval officer. Most of his elders in the Imperial Military probably don't bother to take the time to understand, and the Sahali likely don't have the funding to properly produce and maintain the most advanced weapons of the time. Again, my character has a ship armed with cannons, but it is a new ship, and likely one of only a small number in the world.

The Empire and the Duchy, by what I've gathered, do have access to gunpowder based weapons, though not in any great number, and the Warlods of Sahal probably only get any if they steal it or take it from battlefields after the fact.

Of course, I could be entirely wrong.

Also, I don't think that there is more than one royal family in the Empire, so they are probably siblings. This does create a problem though, in that CurvyKitten's character was made as the Imperial Princess before hand, so it brings up the issue of Aurelius' mother dying during child birth, since Elizabetha is younger by 10 years right now.

I don't think Curvy's character being younger needs to be a problem; Daddy could have gotten remarried and she's the little half-sister.

[Countdown0]

True, but that brings up the questions of whether or not Curvy is okay with her character being 4th in line for the throne in order of birth. She might have expected Elizabetha to be the first in line for the throne after the Emperor or Empress passed or abstained.

[Ember Star]

well this also create problems with my character seeing as how I planned to kill off most of her family to make things easier. I just assumed there were more than one since MSOI's character is technically of the empire but functions independently.

I shall wait, because if she wants an older empress with kids and all, I'll take a different direction with my character and just make a independent queen or something.

[Countdown0]

Yeah, we definitely need Marissa to be the one who makes the decisions here. We'll just have to wait and see what she decides.

[doodasaurus]

Curvy, yeah, I made my c-sheet without reference to yours, pretty obviously.  Like Countdown said, there are a few issues that should be sorted - like how my guy's mom died in childbirth ten years before your character was born.  ;D

They would likely be siblings, perhaps half-siblings, like Caela suggested.  It seems to me the simplest way to resolve potential conflicts is to say that they had different mothers, that the Emperor married again after Aurelius' mother died.  That said, I'm not bonded to the idea that Aurelius' mother died in childbirth - the Emperor could just hate Aurelius 'cause sometimes people just *do*.  Alternately, he could be a man of princely rank from a different branch of the Imperial house.  There are plenty of ways to do it and resolve any tensions that seem to exist, IMO.

While they would certainly know each other, from the time she was six to thirteen, he was on the Grand Expedition and much of the time afterward, they wouldn't precisely travel in the same circles.  OR they could be quite close, Aurelius feeling protective or even disliking his sister.  ;D

Countdown, my education is in the history of technology, but I don't want to turn this game into a history lesson but I was going through character sheets and people were mentioning gunpowder murder and naval bombardment which suggested technologies around 200 years after what I was assuming! If there are some pistols and naval cannons, that's certainly okay with me, I was simply unsure of the general level of technology.

Ember, are here more issues to discuss?  ;D

[Countdown0]

Well, I just saw that guns and cannons were in to an extent, as Marissa said, and since no one else was jumping at that particular bit, I decided to make my character be "the guy with the gun(s)" so to speak.

I guess the only issue is whether Curvy was planning on being first in line for the throne or not. If she was, your character being the Imperial Prince definitely changes that a bit. Still, I'm certain that you guys could work it out. I'm just confused and am seeking a solution >.< Right now I'm trying to visualize the world, and logically piece things together and make everything fit so that I can make my character fit as best as I can, you know?

[Ember Star]

*shakes head* Nope. I'm backing out of the Empress position and going back to my original plan, a Queen of a independent country which history lays heavily in horsemenship (loosely based off of Rohan in Lord of the Rings). I've played queens and empresses with kids before, so I'm quite capable of doing it. But I simply don't feel like it this time around.

[doodasaurus]

Countdown, that's aight with me.  I just wanted to be sure the technology was fourteenth century and not sixteenth.  No way some filthy barbarians could threaten a civilized country in the sixteenth century.  ;D

Ember, cool.  I just didn't wanna mess up anyone's stuff.  I'm quite willing to work with and/or change things on my sheet to cross all the Ts and dot all the Is!

[Chronoclasm]

*shakes head* Nope. I'm backing out of the Empress position and going back to my original plan, a Queen of a independent country which history lays heavily in horsemenship (loosely based off of Rohan in Lord of the Rings). I've played queens and empresses with kids before, so I'm quite capable of doing it. But I simply don't feel like it this time around.

Have you considered being the young, strong High Queen of Sahal? I imagine horsemanship is very important to that country, and you'd fill a niche that needs filling. Though you'd have a bunch of warlords plotting to put themselves in your throne. :P

[Ember Star]

Have you considered being the young, strong High Queen of Sahal? I imagine horsemanship is very important to that country, and you'd fill a niche that needs filling. Though you'd have a bunch of warlords plotting to put themselves in your throne. :P

I did consider that. I just wasn't sure I wanted her to be that... warish? It could work though. I'll fiddle with a few things and land on what I feel is best

[Ember Star]

okay. I'm taking the high queen

[Strifesblaze7]

Well not all the warlords would want her throne.

[MarissaSeraphOfInsanity]

Oh gosh, this really took off while I was out so if I fail to address any questions that were asked just let me know.

Caela and Doodasaurus, both of your characters are approved. Caela, just a note on your character. The title of Grand Duchess isn't a hereditary one and is more similar to the election of a Pope; when a Grand Duke or Duchess dies, all the nobles gather together to vote for someone amongst their number to replace them. Typically the Grand Duchy dislikes dynasties, and nobles often band together to ensure that the dead monarch's descendants don't get elected as a matter of principle. That said, it's not unheard of and you don't need to make any changes to your character. I just bring it up as an editorial note for context.

As for our Prince and Princess of Selice, the conflict was between the mother dying, correct? I'm quite happy to handwave this as the Emperor remarrying after the death of his first(?) wife and the two of them being half-siblings. Unless there was some other contradiction with that reason that I've missed?

Doodasaurus, were your questions about gunpowder answered or was there something else that my previous responses had missed?

I can't remember who asked, but I think that the denonym for Sahal would most likely be Sahali.

On the issue of multiple royal families, it's just one "royal family" per faction. My character is a Duchess, and therefore a vassal of the Imperial royal family, but not a royal family member herself. I've used the term rather loosely, so I apologise, but in the Empire the royal family refers to the Emperor/Empress and their family members (our Prince and our Princess). In the Grand Duchy, the term refers to the currently reigning Grand Duke and Duchess and their family, but considering that the title isn't hereditary it's really more of an honorific rather than an actual title. The royal family in Sahal, and I once again use the term loosely since the only legitimate claim anyone has to the throne over there is the ability to take it, refers to the then-current High King/Queen and their family members.

I hope that's covered anything. If I've missed anything please let me know.