Recruiting: high scale Pathfinder, Taldor, aka Byzantium focused

[kckolbe]

I mean I inform other players as well as Kolbrandr, in case of shared ties.  Thus far, though, I don't think any two player characters have ties to the same NPC.

[kckolbe]

So, was chatting with Kolbrandr about making a House, and the concept...mutated a bit in development.  For GM approval:

House Stromford

Overall House Alignment: Lawful Evil, occasionally Lawful Neutral

Favored Deity: None.  While they occasionally show reverence to certain gods, generally those of strength and war, there are none they champion.  There are rumors that Moloch was once worshipped, and possibly still is.

House Blazon: A red lion facing away, one leg raised on a field of gold

Common Classes: Fighter, Cavalier, Warrior, Ranger and Rogue (Generally scouts), Cleric (domains of Strength, War, Law, and Fire are most common)

Rarer, but not unheard of: Aristocrat, Expert, Rogue (other), Barbarian

Rarer, but generational: Witch, Sorcerer, Bard, Cleric (Moloch)

Unheard of: All others

House Structure: The Grand Warden sits at the top, and controls all aspects of the House.  Under him sit two Hands, named Left and Right.  The Left manages the domestic issues of trade, law, and negotiations.  The Right is the second in command of the House forces.  Should the Grand Warden die without an heir, the Right assumes the title.  Beneath the Right are the rest of the Stromford forces, in standard chain of command.  Under the Left are three advisors, each chosen by the Left, and may be dismissed at discretion, though this rarely happens.  A Left's advisor is more likely to be executed than dismissed.  A Left serves for life unless imprisoned.  A Left may never be executed by the Grand Warden, though clever Wardens have found ways to get Taldor law involved.

Promotion through the House military is the most common way to advance, though clerics capable of casting Righteous Might are given considerable influence and fast tracked through command, as the Stromford Church is organized rather militaristicly as well. 

General Overview: House Stromford actually began as a single guard named Stromford, back in the early days of Taldor.  Like many young soldiers looking to prove himself, he had joined House Branas as a free man, hoping to become noticed and eventually offered fealty.  Though this did not happen, he did show promise, and was eventually promoted to second in command of a guard battalion commanded by a member of House Branas, though mainly comprised of various debt-soldiers and fellow aspirers.  The majority of Branas soldiers went out exploring and conquering, leaving the less gloried tasks of guarding to such people. 

On one shift, raiders attempted to storm Taldor.  Obviously they had no chance of takinging and holding even a city, but their size was sufficient for them to overrun, loot, and destroy much of their territory.  Acting quickly, the raiders targeted the Branas battallion commander and quickly killed him, hoping to strike fear and disorder among the ranks.  Unfortunately, this left Stromford in charge, giving him the chance to prove himself that he'd always wanted.  He immediately took control, rallying defenses, shoring up what barricades could be, and stopping the raiders at the gates, even though the gates themselves were destroyed.  Stromford was wounded multiple times in the attack, but survived until the end of the battle. 

Upon hearing the news, the Grand Duke of Branas immediately sent reinforcements to ensure no second attack would be successful, and declared Stromford a landed member of House Branas, but the Grand Prince felt more was deserved, and granted Stromford's heirs the title to their own lands and holdings outside of Branas, naming the House Stromford after the fallen commander.  Their ranks were bolstered by the fellow members of the battalion, making them a very militaristic House.  House Stromford was given command of Taldor's defense, just as House Branas commanded the explorers and conquerors. 

Initially House Stromford was a vassal House to Branas, but as more was conquered and Taldor's forces grew, the two were separated from each other in 3842 A.R.  The Houses remained on friendly terms for some time after that, continuing to share the burden of supplying Taldor's might.  House Branas and Stromford became known as the Sword and Shield of Taldor, respectively. 

It was not until the Even Tongued Conquest that things went south for Stromford.  Like House Branas, they gave everything they had in the attempt to preserve the empire, but it wasn't enough.  As Stromford bore the brunt of the internal revolts, the forces that now comprise Cheliax were particularly ruthless in targeting House Stromford.  Waves of soldiers, many of them from within House Stromford's command, proved to be too much much for the legendary defenders.  As Stromford found their holdings across the empire ravaged by Qadiran soldiers and Chelish rebels alike, the simultaneous assault seemed to promise complete annihilation for the family. In desperation, they turned to the same forces their fellow, and soon to be damned, House Adella was pacting with, only with greater focus, and thereby success.  The common belief is that a pact was made with Moloch, though there are no records to confirm it.  What is known is that House Stromford remained standing, and still commanded a fair number of power, and that the overall bearing of the House shifted significantly.

Relations with House Branas quickly soured.  House Stromford, despite being large, was poor.  They petitioned for aid, both from House Branas and from the crown itself.  House Branas not only refused aid, but convinced the Grand Prince to refuse it as well, as the auras of evil had become apparent among many of House Stromford's soldiers.  House Branas inquisitors even managed to learn about the pact with Moloch, leading House Stromford to find themselves on the verge of annihilation for the second time in such a short span.  Many of their number were executed, to include their Left (by the state) and many lower tier commanders.  In addition, House Stromford lost command of Taldor's defenses, even the Oppara Constabulatory.  These decisions only served to drive House Stromford further away from the light, feeling betrayed by a House they'd suspected had become jealous of their growth.  They felt that Taldor no longer had honor or loyalty, and only respected strength.  Since then, that is all they have pursued.

More recently, House Stromford has reclaimed a great deal of their former power, though they will likely never be as powerful as they once were.  They have made efforts to assert themselves as a major power, and have had some success in weakening some of their rivals.  Naturally, many suspected House Stromford to be behind the exile of Maxentian Branas, though nothing could be proven.

Strengths of House Stromford: 

Sheer Military Might: Of Taldor’s royal houses, the Branas stand nearly alone for sheer martial puissance and force (the Durahan equal them in individual skill, and the Eiredor in quality of troops, as far as it goes). House Stromford, despite also being less numerous than that of Branas, has a greater percentage of their numbers devoted to the art of war, and are less restrained by honor.  Were the family to gather up their personal guards, their border garrisons, and overall house forces, they would likely end up with an elite force of considerable size.  Most houses are at least wary of the family for knowing that if it came to force, they’d face one of the most powerful foes, and possibly the most ruthless fighters.

Expansionists: There is a painful and loathed stereotype abroad of the Taldan colonialist, traveling from a decayed nation to lands across Golarion simply to ravage them for gain and amusement, acting on a smug air of superiority. The Stromfords are part of the reason this stereotype exists. Denied a role in Taldor's defense, they have money and men to burn, and in a darkly ironic reversal of their initial history, are the sort of Taldans heading out on well funded expeditions to some ancient ruin or "savage" land, returning with slaves and shiny trinkets seized alike to enrich their coffers immensely, even setting up exploitative mining and timber operations in the Mwangi jungles at one point. In this way they came into contact with Aurelian Branas long before he returned to his family and long before they had a clear sense of who he was, knowing him only as some ludicrously scrupulous merchant active in a Mwangi Expanse they otherwise enjoyed plundering, who helped the local tribesmen to smash their labour camps while killing several scions of the house. Knowing now who he is, they regard him with a deep fury, even as they plan to renew their operations.

Secret Infernalism: Certain select elements of the house have never really given up on Moloch. While they conceal their devotion as strenuously, even desperately as possible, the dark heart of the Stromfords is dark indeed, and pulses with infernal power. 

Lion Hunters: House Stromford once shared the affinity for lions that House Branas currently does, though that bond has long since been severed.  Still, unlike most forces, the sight of lions and lion riders does not daze them.  More powerful warriors will even prove their might by killing grown lions without the use of weapons or armor.  This is done both to prove one's worth, but the main reason is to remember their feud.

Loyalty: House Stromford only trusts House Stromford.  While deals will be made and even alliances agreed upon, outsiders are never really trusted.  This furthers the rumors that dark pacts are still made, or evil gods secretly worshipped.

Lack of Branas Weaknesses: Unlike Branas, House stromford does not refuse the arcane arts, though they rarely excel at them.  Unlike Branas, they no longer suffer the burden of defending Taldor, though this freedom is not wisely mentioned by any (save for Branas).  They are not seen as "holier than thou by other nobles."  They do not suffer fools within their own House.  Lastly, while not fast friends with bureaucrats, they aren't the target of bureaucrats, either, and they share an enemy with them...House Branas.   

Weaknesses of House Stromford:

Bad Reputation:  Even though they have so much good in their history, Stromford is seen as little more than a tolerable evil.  Not once since the Even Tongued Conquest has a member of House Stromford been named as Commander of Taldor forces or placed in charge if the Royal Guard, though individual members have been worthy of the position.

To Worship Strength, And Not Be Strongest: On their best day, House Stromford could not survive all out war with House Branas, unless Branas were more strained by foreign war.  At best, they could achieve mutual extinction, but that is as close to success as they could hope for.  When strength is your primary and almost ONLY asset, not being the strongest is a weakness by itself.

[Phaia]

I have been following this whole concept from the beginning. Mulling over ideas and concepts since a large scale policitical story in the Taldor setting sounds like fun.

I have a concept for a small house/order that should work.




The House of the Setting Sun; Royal Order of Companions

It idea for the main character is a half elf bard/sorcerer gesalt with a profession of courtesan She is head of the house which for all intents is a order of very high class courtesans all of non human/exotic looks. They were given The Title Royal when the "ladies" of the house saved the lifes of the imperial family during the first Qadira invasion that drove to the and elements struck at the Emperor and his family. The House hid them and several died protecting the royal family.

The house plys the noble families with some of the best courtesans in the country. Learning things few know and playing a dangerous game of balance
As strange as it would seem the house is loyal to the empire and works quietly to keep things together. A Lady will often travel abroad with an Ambassador/senior minister/senator aiding in gathering information.
in keeping with thier image the ladies [and some men] often are more then just courtesans they are some of the best bards in the city. Though more along the lines of dance and poetry then acting or stage. One other aspect they have nutured is as skilled duelists within thier house...and have used that to at times remove a problem that threatened the realm



I am not sure if this would work fully and how much it would need to be changed but thats the starting concept

phaia

[kckolbe]

Sounds like a fun concept.  Talk to Ginger.  She's playing a half elf courtesan/performer that might have ties to it.

[Kolbrandr]

I have been following this whole concept from the beginning. Mulling over ideas and concepts since a large scale policitical story in the Taldor setting sounds like fun.

I have a concept for a small house/order that should work.




The House of the Setting Sun; Royal Order of Companions

It idea for the main character is a half elf bard/sorcerer gesalt with a profession of courtesan She is head of the house which for all intents is a order of very high class courtesans all of non human/exotic looks. They were given The Title Royal when the "ladies" of the house saved the lifes of the imperial family during the first Qadira invasion that drove to the and elements struck at the Emperor and his family. The House hid them and several died protecting the royal family.

The house plys the noble families with some of the best courtesans in the country. Learning things few know and playing a dangerous game of balance
As strange as it would seem the house is loyal to the empire and works quietly to keep things together. A Lady will often travel abroad with an Ambassador/senior minister/senator aiding in gathering information.
in keeping with thier image the ladies [and some men] often are more then just courtesans they are some of the best bards in the city. Though more along the lines of dance and poetry then acting or stage. One other aspect they have nutured is as skilled duelists within thier house...and have used that to at times remove a problem that threatened the realm



I am not sure if this would work fully and how much it would need to be changed but thats the starting concept

phaia

It's not an unviable concept actually, we might have to hammer on it a bit. Basically the nonhuman royal house notion crashes into Taldor's measure of racism/lineage issues as regards the aristocracy. /With that said/, so, something like a guild/house/salon/glorified brothel of courtesans having been granted the rights and privileges of the bearded class without actual entry into the royal or senatorial lines (so you sort of float in a bit of a weird above the unbearded but below the royalty and senate sort of place) is not impossible. Though, hrm.

Or, actually, put another, better way, a society of courtesans granted imperial patronage in perpetuity by a desperately grateful imperial family at the time, so basically every Grand Prince since then sort of inherits this order of courtesans, like they do the Lion Blades and Ulfen Guard (I imagine some of them are pretty standoffish about that, depending on personality). And the society basically trucks in the prestige of that to have built up the contacts and ties that they have, be generally viewed as desirable for those of the nobility to employ the services of as companions. In that way, their membership can be more diverse/exotic. So less an actual royal house than a sponsored imperial order/organization called the House of the Setting Sun.

That sound close enough to what you're thinking of?

[Kolbrandr]

So, was chatting with Kolbrandr about making a House, and the concept...mutated a bit in development.  For GM approval:

Some notes..

Overall viable, but like I said, Taldor no fooling basically removed from history an entire royal line over infernalism/diabolism. Even in Taldor, there is still a line where if you cross it, all bets are off. You could almost say especially in Taldor, where since you can otherwise get away with so much, the few things you can't get away with, you /really/ can't get away with.

Which is to say, a house with antipaladins in it, that's a no go. That part should be removed. Unless the antipaladins are secret or something, but even then, if the house is LE, antipaladins are CE, it doesn't really fit.

I'm not super inclined to say besides that Taldor in part preserved itself during the Even Tongued Conquest/Simultaneous invasion by Qadira era because a royal house made a pact with the infernal (canonically speaking the aforementioned mega destroyed house actually doubled down on their fiendish ties around this time for similar reasons, and it ultimately got them nothing for it). I'd prefer something like that it was only the house itself that was facing destruction, and their pact with the infernal was to survive that. So something like "As Stromford found their holdings across the empire ravaged by Qadiran soldiers and Chelish rebels alike, the simultaneous assault seemed to promise complete annihilation for the family. In desperation, they turned to the same forces their fellow, and soon to be damned, House Adella was pacting with, only with greater focus, and thereby success." Instead of "As Stromford bore the brunt of the internal revolts, the forces that now comprise Cheliax were particularly ruthless in targeting House Stromford.  Curses, dark pacts, and assassins proved to be too much much for the legendary defenders, and it looked as though Taldor might crumble entirely. In a moment of desperation, House Stromford resorted to seeking the same powers."

Cheliax wasn't especially evil at that point, just power hungry. They worshipped Aroden pretty strongly. They probably weren't so much cursing people as sending waves of soldiers at them.

Anyway, as far as where to go from there, we could go with something like that the Branas family, sensing the change in the Stromfords, exposed their Moloch worship to Taldor at large, and the house only survived by basically sacrificing various of its leading members and claiming it was all them, scapegoat styles. That this incident prompted the Stromfords to view the Branas as having turned on them in jealousy, and shifted their worldview how it did. That over time they've managed to rebuild their internal power, but remain shut out of organizations like the constabulary and such.

As far as strengths, given the history, they probably don't in fact have connections in the Taldan military, they've been shut out of that.

What I would replace them with aaare...

Expansionists: There is a painful and loathed stereotype abroad of the Taldan colonialist, traveling from a decayed nation to lands across Golarion simply to ravage them for gain and amusement, acting on a smug air of superiority. The Stromfords are part of the reason this stereotype exists. Denied a role in Taldor's defense, they have money and men to burn, and in a darkly ironic reversal of their initial history, are the sort of Taldans heading out on well funded expeditions to some ancient ruin or "savage" land, returning with slaves and shiny trinkets seized alike to enrich their coffers immensely, even setting up exploitative mining and timber operations in the Mwangi jungles at one point. In this way they came into contact with Aurelian Branas long before he returned to his family and long before they had a clear sense of who he was, knowing him only as some ludicrously scrupulous merchant active in a Mwangi Expanse they otherwise enjoyed plundering, who helped the local tribesmen to smash their labour camps while killing several scions of the house. Knowing now who he is, they regard him with a deep fury, even as they plan to renew their operations.


Secret Infernalism: Certain select elements of the house have never really given up on Moloch. While they conceal their devotion as strenuously, even desperately as possible, the dark heart of the Stromfords is dark indeed, and pulses with infernal power.


(I threw that one in since you seem to want evil juju to be a thing with them, but that's probably the form it would take)

[Seaweed]

I'm interested in this RP if you'll have me.

[Kolbrandr]

Sure, any particular ideas?

[Seaweed]

How about a comptetor or allegiance with Rakdos?

[I run a Rakdos deck and I love them a lot]

[Kolbrandr]

How about a comptetor or allegiance with Rakdos?

[I run a Rakdos deck and I love them a lot]

I.. think you may have replied to the wrong thread? This isn't MtG, this is a Pathfinder game based in the Golarion setting, Taldor particularly.

[Seaweed]

Woopsie. Sorry.

I play Pathfinder as well. Sorry about that. I actually am in Pathfinder Society as of current and have a wizard character named Rothion. To be in truth his family is moderately wealthy.

Rothion is an archeologist, he likes ancient old things and likes to explore ancient magic. His family was never particularly happy in his practice of necromancy and never particularly cared for his ancient ruin plunging either. They exiled him out of the family and have hired "Family owned cutlist" to kill him basically. Rothion has always been hiding or in the run, but had joined both the Andoran faction and became a Pathfinder.

Whenever he isn't doing something for the Andoran's or Pathfinder, he is often digging up some old ruins and what not.

He has knowledge in history, arcana, dungeoneering, spellcraft, erm gotta get his sheet. He is half-elf, and knows three languages, common, elven, and dragonic. I haven't exactly figured where I wanted to go with his two other plus languages he received. I was thinking something weird and kind of foreign, and something less foreign.

But...yes if you'll have me convert a character I have already made that would be cool

Don't ask me why I was thinking MTG. It's 4:30 in the morning with no real sleep.

[kckolbe]

Some notes..

Overall viable, but like I said, Taldor no fooling basically removed from history an entire royal line over infernalism/diabolism. Even in Taldor, there is still a line where if you cross it, all bets are off. You could almost say especially in Taldor, where since you can otherwise get away with so much, the few things you can't get away with, you /really/ can't get away with.

Which is to say, a house with antipaladins in it, that's a no go. That part should be removed. Unless the antipaladins are secret or something, but even then, if the house is LE, antipaladins are CE, it doesn't really fit.

I thought they were LE, so never mind on the antipaladins.  They would have been secret, though, and quite rare.

I'm not super inclined to say besides that Taldor in part preserved itself during the Even Tongued Conquest/Simultaneous invasion by Qadira era because a royal house made a pact with the infernal (canonically speaking the aforementioned mega destroyed house actually doubled down on their fiendish ties around this time for similar reasons, and it ultimately got them nothing for it). I'd prefer something like that it was only the house itself that was facing destruction, and their pact with the infernal was to survive that. So something like "As Stromford found their holdings across the empire ravaged by Qadiran soldiers and Chelish rebels alike, the simultaneous assault seemed to promise complete annihilation for the family. In desperation, they turned to the same forces their fellow, and soon to be damned, House Adella was pacting with, only with greater focus, and thereby success." Instead of "As Stromford bore the brunt of the internal revolts, the forces that now comprise Cheliax were particularly ruthless in targeting House Stromford.  Curses, dark pacts, and assassins proved to be too much much for the legendary defenders, and it looked as though Taldor might crumble entirely. In a moment of desperation, House Stromford resorted to seeking the same powers."

A simple enough edit.

Cheliax wasn't especially evil at that point, just power hungry. They worshipped Aroden pretty strongly. They probably weren't so much cursing people as sending waves of soldiers at them.

Really?  If Cheliax is the reason so many gods are so reviled, it seems there had to have been some difference in their religions.

Anyway, as far as where to go from there, we could go with something like that the Branas family, sensing the change in the Stromfords, exposed their Moloch worship to Taldor at large, and the house only survived by basically sacrificing various of its leading members and claiming it was all them, scapegoat styles. That this incident prompted the Stromfords to view the Branas as having turned on them in jealousy, and shifted their worldview how it did. That over time they've managed to rebuild their internal power, but remain shut out of organizations like the constabulary and such.

Definitely on board there.

As far as strengths, given the history, they probably don't in fact have connections in the Taldan military, they've been shut out of that.

So no members of House Stromford would even be part of the military?

What I would replace them with aaare...

Expansionists: There is a painful and loathed stereotype abroad of the Taldan colonialist, traveling from a decayed nation to lands across Golarion simply to ravage them for gain and amusement, acting on a smug air of superiority. The Stromfords are part of the reason this stereotype exists. Denied a role in Taldor's defense, they have money and men to burn, and in a darkly ironic reversal of their initial history, are the sort of Taldans heading out on well funded expeditions to some ancient ruin or "savage" land, returning with slaves and shiny trinkets seized alike to enrich their coffers immensely, even setting up exploitative mining and timber operations in the Mwangi jungles at one point. In this way they came into contact with Aurelian Branas long before he returned to his family and long before they had a clear sense of who he was, knowing him only as some ludicrously scrupulous merchant active in a Mwangi Expanse they otherwise enjoyed plundering, who helped the local tribesmen to smash their labour camps while killing several scions of the house. Knowing now who he is, they regard him with a deep fury, even as they plan to renew their operations.

Secret Infernalism: Certain select elements of the house have never really given up on Moloch. While they conceal their devotion as strenuously, even desperately as possible, the dark heart of the Stromfords is dark indeed, and pulses with infernal power.

(I threw that one in since you seem to want evil juju to be a thing with them, but that's probably the form it would take)

Makes sense, and gives them a lot of freedom.

[Kolbrandr]

Woopsie. Sorry.

I play Pathfinder as well. Sorry about that. I actually am in Pathfinder Society as of current and have a wizard character named Rothion. To be in truth his family is moderately wealthy.

Rothion is an archeologist, he likes ancient old things and likes to explore ancient magic. His family was never particularly happy in his practice of necromancy and never particularly cared for his ancient ruin plunging either. They exiled him out of the family and have hired "Family owned cutlist" to kill him basically. Rothion has always been hiding or in the run, but had joined both the Andoran faction and became a Pathfinder.

Whenever he isn't doing something for the Andoran's or Pathfinder, he is often digging up some old ruins and what not.

He has knowledge in history, arcana, dungeoneering, spellcraft, erm gotta get his sheet. He is half-elf, and knows three languages, common, elven, and dragonic. I haven't exactly figured where I wanted to go with his two other plus languages he received. I was thinking something weird and kind of foreign, and something less foreign.

But...yes if you'll have me convert a character I have already made that would be cool

Don't ask me why I was thinking MTG. It's 4:30 in the morning with no real sleep.

Okay, my suggestion would be to give the thread a bit more of an eyeball when you're better rested, the premise is somewhat involved, but it's all in the first post on the first page along with a wiki link.

[Seaweed]

Okay, my suggestion would be to give the thread a bit more of an eyeball when you're better rested, the premise is somewhat involved, but it's all in the first post on the first page along with a wiki link.

So basically you don't like my idea?

Cause I did read it and did understand. It was just for some reason, I got the two confused. I did that on Wednesday during my Pathfinder game.

Don't always know why Pathfinder reminds me of MTG.

[Kolbrandr]

Really?  If Cheliax is the reason so many gods are so reviled, it seems there had to have been some difference in their religions.

Remember, Cheliax didn't go evil and Asmodeus and Hell venerating until about a century before game start when Aroden died and they collapsed into civil war. Before that they were basically an Aroden worshipping expansionist empire looking to supplant Taldor as the forefront of human development and Aroden's chosen people (though of course the people of Absalom also liked to think of themselves as Aroden's chosen people.. but that all is a whole other story).

Honestly, Asmodeus is pretty reviled on his own most places. Most nations don't really accept buddy and his faith as open forces anyway. Infernalism is a bad thing and most nations recognize it as a bad thing that they don't allow. It's even a bit of a sop "we may do X, but at least we don't allow infernalism!" and etc.

The evil gods of Golarion don't really have a lot of open churches outside of nations that are themselves explicitly evil or in some other way notably funky. Taldor may have a strong undercurrent of douchebaggery, but they're not evil, per se.

So no members of House Stromford would even be part of the military?

It seems like the stigma on them would be too huge to manage it initially, and then like many things in Taldor, it picks up inertia, and becomes a facet of culture. They compensate in my view of them by being one of the few houses that can point to having an organized and successful effort in screwing around outside of Taldor (granted in an imperialist cocklords sort of way, but hey, success is success. There's enough people in Taldor that appreciate that kind of thing).

[Kolbrandr]

So basically you don't like my idea?

Cause I did read it and did understand. It was just for some reason, I got the two confused. I did that on Wednesday during my Pathfinder game.

Don't always know why Pathfinder reminds me of MTG.

It's a gestalt game with a sociopolitical vibe, super focused on Taldor, and the capital of Oppara as an anchoring center. Your concept seems to be more of a roving archaeologist, bopping about on behalf of mostly the Pathfinder society and exploring ruins and suchlike. It just doesn't really seem like the character would have much to do.

[Seaweed]

It's a gestalt game with a sociopolitical vibe, super focused on Taldor, and the capital of Oppara as an anchoring center. Your concept seems to be more of a roving archaeologist, bopping about on behalf of mostly the Pathfinder society and exploring ruins and suchlike. It just doesn't really seem like the character would have much to do.

So then it really isn't a Pathfinder game. ;) [jk, btw I hope you know that is a joke]

Either way though, there are ways of getting him into why he would be involved involved in the sociopolitical world.

That was just his backstory in a nutshell, not what the character is about. Remember he still comes from a lesser known family. And still carries the name, there are ultimate reasons as to why he would get involved.

[kckolbe]

Edited House Stromford. 

[Phaia]

Or, actually, put another, better way, a society of courtesans granted imperial patronage in perpetuity by a desperately grateful imperial family at the time, so basically every Grand Prince since then sort of inherits this order of courtesans, like they do the Lion Blades and Ulfen Guard (I imagine some of them are pretty standoffish about that, depending on personality). And the society basically trucks in the prestige of that to have built up the contacts and ties that they have, be generally viewed as desirable for those of the nobility to employ the services of as companions. In that way, their membership can be more diverse/exotic. So less an actual royal house than a sponsored imperial order/organization called the House of the Setting Sun.

That sound close enough to what you're thinking of?

That is almost exactly what I was thinking. The House stands as a Royal Order serving the Grand prince. Above the unwashed masses but below the bearded. I am sure when Nobles or senators want to make a point they are simply called the Royal Whores. Though the last that did  that in the present of a house 'Lady' found they could not hire a proper courtesan from anyhouse for any function for 2 years.

The Royal order currently has 12 active members [Called 'Ladies'] and maybe 20 in training [refered to as 'Sisters']. Each time a new member is brought into the order, she is presented to the Grand Prince. He then often 'questions' her vigorously for several hours. The current Grand Prince has been 'asking' regularly as to when the next Lady will be inducted.


I have a lot of ideas bouncing around ...will work to get them down ina  written form but that is what I have so far

Phaia

[RubySlippers]

That courtesan thing got me thinking and I decided screw it your allowing NPC classes I'm going for a gleeful hedonist Adept/Expert and a damned fine masseuse and prostitute [+15 in both right now] that invested most of her money for a regular income. I figure sinking 30k gold into sound investments through the Church of Abadar should give me back a year 2% or so as an income for her. She could realistically not work and just play or work a bit for some coin or do anything she wants.

I'm tired of working on ideas that are just not working, a hedonistic woman with certain skills can get by pretty well in a city especially with reliable sources of regular income.

[Phaia]

I didnt realize that courtesan was an NPC class ...its listed as a profession so that was what I was gonna use...with a 20+ in it [yes she is quite skilled as a courtesan]

Phaia

[kckolbe]

While courtesan is an NPC class, I don't see it being approved for NPC followers.  It is, however, a touch weak as a PC class.  I would recommend changing skill focus to any skill feat, and making them every level for a PC class (it would still be weaker, but a lot closer).

We now have 3 separate prostitutes of note...looks like a buyer's market to me.

[Phaia]

how do you build a couretsan?
The way the profession skill reads its basically just making gold per week of work

Could perfrom be used perhaps? after all how a courtesan 'performs in bed' is importent! theer are other aspects to perform anyway so was wondering and each perform is a different skill from what I read?

Phaia

[kckolbe]

Well, profession: courtesan has a lot of uses, such as managing her girls.  I don't think perform will be needed (and kind of hope it isn't used for sex).  I would recommend a feat called Master of the Ledger for your girl, though.

I was referring to the courtesan NPC class, which is a third party NPC class.  Not sure if it will be allowed, but your char concept works with a number of classes.

[Phaia]

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