Ancient Rome interest check

[Kayrax]

@Fury Aphrodisia Further back, on the first page I think - big chunk of text with a good deal of it in italics and red script to draw attention to own suggestions over player concepts.

That's why I previously said I'd need to talk to these folks myself, to figure out the relation between our characters. Probably family members but whether father/son(s), brothers, cousins or some combination of these... Reason I asked you to choose is that 1. I don't want people to assume I'm going for the family's patriarch position just because I'm setting things up - I enjoy the abuse of power in stories, but try to avoid it for real situations... 2. Your character would still be Domina of the house regardless of whom she'd marry. Granted she might not be the only one or possibly the highest ranked one if folks go for father/sons relationship or cousins but assuming siblings route is chosen then it won't really make that much of a difference who'd be the older or younger sibling. It would matter outside the house as far as the brothers are concerned but the wives shouldn't really be bothered by such distinctions. So like I said, feel free to marry your character off to whomever you'd like if you have a preference. I'm going to shortly send a PM to these other guys and try to get things clarified with them as well - and then post the results here once I have them.

@ElayneTrakand Was curious about the calculator so I tried downloading it but it seems to require some extra software for me. Anyways, a quick way to keep track of things is that ●○○ is 1, ●●○ is 3 and ●●● is 6. That's how I quickly check everything if it's in working order.

In regards to your character concept I should point out that in the very year we'd start off in (55 BCE) Caesar would move his troops into Britain and mess up a few villages on the coastline. He would then return to Gaul and stay for the winter, try again to invade the following year and make a good deal more headway but when Gaul revolts would start he'd be forced to abandon Britain yet again. So a character captured during those very first raids would be quite feasible after all. Not sure if peace talks would've been attempted since Caesar crossed their land because he thought they were helping the Gauls and came over to teach them a lesson. Then again if the Britons didn't know as much maybe peace attempts might've been made after all. But with or without the premise of peace talks, she could've easily been captured during one of the village raids so consider that possibility as well if you want her to have been something else or be taken entirely against her will (emissaries do technically run the risk of getting whacked upon reaching their destinations ).

You mean the Briton society at the time? I'd suggest maybe try this for starters? It's not terribly descriptive but does provide some generic guidelines for a few of the generally considered topics of discussion. Ancient Celtic names for girls are indeed very rare - save for Boudica and very few others. Maybe try going for a regular Celtic name that just sounds fairly old? For religion you can find a very brief summary in the link already provided but if you want more: here you go.

Pictures don't need to necessarily show the characters doing whatever they were doing before or are doing currently. So it's not really mandatory for a gladiator's picture to show a guy holding a sword and standing over a dead body for instance. Similar for a regular slave - it's hardly expected to see pictures of naked women with heavy iron collars around their necks. If you want to try your luck with something looking authentic maybe try a combination of search terms like Briton, Celtic, woman, cosplay, witch, druidess. Otherwise maybe try finding a picture of someone wearing a Roman toga or posing as a slave (there is a bit more variety there) and just say that's what she looked after her Roman life began. If all else fails though, just pick a face you are comfortable with and regardless of make-up, earrings, necklaces and fancy dresses the rest of us will just picture the same face on a scantly an appropriately dressed Roman slave.

Regarding capture scenario I suggest one of the following: we could have you in Britain and captured at the same time that the story would start but given there's a good deal of distance between Britain and Rome, her travel back would take weeks likely. So you would actually need to start at a point in time likely a few weeks (maybe months) back. Meaning you'd also have nobody to interact with save the NPCs and the person controlling them (me?). Then we could keep on skipping ahead, maybe with some scenes along the way back to Rome, until finally she'd reach the present day and likely get herself auctioned off. That's option 1 and assuming you don't want more than a half a dozen exchanges or so it might be easier to pull of like this. If you would prefer something larger scale and with more attention to detail then we could instead RP her capture and trip in more detail by using a separate thread and having that as a sort of flashback for her. This would be option 2. Let me know which you'd prefer.

[Fury Aphrodisia]

Oh that.

Yeah, but that was back when my primary thought for a character was a priestess. A lot has changed since then.

If you're going to talk to them, go ahead. I just assumed having a character sheet meant we were ready to aubmit characters, so I had set myself to the task of doing that. Just have a few more details to fill out and my sheets are done, really.

I don't... Know what siblings have to so with it? I'm lost on this one. Not aure how to reapons.

[Fury Aphrodisia]

Oooh, Elayne, you're about to fall down the Tuatha de Danaan rabbit hole!

I took a bit of Irish Gaelic studies as St. Of X when I lived in Halifax. This was absolutely one of my favourite elements from the study. Between that and the overall study of various superstitious and mythological elements, the Geilge were master inventors of a system that was highly involved more in storytelling than in structure, so remember that whatever your impresaion of the gods, you're right ao long as you can tell a decent story with it.

The Irish: so drunk we'll let you tell us what our gods are.

[Kayrax]

One of 'em fellows hasn't been online since back then though so he's likely unaware of all the changes. Hence why I PMed him a little earlier.

Oh, and I wasn't actually in any rush. The reason I provided the system was because I'd finished it for the most part. And since that was taken care of, I figured I might as well do something else which the players might find useful - hence the character template. It was meant to help people focus on what they wanted or possibly get some new ideas even, rather than put pressure on them.

I'll probably start working on my own CS too, likely leaving age, personality and background open till I learn of my exact position within the family.

Not sure what confused you about the siblings... Since we have three players that want to play male Roman citizens and since we are going to play in the same household it rather makes sense for those three to be related in some way. They could technically be friends of the family or important guests but eventually they would need to get their asses out. But assuming they are family after all then odds are they'd likely be father/son(s), siblings, cousins - or some such combination. So why is that confusing?

Assuming we go down the sibling route then YC could either marry one of those or you could technically play as a sister that they're trying to get rid of and marry off for some extra wealth or political gain

[Fury Aphrodisia]

Yeah, I'm definitely self-voting me most likely to be putting pressure on people to work faster since I'm impatient. I just have to discipline myself.

Okay, so, I wasn't sure if you meant the siblings of the Dominus, or the children thereof or... what have you. I guess I'm just stuck right now, because not knowing what the household structure will be, who the Dominus will be (I'm not choosing the Dominus, I never wanted to be in charge of anything in the first place. You'll recall my first few ideas were a hermit priestess and a Pictish saboteur, and all for a good reason)... Trying to put together a character sheet is showing me how little information is set in stone at this point. Nobody's fault, it's just the loss of momentum, is all. Got all excited and raring to go, and then gotta sit. It's that adulting thing, again. I work with dogs for a reason.

What Benny, Vergil and I have sorted out so far is that my Domina is the mother of Benny's character, at the least. Her husband may not be neglectful, necessarily, but for some reason disappoints her. She's in a position with enough power to have a reputation, and for that reputation to cause lesser-status individuals to attempt placating her rather than full-out rivalry. While I admit I had always envisioned her as being the female head of house, I have to also admit that there's nothing in particular that precludes any of the other options.

[Hob]

Following out of interest.

[Fury Aphrodisia]

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOB!

[ElayneTrakand]

@ElayneTrakand Was curious about the calculator so I tried downloading it but it seems to require some extra software for me. Anyways, a quick way to keep track of things is that ●○○ is 1, ●●○ is 3 and ●●● is 6. That's how I quickly check everything if it's in working order.

Dang, oh well. First I wrote in in Matlab realized I could not figure out how to package it to not need MatLab. So then I wrote it in LabView since I knew there was a concede to .exe button. However it would appear that does not remove the dependency on LabView. Unfortunately I don't know any of the base languages that come with computers, well Python might...

[ElayneTrakand]

Oooh, Elayne, you're about to fall down the Tuatha de Danaan rabbit hole!

I took a bit of Irish Gaelic studies as St. Of X when I lived in Halifax. This was absolutely one of my favourite elements from the study. Between that and the overall study of various superstitious and mythological elements, the Geilge were master inventors of a system that was highly involved more in storytelling than in structure, so remember that whatever your impresaion of the gods, you're right ao long as you can tell a decent story with it.

The Irish: so drunk we'll let you tell us what our gods are.

Oh, I know, it is a fantacy novel I know so it is not super accurate, but I adore The Mists of Avalon. It is a fantastic retelling of Arthurian legend from Morgana le Fey's perspective and her fighting the Christian invasion and trying to keep her own religion alive. Course, all of my Wicca friends adore that series, so many musings have been had on the subject.  Similarly I have some friends who are into Irish dance and I find it super fascinating and just all around I love Irish culture, both contemporary and things that have evolved off of there history. So yeah, huge rabbit hole I know. That said this is definitely the earliest I have tried digging around in.

[Hob]

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOB!

FUUUUUUUUUUUURY!!!

I’m thinking possibly someone in one of the Vigiles Urbani cohorts. But I am at my mother’s this weekend, and won’t have much time to look further into it until after the weekend. (I’m also working on something for a certain someone..)

[ElayneTrakand]

In regards to your character concept I should point out that in the very year we'd start off in (55 BCE) Caesar would move his troops into Britain and mess up a few villages on the coastline. He would then return to Gaul and stay for the winter, try again to invade the following year and make a good deal more headway but when Gaul revolts would start he'd be forced to abandon Britain yet again. So a character captured during those very first raids would be quite feasible after all. Not sure if peace talks would've been attempted since Caesar crossed their land because he thought they were helping the Gauls and came over to teach them a lesson. Then again if the Britons didn't know as much maybe peace attempts might've been made after all. But with or without the premise of peace talks, she could've easily been captured during one of the village raids so consider that possibility as well if you want her to have been something else or be taken entirely against her will (emissaries do technically run the risk of getting whacked upon reaching their destinations ).

Cool, I was thinking that we were starting a year or two before these initial raids. In that case I like the idea of hanging around a village. Perhaps my husband is a druid? Thus plausible explanation of how I picked up a little Latin.

You mean the Briton society at the time? I'd suggest maybe try this for starters? It's not terribly descriptive but does provide some generic guidelines for a few of the generally considered topics of discussion. Ancient Celtic names for girls are indeed very rare - save for Boudica and very few others. Maybe try going for a regular Celtic name that just sounds fairly old? For religion you can find a very brief summary in the link already provided but if you want more: here you go.

Cool, I will have to hunt down a name and also, if her master wants to rename her later fine by me!

Pictures don't need to necessarily show the characters doing whatever they were doing before or are doing currently. So it's not really mandatory for a gladiator's picture to show a guy holding a sword and standing over a dead body for instance. Similar for a regular slave - it's hardly expected to see pictures of naked women with heavy iron collars around their necks. If you want to try your luck with something looking authentic maybe try a combination of search terms like Briton, Celtic, woman, cosplay, witch, druidess. Otherwise maybe try finding a picture of someone wearing a Roman toga or posing as a slave (there is a bit more variety there) and just say that's what she looked after her Roman life began. If all else fails though, just pick a face you are comfortable with and regardless of make-up, earrings, necklaces and fancy dresses the rest of us will just picture the same face on a scantly an appropriately dressed Roman slave.

Sounds good, and yeah I know we don't have to find an exact match I just personally like to get close.

Regarding capture scenario I suggest one of the following: we could have you in Britain and captured at the same time that the story would start but given there's a good deal of distance between Britain and Rome, her travel back would take weeks likely. So you would actually need to start at a point in time likely a few weeks (maybe months) back. Meaning you'd also have nobody to interact with save the NPCs and the person controlling them (me?). Then we could keep on skipping ahead, maybe with some scenes along the way back to Rome, until finally she'd reach the present day and likely get herself auctioned off. That's option 1 and assuming you don't want more than a half a dozen exchanges or so it might be easier to pull of like this. If you would prefer something larger scale and with more attention to detail then we could instead RP her capture and trip in more detail by using a separate thread and having that as a sort of flashback for her. This would be option 2. Let me know which you'd prefer.

I am partial to the first option. I mostly care about the actual capture, maybe one thing in the middle and then starting with however the morning of the auction starts.

[Kayrax]

@Fury Aphrodisia Some pressure is occasionally useful though

Got a reply from pendarious a little earlier and he mentioned being fine with either a brother or a cousin, so as not to take the lead roll in case of a sudden absence. Based on what you're saying about Benny's own preference on the matter I guess that leaves me holding DA POWAH! *waits for outstanding echoes to die down a bit*

So MC will be the one leading the household forward. pendarious shall be either an older brother, younger brother or cousin depending on how exactly he'll want to pursue his own agenda - something that might require a certain minimum age that I briefly explained in my reply to him. YC will apparently be MC's wife and the two have BennyQ's character as a son then? I already approved Foxy Oni's sheet as well (whether she'll make a few additions to the backstory or not) so her character would've been a slave of mine for like 20 years or thereabout. And since everyone else is mostly a slave in some capacity then you're free to either RP having been with the family for an unknown amount of time or if you prefer getting bought instead then just have your backstory detail their life up until they step on the actual auctioning block.

Which brings me to the following two issues: lower classes brownnosing and currying favor makes perfect sense. They no doubt hope to either get our hard extorted money or possibly hope for an increase in their own status and importance. It is quite a Roman thing to do mind you The second issue was how could my character, which I haven't even created yet, possibly disappoint her? It's outrageous! You know what? I'm gonna' keep the son I never knew I had until just now and I'm getting a divorce! In all seriousness though, let me in on some of the schemes you and everyone else have already concocted. I'm going to ask first whether you or Benny have any ideas in regards to your ages. I was personally considering mid thirties to maybe early forties for myself. While I work on that character, also let me know if you've got any questions I might help you out with.

@ElayneTrakand Like I said, not really a problem. I'll check everything I receive and should the numbers not add up I'll mention things then. From what I've seen so far that was not the case though. Probably because I made it so simple to understand

It's your choice as far as character concept goes. But as previously mentioned, Caesar would end up briefly crossing into Britain with a small force, attack some of the nearby villages as a show of force and then return to Gaul and wait out the winter. He would return later with a larger force and do a bit more serious damage but if you're okay with being taken during those initial raids then yeah, pick whatever you want. Oh and apparently druids often married priestesses or warrior nobles. Does that help? If not I suppose exceptions were occasionally made...

Before you start thinking of renaming her you should instead begin hoping that she gets noticed enough so a name might even be asked or provided for her. Other slaves will likely ask about such things but the ones holding her leash might take a while. Then again it would depend on what sort of personalities everyone comes up with.

And okay, in this case feel free to make your first post with some label along the lines of "a few weeks (or if you prefer months) earlier" and then describe a supposedly normal day for the village/tribe. Or possibly have them be rather worried about the recent invasion of Roman soldiers on their lands. Before long the attack will happen. Let me know if you want it slow paced or fast paced, the graphical level of the violence and possibly the sexy times afterward (will have to check whether there's any indication on Caesar's personal opinion on the matter else I'll just go with the way that most other legions operated) and generally whatever else you think might be useful or necessary. Also feel free to ask questions or provide suggestions if you have any.

@Hob Hey there. Vigiles Urbani guys seem to have been made by Augustus but for now Caesar is still alive and beating up the Gauls

[BennyQ]

Got a reply from pendarious a little earlier and he mentioned being fine with either a brother or a cousin, so as not to take the lead roll in case of a sudden absence. Based on what you're saying about Benny's own preference on the matter I guess that leaves me holding DA POWAH! *waits for outstanding echoes to die down a bit*

So MC will be the one leading the household forward. pendarious shall be either an older brother, younger brother or cousin depending on how exactly he'll want to pursue his own agenda - something that might require a certain minimum age that I briefly explained in my reply to him. YC will apparently be MC's wife and the two have BennyQ's character as a son then?

This is totally fine by me then! I'll have a character sheet up hopefully in the next day or two.

[ElayneTrakand]

Is it alright if I don't have a singular face claim and more just have a general look that my character has and others are free to infringe on it as I don't have a claim? I have found a pile of pictures that I like. You are also free to give feed back on any of them you like!

NSFW pictures to follow

And in other news I have most of my character sheet done, so I will post it wherever they go!

[Fury Aphrodisia]

Yeah, I was gonna make my character about 32/33. Old enough to have a full-grown son, which seems reasonable to me? But that would mean that the eldest son is twenty or less. If this is a problem, let me know and I'll work through adjustment.

Kayrax, I'll shuffle you into a group PM meant for plotting.

[Kayrax]

@ElayneTrakand Yeah, that's fine. Just be sure to put the main one - as in the one you actually want your character to look like (blonde, redhead, brunette, etc.) - in the faceclaim slot. The ones usually going there are either portraits or otherwise clothed (if scantly) pics so I actually had to boot up a different browser and check whether or not non-members had access to any sections these pictures might end up being found in. And it turns out they wouldn't have such access, meaning you're probably not infringing on any rules.

That being said, I'm fairly certain that I can already guess a couple or so kinks you'll likely list in that sheet

And in even more news, I ended up working on my gladiator idea even though I actually started out plotting for the Roman character. Weird things like that do happen fairly often however. I'll use Zach Mcgowan's likeness to make it all happen

@Fury Aphrodisia I talked with Benny as well a little earlier but in the PM he sent me there was talk of a brother character, similarly aged 30 or so. And I know he wants another gladiator character as well. My question is... does he want that son character as a third one or is one of you assuming a different age? Like either you think he'll be in his late teens or he might assume you'll be in mid fifties or so? You also just mentioned eldest son so does that mean there are more? I wouldn't mind by the way. At the same time I would also consider a daughter while on the subject - plotting and arranging whom she should marry... and possibly for how long too. Also in case incest is a desired kink - not necessarily mine for dad/daughter but possibly for uncle/niece or brother/daughter. I guess it's times like these where seeing character sheets or a list of everyone's ons/offs would be helpful. Oh well, such details can always be discussed a bit further, likely after getting the majority of CS for everyone.

Also... you're just going to shuffle me in? Like a piece of meat? I feel so... so used

[BennyQ]

Yeah the age differences might make my initial plotting with Fury about a shared household a little more difficult. Or I alter my characters age to a more minor state, 19 or 20, perhaps on a furlong from the frontiers and visiting his family while on leave. Overall, I have nothing set in stone so don't let my ideas force a deep edit of anything. I'll adjust accordingly. Y'all do your thing.

[Kayrax]

If you go 19/20 (20 being the minimum required for a military tribune) then you could instead shift your focus from going into politics to possibly going into the military. It would definitely ruin the whole "doing it for the subordinates" angle as it is much more likely at that point to be doing it for himself given that he wouldn't have served at all or only very briefly.

And like I previously mentioned - I would much rather shift and move things around so that as many players as possible could enjoy their ideas without having to make too many compromises (and ideally any at all).

[BennyQ]

Could definitely work for a younger brother of the family. And there can still be politics involved about his impending military assignment? Is he going somewhere cushy like Hispania or somewhere deadly like the Rhineland, etc. Who does the family have to influence to make such a decision and all. Maybe we can go an avenue like that for my character.

[Kayrax]

Now I'm confused... Is he a son or a brother after all? Cause brother would make Aphrodisia's character his sister-in-law. There will probably be some debates on that subject - cushy job would obviously keep him safe but potentially dangerous job (like say close to Caesar or another such hotshot that is clearly going places) could be worth exploring as well. And there could always be the blind luck of the draw if no further bribes would be offered beyond actually getting him selected for the position.

[Fury Aphrodisia]

Uh.....


Fuck, I dunno. People keep changing their minds super quick on everything, I can't keep up.

You guys figure out what you're going to do and loop me in when you've made a choice, please.

[BennyQ]

In terms of the character concept I've been discussing, I only decreased his age by some years. Still the same individual, a son of the family, just younger than what we may have plotted previously.

EDIT: I see where I fucked up. Bad choice of wording. My bad and my apologies. Younger brother of the family, I meant a younger child.

[Kayrax]

So to clarify for everyone's benefit...

MC would be leading the house. He would have a brother or a cousin (pendarious) staying with them. He would also be married to Aphrodisia's character. The two would have at least one son (BennyQ). And there would be lots of slaves and gladiators around them doing their own things.

Is that clear for everyone? And even more importantly, is it agreeable with everyone?

[Foxy DeVille]

Yep and yep!

[BennyQ]

That sits well with me.

Also @Foxy Oni, looking forward to the Aria Giovanni face claim. Always a classic.