Roland Aristocrat Campaign

Game Master Goldstool Shroomshine

Do spellcasters need to identify themselves as such to the bureaucracy (academy) or is that only for restricted magic items?

Is it generally assumed that most spellcasters have trained at the academy or is that more like a higher level of learning, like graduate school?

Is there a school called Hogwarts, by chance?

@Halcy, Will go into your questions soon on the Design Doc, most likely Friday.

@Raph, if there is anyone you want to question feel free to indicate. The world is your question-room oyster.

I moved Vincent into the bar with Halcyon on the map and moved a few others back to the main dining room. If Asfal is within Halcyon's circle of vision, she will keep an eye on him as she looks for Caroline, unless Vincent has a task for her.

Below was added to the Design Doc. Thanks for touching up the map, its always the thing I forget to do at the end of the day. No Hogwarts Halcyon, but anyone with the desire to learn can attend free classes, teachings, apprenticeship. Will probably add a thing on funding later on:

Thanks. That helps fill in the picture. I doubt Halcyon would be in the society, partly because she's not an arcane caster and partly because she does not want to draw attention to certain aspects of her background.

However, given her experience with Caroline struggling to deal with her Oracular powers and curse, she may try to organize some kind of Oracle's guild or club to give oracles a way to understand their powers and give each other aid and support.

I always enjoy reading the additions to the Design Doc, even though it's not that important for my character.

@Hal, there is no Oracle Club at the moment, the closest thing would be the Society's Divine Relations school. Hell, even Druids have the Botanical Gardens. I am sure a collection of Oracles would be quite the force for info.

@Seth, I have plans to do one on Guard history, rankings, practices that may be up your alley in the future. Want to get more into divisions of the Military, special forces, Navy et cetera. Who knows, one day all this knowledge may be useful if you all end up in Council and need to run things.

@Raph, I plan to have more on Durendale law and practices. I have always dreamed of doing an actual court sequence with you all. I'd be lying if I said I didn't already have tricks up my sleeve for if it actually happens.

I want to do race demographics for Durendal in the near future as well, flesh out Tizona more, talk about places outside the continent / current scope of the game.

If we're doing design doc requests, I'd like to know about the other races, the fey touched are of particular note to my character, but in general I'd like to know about the others too.

Update should happen later tonight. I'll add racial demographics and history to the Design Doc next, most likely a little bit after the update happens.

Two main sections added to the Design Document.

First, Racial Demographics. Currently only really extending to playable races, I do mean to touch up on monsters and creatures sometime in the future. Marcus, as the Kitsune, I do want to talk to you about your people though. Any race not mentioned (for example, Goblins) has no recorded instance in Durendal. Doesn't mean you won't see them, just means they currently have no known presence. However, immigrants from the next section could change that...

Secondly, The Faraway Lands. The continent that the story takes place on is by no means the only place of civilization. Some citizens of Durendal even come from such far off places. All other continents are referred to as the Faraway Lands locally, as trade and contact has been rather limited. Largely this is for the introduction of another country, unique or strange NPCs, and a backup in case one of the main story arcs is prevented.

The drama bombs, they just keep falling.

Update likely not till Sunday or Monday. I am out if town and haven't access to a computer. Will be updating regularly soon, I am moving houses on Wednesday but should update before then.

It's fine. Real life comes first, and good luck with the move!

The next five days may include limited posting due to lots of overtime

Just letting you know I'm still here. I'm a bit behind due to a recent sickness and some spur-of-the-moment travel. I apologize for the unexplained absence. I'm reading and catching up on what's been going on. Will post something tomorrow noonish (PST).

Ok, so there's something. Not as detailed as I liked, but I need to get to bed and I seem to be missing a few things that Halcyon has discovered. I should be back to posting more regularly as work has eased up somewhat and I'm no longer sick/travelling. Are there a few particularly relevant posts I should check on?

I think everyone may soon be together at which point Halcyon will give a recap of what she's discovered. So far, your lack of knowledge is probably consistent with the fog of war (so to speak) from being away from the activities in the ballroom, bar, etc. There are a few posts where Halcyon summarizes the results of her spell casting and other investigations and readings.

These four posts will cover a lot of what Halcyon has discovered and what she suspects.

Post 1
Post 2
Post 3
Post 4

So I actually knew more then I thought I did, but I missed one critical post (3) and that was throwing me off. I think we'll have some interesting things to discuss. Also, to GM Goldstool, thanks for weaving such a complicated web to unravel. The game so far has been brilliant and I'm thoroughly enjoying the game even if Raphael hasn't contributed much to the investigation (yet). :)

Thanks for the kind words, Raphael, I hope there to be many more webs in the future.

Always feel free to do a "So/So summarizes their thoughts" and link to the relevant posts if you like. I will likely do an evidence update to keep everyone on the same page.

Update should go up tonight if I can set up my desktop in time. Otherwise it is a definite Friday.

I took the liberty of moving the PCs into the ballroom and toward Helmuth. What time is it now (game time)?

Game time would be around 11:25, ~35 minutes until the new year. Update will come tomorrow, Monday evening.

I think I found a song I kind of like for Raphael. You can check out a cover of Short Change Hero cover and the original Short Change Hero - The Heavy. The heavier sounds are a little more intense then I like. On the other hand, if you consider that the subject of the sound is Durendal, then it's more interesting. :)

I do like Short Change Hero, I believe it is also the starting introduction to Borderlands 2.

If the party could drag tiny icons to their preferred location of residence (or indicate to me and I will do so) on the Roland City Map that would be great. Want to make Emile's map a real thing if I can.

I moved my icon where it belongs. Here's an idea what my apartment might look like: Raphael's apartment.

The woman is Estelle Stingborn who's Raphael's friend. Her backstory is detailed in my profile.

Raphael and his singular goal of hoarding all Estelles.

To be fair, I named my character before you introduced the new Estelle. :)

You were asking earlier about what things we would like more details about and I'd like to ask more about the laws of the country. A few things below, but feel free to go crazy:

• Can you expand on the nature of the council? How are the Favored Nine chosen? What executive powers do they have? Are they beholden to the common people? Is there any division between executive, legislative and judiciary powers? Guards against nepotism/corruption/etc? Term limits?
  
• How centralized is the government? Are there local ruling bodies and if so, how are they organized and what powers do they have in comparison to the central government?
  
• How extensive is the central/federal government's power and its programs? How is said power distributed (appointment by the council/elected officials/etc)?
  
• Are their political parties in the modern sense? What impact do they have on government? Are coalitions formed in the manner of most European governments?
  
• How are laws codified and enforced? What does a typical prosecution look like?
  
• Juries seem to exist, as do judges and the system seems adversarial (two lawyers representing each side). What rights do accused have in criminal cases? Can testimony be compelled? What kind of framework for civil cases exists?
  
• Who are the current Nine? [I can roll knowledge for this, but I assume it's common knowledge. :P]
  

I think that's a decent start, but I'm sure I can come up with more. I'll keep thinking about other things I'm interested in knowing. :)

Will get around to those questions! Tomorrow they should be answered!

The night (in game I mean) seems to be coming to a close. And soon with it, a moment of reflection. If you have any tips/hints for me, advice or complaints, I'd love to hear all of them in PMs. Really, no grudges, I want this game as great as possible and I need the feedback as a first time online DM/Rper.

If you like certain NPC, hate a certain NPC but want them around, have anything at all for any characters, send me something and I can give them future-presence. The main story is not rigid, and while some events are planned (re: Galatian New Year's Massacre), the NPCs are what fill in the gaps, help you out during downtime, and give you rivals and friends.

So really, if you can spare the time, send me a PM.

To be fair, I named my character before you introduced the new Estelle. :)

You were asking earlier about what things we would like more details about and I'd like to ask more about the laws of the country. A few things below, but feel free to go crazy:

-- RAPHAEL'S QUESTIONS --

Starting on this now. Here are the Current Council seats, and small info on each of them. I already had this information on Council seats, just had to compile it for ya.

3/9 (soon to be 4/9) positions elected. Next election cycle starts on in Mid-486 AF.

• Violette Emberborne. As Colonel of the Guard, General in Times of War. Ifrit. Youngest seat holder, also the only one tried before the High Courts.
  
• Jacqueline Martell. As High Priestess. Human. From Hauteclere, a worshipper of Shelyn.
  
• Cornelius Voidwalker. As Magical Advisor of the Society of the Arcane Arts. Human. Only Magical Advisor to obtain position through usurping control of previous Society Headmaster.
  
• Helmuth von Moltke III. As National Treasurer. Human. You-know-who's father. First time in Durendal history the position wasn't held by the nation's Arch-banker.
  
• Armand Rousseau. Grand Justice. Human. Raphael, if you ever have a BIG case, it will likely be with him.
  
• Menos Bissette. Elected. Half Elf. War Hero and Celebrated Soldier, big with traditionalists. Six terms thus far.
  
• Benjamin Baptiste. Elected. Monk from Murgleis. Human. Responsible for the highest voter turnout in Murgleis history. Three terms thus far.
  
• Arthur Blake. Elected. Galatian Blooded Human. First Galatian blooded member of council.
  
• Luc Gardinier. Spymaster. Human. Seat is to be forfeited for public election on 1/1/485. Luc personally put forth this measure and is to head Guard Special Corps after his Council status ends.

Quick answers I don't want to add to the Design Doc.
- There is little to no Guard (besides Violette, teehee) against nepotism and corruption. In fact, you will find both exist in both Council and across the board. Would Helmuth Von Moltke IV have made captain by the age of 18 without his father being a member of council? Probably not.
- I am tentatively not making civil case groundwork. We can establish this together however, I am always open to lore building with you all.
- Currently no real political parties at the moment, these last few decades have been the first real democracy outside a Town/Region level. . There are some civil rights organizations (looking at Estelle here), nationalistic individuals (here is to you, Ellen), and Trade/Labor movements (Alexander), classist movements (not everyone loves that you all make ~900 gold every couple weeks while they starve) but they are hardly nationwide coalitions yet.

I'll be expanding some things that I just added soon, always feel free to ask me to articulate things or make additional requests. Applies to all of you lovelies.

Gameplay update coming this Sunday, Today/Tomorrow depending on your timezone. Either way, EST evening most likely, that is when I hit my groove.

Of the remaining positions, how would one secure a seat?
I realize this is almost certainly outside of our own reach for the current run, but it's useful information anyway.
Is there anyone above the council?

Depends on the person. You all have some sort of legitimacy for an un-elected seat, it is just a matter of planning for the endgame.

For the elected position however, you would likely need to either secure the funding, experience, and/or connections for the seat. A trade commissioner job, Lawyer, Charity work, Priest, Guild leadership, Guard Officer, et cetera would help. Those would get you both the people who want to raise you higher and the renown.

From there, probably a step higher. Roland city politics, Regional representation, Ambassador, Headmaster of a Society College, Judge, National Hero, Celebrity, Bishop.

Keep that for a while and people'll like you. Then there is the last, hardest hurdle. Connections, wealth, mudslinging if that is your thing, shaking babies and kissing hands, not messing anything up or you'll lose it all, gain favor with current council to ease your upcoming seat, try not to make enemies, try to keep all the friends (if any of you have any at this point).

Just some ideas, nothing is set in stone, Council is one of many end games, but it probably the hardest to reach (Unless you are aiming for, like, Galatian King? In which please don't do that to me) and puts you on a caliber in Durendal only rivaled by the eight others who share your rank. Make enough mistakes early on and they might come back when you try to reach this far though.

Cool
For the record, Marcus isn't shooting for king, at least not right now.
Once he gets a little taste of power, he might idly consider using his shape shifting talent in that way, but he'll (probably) just dismiss it as mere idle fantasy, with the reality being too difficult and (more importantly) dangerous to even attempt

I recently read Neal Stephenson's "The System of the World," which takes place in London in 1714. He describes many aspects of society at that time and one of the most interesting, to me, was the court and penal system. If someone broke the law, back then, there was no police or guard force that would automatically try to find the person or look for evidence or anything else we assume a police force does. The guard only patrolled the streets and made sure there was no general mayhem or sedition.

Instead, if someone wronged you, you would hire a 'thief-taker,' which was kind of a free-lance bounty hunter. He would do the work of tracking down a suspect and bringing him/her into the prison. From there, the wronged individual must himself prosecute the case in front of a judge.

Most crimes were punished with some financial penalty or physical punishment like flogging, having a hand cut off, tattoos, branding, etc. The death penalty was administered by hanging on special days that became something like a festival, with large crowds showing up to watch, and all the merchants and petty criminals usually attracted to such crowds. Very chaotic. People who owed money were usually put in prison, but the prisons were much like little villages where everyone was free to move about, people were free to come into the prisons to visit, deliver food, etc. But, of course, only the non-prisoners could leave. They had bars, brothels, and other entertainments for the prisoners. Prisoners had to pay for most of their food and other comforts, which meant friends had to come in and give them money or food.

There was, of course, lots of corruption, bribery, and people with means could usually escape. There were nicer prisons for the aristocracy, of course.

I'll take the large roughly square building on the horizontal main road just across the street from 12

Update coming later tonight, thank you everyone for the map information. Marcus, double check if I got the location right for you, just want to make sure.

Can't ever go wrong with Neal Stephenson, definitely need to read more of his work, I hear praise wherever I go. Think I've only read Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon (tried to get through it all, was a bit too much for me to be honest). Next break I'll have to visit a library and find something else to read.

Rolls for later, doing now so I know how story events might play out. Do not open.

You're good :)

New thing I am going to start doing/trying:

I am going to put all NPC know noble/know local information on each NPC's little alias page. I will also indicate on each NPC (which will show when they post) what knowledge check can be used (mostly will be Know Noble and Local)

For instance, clicking Darius will show his DC20 and DC25 checks, in spoilers. For now on, just indicate a person in your roll. You can even preview the roll, check their alias to see what your character would know, and tailor your response without waiting for me to update for you.

These will be put up over the course of the day today.

All NPCs (well, the ones introduced so far) have Alias pages with all their checks. In addition, when they post it will say what kind of roll you can do for them. Think this will be easier (for me at least) as I won't have to post a huge block of 1-3 spoilers for each NPC every time one of you enters a room.

I added Know Local to a lot of them for you, Seth. Will be more likely to know people now. Actually, all but Raphael had higher Know. Local than Know. Noble scores I believe. Update will becoming either tomorrow or Friday. Maybe both? Depends on work.

I'm not sure why I put more into know (local) than know (noble)

I am not sure why all of you did.

I have max ranks in both. :) I also have my fancy cracked magenta Ioun stone on it for today (though when I'm practicing law, I switch it).

I invested just about the same in both skills. My item is what gives my know local a boost.

I mean I almost never put any ranks in that...
I suppose it makes sense for a bartender so *shrug*

Can't ever go wrong with Neal Stephenson, definitely need to read more of his work, I hear praise wherever I go. Think I've only read Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon (tried to get through it all, was a bit too much for me to be honest). Next break I'll have to visit a library and find something else to read.

He is something of an acquired taste. He likes to interrupt the action with pages of details about something he's interested in. Even in Snow Crash, he alternates chapters of great action adventure plot with discussions of ancient religious mythology.

Cryptonomicron was one such novel and the Baroque Cycle is three books of that, but if you're interested in how the world was back in the 1600s and early 1700s, from the life of peasants and pirates to life of the aristocracy, it's a gold mine.

Also, there are characters in the Baroque Cycle who are the ancestors of characters in Cryptonomicron, as well as one actual character who is apparently immortal and appears in both.

The Diamond Age is pretty free of that kind of stuff. Anathem is a neat vision of the disant future.

But Snow Crash remains my favorite. Love the characters of Hiro and YT. Raven's pretty awesome even though technically he's a villain.

Update incoming, though I have a bit less free time these next three days. Probably won't have a proper update until Wednesday, but might be able to squeeze something out before then.

I know some people don't like posts that are a wall of words, but I couldn't really pass this opportunity to describe a number of things relevant to both the evening's investigation but to Halcyon's personality and personal motives. I hope it was worth the time it takes to read.

I am all for it, genuinely. I enjoy every post I read, regardless of length. Really liked the two of them, will respond proper with the next update.

Also noticed I made an error, mainly that when I created Vincent's potion list months ago, I forgot the ones he used on Abigal. Added those to the post as a little fix.

Once I see how Vincent responds to Halcyon's offer to let him search her, I'll continue with her inspections (not much detail needed) and address the situation with Asfal and Eduard.

I'm intrigued by the holy symbol of Naderi in Vincent's bag of holding. Anything beyond what's on the link to the Wiki that might help her understand why Vincent might have such an item? She got a pretty good knowledge (religion) roll.