Protectorate and Restoration

[Douglas Muir 406]

Been rereading some English history.

Squeezing historical figures into the nine-grid alignment system is usually a mug’s game. Still, now and then you’ll find some who fit neatly. Here’s one interesting pair: Oliver Cromwell and King Charles II.

Skip this part if you find history boring:

Oliver Cromwell was the ruler of England for a dozen years, c. 1648 to 1660, and he was about as Lawful Neutral as they come. He was an austere Puritan who took over Parliament’s weak, chaotic military. By rigorous training and discipline turned it into the greatest fighting force England had ever seen, the legendary “New Model Army”. Once it won the war, the New Model Army installed him as ruler – England’s first and (so far) only military dictator. As ruler, he imposed an equally severe discipline upon the country. Gambling, dancing, cockfights, bear-beating, Christmas celebrations and theater plays were all suppressed with equal rigor. The Puritan costume of black and white became standard everywhere. All sins and crimes, right down to minor ones like swearing and chewing tobacco, were prohibited and punished.

It doesn’t sound like much fun, and it wasn’t – but on the other hand, government was clean and ruthlessly efficient and corruption was almost unknown. Stern law enforcement greatly reduced crime, the roads were free of highwaymen, and trade flourished. In foreign affairs, England was a major power in those years; nobody wanted to mess with the Royal Navy or, worse, the terrifying New Model Army.

(Someone may note here that Cromwell started as a rebel against the King. True; but on the other hand he only turned rebel because King Charles I had proven himself false and treacherous, and had repeatedly broken the kingdom’s laws.)

Though utterly fair and just in his personal dealings, Cromwell was a dangerous man to cross. When the captive King Charles continued plotting against him from his jail cell. Cromwell promptly had his head cut off. When the Irish dared to rebel against his government and defy him; he came into Ireland with the New Model Army and basically annihilated every living thing in his path, killing something like a quarter of the island’s population in just a few months. He was stern, he was grim, and he stayed firmly in command until he died quietly in bed of natural causes. At which point the English, by now heartily sick of righteousness, shook off Puritan rule and brought back the son of the dead King: Charles II, the handsome young prince who’d spent the last dozen years as an exile in France.

If Cromwell was pretty solidly Lawful Neutral, King Charles II was about as Chaotic Neutral as you get. He wasn’t a bad, cruel or wicked king, nor personally dishonest. He was courteous, generous, gracious, and a great patron of science and of the arts. But he was a self-centered, hedonistic playboy with little interest in actually ruling the country. He loved mistresses, fine clothes, good food, good dogs and good manners. The daily tedium of running the kingdom he found boring, and left mostly to ministers and favorites, who he allowed to bicker and squabble with little supervision.

Under Charles’ rule – the “Restoration” period -- England saw an explosion of arts and literature, and the beginnings of the Scientific Revolution. The plain black and white clothing of Cromwell’s day was replaced by a joyful riot of wild colors. The theaters opened again, and maypoles and dancing and Christmas celebrations returned to England. But crime also exploded: highwaymen and bandits ruled the countryside, in the cities gangs of armed robbers broke into houses every day, and counterfeiters and false witnesses were everywhere. It was also a golden age of corruption: immense sums were stolen from the Treasury, while the roads decayed and the ships of the Navy rotted at anchor. The bureaucracy and the military were gutted from within. Justice was sold to the highest bidder. The New Model Army was disbanded and replaced by a disorderly rabble of royal regiments officered by perfumed favorites. England was beaten by the Dutch in a short humiliating war, and in foreign policy England rapidly declined from great power status: for the duration of Charles II's reign it would be the second-rate lackey of France.

Okay, so: can we use this in our games? Sure. Here’s a simple scenario: PCs must travel to Lawful Kingdom, which is ruled by a Cromwell-like Lord Protector. They’re told in advance that they must perform a job which will be easy because, hey, Lawful Kingdom – just follow the rules and you’ll be fine. Maybe they have to deliver a minor relic to a temple of Lawful God, or some such. But when they arrive, they find that the Lord Protector has died and the kingdom is now in a full-blown Restoration: fun, but chaotic and dangerous. Thieves Guilds in the city (and they’re rapidly expanding and recruiting), bandits on every road, and the temple of Lawful God may be having problems of its own…
Season to taste.

Doug M.

[tonyz]

Sounds like a fun twist to spring on PCs ;)

And then you get the Lawful Evil crown prince (James II) waiting in the wings...