[OOC][PotN] Land of the Princes

It is winter in the Principality of Agene. You were fully aware of the risks of traveling in Agonia in the midst of the cold season, but you found the Guild of Roads too pricy and the seas too risky, particularly with Ursum raiders on the rise. No, instead you thought you would be clever and accompany the independent merchants, staying alongside the Agonian Mountains. “The Mountains will shield us from the West-bound storms,” Nilo the Molossian had sworn, “I consulted with an alchemist in Monia, they study the weather there you know.”

Molossian reputations aside, it really was the most direct route to the ports in Agon. Most of the roads would wind around through Estria and Fjarland first, and to take a Molossian boat to an Agonian port is the kind of investment of time even professional sailors would scoff at. Nilo was a good merchant, after all, and you don't succeed in his business making foolish decisions.

And now, while the boats sail freely and the Guilds push their caravans through the snowy roads, you are stuck here in the Land of the Princes, in the tiny livestock village of Yarenivka, trapped in an inn surrounded by blizzards and goats and curious locals. Nilo doesn’t talk to you much, just staring at the wall and impatiently scribbling in his ledger, muttering to himself in the Scholar’s Tongue.

By day you pass the time in the crowded local inn that shelters you all, playing tic-tac-toe and draughts with the rest of your increasingly restless companions and making idle talk. Being such a mixed company and in such tight confines, all avoid the more controversial news of the realms in favor of dull topics like the weather and travel plans. The conversations are just as dull and flavorless as the porridge you’ve been eating for what feels like every meal now.

By night, your sleep, in the straw floor of this drafty shack, is tormented by the voice.

Do you hear it?
Thunder without rain
It builds ever stronger
They do not hear it

Do you hear it?
A beast without a head
Its thirst is never slaked
They do not hear it

Do you hear it?
Sounding in the East
The alarm bells ring
They do not hear it

For 3 days now you have been trapped indoors by this blizzard, and for 3 nights you have heard the voice, over and over, trapped in your mind like the most aggravating of minstrels’ tunes. Sometimes it is the voice of a young woman. Sometimes of an elderly man. Other times it has an accent you can't quite place. You stopped paying attention to the voice itself, so much as the words. Do you hear it? After 3 days of interrupted sleep, you better believe you hear it.

But today, the third day of this storm, the blizzards have ceased. The peasants have begun digging their homes out of the snow and clearing away the muddy dirt paths, letting their livestock roam freely for a few hours while they work to gather firewood and do some hunting. Your caravan companions nearly break the door away from its hinges as they push out into the frozen streets, desperate for a bit of fresh air and to stretch their legs. The peasants chatter in Gorechi to one another as you pass by, but keep to themselves.

More importantly, you finally can find the local elder and figure out what this voice means, or if you’ve just been locked inside too long. Among the snow-covered A-frame huts of the village one stands out immediately, a stone-walled structure with a much sturdier roof. Perhaps it would be presumptuous to assume this was the elder, but at the very least this is certainly the best-off person in this forgotten corner of the world.

But as you approach his door to knock, you recognize a handful of others from your caravan, who seem to have had the same idea… Perhaps they have heard the voice as well?


Sign-ups



Please refer to the Path of the Nomad topic for reference on the setting and character creation. The Character Guides are WIP so go ahead and ask any questions here or there as you have them, it will benefit the other players too. Important note is time frame - my use of the term Dark Ages refers to roughly 800-1200 A.D.

I’m only looking for around 3-5 players, so in the interests of fairness I’m not allowing duos/trios/jazz quartets nor am I going to count ‘finish-it-laters’ until they’re done. Additional characters generally fall under the 'companions' category anyway, I don't recall ever seeing a duo actually operate as perfect equals in an RP. As I approve characters be considerate of the roles filled by pre-approved characters and try to fill in holes where the party has them.

This RP will be fairly relaxed, because I am a busy person and so are most of you. It should be perfectly realistically possible to do this RP at the same time as any other RP as by design there's much less to be catching up on each time you come back to post. If you find yourself getting left behind though, don't hesitate to ask for a recap! I'd much rather spend a few minutes summing up than have 25% of the party just drop out because a new Rise RP opened up or whatever.

I will probably start this up in a week or so depending on how sign-ups turn out, if you're going away for Christmas or anything like that please let me know and I won't mind stalling a few more days so we can start with a full roster!


Sign-up Form

((insert image for appearance - extra credit for Osprey illustrations))
Insert Name ((Include titles if any))
((Need help with names?
Agonian/Frontiersman: fantasynamegenerators.com/slavic_names.php
Danarian: fantasynamegenerators.com/norman-names.php
Tryson: fantasynamegenerators.com/anglo-saxon-names.php
Ursman: fantasynamegenerators.com/viking_names.php
Molossian: fantasynamegenerators.com/greek_names.php
It’s also okay if you want to go really high in rank like a False King or a Molossian Princess, just be aware that higher ranks are prone to closer scrutiny in sign-ups.))
Profession: ((“Adventurer” is an immediate disqualification. Should also be a fair indicator of social class.))
Age: ((16 is considered ‘adulthood’ in most of the world, though it is very young, and while people can age to their 70s, the elderly generally don’t travel in blizzards.))
Background: ((Doesn’t need to be an in-depth family history, but should in some way indicate your goals as a person and how you got here other than ‘wandered off to find adventure’. The caravan is currently traveling North, having started from East Molossar.))

Character
Path: ((List as Way – Path, i.e. Warrior – Knight, Magician – Minstrel))
Temperament: ((Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, Melancholic - Most people only guess their temperament, so can you if you're not sure.))
Kingdom: ((Open to any of the Five Kingdoms and the Frontier States - If you are a Frontiersman you will need to provide a name for your Princedom
EDIT: Agonians and Frontiersmen are capped off for now.))
Strengths:
[+] (One from your nationality)
[+] (Create your own)
Flaws:
[-] (One from your nationality - I'm aware there is only one for every nation atm. Don't worry about that.)
[-] (Create your own)
((Don’t overthink the Create Your Owns. Strengths and Flaws are traits, along with the rest of the character traits, that I will take into account while I GM, influencing your actions and their successes or failures. You can also call them out yourself if you like, similar to using a skill, to draw attention to what you’re trying to do.))

Inventory
Weapons: ((Only what is commonly carried on your person. Include shields as weapons! Extras can be listed in baggage))
Armor: ((Only what you typically wear in battle. Please bear in mind that people do not walk around in coats of maille for everyday life, and you will need to account for getting in and out of your armor when the situation requires it.))
Equipment: ((Other gear and tools that you keep on your person. Extras can be listed in baggage))
Trinkets: ((Tiny stuff that isn’t really practical, just sentimental))

Baggage Train
Companions: ((Not necessarily lesser in rank; these are servants, family, friends, craftsmen, squires – anybody that travels with or assists you. These are not additional combatants, any skill they may have with a spear is to protect your baggage train. Please no more than 3 at the extreme maximum.))
Animals: ((Pack beasts, steeds, pets – Most will not have any. This is fine.))
Carts: ((Handcarts, wagons, wheelbarrows, etc. carried by pack beasts or servants – Where you keep your baggage. Again, most people will probably just have a handcart or just have a companion carry their gear. This is also fine.))
Baggage: ((All your extra stuff, and things that you need that you can’t realistically carry. Specificity needs only to be relative to value; i.e. ‘extra arrows’, ‘1 additional hauberk’, ‘a handful of spears’. This is a fairly flexible category and you’re fine to add things you may have forgotten as we go along, I just want you to be thinking about the distribution of your belongings and how you carry them.))

As I am going to be storing these sheets for personal reference I ask that you please do not fill them out "in-character". Those are cool, but I have a difficult time parsing them and would prefer everyone be using the same format for my own convenience.

Blank form for copy-pasting:


Approved Characters
Prince Simon de Cavelier - Arbiter - Danarian Minstrel
Princess Velika Kazimir - Burger Warrior - Frontierswoman Librarian
Neretzia Galani - Grant - Molossian Archer
Èrthu, son of Robert the Stalwart - Solitaire - Danarian Soldier
Vyacheslav Alexeivich Danilov - Jango - Agonian Soldier
Rajke Svelha - Grom - Frontiersman Hunter