[MAITP] Middle Ages in the Playground OOC

[Executor]

So, I've had a story idea bouncing around in my head for a few weeks now, based on old medieval romances, and the old Celtic idea that a kingdom and it's king are supernaturally bound together. Here's my plot:

It is the year 1242 in the kingdom of Atra. One thousand, two hundred and forty two years since Artor the Crusader led his people across the Lost Road that once stretched across the Eastern Seas and founded the kingdom. Is is the tenth year of Eoden's reign on the Lion's Throne, two years since he crushed the mad rebel Vargas on the Panduran Marches, and his kingdom sits in an uneasy peace. The royal coffers have been depleted by campaign after campaign against both rebels and invaders. Two years of poor harvests have left the people starving and angry. The constant need for the nobles to send away their sons and knights to fight in the King's wars have led to whisperings of civil war across the Kingdom. It is the beginning of summer, tournament season in Atra, and all the lords and knights of the realm are competing for a position in the Royal Tournament to be held on the last day of August. The winner of the Royal Tournament shall be able to ask the King for one favour, any wish that is within the King's power to grant. A dangerous thing when there are those that wish to see Eoden removed from the Lion's Throne. And that wish is a dangerous one in the land of Atra, which is as deep with monsters and sorcery as the sea, and kept in check only by the bounds of loyalty that hold King, land and people together.

So yeah, that's my plot. It'd be a freeform where the players RP as knights of the kingdom, loyal to one feudal lord or another, fighting either for or against the king, all unaware of the dark forces that conspire to rip Atra apart. Or perhaps entirely aware of those dark forces, and in league with them. Or maybe even play as the dark things that pull the strings of this kingdom from behind the curtains.

Any takers? The setting and plot aren't concrete yet, so there's still a lot of imput you could put into this. It will be fairly realistic though, while maintaining the feeling of a medieval romance like Le Morte d'Arthur.

[Mina Kobold]

Posting interest.

This looks like it have much potential and a knight tournament sounds like it will be tons of fun to play

[nanobot_swarm]

Definately interested in this proposal for a FFRP. How shall the Serfs fare?

[Falgorn]

Also interested. Are the only knights allowed the European kind, or a Samurai, or maybe even the Spahi? (My question is: Are other counterparts to Knights in different parts of the world acceptable?)

[Mina Kobold]

Also interested. Are the only knights allowed the European kind, or a Samurai, or maybe even the Spahi? (My question is: Are other counterparts to Knights in different parts of the world acceptable?)

Now we're asking questions, will there be the possibility of women, serfs and common folk entering the tournament?

I assume that the phrase 'Sons and knights' mean that only noblemen are allowed to participate but a wish from the king is a big thing and at least a few might be able to cheat their entrance to the tournament.

[Executor]

Keveak: A few, given some stolen gear and a whole lot of luck, might be able to fake noble birth and get into the tournament Knight's Tale-style, but I'm intending to play this RP as fairly realistic, so there'll be no medieval crowds singing We Will Rock You

Falgorn: You might be able to play a Samurai or Spahi-equivalent who has traveled to Atra and ending up swearing his allegiance to an Atran lord for whatever reason. Using the Samurai example, you might RP a Ronin who has left his homeland to seek his fortune in Atra, and ended up as a liegeman of one of the Atran nobles. However, like I said to Keveak, this will be a fairly realistic RP when sorcery isn't involved, so don't have katanas slicing through greatswords, because it's not going to happen, haha.

[Falgorn]

Keveak: A few, given some stolen gear and a whole lot of luck, might be able to fake noble birth and get into the tournament Knight's Tale-style, but I'm intending to play this RP as fairly realistic, so there'll be no medieval crowds singing We Will Rock You

Falgorn: You might be able to play a Samurai or Spahi-equivalent who has traveled to Atra and ending up swearing his allegiance to an Atran lord for whatever reason. Using the Samurai example, you might RP a Ronin who has left his homeland to seek his fortune in Atra, and ended up as a liegeman of one of the Atran nobles. However, like I said to Keveak, this will be a fairly realistic RP when sorcery isn't involved, so don't have katanas slicing through greatswords, because it's not going to happen, haha.

A valid point, but I do plan on roleplaying a knight realistically. Which obviously means him being able to shoot holy fire out of his eyes.

In all seriousness, I realize that this will have to be realistic, so no katanas cutting people in half. For now.

[nanobot_swarm]

Could you give details on the Religon of Atra?

[Executor]

It's sort of a blend of mono and polytheism, based around the worship of the Powers of Heaven. The only actual God in the Atran belief is the Creator-King of Heaven, also known as the Creator or the High Power. In addition to the Creator-King are the numerous lesser Powers, who are still divine but function more like saints in real-world Christianity. The major ones are the Queen, the Champion, the Guards, the Shepherd and the Captain, each one the patron Power of a different realm of human life. The Shepherd, for example, is the patron of husbandry and agriculture, and so is paid special attention to by farmers, shepherds, goatherds, etc. The Captain, on the other hand, is patron of the sea, lakes and rivers, and so is high in the prayers of sailors and fishermen. Religious offerings in Atra consist of animal sacrifice. A proper sacrifice is either a sheep, goat or ox, these being the sacred animals of the High Power, fully drained of blood, blessed by the local Priest and then burnt. The titles in the Church of the Powers are derived from real world Orthodox Christian titles, with the Atran equivalent of bishop being Patriarch, and the Patriarch of the whole kingdom being the High Patriarch, who resides in the capital of Artoria with the King. The capital of each of the dukedoms that make up Atra (of which there are 12) has a sanctuary in it, where the dukedom's Patriarch resides, sanctuaries being something like our cathedrals.

And that's about all I've worked out so far on religion. Any suggestions?

[DoomITP]

This sounds awesome! I will join if you do not mind.

[Executor]

The more the merrier! Any imput about the setting or plot? We're still in the brainstorming stage here.

[Cracklord]

Could I play a schemeing noble/courtesan, a insane priest, or something less conventional?

[Executor]

Any of those are options! I'd be interested in any of them, since what you proposed worked well with my plans for a main villain.

[nanobot_swarm]

For the religon, is there an anti-thesis to the Creator, a Destroyer or Devil figure in it?

[Mina Kobold]

Keveak: A few, given some stolen gear and a whole lot of luck, might be able to fake noble birth and get into the tournament Knight's Tale-style, but I'm intending to play this RP as fairly realistic, so there'll be no medieval crowds singing We Will Rock You

Does that mean I can't have a nutjob Troubadour following my knight around and playing Classical Metal on a lute?

Purple, then I have to find old and enjoyable music to base it on instead.

Everybody know you can't have a knight without at least one kind of badass/silly music being played wherever he go, it's a rule

[Falgorn]

Also, along with the religion, are there any pilgrimages? Or rites that one has to undergo to be formally accepted in the church?

Also, are there other, surrounding countries?

[Maxios]

Perhaps I could play a knight with a code of honor, out to eradicate any evil he encounters?

[Executor]

In order for a subdeacon to be ordained as a full deacon, the lowest rank of the clergy, he must undertake a pilgrimage to visit the High Sanctuary in Artoria, there to fast and pray for two days, and once he has accomplished this, he receives the High Patriarch's blessing and is received as a full member of the Church of the Powers.

As for the Devil figure, there are two: The Prince and the Witch. The Prince was originally a Power of great good, the son of the Creator-King and His Queen, but he succumbed to envy when he saw how Humanity revered his father over him, and he fell into darkness. He's basically a corrupted Jesus Christ figure. The Witch, on the other hand, is pure evil, the root of all wickedness, it was she who seduced the Prince, both literally and figuratively, into revealing the World to her when it was young, just after it had been created, and allowed evil to be released into it. And from their union, every evil beast and monster that plagues humanity was born.

Yes, there are surrounding countries to the south and west, but I haven't done any work on them yet, so I'm entirely open to suggestions.

And yes, Maxios, that would work admirably.

[Maxios]

Yes! Go knights! I'll give him a long sword and and a shield, and perhaps maybe a castle, because knights in medieval times were usually owners of castles.

[Executor]

Lords were usually the owners of castles, a simple knight would have a fortified manor though, that I suppose could be considered a castle.

[Maxios]

Yes! That'll be my character's starting location.

[Mina Kobold]

Yes! Go knights! I'll give him a long sword and and a shield, and perhaps maybe a castle, because knights in medieval times were usually owners of castles.

A long sword requires two hands and is pretty useless in most tournament games (lancing, sword and shield on horseback, it would work for duels though)

Knights owning castles? You are aware that for each house of nobility there could be almost a hundred knights, right? We don't have that many castles in Europe.

In fact, my country has less than five. All of them belonged to kings too.

No offence meant, just history-geekiness

[Falgorn]

A long sword requires two hands and is pretty useless in most tournament games (lancing, sword and shield on horseback, it would work for duels though)

I thought that long swords were known for their versatility. I thought that, while one could put more power into their blow using two hands, it wasn't necessary to use both hands. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.

[Cracklord]

You're thinking of bastard swords. Can't use a two handed sword in one hand unless you're built like Conan the Barbarian. And even then they'd be slow. Knights preferred to use a sword and shield. If they have to go two hands on you, well a mace is a much more effective weapon.

If I go the courtesan then I'll be a beautiful, twenty three year old (convenient) widow who wants to find a new husband. I'll probably also be a total bitch, as that's the only way to get that sort of character to work.
If I go the scheming noble, then I'll be something like eleventh in line for the throne. I'll probably have some sort of deformity (thank you Shakespeare), and be trying to 'work my way up succession'.
If either of them are too hard to work out, I'll play a fanatical knight templar sort of guy.

[Morty]

I thought that long swords were known for their versatility. I thought that, while one could put more power into their blow using two hands, it wasn't necessary to use both hands. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.

As far as I know, longswords could be used with one hand on horseback. On foot, they were too long for that.
As for the game itself, I'll give it a shot. If possible, I'll play a mercenary who works for whoever pays the most, be they feudal lords or anyone else. He'll have no wish to become a king himself - but he will attempt to be the new king's right hand or at least trusted advisor and general. He'll also dabble in sorcery.

[Cracklord]

My scheming nobel offers to make you a knight, then wed his niece to you, giving you a title, a considerable bit of land, legitimacy and constant source of income.

[Eadin]

This looks really cool
Very interested
Maybe I could play some sort of evil force..like morgaine in the arthurian legends

[Executor]

I already have plans for the main force of evil in this land, who will be NPCs that I will control, however you could RP as some kind of evil character.

[Maximum Zersk]

-Nudges Executor over to the Freeform thread-

You'll probably find some more people over there.

[Eadin]

I already have plans for the main force of evil in this land, who will be NPCs that I will control, however you could RP as some kind of evil character.

yeah, sorry
That's what I meant
Like one of their followers