Last time, I shared with you a note section based on the Tzimisce voice character. Today, I wanted to share with you a first draft of some text from our own Danielle Lauzon. This is her first draft for the Road of Kings.
I don’t have a lot to say in support of this. I think it presents the topic, and manages to take the prior concept and just really expand it into more global, interesting places. I’ve worked with Danielle a lot, and she often surprises me with how interesting her content can be. If you’re a werewolf fan, holy shit she knocked me right out with her content on the upcoming Rage Across the World.
One of the things I really wanted to hit on, and you can find it in the outline, is that I want to move away from “defaults”. That tends to give us a very Eurocentric view of the Middle Ages. Instead of focusing on defaults, I want to show the color and diversity of those times, and really give readers a sense of scope. I think Danielle did beautifully there.
So here you go. Road of Kings.
Comments
6 responses to “V20 Dark Ages: Road of Kings”
Interesting. The Islamic world is already a part of the default setting, but if you’re ranging as far afield as southeast Asia, you’re either downplaying the centrality of the War of Princes or greatly expanding its scope.
It’s a pity that the Path of Devaraja and the Path of Divinity on the Road of Heaven are so far separated geographically. I can see so much potential for either synergy or a rather homicidal outbreak of the narcissism of small differences. Or both.
I like the new emphasis on duty towards others. The Ventrue have always had this “we’re sacrificing ourselves for the greater good” schtick, of course…
http://www.geneticanomaly.com/RPG-Motivational/slides/ventrue.html
… but this is making it a genuine, core element of the Road and not just an implausible PR exercise, which I think makes for far more interesting, and complex, characters. Case in point, it strikes me that the supreme exemplar of this version of the Road would be Lord Vetinari.
Path of devaraja, simliar to the Kuei Jin Dharma Face of the Gods.
The write up makes reference to a structured peerage hierarchy. However, during the mid-13th century, there was no such a thing. Also, the organization changed from place to place. Take Hungary, for example, where the “barons of the realm” of royal documents had a status linked to a certain non-inheritable office. They were part of the so called upper nobility, but during that same century Hungarian castle warriors acquired more and more political influence, finally becoming “true nobles of the realm.” My point is, there’s a difference between nobility and aristocracy, with aristocracy, the dominant form of organization during of the 13th century, characterized by mobility and flexibility, and not by rigid hierarchies. True nobility arises with documents like the Magna Carta or the Golden Bull of 1222, ensuring the exclusive privileges and distinct social position of a given group. Nobility is hierarchic, but the structured hierarchy only came in existence during later centuries. My suggestion is to give the Road of Kings ranks like “barons” (meaning only “great men,” like in most 13th century documents) and “tenants-in-chief.”
Also, there were no vampires.
I have translated the doc. Thanks for sharing this development. I enjoy it pretty much. http://criticoblanco.blogspot.com.es/2013/10/pre-novedades-desarrollando-veo-20a.html
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