Turn OnePrince Harker remains alive.Portcross seems outwardly stable, but its inner demons threaten to tear it apart. The city-state's walls and watchtowers are in good repair, sufficiently staffed with well-armed men, and relations with the neighbouring powers can be described optimistically as 'amicable'. Although it is no jewel of industry, almost everybody within the city walls has enough to eat, and there is little concern about strange occurrences beyond the occasional 'wise woman' and potion seller. However, the people are on the verge of riots. Punishingly high rents within the city and flagrant ignorance of the common law by the nobility have awakened many old grudges amongst the common people, and abuses and excesses by the city's clergy have soured public opinion of the temples; many are concerned that the gods are not being properly represented in the city.
Aristocrats: The aristocrats have gathered frankly astonishing power to themselves in Prince Harker's illness, running much of the city through personal edicts and noble privilege.
Merchants: The merchants' guilds are impoverished and all but powerless. Restrictive commerce laws are strangling mercantile power.
Clergy: The church is powerful and the temples are aligned together in their purpose. For all the concerns of heresy and abuse of parochial power, the bishops are lords unto themselves.
Wizards: The Academy has seen better days, but still maintains the majority of its power in the form of land, rents, and the ability to draw upon the magical prowess of plenty of practitioners. Sadly, most of those practitioners tend to go their own way, so this power is more limited in practice.
Thieves: The thieves have had rough times of late. The aristocracy have been heavily cutting in on their business; when two equally demanding forces are demanding protection money, you pay the one with both law and force on its side. Worse still, the clergy have had a lot of thieves hanged of late, and now the guilds are broken and disparate.
Please vote in the following code: The capital letter of the faction you are voting on an option for, then the letter of the option you are choosing, then how much influence you are preparing to dedicate to it.
e.g. To dedicate 3 Influence to Merchant Option B, you would write "MB3". To write Thief Option F and dedicate 1 Influence, write "TF1".
When selecting options, the "Default" action is what the faction will do if there are no votes to do anything; the middle path. You can choose to support this action deliberately by dedicating influence to it. You can also choose to abstain from voting on an option. Simply don't write down an option for that event.
If an option would require no actual expenditure of effort, the faction will not spend power making it happen. You may still want to spend influence encouraging this to happen in order to save the faction's power for elsewhere.
Merchants: 2 Influence
Wizards: 2 Influence
Thieves: 1 Influence
Moneylenders: The various temples have long chastised moneylenders of committing usury; abusing the work of others to gain profit through 'interest'. While this is not strictly an issue with every single doctrine of the gods, it is common enough to cast usurers in a poor light. Awkwardly enough, the Church relies heavily upon such people to maintain its wide array of properties, and the moneylenders rely on the Church to stay in business. Now a number of preachers are calling out the Church for its very practices, citing specific details about properties and merchants that can be verified. This has the potential to be extremely embarrassing for all involved.
As a member of the merchants' guild, you know that the guild has a fair amount to lose if these contracts with the church end.
Merchant Options
A) Dissociate the guilds from the church, ending all loans and services relating to moneylending. This will be painful to our pocketbooks, but may avoid worse problems.
B) Maintain the contracts. Public opinion is as the wind, but money is money, and we need the Church's support to keep food in our mouths. {Default option.}
Holy Smoke: Incense is a vital part of a number of rituals conducted by the temples, and one incense in particular by the name of liao can be used to invoke powerful spiritual effects. It can also be used as a relaxative and a component in certain enchantments. The recent troubles have allowed certain unscrupulous figures to gain hold of the import of liao, and they have recently been selling to local (highly paying) heretic sects instead of their usual buyers. Naturally, this has resulted in something of a shortage of liao.
Merchant Actions
C) Make a higher bid than the heretics and sell it on afterwards. If these new figures have cornered the market, you'll have to play their game.
D) Try and buy this whole operation out. Expensive, but you could get goodwill for restoring the status quo.
E) Pull out of the liao market. Resources are limited and should be spent elsewhere. {Default option.}
Wizard Actions
A) Liao is necessary for some vital enchantments. Make a higher bid and try to secure control of the liao supply from the new suppliers.
B) Irritating. Cut down on liao-requiring rituals until the market stabilises. {Default action.}
C) They have liao? We want liao. Send a team of battlemages in, kill these smugglers to a man and take their cargo.
Thief Actions
A) This isn't one of our gangs, but it could be. Make some introductions and convince them to join our fold.
B) Leave this be, we need to conserve our resources for other problems.
C) This isn't one of our gangs, but their operation is attractive. Send in a crew to take over this operation by force.
The Black Stinger: A powerful guild of killers has heard of the weak underworld in Portcross and decided to leave their native Mercia to take it over themselves. If they successfully establish themselves, this could represent a serious increase in crime in the city.
Thief Actions
D) We can hardly tolerate any signs of weakness. Hunt out and kill these scorpions before they can build a nest.
E) Lay low. We need to divert resources elsewhere, and popping our head over the parapet might draw attention to an already charged situation. [Default.]
The Lure of the Enchantress: A visiting Countess from neighbouring Windheath has been spending a lot of time with local nobility and getting them involved in wild parties. Not normally a problem, except that she's also almost certainly placing them under mind-influencing magic to be incredibly well disposed to her. The issue is, none of her spells are being used to commit any crimes as such - she's hardly asking young noble men and women to steal or kill. If anything, she considers it little more than a harmless party trick. That doesn't mean problems haven't arisen; six duels have already occurred in an effort to impress the Countess and a number of other dangerous stunts. It is causing rumours and gossip most undesirable.
Wizard Actions
D) Keep out of this for now, beyond sending the usual fruit basket and mana crystals appropriate to a foreign dignitary and enchantress of her stature. {Default}
E) Send a few wizards to one of the Countess' parties to politely ask her not to keep enchanting people in your city; it's rude.
F) Enchant the Enchantress; put her under a compulsion to be a more suitable guest until she leaves.
Aristos: 4 Influence
Thieves: 1 Influence
Holy Smoke: Incense is a vital part of a number of rituals conducted by the temples, and one incense in particular by the name of liao can be used to invoke powerful spiritual effects. It can also be used as a relaxative and a component in certain enchantments. The recent troubles have allowed certain unscrupulous figures to gain hold of the import of liao, and they have recently been selling to local (highly paying) heretic sects instead of their usual buyers. Naturally, this has resulted in something of a shortage of liao.
Thief Actions
A) This isn't one of our gangs, but it could be. Make some introductions and convince them to join our fold.
B) Leave this be, we need to conserve our resources for other problems.
C) This isn't one of our gangs, but their operation is attractive. Send in a crew to take over this operation by force.
The Black Stinger: A powerful guild of killers has heard of the weak underworld in Portcross and decided to leave their native Mercia to take it over themselves. If they successfully establish themselves, this could represent a serious increase in crime in the city.
Aristo Actions
A) Send in the troops. Enough boots on the ground and they won't have anywhere to hide.
B) The regular patrols should be enough to catch these figures, too many soldiers could cause panic. {Default.}
C) Set a thief to catch a thief. We have a few rough-shod figures of our own in the city; get them to ferret out the targets and then send in squads to eliminate them tactically.
Thief Actions
D) We can hardly tolerate any signs of weakness. Hunt out and kill these scorpions before they can build a nest.
E) Lay low. We need to divert resources elsewhere, and popping our head over the parapet might draw attention to an already charged situation. [Default.]
The Lure of the Enchantress: A visiting Countess from neighbouring Windheath has been spending a lot of time with local nobility and getting them involved in wild parties. Not normally a problem, except that she's also almost certainly placing them under mind-influencing magic to be incredibly well disposed to her. The issue is, none of her spells are being used to commit any crimes as such - she's hardly asking young noble men and women to steal or kill. If anything, she considers it little more than a harmless party trick. That doesn't mean problems haven't arisen; six duels have already occurred in an effort to impress the Countess and a number of other dangerous stunts. It is causing rumours and gossip most undesirable.
Aristo Actions
D) Let these parties continue, but advise caution amongst those visiting her. {Default.}
E) Forbid the susceptible youths of the aristocracy from taking part in her entertainment.
F) Put the Countess under a very polite, extravagant and decidedly informal house arrest until her visit is completed, to avoid further scandal.
Clergy: 4 Influence
Thieves: 1 Influence
Moneylenders: The various temples have long chastised moneylenders of committing usury; abusing the work of others to gain profit through 'interest'. While this is not strictly an issue with every single doctrine of the gods, it is common enough to cast usurers in a poor light. Awkwardly enough, the Church relies heavily upon such people to maintain its wide array of properties, and the moneylenders rely on the Church to stay in business. Now a number of preachers are calling out the Church for its very practices, citing specific details about properties and merchants that can be verified. This has the potential to be extremely embarrassing for all involved.
Clergy Options
A) Silence these preachers. Denounce them as heretics, root them out of their shrines and if need be employ a few of those shady types to make sure they stay disappeared.
B) Weather the storm. These accusations are a thing of the moment and will pass soon enough. {Default option.}
C) Search the holy doctrines for passages excusing this usury, either in general terms or just for our needs. Assure people that this is entirely holy moneylending.
D) Cut our ties with the moneylenders. We will suffer some financial harm, but maintain the authority of the church.
Holy Smoke: Incense is a vital part of a number of rituals conducted by the temples, and one incense in particular by the name of liao can be used to invoke powerful spiritual effects. It can also be used as a relaxative and a component in certain enchantments. The recent troubles have allowed certain unscrupulous figures to gain hold of the import of liao, and they have recently been selling to local (highly paying) heretic sects instead of their usual buyers. Naturally, this has resulted in something of a shortage of liao.
Clergy Actions
E) Remind the traders that while this short-term profit may seem appealing, they risk losing long-term custom with the Church. {Default}
F) Make a higher bid for the incense. It might be expensive, but it is essential.
G) Do without. The church will not be held hostage to the whims of marketeers, and it's the ritual that's important, not the trappings.
Thief Actions
A) This isn't one of our gangs, but it could be. Make some introductions and convince them to join our fold.
B) Leave this be, we need to conserve our resources for other problems.
C) This isn't one of our gangs, but their operation is attractive. Send in a crew to take over this operation by force.
The Black Stinger: A powerful guild of killers has heard of the weak underworld in Portcross and decided to leave their native Mercia to take it over themselves. If they successfully establish themselves, this could represent a serious increase in crime in the city.
Thief Actions
D) We can hardly tolerate any signs of weakness. Hunt out and kill these scorpions before they can build a nest.
E) Lay low. We need to divert resources elsewhere, and popping our head over the parapet might draw attention to an already charged situation. [Default.]
The Lure of the Enchantress: A visiting Countess from neighbouring Windheath has been spending a lot of time with local nobility and getting them involved in wild parties. Not normally a problem, except that she's also almost certainly placing them under mind-influencing magic to be incredibly well disposed to her. The issue is, none of her spells are being used to commit any crimes as such - she's hardly asking young noble men and women to steal or kill. If anything, she considers it little more than a harmless party trick. That doesn't mean problems haven't arisen; six duels have already occurred in an effort to impress the Countess and a number of other dangerous stunts. It is causing rumours and gossip most undesirable.
Cleric Actions
H) Keep this to ourselves. The Countess is, after all, a powerful visiting dignitary. {Default}
I) Publicly denounce the Countess as a witch to get her to leave town.
J) Publicly denounce the Countess as a witch and engineer her capture and public execution. Enslaving minds cannot be allowed.
Merchants: 2 Influence
Aristos: 1 Influence
Wizards: 1 Influence
Thieves: 1 Influence
Moneylenders: The various temples have long chastised moneylenders of committing usury; abusing the work of others to gain profit through 'interest'. While this is not strictly an issue with every single doctrine of the gods, it is common enough to cast usurers in a poor light. Awkwardly enough, the Church relies heavily upon such people to maintain its wide array of properties, and the moneylenders rely on the Church to stay in business. Now a number of preachers are calling out the Church for its very practices, citing specific details about properties and merchants that can be verified. This has the potential to be extremely embarrassing for all involved.
As a member of the merchants' guild, you know that the guild has a fair amount to lose if these contracts with the church end.
Merchant Options
A) Dissociate the guilds from the church, ending all loans and services relating to moneylending. This will be painful to our pocketbooks, but may avoid worse problems.
B) Maintain the contracts. Public opinion is as the wind, but money is money, and we need the Church's support to keep food in our mouths. {Default option.}
Holy Smoke: Incense is a vital part of a number of rituals conducted by the temples, and one incense in particular by the name of liao can be used to invoke powerful spiritual effects. It can also be used as a relaxative and a component in certain enchantments. The recent troubles have allowed certain unscrupulous figures to gain hold of the import of liao, and they have recently been selling to local (highly paying) heretic sects instead of their usual buyers. Naturally, this has resulted in something of a shortage of liao.
Merchant Actions
C) Make a higher bid than the heretics and sell it on afterwards. If these new figures have cornered the market, you'll have to play their game.
D) Try and buy this whole operation out. Expensive, but you could get goodwill for restoring the status quo.
E) Pull out of the liao market. Resources are limited and should be spent elsewhere. {Default option.}
Wizard Actions
A) Liao is necessary for some vital enchantments. Make a higher bid and try to secure control of the liao supply from the new suppliers.
B) Irritating. Cut down on liao-requiring rituals until the market stabilises. {Default action.}
C) They have liao? We want liao. Send a team of battlemages in, kill these smugglers to a man and take their cargo.
Thief Actions
A) This isn't one of our gangs, but it could be. Make some introductions and convince them to join our fold.
B) Leave this be, we need to conserve our resources for other problems.
C) This isn't one of our gangs, but their operation is attractive. Send in a crew to take over this operation by force.
The Black Stinger: A powerful guild of killers has heard of the weak underworld in Portcross and decided to leave their native Mercia to take it over themselves. If they successfully establish themselves, this could represent a serious increase in crime in the city.
Aristo Actions
A) Send in the troops. Enough boots on the ground and they won't have anywhere to hide.
B) The regular patrols should be enough to catch these figures, too many soldiers could cause panic. {Default.}
C) Set a thief to catch a thief. We have a few rough-shod figures of our own in the city; get them to ferret out the targets and then send in squads to eliminate them tactically.
Thief Actions
D) We can hardly tolerate any signs of weakness. Hunt out and kill these scorpions before they can build a nest.
E) Lay low. We need to divert resources elsewhere, and popping our head over the parapet might draw attention to an already charged situation. [Default.]
The Lure of the Enchantress: A visiting Countess from neighbouring Windheath has been spending a lot of time with local nobility and getting them involved in wild parties. Not normally a problem, except that she's also almost certainly placing them under mind-influencing magic to be incredibly well disposed to her. The issue is, none of her spells are being used to commit any crimes as such - she's hardly asking young noble men and women to steal or kill. If anything, she considers it little more than a harmless party trick. That doesn't mean problems haven't arisen; six duels have already occurred in an effort to impress the Countess and a number of other dangerous stunts. It is causing rumours and gossip most undesirable.
Aristo Actions
D) Let these parties continue, but advise caution amongst those visiting her. {Default.}
E) Forbid the susceptible youths of the aristocracy from taking part in her entertainment.
F) Put the Countess under a very polite, extravagant and decidedly informal house arrest until her visit is completed, to avoid further scandal.
Wizard Actions
D) Keep out of this for now, beyond sending the usual fruit basket and mana crystals appropriate to a foreign dignitary and enchantress of her stature. {Default}
E) Send a few wizards to one of the Countess' parties to politely ask her not to keep enchanting people in your city; it's rude.
F) Enchant the Enchantress; put her under a compulsion to be a more suitable guest until she leaves.
Wizards: 5 Influence
Holy Smoke: Incense is a vital part of a number of rituals conducted by the temples, and one incense in particular by the name of liao can be used to invoke powerful spiritual effects. It can also be used as a relaxative and a component in certain enchantments. The recent troubles have allowed certain unscrupulous figures to gain hold of the import of liao, and they have recently been selling to local (highly paying) heretic sects instead of their usual buyers. Naturally, this has resulted in something of a shortage of liao.
Wizard Actions
A) Liao is necessary for some vital enchantments. Make a higher bid and try to secure control of the liao supply from the new suppliers.
B) Irritating. Cut down on liao-requiring rituals until the market stabilises. {Default action.}
C) They have liao? We want liao. Send a team of battlemages in, kill these smugglers to a man and take their cargo.
The Lure of the Enchantress: A visiting Countess from neighbouring Windheath has been spending a lot of time with local nobility and getting them involved in wild parties. Not normally a problem, except that she's also almost certainly placing them under mind-influencing magic to be incredibly well disposed to her. The issue is, none of her spells are being used to commit any crimes as such - she's hardly asking young noble men and women to steal or kill. If anything, she considers it little more than a harmless party trick. That doesn't mean problems haven't arisen; six duels have already occurred in an effort to impress the Countess and a number of other dangerous stunts. It is causing rumours and gossip most undesirable.
Wizard Actions
D) Keep out of this for now, beyond sending the usual fruit basket and mana crystals appropriate to a foreign dignitary and enchantress of her stature. {Default}
E) Send a few wizards to one of the Countess' parties to politely ask her not to keep enchanting people in your city; it's rude.
F) Enchant the Enchantress; put her under a compulsion to be a more suitable guest until she leaves.
Merchants: 4 Influence
Aristos: 1 Influence
Moneylenders: The various temples have long chastised moneylenders of committing usury; abusing the work of others to gain profit through 'interest'. While this is not strictly an issue with every single doctrine of the gods, it is common enough to cast usurers in a poor light. Awkwardly enough, the Church relies heavily upon such people to maintain its wide array of properties, and the moneylenders rely on the Church to stay in business. Now a number of preachers are calling out the Church for its very practices, citing specific details about properties and merchants that can be verified. This has the potential to be extremely embarrassing for all involved.
As a member of the merchants' guild, you know that the guild has a fair amount to lose if these contracts with the church end.
Merchant Options
A) Dissociate the guilds from the church, ending all loans and services relating to moneylending. This will be painful to our pocketbooks, but may avoid worse problems.
B) Maintain the contracts. Public opinion is as the wind, but money is money, and we need the Church's support to keep food in our mouths. {Default option.}
Holy Smoke: Incense is a vital part of a number of rituals conducted by the temples, and one incense in particular by the name of liao can be used to invoke powerful spiritual effects. It can also be used as a relaxative and a component in certain enchantments. The recent troubles have allowed certain unscrupulous figures to gain hold of the import of liao, and they have recently been selling to local (highly paying) heretic sects instead of their usual buyers. Naturally, this has resulted in something of a shortage of liao.
Merchant Actions
C) Make a higher bid than the heretics and sell it on afterwards. If these new figures have cornered the market, you'll have to play their game.
D) Try and buy this whole operation out. Expensive, but you could get goodwill for restoring the status quo.
E) Pull out of the liao market. Resources are limited and should be spent elsewhere. {Default option.}
The Black Stinger: A powerful guild of killers has heard of the weak underworld in Portcross and decided to leave their native Mercia to take it over themselves. If they successfully establish themselves, this could represent a serious increase in crime in the city.
Aristo Actions
A) Send in the troops. Enough boots on the ground and they won't have anywhere to hide.
B) The regular patrols should be enough to catch these figures, too many soldiers could cause panic. {Default.}
C) Set a thief to catch a thief. We have a few rough-shod figures of our own in the city; get them to ferret out the targets and then send in squads to eliminate them tactically.
The Lure of the Enchantress: A visiting Countess from neighbouring Windheath has been spending a lot of time with local nobility and getting them involved in wild parties. Not normally a problem, except that she's also almost certainly placing them under mind-influencing magic to be incredibly well disposed to her. The issue is, none of her spells are being used to commit any crimes as such - she's hardly asking young noble men and women to steal or kill. If anything, she considers it little more than a harmless party trick. That doesn't mean problems haven't arisen; six duels have already occurred in an effort to impress the Countess and a number of other dangerous stunts. It is causing rumours and gossip most undesirable.
Aristo Actions
D) Let these parties continue, but advise caution amongst those visiting her. {Default.}
E) Forbid the susceptible youths of the aristocracy from taking part in her entertainment.
F) Put the Countess under a very polite, extravagant and decidedly informal house arrest until her visit is completed, to avoid further scandal.
Wizards: 3 Influence
Merchants: 1 Influence
Thieves: 1 Influence
Moneylenders: The various temples have long chastised moneylenders of committing usury; abusing the work of others to gain profit through 'interest'. While this is not strictly an issue with every single doctrine of the gods, it is common enough to cast usurers in a poor light. Awkwardly enough, the Church relies heavily upon such people to maintain its wide array of properties, and the moneylenders rely on the Church to stay in business. Now a number of preachers are calling out the Church for its very practices, citing specific details about properties and merchants that can be verified. This has the potential to be extremely embarrassing for all involved.
As an associate of the merchants' guild, you know that the guild has a fair amount to lose if these contracts with the church end.
Merchant Options
A) Dissociate the guilds from the church, ending all loans and services relating to moneylending. This will be painful to our pocketbooks, but may avoid worse problems.
B) Maintain the contracts. Public opinion is as the wind, but money is money, and we need the Church's support to keep food in our mouths. {Default option.}
Holy Smoke: Incense is a vital part of a number of rituals conducted by the temples, and one incense in particular by the name of liao can be used to invoke powerful spiritual effects. It can also be used as a relaxative and a component in certain enchantments. The recent troubles have allowed certain unscrupulous figures to gain hold of the import of liao, and they have recently been selling to local (highly paying) heretic sects instead of their usual buyers. Naturally, this has resulted in something of a shortage of liao.
Merchant Actions
C) Make a higher bid than the heretics and sell it on afterwards. If these new figures have cornered the market, you'll have to play their game.
D) Try and buy this whole operation out. Expensive, but you could get goodwill for restoring the status quo.
E) Pull out of the liao market. Resources are limited and should be spent elsewhere. {Default option.}
Wizard Actions
A) Liao is necessary for some vital enchantments. Make a higher bid and try to secure control of the liao supply from the new suppliers.
B) Irritating. Cut down on liao-requiring rituals until the market stabilises. {Default action.}
C) They have liao? We want liao. Send a team of battlemages in, kill these smugglers to a man and take their cargo.
Thief Actions
A) This isn't one of our gangs, but it could be. Make some introductions and convince them to join our fold.
B) Leave this be, we need to conserve our resources for other problems.
C) This isn't one of our gangs, but their operation is attractive. Send in a crew to take over this operation by force.
The Black Stinger: A powerful guild of killers has heard of the weak underworld in Portcross and decided to leave their native Mercia to take it over themselves. If they successfully establish themselves, this could represent a serious increase in crime in the city.
Thief Actions
D) We can hardly tolerate any signs of weakness. Hunt out and kill these scorpions before they can build a nest.
E) Lay low. We need to divert resources elsewhere, and popping our head over the parapet might draw attention to an already charged situation. [Default.]
The Lure of the Enchantress: A visiting Countess from neighbouring Windheath has been spending a lot of time with local nobility and getting them involved in wild parties. Not normally a problem, except that she's also almost certainly placing them under mind-influencing magic to be incredibly well disposed to her. The issue is, none of her spells are being used to commit any crimes as such - she's hardly asking young noble men and women to steal or kill. If anything, she considers it little more than a harmless party trick. That doesn't mean problems haven't arisen; six duels have already occurred in an effort to impress the Countess and a number of other dangerous stunts. It is causing rumours and gossip most undesirable.
Wizard Actions
D) Keep out of this for now, beyond sending the usual fruit basket and mana crystals appropriate to a foreign dignitary and enchantress of her stature. {Default}
E) Send a few wizards to one of the Countess' parties to politely ask her not to keep enchanting people in your city; it's rude.
F) Enchant the Enchantress; put her under a compulsion to be a more suitable guest until she leaves.
Author
Topic: Portcross: The Succession Crisis | Cancelled for Now (Read 2652 times)