So, what. Everyone makes with the posting of the characters now?
Very well.
Name: Hugo van Vissersdorp (thats pronounced with a raspy G in hugo. Sort of like hucho with the ch of loch)
Occupation: Jack of all artforms (which artforms depends on period chosen).
Age:21
Description: The son of a whore and a mercenary soldier. In an ironic twist, his father took full responsibility for his mother's pregnancy, and stayed with her whenever he wasn't on campaign. As such, Hugo had a happy if unconventional childhood, learning more than a young boy should about the way of the world from his loving mother, who continued to work despite her essentially committed relationship with his father. From his father, he learnt tales of the horrors and glories of war, and of far off lands and the nobles who hired mercenaries to do their fighting for them.
But instead of becoming a soldier himself, Hugo painted. In another ironic twist, both his parents were highly supportive of Hugo's hobby, doing their utmost to supply him with the materials and training he wanted. With their loving guidance, Hugo flourished. He branched out from painting into other artforms, and at the age of twelve he was apprenticed to a master artist. At the age of seventeen, Hugo completed his
masterpiece, and entered employment as an assistant artist. However his ambition was not sated with regular employment, and Hugo studied more. He watched masons and carpenters, potters and glaziers. He begged and scraped his way into a nobleman's library, where he taught himself to read, and devoured knowledge with a passion.
When the artistic knowhow of his home town was depleted, Hugo left, always seeking more. A brief stop in the capital of the lowlands was enough to tell him where he needed to be: [INSERT PRIMARY GAME LOCATION HERE], surely the epicenter of culture for the entire Storm Coast.
Also, he's gay. The guy is the son of a whore; hetrosexual loving has lost all appeal to him. How flamboyant he is about this depends on what local attitude towards homosexuality is. Regardless, he will be fabulous. And so shall everything around him, so help him god(s).
A couple of things:
1)I imply the existence of a region or country known as the lowlands here. I assume this is fine. This is fine, right?
2)Anyone running/part of a mercenary company, can Hugo's father be a member of said company, preferably of a medium-highish rank- If politics get ugly, I would like to run crying to daddy and a few of his loyal men. If not, I would like to imply the existence of a group of lowlandish mercenaries to serve a similar purpose.
3)Obviously Hugo is more of a renaissance man, but I feel he could still work as a (slightly) ahead of his time medieval man. If anyone has a real problem with this, please let me know.
4)...am I doin' it right?
Re: City/cities, I think having a single starting city state would be best. But by having the city state be similar to Venice/Genoa, one can simultaneously have the city state, and the conquering, and rebelling, and what not. (Both Venice and Genoa had extensive overseas properties, which were often violently contested)