[quote=@Zugzwang]
So I have two ideas so far: younger prince discovers mixing sulphur, charcoal and saltpeter, forced to go into the military to not get murdered for position.

Or,minor nobility whose family got murdered by royalty for some crime or another, wrongly or not: goes into the army and becomes a general officer of some kind, gotta get revenge.

Which would work better?
[/quote]

Well, I'd say #1 works better, but they're both good ideas. If you're able to, you could maybe play both?