Hey folks! I'm hoping to get a good fantasy story going here - but I'd like to use real-world settings to do it! After all, if all our most compelling fantasies are inspired from real life, isn't it all the more fun to distort history? 

I'm not going to be a stickler for historical accuracy, not terribly, for two reasons: One, I don't even qualify as an armchair historian and specifics are likely going to come from frequent google searches.  You know how it is! Two: It's a -fantasy- game, and sometimes things are more fun if you just say... "What if?".

That said, we need an exact setting! I'm considering sticking the players into the Abbasid Caliphate, possibly during the Siege of Constantinople. Another appealing place could be Jerusalem during the first crusade. The fall and massacre of the city could be an interesting bit to play, and maybe it offers more potential than the siege of Constantinople, which was never actually conquered. 

If you're in the mood for something a little different with Constantinople involved, we could set up for the capture of the city by the Ottoman Empore (Who would rename it Istanbul and declare it the capitol of the Empire) and subsequent dissolution of the Byzantine Empire. Or maybe that's not quite how things happen? Maybe a turn in fortunes that allows Byzantium to seize the power they had lost after the schism of Rome?
Either way could be equally compelling. 

The mongol invasion could be intriguing too..!

[img]http://www.esgetology.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/walls.jpg[/img]

Picking a setting will be great and all, but what about the rest of the RP? Well, we need a few basics:

*I do not think that "two sides working against each other" will work for this RP. I'd prefer if we generally designed our characters to work as a party.

*The story can focus heavily on the setting and events of the period or it can be used as a background to map up a geographical and political scene for us to play in. We can decide when we've gathered some interest! 

*We can play 'eastern' or 'western'. I will say that my character is going to be from the Arabic faction of the day, but it's possible that people of mixed background will make up the group. 

*Get creative! Remember: this may be based on the real world, but it's still fantasy. Consider mythological elements fair game, and I'd love to see era-inspired of magic, divination, mathematics, and medicine! But I won't be a stickler about it, because I recognize that few of us are going to have direct experience with Arabic culture and it's hard to completely change your mindset. Sometimes traditional modern fantasy is simply more fun, and that's just fine to mix bits of that in too! 

My own character will probably be violating the era-appropriate endorsement by throwing out a thoroughly western interpretation of a dragon - my own [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/12893/posts/ooc?page=1#post-270874]Marduk[/url]... but that's okay. Guidelines, people! We're still stuck in the concept stage anyway.
Yes, I will be modifying my sweet Marduk to fit into the setting of choice. 
Yes, dragons are a thing! Be whatever you like~ although I would prefer if the party is not [i]entirely[/i] made up of monstrous or demi-human characters.

So what do you think, folks? Thoughts, ideas? Interested at all?