[u][b]Notes from initial conversation[/b][/u]: 
[hider=Here]So, the princess and the prince are set to be married. The issue is, they don't like each other at all; not just because they barely know each other, but it's pretty clear from the start that they're not particularly compatible as people, either. It doesn't help that the princess's older brother took one look at her new fiance and ran for the hills (wow, even he can tell that he's terrible!) and that the servant/guard that he brought along with him clearly despises the princess and the fact that she's marrying the prince.

So, this is sort of a mashup of the idea of the elder brother falling in love with the foreign prince at first sight and bailing, the princess and her fiance resenting each other for being forced to be married, and then a servant of some kind of the betrothed prince who is in love with him and hates that he's marrying the princess (but perhaps ends up falling for the princess instead?). Not to say that everything has to go like that in the end... maybe the prince and princess do end up falling in love, and the servant and the elder prince get together. Or everyone just remains indefinitely miserable. Or any other number of options.

No exact character yet for this, other than I think the prince being kind of a snarky, somewhat quirky asshole. The rest would depend on which characters you wanted to play, if you wanted to use this scenario. 

I'm thinking of doing the servant as maybe a guard/knight chick who's pretty, eh, headstrong and sticks with the prince for his safety, basically. So they're like childhood friends, she's in love with him but knows that doesn't matter bc she's a guard and he's a prince. And he's just oblivious to it because, ya know, they're childhood friends and he's like "she's like my sister tho"

As for the kingdom(s), I guess they could be from the same kingdom and marry for some other political reason, but it seems more likely that they're from different kingdoms altogether, maybe marrying as part of a peace treaty or something? So maybe their cultures have been at odds with each other for a long time and that's ALSO something they have to get over, as they probably have a lot of prejudices and misconceptions about each other to begin with.

we're at the turn of a trade shift of some sort - an oceanic group has finally gotten enough teeth to be more than pirates and now get to be their own country, dammit. So to manage the real threat, trade and its flow, they need to manage something of an alliance. Trade deals are always good reasons for marriage. That, and any subsequent extra power to help keep the trade flowing in one's own direction, rather than that of one's enemy's. :)

I'd love to have a princess who seems like she's docile and obedient - or rather, is docile and obedient, but maybe just has a bit more backbone because, really? She's a princess. What good is a princess without a backbone. It doesn't mean she has to be rude - though. She and a brother who just maybe has an issue with someone who is what he'd see as a barbarian, marrying his precious sister. Enh, but he's not the heir, so he's not got as much he can say and do - hence, go find bow and horse and get lost, because otherwise, misery may make a mess of trade deals. [/hider]

Desert Kingdom: 


Name: Echar

This desert kingdom has a strange history. Centuries before, in the neighboring country of Driunia, a noble family was beset upon by the reigning king. The whys are likely lost to time, though there was no doubt some dispute over who was next to sit in the throne. The entire family, seeing that it was on the brink of a great ousting and much blood, fled over the mountains into an inhospitable land just beyond. The deserts were not of interest then, being only sand and sea and a long mountain range that cut the sands off from other lands. Some nomadic tribes lived and died, but they were few and far between. 

So fled this noble house and, because they were of a mind to rule, they began to set themselves up as the rightful rulers of sand and stone. They intermarried with some of the nomadic tribes, took on some of the indigenous people's ways and inserted many more of their own. Then some short time after, they discovered a reddish mineral which, when taken with certain waters, makes for a acerbic, pain killing drink. It is mined in the sands and the placement of these mines, along with the flow of this mineral, are all kept very secret. 

There are passes through the mountains to either side, countries there pay a good deal for the mineral as well as for precious stones that are mined out of the mountains and other strange things only the people of the sands can offer. However, the easiest path is to take to the sea and simply navigate around the ends of the mountain range and into the harbors beyond. This is difficult, though - due to there only being one seventy mile stretch along the coast which is not dunes with a hard enough soil base to support buildings and that the people of this land are not sailors. Fishers at times, but not sailors. They've been at the mercy of the need of other countries and while their commodities are expensive to buy, so too are the merchants that come to their coast willing to overprice their own goods. 

It has created something of a complex system of trade wherein the country moves goods over the mountains, into their own country, to their more inland (there is one large river that runs, Nile'like, up into the countryside and to the mountains) capital city of Ithor. There, the goods are sent to the harbor city and sold, undercutting the overpriced merchants, at times. But the overhead for the merchants is so small while it is much greater for their own country, that even this is only somewhat successful. 

Then there are the pirates. 

Ships of precious stones and minerals and the like are great fun for pirates. :) So after centuries of this strange trade war that happens between all comers, the Echarians have reached out. The pirates are still... well, pirates, but they've been organized for some time, their own country for all intents and purposes. 

This plan is a bold move by the latest Queen (Echarians are matriarchal) Tra Brade. She has offered her second born, a daughter, to their prince. 

[hider=Tra Brade]
Tra Brade: Brade is a beautiful woman, as many of her house are. They are small, slender, dark skinned, with dark eyes and black hair though hers is greying now. She wears the usual red mineral upon her brow and painted upon her face, a derivative of the mineral set into a dye. Her hair is cut quite short as she is a warrior queen by name. She, herself, has never been to war. She has generals who do that for her. She is shrewd at business and has managed to make her country more of a face in the trades than before. This is the latest of her decisions which has rocked her country some, but which in the end, should turn out for the best. [/hider]

[hider=Princess - Traes Ia]
Traes Ia: Ia is slender, like her mother, and is the first born daughter. She is quiet, docile, and incredibly much a nonentity. She seems like her mother is all of the brains and she is simply the beauty. There is talk about her giving the throne to her sibling, a second daughter, who is far more fiery and willing to buck convention. Ia spent some time in the mountains with a nomadic tribe as a child in hopes of toughening her up. It doesn't seem to have worked. The tribes who are under the rule of the latest Tra call her "Iss" which is a word that is not easily translated. It is generally thought to mean "without legs" for a girl who is maybe not going anywhere. Using her as a bid for a trade deal to the pirate country seems like a good use of a useless girl.[/hider]

[hider=Traes Pol]
Traes Pol: Pol (oddly, males and females are given the same title - there is no distinguishing between prince and princess only queen: Tra, Royal born children: Traes, and other family: Tan) is a tall, handsome man with a temper like his second sister. He is five years older than his eldest sister, adores her, and is well known for his hunting prowess. If men could rule, he'd be a great replacement for his mother. He'll be a great help for whomever takes the throne. 
He has a short temper, once almost killing a diplomat by striking the man over the ear. The man had, as the story tells it, presented a box of foods to the royal family. Unbeknownst to him, the box had been chewed open on the way to their country and rats had inhabited it, eating the food inside. When the box was opened, the rats fled out, scaring the eldest sister and sending Pol into a rage. He was so offended by being presented with vermin that he'd struck the man with a fist. The fists of Echarians are particularly potent for their armor consists of large leather gauntlets inset with steel bands. The diplomat was saved by their medicines but it was said he was never quite the same. [/hider]

[hider=Traes Nan]
Traes Nan: Nan is fifteen and as wild as a dust devil. She is purported to be the daughter of her mother the Tra, and a Tan, a third cousin, Tan Kita, who was later killed in battle at sea. She lives for her father's death and believes whole heartedly that all pirates are barbarians. She is different from her sister and brother in that her skin is slightly lighter and her eyes are not dark brown, but a lighter golden brown.[/hider]

Echarian culture: 
Matriarchal. Very specific greetings, partings, etc - traditional. Children are sent to stay with tribes when they need to be toughened up - sometimes children do not return. Hunts use long legged cats. Hunting is a big pastime. Only their queen is flashy. Most of them are bare faced and wear leather and black. Men are clean shaven, women wear pants and soft leather sashes with intricate stitching on them. The stitching must have meaning, but it's not something spoken of outside of the home.  Not sure about what they ride yet - something.