Aleranicus

The Last Laugh (Sci-Fi NRP)

Just when I thought I got out of this site, you pull me back in!

Interested!

Mist City Story: An Urban Fantasy Mage RP

Color me intrigued...

✹☽ Vampires of Redhaven ☾✹

Name or Nickname: "Driver's license says 'Nathan Bedford Castle.' Customers call me Nate. Friends call me prick. You'll call me Nate."

Sex and preferred gender: "What're you, my doctor? Take a good look at me and tell me what you think?"

Species: "Polish-American. How's that for a species?"

Factional Alignment: "Faction? What the f*** is that supposed to mean? How 'bout this? You don't cause any f***ing trouble, you pay your g*****n tab, and you leave your s****y grudge matches the hell outta my bar!"

Abilities: "You know how many hours a GI like me would spend on the rifle range before going to Korea? Whatever you're thinking, it's too low. You start s**t here, I can make sure you never do it again from three-hundred meters away on that road. At this range, I'll make sure your funeral is closed casket."

Strengths: "I serve all kinds here. That means I got friends in every hospital, police station and fire department in this town. You ever wind up in an ambulance or a police cruiser, one call from me and you'll be dead before you get to where you're going. And if you push your luck, my friends Colt and Abrams behind the counter will make sure I get no sass from ya."

Weaknesses: "I'm too old for this hocus-pocus s**t. And this place doesn't pay for itself anymore."

Age: "Old enough to have changed your diapers, you little puke."

Alignment: "Good? Bad? Here's your drink, there's a private booth over there, now pay me what you owe me."

Personality in a nutshell: "Don't start no problems and we won't have any. I serve all kinds here- I don't care what kind of beef you have with them or their kind. You got a problem with how I run this watering hole, you can take it up with me or the city council."

Any Important Backstory: To be completed as we write.

Nate is the sole owner of the Redhaven Bar and Grille. He opened the bar in cooperation with James William Shaib in 1962 and has kept it in operation ever since Shaib passed away in 2003. Even though Nate is getting on in years, he refuses to let his family take ownership from him and try to ship him down to a retirement home in Florida. He employs a mixed staff of mundane and supernatural workers- two dishwashers, six servers, four cooks and three bartenders (including himself).

While many places of business are engaged in a public frenzy of denying service to creatures that may be literally (or at least legally) seen as no longer human, Nate couldn't give two damns. If you pay, you get served- and anyone who has a problem with that can take it up with him.



When not at the Redhaven Bar, Nate lives off the beaten track in the New Hampshire foothills.

✹☽ Vampires of Redhaven ☾✹

For your inspection.

Nathan Castle

Name or Nickname: "Driver's license says 'Nathan Bedford Castle.' Customers call me Nate. Friends call me prick. You'll call me Nate."

Sex and preferred gender: "What're you, my doctor? Take a good look at me and tell me what you think?"

Species: "Polish-American. How's that for a species?"

Factional Alignment: "Faction? What the f*** is that supposed to mean? How 'bout this? You don't cause any f***ing trouble, you pay your g*****n tab, and you leave your s****y grudge matches the hell outta my bar!"

Abilities: "You know how many hours a GI like me would spend on the rifle range before going to Korea? Whatever you're thinking, it's too low. You start s**t here, I can make sure you never do it again from three-hundred meters away on that road. At this range, I'll make sure your funeral is closed casket."

Strengths: "I serve all kinds here. That means I got friends in every hospital, police station and fire department in this town. You ever wind up in an ambulance or a police cruiser, one call from me and you'll be dead before you get to where you're going. And if you push your luck, my friends Colt and Abrams behind the counter will make sure I get no sass from ya."

Weaknesses: "I'm too old for this hocus-pocus s**t. And this place doesn't pay for itself anymore."

Age: "Old enough to have changed your diapers, you little puke."

Alignment: "Good? Bad? Here's your drink, there's a private booth over there, now pay me what you owe me."

Personality in a nutshell: "Don't start no problems and we won't have any. I serve all kinds here- I don't care what kind of beef you have with them or their kind. You got a problem with how I run this watering hole, you can take it up with me or the city council."

Any Important Backstory: To be completed as we write.

Nate is the sole owner of the Redhaven Bar and Grille. He opened the bar in cooperation with James William Shaib in 1962 and has kept it in operation ever since Shaib passed away in 2003. Even though Nate is getting on in years, he refuses to let his family take ownership from him and try to ship him down to a retirement home in Florida. He employs a mixed staff of mundane and supernatural workers- two dishwashers, six servers, four cooks and three bartenders (including himself).

While many places of business are engaged in a public frenzy of denying service to creatures that may be literally (or at least legally) seen as no longer human, Nate couldn't give two damns. If you pay, you get served- and anyone who has a problem with that can take it up with him.



When not at the Redhaven Bar, Nate lives off the beaten track in the New Hampshire foothills.

Vampires of Redhaven (and possibly other supernaturals)

A WIP for the wonderful GM.

Nathan Castle

Name or Nickname: "Driver's license says 'Nathan Bedford Castle.' Customers call me Nate. Friends call me prick. You'll call me Nate."

Sex and preferred gender: "What're you, my doctor? Take a good look at me and tell me what you think?"

Species: "Polish-American. How's that for a species?"

Factional Alignment: "Faction? What the f*** is that supposed to mean? How 'bout this? You don't cause any f***ing trouble, you pay your g*****n tab, and you leave your s****y grudge matches the hell outta my bar!"

Abilities: "You know how many hours a GI like me would spend on the rifle range before going to Korea? Whatever you're thinking, it's too low. You start s**t here, I can make sure you never do it again from three-hundred meters away on that road. At this range, I'll make sure your funeral is closed casket."

Strengths: "I serve all kinds here. That means I got friends in every hospital, police station and fire department in this town. You ever wind up in an ambulance or a police cruiser, one call from me and you'll be dead before you get to where you're going. And if you push your luck, my friends Colt and Abrams behind the counter will make sure I get no sass from ya."

Weaknesses: "I'm too old for this hocus-pocus s**t. And this place doesn't pay for itself anymore."

Age: "Old enough to have changed your diapers, you little puke."

Alignment: "Good? Bad? Here's your drink, there's a private booth over there, now pay me what you owe me."

Personality in a nutshell: "Don't start no problems and we won't have any. I serve all kinds here- I don't care what kind of beef you have with them or their kind. You got a problem with how I run this watering hole, you can take it up with me or the city council."

Any Important Backstory: To be completed

Nate is the sole owner of the Redhaven Bar and Grille. He opened the bar in cooperation with James William Shaib in 1962 and has kept it in operation ever since Shaib passed away in 2003. Even though Nate is getting on in years, he refuses to let his family take ownership from him and try to ship him down to a retirement home in Florida. He employs a mixed staff of mundane and supernatural workers- two dishwashers, six servers, four cooks and three bartenders (including himself).

While many places of business are engaged in a public frenzy of denying service to creatures that may be literally (or at least legally) seen as no longer human, Nate couldn't give two damns. If you pay, you get served- and anyone who has a problem with that can take it up with him.



When not at the Redhaven Bar, Nate lives off the beaten track in the New Hampshire foothills.

Vampires of Redhaven (and possibly other supernaturals)

@yoyohayli Only other question: Rural Massachussetts or urban (like a suburb of Boston)? I like the implications of city-living Vampires, but small towns present a LOT more opportunity for drama. When a vampire moves into an apartment building, they get lost in the crowd of the city. When they move into a town of a couple thousand people, everyone knows everyone and interesting things begin to happen...

Vampires of Redhaven (and possibly other supernaturals)

<--- Interested in playing Redhaven's resident human bartender who is Too Old For This Magic Shi*(Tm) but is opening his establishment to the magic types in order to get more money, even if the Hunters aren't too keen on this...

Zameen (High Casual, political RP)

WIP

An Analysis of the So-Called "Free Land" of Ortorn for Our Most Esteemed Governess

As written by your humble servant, Lord Julian Bellana

Majesty, I have returned from my journey to the realm of Ortorn, and per your instructions, have spent much time in the company of its Princess Mera Ortorn and her court. While my return journey from the Portlands took more time than I anticipated due to unexpected winter snows in the hilltops, the Valley of Ortorn is as complicated as it is beautiful and hospitable. Per your instructions, I made the most of my journey and visited every official and unofficial institution as time allowed. While I intend to write a fuller, more detailed treatise on this client kingdom for the Imperial Histories, I shall begin with those subjects that most concern you and leave the traveler's tales for your own leisure.

On our shared history and the Conquest of the Valley of Ortorn

The Valley of Ortorn is written of by the Zameen peoples in no small part, as a land of hidden prosperity to the west of the central sea, where the springs of the river Aldea form in the mountains. Long secured by a stout mountain range and a thick forest to the south, theirs was a peaceful land for many generations. That is not to say that they are not a people capable of handling arms, but their own realm did not suffer from invasion or plague due to its difficult to reach environs. The histories of Zameen are positively filled with tales of the Ortorn being called to arms and marching out of their mountain fastnesses to join their allies in battle.

It was during our opening trials on Zameen that the Royal House of Ortorn was approached by emissaries of neighboring kingdoms to join a coalition against our slow encroachment. Then Prince Piala Ortorn was a more cautious and wise ruler than his neighbors and opted to withhold his support from this coalition's formation. Without the support of the Ortorn kingdom, the other conspirators, one by one, opted to abandon this foolish venture and cease planning for a bloody and ultimately futile conflict. That Piala was assassinated by these maddened conspirators after their venture fell apart is only further proof of their intractable ideology.

As our centers for commerce and control of Zameen grew, our merchants found that the people of Ortorn engaged them in grudging but fair terms. The city of Yasarin at the base of the Ortorn foothills became a shared capital for our merchant ventures in the region- the mountain tracks and dangerous forests have prevented our mass caravans from penetrating to the heart of their kingdom, but this city of ten-thousand souls has served our mercantile interests for the past decades- from here, our manufactured products are exchanged for raw timber, ores, and produce. The honorable General Gaelinar and his Dragoons effectively rule the city through their garrison, and while I observed rivalry between them and the City Watch, I did not see such rivalry arise to the level or bloodshed or murder.

The integration of Ortorn into our Imperial Mandate is an entirely economic one, as I'm sure you are aware. We now share a common currency and legal system, and a mutual defense against brigands and highwaymen is enforced by the Ortorn military and our own Men-of-the-Line. While there have been plans drawn up to conduct an expedition into the valley, such an endeavor would literally take years to bring to successful conclusion. The lack of a proper road network, the abundance of fortresses, and the difficulty of navigating the outer hills would surely bring unwanted attention from the Imperial Court when the reports of the costs reached the homeland. Still, the Imperial merchant guilds of Yasarin are undertaking a massive "public works" project to establish a proper road of commerce through the countryside. The project has been met with stonewalling at every level of local government, but if completed, it would be a dagger right to the heart of Ortorn.

While the maps may list a dozen other "cities" within the realm, these rise to the level of mere castle-towns. Imposing structures to medieval armies for certain, but they are no match for cannon and shot. Only the Royal City of Faenar could be truly called as such. Nestled against the mountains of the north valley, the city rises to overlook the forests down below, ringed by terrace farms where all manner of rice, teas, and spices are grown in abundance for the citizens.

Aside from Faenar and the smattering of fortresses, many folk live in farming and timber lodges throughout the lowland forests and hills. I took time to look over the records of the census that was commissioned by Yourself on behalf of the Empire and, after looking at the original receipts, it appears their estimate of one-hundred-thousand souls within the valley kingdom was near enough to be accurate.

On the Biography of Princess Mera Ortorn and the state of Her Loyalty to Our Imperial Crown

Much has been said of her Royal Highness, Princess Mera, in the circles of courts throughout Zameen. Some point to her as a loyal collaborator in our ventures, others as an aloof and absent-minded noble who leaves the administration of her nation to the sycophants about her palace. Others whisper that she is in league with rebel movements throughout Zameen and hopes to restore some kind of "honor" to her family name. I spent some weeks as a guest of her palace and shall here endeavor to speak to which of these be true, which be false, and which remain unproven.

Princess Mera Ortorn

Princess Mera Ortorn arose to the throne some eight years prior to the present day, barely more than a girl in her mother's palace. The firstborn daughter of the Ortorn line, she inherited the crown after a wave of sickness passed over the city of Faenar, likely brought by our own merchants when we established our garrison at Yasarin. In the time since she has risen to the throne, she has been unfailingly loyal to the mandates of the Empire. Her taxes are collected and paid regularly, only delayed by the storms of winter, and theft from the treasury is punished harshly. I had one of my traveling companions better versed in sums than I look over their receipts from last year, and after two days of inspecting she believes that we owe Lady Ortorn for overpayment on her part. This I kept a secret, for that is a matter for your grace to deal with.

Still, Princess Mera has continued in the tradition of her predecessors as Protector of the Valley. She engages Imperial merchants seeking to establish trade ventures outside the city of Yasarin, chief among their proposals being the establishment of silver mines in the high mountains. This is land personally held by Princess Mera and her family, rather than a lesser noble house, and she has proven unwilling to approve such proposals. She treats our people with hospitality due to them. I myself was feted to a royal dinner upon my arrival to her court in Faenar, an event usually reserved for other visiting royalty. Plates of porcelain from the Jade Kingdom across the great desert, piled high with lamb, rice, curries, and other dishes besides were presented. All the while, her majesty pressed me with questions about the Imperial Governor.

What sort of woman were you, she asked. Was it true that you go about your business masked, and if so, did you not find such a thing to be uncomfortable and stifling? Had she given some offense to prompt my visit? How should she make such a thing right to prevent another such incident?

I explained to her that my presence was one of fact-finding, ensuring that the Empire's client kingdom was healthy and hale, much like a physician attending his patient regularly even when they did not seem ill. I asked to have access to her palace and record rooms, and leave to travel through the kingdom, prepared to present my writ from you demanding such things. This she granted without my having to present the writ, with the exception of the royal sleeping quarters and the upper mountains being off limits, at least until springtime set in and the snows melted.

During my time at court and in the streets of Faenar, I came to find her to be a sharp and intriguing figure. She values the tradition of her family and people, yet she has adopted our style of dress- wearing an officer's coat and epaulets, wielding a saber not unlike our own cavalry officers when I asked to review her own military forces. Her value of our trappings and steel extends beyond her royal person and into her own armies as I will relate later, but for now suffice to say that she has moved her people beyond the days of pike and shot and is attempting to modernize her small army at speed.

While I observed her court proceedings, she seemed to have a good command of the nobility at court- if she was a coward and collaborator in the eyes of the common folk, none dared throw down that gauntlet in her presence. Much of that has to do with her newfound companion and right hand, Signora Alessandra Villanova, a mercenary captain from the Merchant Coast of the homeland. Hard-bitten, battle scarred, and rumored to have a temper to rival the hottest of the hells, Signora Villanova is a guest at court and the source of the much of the Princess' strength.

Signora Alessandra Villanova, Mercenary Captain of the Merchant Coast

Madame Villanova fought in the Wars of the Red Seas with our own Imperial Marines and was discharged from the Merchant Coast without pay when the war ended in defeat. She and her fellows have become indispensable to the Princess as a private army some three-hundreds strong, and all are in service to the Princess. The most damning rumors paint the Signora as using the Princess as a catspaw to make another strike at the Empire. The most salacious, that the two are secret lovers. I prefer the simplest explanation- that the Princess provides the Signora with a roof and hot meal, while the Signora provides her with security and political counsel.

After completing my review of Ortorn and being feted by the Princess before my departure, I could not help but look upon the raven-haired woman with eyes of steel as an enigma. She commands her people in accordance with the will of the Empire. If she is a secret traitor, I found no proof of it in the course of my month long stay within the palace. She is either the most guileless noble or the most skilled manipulator I have ever encountered in my time observing imperial politics.

On the daily habits of the People of the Ortorn Valley

On their Religious Peculiarities

On their Wealth and Economies

On their Warlike Practices

Zameen (High Casual, political RP)

Roger that! I'm going to begin working on a CS now. Hopefully you'll find it enjoyable :D

Zameen (High Casual, political RP)

Interested in playing a Lord/Lady surrounded by the Eileanan conquerors- independent but in a precarious political position. Can you go into a bit more depth as to what is and is not under the control of the Empire? Like do they own the whole land, do they own it on paper but in fact it's more loose?