Wernher

Lords and Ladies of the Court (A medieval politics roleplay)

Think I'm antagonizing everyone? Wait until I put on my murder boner.

But all jokes aside, I planed Veronika to be the girl that 'Plays to win' ultimately. Will probably end with an ironical death of some kind, but I'm expecting her to get a killingspree going before this happens.

Lords and Ladies of the Court (A medieval politics roleplay)

Veronika liked some parts of Johanna, the fact that she was able to actually have fun without looking at a priest to see if it was okay beforehand. Other parts she disliked however in the fact that Johanna was always this playful no matter the situation and it became tiresome at times. Then again, it was something working in her advantage, as Johanna would thus make a horrible queen... not that it would stop Edward. But yet, this carefree attitude ultimately worked very much in favor of Veronika: Johanna was easily disposable of through humiliation or death.

As Veronika went back to think on it and try and situate Johanna on an axis in comparison to herself she found it harder to do than anticipated for Veronika herself couldn't be put in such an axis. Everything was a mask, outrageous at time, charming at an other calculating the next... Ultimately one could consider that her calculating side was always the one to triumph and direct her actions but then again, it was the one she enjoyed the least. She lived for those moment: Dressed as a man dancing with a lady in the middle of a royal court in costume. 'Your Byzantine Blood' her mother would probably say.

Veronika smiled to Johanna and before starting to dance bowed profundly before kissing the hand of the woman and getting in position, assuming the role of the man of the pair.

"Please my lady, I am but a mysterious stranger of an unknown name in this masquerade!"

So she said, despite her extremely obvious curves only enhanced by the tightness of her outfit, and painful Russian accent. As they began to dance, Veronika directed her paces to be closer to Johanna and whisper.

"I'd say well played Lady Johanna, but indeed I am afraid both my accent and somewhat considerable height in comparison to the other feminine members of the court give little challenge to unmask me... No matter of course, with these inconveniences I find refuge in audacity... Say, I do believe you have the basic steps mastered Lady Johanna, what about more advanced ones?"

A second later Veronika raised her arm, guiding Johanna for a spin before stepping around her and going back into position. Visibly Veronika knew what she was doing.

"But I do think you could tell me long about audacity. A white dress, that certain height we've all learned to measure, brown hairs and an unmistakable confidence... Really, no one will teach a Greek anything about comedy."

With this as Veronika's foot stepped forward to be hidden by Johanna's dress, she quickly jerked it to the side into Johanna's ankle, the movement being destined to make her fall, in combination with Veronika leaning forward on Johanna. While there would have been a fall for a moment, the move was however entirely calculated and Veronika quickly grabbed Johanna behind her back, leaning close, very close, to her, almost as if to land a kiss despite the masks. Without giving the time to say anything she turned her head softly and whispered.

"Left."

Where she turned her head, King Edward 'Happened' to be looking in their direction. As he and Scarlett passed next to them in the swirl of the dance, Veronika let out a small giggle, sending a look at the king that wanted itself enticing as she compressed her bust against that of Johanna. As the two of them passed however, she had one last look at Scarlett who she could see behind the back of Edward and sent her a more piercing and rapacious gaze, not victorious, but cold and calculating. If Edward was a Lion and Scarlett a Wolf, then Veronika was the Roman Eagle.

When the moment was passed, she slowly got Johanna up.

"My apologies, it seems I am quite clumsy. I haven't had much the occasion to dance since I came to England."

With this, she continued the dance.

Lords and Ladies of the Court (A medieval politics roleplay)

Emma, if you would dance with me? xP

Lords and Ladies of the Court (A medieval politics roleplay)

"Really, Veronika?"

Earl Battenborough smiled behind his mask as he looked at Veronika as they danced together. Veronika wore a purple costume that distinguished itself in how it was a design you'd be expecting to see on a man: Pants, coat, somewhat of a regal fashion. On her face was an immaculate white porcelain mask forming a smirk and on her head, a golden laurel wreath. The earl continued.

"The whole Byzantine 'Born in the purple' and add to that a Gilded Laurel crown, how roman... then again it wouldn't surprise me if little people here were educated enough to appreciate these... inside jokes. Woe to me Veronika, for you must contemplate the hand of the king and refuse my love for thee."

Battenborough had been one of the first to open himself to Veronika when she first came. A well educated gentleman of little nobility that walked the court seeking favors from the king, get higher in the realm. He knew of Latin and thus was of great help when it came to learning English but he found himself seeking the love of her student. Both of them knew of this and of course, knew of the impossibility of this relation... to be official at least.

"If we were born as different people in another time perhaps, Sir Battenborough. And I hope you will forgive me for announcing my nature to the world so openly, for my accent is apparently quite noticeable no matter my costume, so I find refuge in audacity."

Some people looked at the strange dancers. It didn't help that Veronika was quite tall and Battenborough, not the tallest of man. In another situation the woman wearing pants would have been outrageous but no one would break the masquerade... at least not until the king did it first. Plus, the excuse of being a foreigner from a distant land excused almost any outlandish moves under the guise of being normal somewhere else in the world. As Veronika's eyes turned from her dance partner to scan the room and the location of the different people, she stopped on the king. The Earl sighed.

"But will that attract him? Perhaps something more conventional would have been in order?"

Veronika turned toward her dance partner, her facial expression inscrutable behind her mask.

"One seeking the attention of someone would be foolish to try and blend in the crowd... Plus my dear sir, you overestimate my desire to get married. What is the rush? What does England have that Rome would need? As long as at the end of the night I am the one to step in as the King's Consort, I did my mission here, no matter what time it takes."

Battenborough turned his gaze upward when she said 'Rome', comparing backward old Moscow to the empire of old. The Grand Prince Claimed the title but ultimately it was only a claim. The dance stopped and so did they.

"Another dance?"

Veronika left the earl's arm, walking away.

"Later..."

Veronika tried to follow the king with her eyes. Of course she couldn't just go up to him and ask him for a dance, if he accepted it would be humiliating for him considering she was in a man's clothes, no she had to attract the man into asking her to dance. The Princess bit her lip when she heard the music beginning again and saw the king with the Duchess of Oxford. No matter, this party wasn't over yet. Oh Earl Battenborough how pleasant but distracting you were. She saw the King's old dance partner and had a smirk. Well, fortune smiled to the bold, so perhaps it was time to be bold indeed. She approached the Countess from an angle as she was observing the ball. Veronika cleared her throat and politely bowed.

"My fair lady, if I may be so bold to ask you for a dance?"

The voice was meant to sound masculine but with the outrageous accent it left no one obvious to who the person was. Some turned around and giggled at the scene. Johanna wasn't the first one actually and Veronika had already danced with a few inebriated ladies who accepted to humor her (Veronika herself didn't touch wine in the entire evening, it clouded judgement). Still, it was one of thooooose situations where she was delighted to put a potential opponent on the scene, one where there was no real good choice, each sending a message to the court in a certain way.

Lords and Ladies of the Court (A medieval politics roleplay)

Title:
Her High Excellency Veronika Sofiaskaya of Moscow and Rome
Veronika Sofianstaya Rurik-Palaiologos
Age:
28 years of age

Bio/Personality:
As time turns in the west, so does it in the East and in the frozen plains of Russia, the new Grand Prince of Moscow, free from the Golden Horde mongols at last and that declared, after the downfall of Constantinople and his marriage with one of the last remaining heir of the dead Emperor, that his princedom was the third empire of Rome, looks west, past Poland and Germany. The Muscovite'Rus principality is in need of more legitimacy and of allies, even if only for the prestige it would give for a dynasty that desperately needs it so. In his typical fashion, the newly self made Grand Prince Vassili III sent his eldest, a daughter, to marry the king of England.

Veronika had, for most of her life, been an afterthought in the eyes of her father, desperate to have a male son, but she means the most for her mother, Sofia, born in Greece in what used to be the most powerful force in the known world, the Byzantine Empire and as her father hardly cared, Veronika was raised in a mostly greek fashion. Knowing Russian, Latin and Greek, she would eventually learn French and of course, English.

She learned that last one after she came to England, the decision of her father had literally came out of nowhere one day and the next week she was sailing for England. When she first arrived she had to rely on clergymen to translate her from Greek and Latin to be understood. Needless to say, it didn't make the strongest of impression, neither did the foreign warriors speaking uncivilized languages that came from a place most people didn't even know existed. Although she didn't say it plain as day when she spoke it in Latin, her traducer exposed the reason of her coming as simplistically as possible: To marry the King. People got a good laugh of her this day but because it was so exotic, strange or because she was a legitimate Byzantine tied royalty that happened to look good, she was allowed to stay.

It had been a few short months ago and as she learned english, still with heavy foreign accents, she began to implant herself at the court within the more... liberal elements in it. It was something that came from her mother who had been herself a young girl in the court of the most decadent Byzantine despots and self naming emperors as everything was crumbling around her, gambling, cheating, incest, orgies, it was an environment where anyone did what it wanted and the priests could go see elsewhere if the nobility cared, she never even raised an eyebrow about anything she heard about the king's sexual appetites and if anything, she found him pretty tame in comparison to all the tales of sodomy, men loving men and so forth she heard were common place in ancient greek and roman cultures.

A New Age - Ancient Era NRP

Well, you tell me if the scouts don't encounter anyone, they get killed, captured, one goes away or what not. I think it would make for something interesting if there was some warning although really it probably wouldn't achieve much seeing how large the realm is and thus how much time it would take to assemble an army and seeing how all your guys are on horses as well, the warning would be limited.

Btw, the plan my people will take once it's confirmed you're raping the countryside will be to assemble a force around the main Permanent Army to encounter your guys (Probably all Favored Ones and some horsemen, to keep it mobile and encounter your guys, maybe a few locals as well.), and ambush your guys in a village somewhere.

HOWEVER, they would also assemble a second army, this time in the north, probably one composed more of Militias and levies, to go north and destroy Suehan settlements while a large amount of their forces are away to force them to come back to their land in defense of their wives and children or at least get revenge for the devastation in the core lands.

Interested in maybe, as we have a few slaves captured from the Crayvens, have the same happen to your guys? Maybe the son or daughter (Crayvens don't have genders, so they don't put importance on them) of someone important serve as the slave of someone important in my realm and thus learn about Crayven administration, mathematics, architecture and so forth, to then be liberated later during the Great War?

A New Age - Ancient Era NRP

Ivalis, Divine Academia

"And with this, you have graduated from the Academy, thus becoming full fledged citizens of the realm. What you've been taught in the last 4 years the basics to make you good people, great people. You've learned what differentiates us Crayvens from the rest of the rabble. Some of you have succeeded better than others, but such is the nature of life, fundamentally unequal. But keep in mind that these tests only measure some particular set of skills and that with the knowledge you've gained here, even if you do not go on to become Favored Ones, all of you can I am certain, achieve great things that will make even He, smile upon you. You will all be reconducted to your settlements and rejoin your families in the next few weeks. For those who have succeeded the Test, it will be the last time for many more years that you will see your family as your studies will continue and your stay will be that of one standard month for the harvests. Good luck to you all and may He smile upon you."

The Grand Academy of Ivalis was a building of marble entirely, fit for royalty by foreign standards. The Administrator General of the Academy remembered one of his predecessor have written a book about how the buildings that had received the most attention, resources and time to their construction where telling many things about the priorities of the people that built them. The largest buildings of the capital were by a large margin the Central Archive and Library on top, with the academy and the administrative complex next. The academy had been built large afterall, to cover for the growth of the Crayvens as generations passed. Even today, many classrooms had been unused. In front of the main building, in the walled courtyard of a fortress-like building that was the Academy (As were most important buildings of the Crayvens actually), 89,076 Crayvens stood straight, a line of about 400 of them were in front, a wreaths of laurel on their head distinguishing them, those that had passed the test, from the others. These 89 thousands had come from all around the realm to pass it.

As their teachers, gold laurels on their head, looked on them, the students raised their right hands, looked on the skies, pounded their chest with a fist and raised their arm in the air. A salute to him. Soon, these 400 would be part of the elite of the realm and gain the right to wear the divine gold.

It had been a good year, a bountiful year where none in the realm starved, a year without rebellion. The harvest, in the core lands at least, announced itself to be one of the best in a Crayven lifetime, which was also why there was much urge to finish with the ceremony and get all of those people in the fields, to make sure nothing went to waste. Praised may He be, for his gifts.

Somewhere, Suehanian border.

"Are you okay Silvest?"

The old Crayven turned around on his horse to look at his apprentice, constantly scratching his legs and crotch.

"Yeah? Oh by His name, I'll never get used to this. What manner of barbarian invented these things, pants? Why would anyone wear those things?"

The teacher had a laugh.

"To keep you warm, that's why! Just don't think about it and you'll get used to it... eventually. And anyways, it's not good to be distracted during a mission, you need to concentrate on your surroundings, be aware of what's around you so you don't get caught off-guard. The Suenians may be barbarians, but they are still master ambushers. A Ranger that doesn't report back is almost as bad as a ranger who reports back but didn't see the enemy."

Silvest sighed and let his shoulders down in resignation as they approached a small stream, they guided their horses to cross it without falling down.

"But isn't this place safe? I don't remember any report of Suenian raiders here ever."

The teacher decided to let go of his horse and just lay back on his saddle as it did the job. The old thing was older than he even was, it didn't need a guiding hand to cross a river that was for certain.

"So? Borders still need patrolling to make sure it's still the case or that there are no renegades that would think that since you have no reason to patrol here no one would patrol here. It makes good training for newbies that are too green to patrol a place with actual danger. What, we should have been deployed more north so we could get both killed on the first day by a change encounter? Or maybe you'd want to go south and get a crossbow bolt between your eyes?"

Silvest smiled slyly.

"Oh common, nothing trains someone more than to spend some time in the..."

The man slapped his own forehead with a hand before turning slowly to his student.

"Silvest, I swear to him, you're taking a dip in the water if you finish this sentence."

There was some hesitation as the student looked at his teacher with a smile. As the silence continued, the teacher couldn't help but to have the corner of a smile.

"...Danger Zone!"

Quick as lightning a oatmeal cookie, hard as rock, landed on Silvest's head.

A New Age - Ancient Era NRP

Alright, I'm here, sorry for the delays ender. Somethingsomething bankaccountisatzero OMFGWTFBBC businessdealthing

A New Age - Ancient Era NRP

HazmatMedic said
There are no slaves in Naqah...

So can I post or what?

A New Age - Ancient Era NRP

Hazmat, I'd like you to look at my sheet again for approval please.