| |
|
General setting thoughts. So far, just very briefly, there are some restrictions / pre-chosen things on the Chancel (detailed below). Also, there will be another power within the Familia Caelistis, newly enNobled, with the Estate of Masks. The previous noble with that Estate was lost around twenty or so years ago. I’ll post fuller details of setting things, and a proper imaginary timeline once I’ve got them all pinned down. I mention time because it’s quite possible for Nobles to be around for ages, so if people let me know when their characters become Nobles (as a few have done already) I’ll start thinking about how they “fit” into whatever I make up, and similar area, you’re welcome to suggest things (or not) for anybody who previously held your office and I’ll try and work it in. So far my ideas (insofar as justifying having so many Nobles in one Chancel) are running towards an Imperator who has previously had a smaller family of Nobles, and having lost some, has recently enNobled several more, simultaneously revealing previously unembodied or forgotten Estates. This gives us an excuse for characters with relatively shorter histories. It might be helpful if people who are inexperienced with Nobilis or less confident with the material choose a recent origin for their characters (past fifty years), and possibly to have a few who are really new at their job (past couple of years) to act as characters for whom it makes sense that they are still working things out. Anyone who does feel confident and wants to have a character that’s been around for ages have a think about what your character has done and their influence on their world, and, well, that would be great!
Chancels
These are the hidden realms in which Imperators locate their earthly bodies and Powers make their homes, and where both time and physics can work entirely differently from the rest of the world. And how they work, what they are, who’s in them, how they’re located and what they’re near is, with a few exceptions, entirely up to you. They could be Atlantis, Narnia, The Dreaming, the T.A.R.D.I.S., New Crobuzon, the ancient Sewers beneath London, a giant Carrier cruising through the void of hyperspace, the virtual or spiritual locus of an internet message board, all the lonely freeways of the world at 3am that Big Joe drives his Phantom 309 straight through; whatever you like.
I’d quite like to have the Landlord property, mainly because I think it will be fun to play, which will either be a Warden or True King/Queen. There are so many Powers now, in this Chancel, that there’s little need for the Imperator to divest extra strength in a guardian for the realm, so I’m currently thinking of this NPC as one who’s assumed to deal with a number of the bureaucratic responsibilities of the office, and to deal with, and enforce, municipal disputes between the Powers (especially those with little or no Realm).
With so many Nobles, it’s likely to have a proportionately greater number of Chancel points invested in it, even allowing for those who shamefully neglect their responsibilities to Realm. Rather than try to restrict the number of points that you’re entitled to play with, I thought we’d just go with it on the assumption that such a powerful Chancel would be interesting and a focus of interest. It’s also likely to have a strong Borderguard, though I’ll leave the details up to you.
The other thing, quite important, is that unlike other Chancels, the players will be aware that the creation of this one did not need one hundred murders, so there are no Banes within the Chancel at this point (murder-born energies that haunt the land) which is not to say that there have been no murders. You are not aware, however, of what was necessary for the creation of the Chancel originally.
Also, within the Chancel there is an active Spirit Gateway to the Chancel of an allied Imperator, and their powers (details to follow) who you may know, but not necessarily well, and who are generally indifferent to your characters unless you make a point of it being otherwise. The Spirit Gateway has not needed to be used for at least twenty years.
The former Power of Masks had a large mansion situated not far from the centre of the Realm, now abandoned, but also neither allowed to be made-over. The present Power of Masks has a small room in the central complex, and has so far expressed exactly zero interest in affairs of state.
For various reasons, but mainly because there are so many Powers and I’d like it to be as simple as possible given that, I think it’s going to best if the Chancel is 1) quite big, though this could range from town to city to continent type of big 2) relatively stable, meaning that it’s located or accessed from a recognisable place or property on Earth. Which probably rules out the Ubiquitous Accessibility property, and if I can at all steer us away from the idea of a Danny the Street style mobile, changeable territory, partly because I think it might be too complicated for my brain, partly because something sort-of similar is already covered in the setting (Ananda’s Cityback), partly because I’m sure you’ll come up with something unique on your own.
Given the abstract nature of several of your Estates however, it may be best, or simply inevitable, to also include some level of abstraction/insubstantiality in your thoughts on the Chancel, as long as it’s vaguely comprehensible. All I’ll ask is that while you come up your thoughts on both the Chancel generally and your own territories/residences within the Chancel, that you agree on a general geography and texture to the place. That is, if part of the Chancel is a realm of pure thought, but the rest is a land of absurd volcanoes and dark labyrinths, then there’s some sort of idea of how if fits together, and some degree of continuity.
And apologies xk, but I’m going to pitch an idea for Heartache’s realm as an area where everything evokes what’s been irrevocably lost: the town you grew up in and can never go back to, a place of old friends and lost loves, your old house where other people live now, the bench over there where you had your first kiss, that turn in the road where Billy, where Billy… (I’m sorry I can’t go on, I’m sorry… sobs...) It would be a permanent Lesser Change of Perceptions where the actual properties of landscape, buildings and people each appear individually to the non-Nobles of the realm as things which have caused them Heartache. If you don’t like it, or have a better idea, by all means forget this, it’s just a suggestion, if Heartache’s realm is a desert where the winds of loss have scoured the land for miles around that’s fine too, whatever fits the character for you.
Ok, Christmas approaching, so disruption imminent, but thinking about the Chancel is a good opportunity for throwing ideas at one another and thinking about how your characters and their Estates connect, so go for it. |
|
|
