Dragonlords of Viss

Interest check at the Talk Page or on the Forums

Viss reads as Vees, ee as in sheep or ship.

---

The Dragonlords of Viss have ruled all of the known world since the last barbarian chiefs fell one hundred years ago, but talks of new lands to the north have started to spread. Too far to reach on dragonback, rumours are that the Imperial House is readying the Thirteen Legions to set sail and conquer once again.

Meanwhile, at the Imperial Court, Great Lords from all over the realm gather together for meetings of the Council. Scheming and plotting their way to the top, rewards of gold, dragons, and slaves await for those who show loyal service to the Crown.

Despised by the barbarians they rule for engaging in practices considered taboo, the Dragonlords hold onto power through the might of their beasts but the dwindling number of dragons, the lowest it has been in 400 years, has many in concern.

WHAT IS THERE TO DO?

Create a Noble House and lands/people to rule, with cities, castles, dragons, and troops of your own. You can have (and play) several characters at once:

- Play as a scion of your House in Viss, grand capital of the Visserine Empire, attending the Great Council in your House's name;

- Play as the Ruling Head of your House and fill a position at the capital (Commander of the 6th Legion, Captain of a ship, Admiral of the 2nd Fleet, Master of the Mint, Head Treasurer, and Head Inquisitor are some of the positions available at the discretion of the Imperial House);

- Invite nobles for tourneys, feasts, hunts, orgies, and other events of note at your Hold;

- Play a younger scion out on a quest, look for a missing heirloom, face wild beasts, visit cities and castles in the outermost points of the realm;

- Play as the heir, sitting back home, learning to rule at their parent's absence, fretting over trade and taxes, and training their dragon;

- Play a bookish sibling sent to the House of the Wise, to study and become a scholar for your House;

- Play as a trusted merchant abroad, selling the fruits of your House's wineries and bringing back young children from all over to live in your manse;

- Not interested in playing a House or noble? Create an organization of some sort: a College of Bards, the Alchemist Guild, the Guild of Spicers or the Guild of Mercers, a Bank, or just an Inn or a Smithy;

- Single characters such as a wandering bard or knight for hire are also welcome, as are household servants, slaves, peasants, and barbarians.

- Co-playing arrangements where two or more players are responsible for a single House are also available;

- Anything else you can think of might be arranged.

THE HOUSES

Houses other than the Imperial are grouped into two ranks:

- The Houses of the Great are sworn directly to the Imperial House and can send someone to speak at the Great Council (can be any member of their House who they trust to speak on the House's name).

- The Houses of the Lesser are sworn to a Great House and their territory is part of the later's, they have no direct participation at the Great Council (unless appointed as a Great's representative) but can take positions at the capital. In order to play a Lesser House you must have authorization of the Great you'll be sworn to.

Each House, both Great and Lesser, must have a Hold, a mostly contiguous territory under absolute control of your House. What a Ruling House does or doesn't on their own Hold is of their own concern. An exception to this rule is the treatment of Imperials, who must be protected by the Great within their Holds and, failing that, are under protection of the Empire everywhere.

Holds of the Great are the provinces of the Empire. When taking a Lesser House as a vassal, part of a Great Hold (territory / province) is given to the Lesser House as their own Hold and stops being of concern to the Great that used to rule over it.

Each House may also have:

- Settlements: villages, towns, cities, located within your Hold.

- Fortifications: fortified halls, towers, castles, located within your Hold.

- Troops: for your defense and that of your lands and holdings.

- Dragons

- Vassals

HOUSE CREATION

According to rank, each House is given the following amount of House Points:

RANK INITIAL PTS
Imperial 100
Great 40
Lesser 16

Those House Points must be used to acquire:

Settlements:

Unless stated otherwise, each Hold can be assumed to be filled with villages (200 people or so). Larger settlements can be acquired thus:

Village (up to 500 people): 0 pts
Town (500 - 2,000 people): 2 pts
Small City (2,000 - 5,000 people): 5 pts
City (5,000 - 10,000 pople): 10 pts
Large City (10,000 - 50,000 people): 15 pts
Huge City (50,000 - 100,000 people): 20 pts

Examples:

Imperial House: The Imperial Capital, Viss, is a huge city with around 80,000 people sitting at the mouth of Dragon Isle. Cost = 20 pts

House Velayre: Tidings, with a population of 3,500 people, is the largest settlement of the Brass Islands. Cost = 5 pts

Fortifications

A House that spends no points on a fortification can be assumed to live on a fortified hall instead, those can't hold a garrison inside but may hold the Members of a House.

Hall (no garrison): 0 pts
Tower (up to 250): 2 pts
Small Castle (up to 500): 5 pts
Castle (up to 1,000): 10 pts
Large Castle (up to 2,000): 15 pts
Superior Castle (up to 4,000): 20 pts

Imperial House: The Palace of Viss is a superior castle, holding a garrison of up to 8,000 troops. Cost = 20 pts.

House Velayre: The Seat of House Velayre is High Tide, a castle with garrison for 2,000 sitting at the isle of Elderbrass. They also have a smaller tower that holds 500 soldiers. Cost = 12 pts.

Troops:

1,000 soldiers cost 1 pt. Troops are assumed to be a mix of infantry, cavalry, and archers, with siege engineers and auxiliaries as appropriate.

A fleet of 20 ships costs 1 pt. Large enough to transport 1,000 soldiers across seas and wide rivers.

Examples:

Imperial House: The Imperial House has the following troops:

14,000 soldiers, the so-called Thirteen Legions and the Imperial Guard (14 pts)
14 fleets, used to carry them (14 pts)

Cost = 28 pts

House Velayre: House Velayre has the following troops:

4,000 soldiers (4 pts)
4 fleets (4 pts)

Cost = 8 pts

Dragons:

Each dragon costs 4 points and in war is worth as much as 2,000 soldiers. Dragons have roughly the same strength regardless of size, the larger ones being stronger and with a thicker leather, the smaller ones being faster and of hotter breath.

Dragons have no forelegs, only hind-legs and a pair of wings. They can't speak but seem to have innate knowledge of the Visserine language through which they can be requested to act, they can refuse such requests and a few will never heed them.

Examples:

Imperial House: The Imperial House has 5 dragons:

Dark Plague
Red Fury
Sunfire the Golden
Starlight the Silver
Jade Queen

Cost = 20 pts

House Velayre: House Velayre has a single dragon, called Sealord. Cost = 4 pts.

Vassals:

It costs a Great House 2 pts for each Lesser House sworn to it. Lesser Houses may not raise their troops against Houses of the Great under threat of Imperial retaliation.

Wealth:

Each House Point is worth 1,000 Golden Crowns in-game. House Points and Golden Crowns (popularly known as crowns) can be converted freely back and forth at the rate of 1:1,000.

Examples:

Imperial House: Having used 88 out of 100 pts, the Imperial House has a wealth of 12 pts left to spend. When used in-game, those correspond to a wealth of 12,000 crowns.

House Velayre: Having used 29 out of 40 pts, House Velayre has a wealth of 11 pts left to spend. When used in-game, those correspond to a wealth of 11,000 crowns.

Other:

Note: None of those things below need to be set at House Creation, you can expand on them throughout play, but writing a paragraph or two helps others to better know your House and gives them something to work with. You're free to add anything else you think might be missing from your House.

- Houses that make use of a Ruling Head can make use of a honorific, to go along with one's titles.

Examples:

Imperial House: The honorific of the Imperial House, used by its Ruling Head, is Dragon of Viss.

House Velayre: The honorific of House Velayre, used by its Council Face, is Lady, or Lord, of the Tides.

- The ruling, inheritance and membership arrangements of each House are a matter of their own concern. Each House decides, according to its own rules or customs, who will head it, how they will rule, and who will succeed them. Those matters may be kept secret from other Houses but unsolved disputes within the House must be decided by a mutually-agreed-upon third-party. If no such party can be found the Imperial House will arbitrate the dispute.

Examples:

Imperial House: Slower to change, the Imperial House still uses the traditional mechanism of rule by single Head selected from Members of the House and elected at the Great Council. There are no heirs and membership to the House relies on being raised by the House from an early age.

House Velayre: House Velayre uses the newer Imperial custom of rule by House, without Heads nor individual inheritance. The honorific of the House is used by its Council Face who is the face of the House in Viss. Membership is adoption-based only, where any child raised by Members of the House becomes a Member of the House.

- The lands ruled by your House have their defining characteristics set by you. Features of note such as forests, mountains, lakes, swamps, ruins, monuments, etc, are defined by the players.

Examples:

Imperial House: The Hold of the Imperial House, Dragon Isle, is the ancestral home of the Imperial people and the cradle of dragons according to lore. A small round island sitting in the middle of the Azure Sea and crowned by Sunfire Peak, an active volcano that erupts around one time every ten years or so. The recurrent lava flows going through the island makes for a very fertile soil which, alongside heavy trade on the ports of Viss, feeds the large number of people that live there. Viss is the largest settlement and home to 80,000 people but close to 800,000 live on the island. The dragons of the Imperial House are kept at the Dragonmount, down a meandering path some distance outside the city walls. No wild dragons remain on the isle.

House Velayre: The Brass Islands is a small archipelago southeast of Dragon Isle. Known for its unpredictable tides and crags that have seen countless ships sink over the centuries, it has four islands of note, the largest of which is called Elderbrass, where House Velayre holds court. Several mining villages dot the landscape but large areas remain uninhabited. They trade primarily in metals (iron, zinc, copper), fish, and marble. Points of interest are Graveyard Bay and the Silverbat Caves, lining the southern crags of Elderbrass and home to the creatures of same name. A few wild dragons still roam the islands but the exact location of their lairs is unknown.

- The people that inhabit your Hold can have their defining characteristics set by you. Things such as race, culture, religion, clothing, language, etc, can all be set (but don't have to). Apart from dragons, there is no magic known to exist but such tales may abound and people may believe them. All people are human and although uncommon variations can exist, things such as green-skin and pointed ears aren't known of. Whether the people of your Hold have changed their views to those of the Empire and acquired citizenship, or whether they still see Imperials as despicable and are enslaved, or anything in between, is up to you.

Examples:

Note: the people described here are the Visserines and Imperials from Viss and Dragon Isle, neither your House nor the people in its lands need to follow the template described here.

Imperial House: The people of Dragon Isle started bonding with dragons ages ago and for close to 500 years have been using them to expand and conquer far away territories. Nowadays, many of the Great Houses have Visserine ancestry, those that don't were frequently local rulers who accepted the dragon's rule or peasants who sided with the Dragonlords and overthrew their own chiefs.

Originally they were dark-skinned and light-eyed, their skin going from tan to pitch-black and their eyes from honey to clear-blue, but heavy mixing has blurred the lines and it's no longer uncommon to find Visserines with dark eyes or light skins. The Dragonlords hold beliefs and customs that are alien to many of their subjects. Incest, child-love, and godlessness, among others, are a few of the habits that made them despised by other races.

When wearing clothes they dress in skimpy outfits, but often they use nothing more than scented oils to make their bodies glisten and ornaments such as bracelets, rings, necklaces, and tiaras, of colored gold, silk, and dragon leather. Orgies are common, as is being physically intimate with each other. Due to their customs, it's hard for Visserines to figure out who the father of their children is and descent was traditionally only recorded through the mothers, Visserine children raised by mothers of a different race were not regarded as equals. Over the past few decades this has started to change and now most Imperials see allegiance to the Empire and its customs as their most defining trait, no longer considering blood as the definition of their make. The Visserine race gave way to the Imperial people.

Adoptions of large numbers of foreign kids have become the norm and the wealthiest families of Viss can boast over a hundred on their on their manses, some taken from their own slaves and others brought in by ship, selected on the basis of intellect, behavior, and looks. Threatening to give unruly children away to be raised as slaves is a common way to rein in the unruly ones, although the threats are rarely followed through.

Usually, only grown slaves of at least 13 years are brought in from afar to work at the fields, shops, brothels, and ships. Slave children on Dragon Isle were born on the island and those of good behavior are frequently taken in early to be raised away from their parents as Imperials. Those of bad behavior are reined in with hot iron and dragon breath, lest their bad behavior turn into a rebellious seed later on. Small rebellions happen every now and then but are put down quickly.

Child Imperials may lose their status if shown not to observe Imperial beliefs and customs but a grown Imperial can only lose theirs by Imperial decree.

House Velayre: Great House Velayre was one of the original Houses of Viss and got rewarded for their services with rule over Brass soon after its conquest. The first territory to be conquered by the Empire, the people of Brass Islands have long considered themselves as Imperials and follow all of the Imperial customs, making up a good portion of the Legions. Granted Imperial citizenship centuries ago, they can't be made slaves after coming into adulthood.

- Council and Household positions: as the Ruling Head of the Imperial House heads the Great Council, so can other Ruling Heads lead Councils of their own, if they so wish, with attendance of their Household and vassals. As the Emperor calls on both the Great and Lesser to fill Household positions at the capital, so can the Great and Lesser open positions on their own Seats.

Note: Not all Houses use Councils and most of those that do would have a Council similar to that of the Imperial House, writing it all up isn't required. This is here as a reference so you know you can hold Councils during play, as you can hold Feasts, Tourneys, hunts, orgies, among any other events of your choosing. You can also use this section to indicate who represents your House at the Great Council or describe some of the Councillors of your House.

Examples:

Imperial House: The Emperor heads the Great Council, used by him to get counsel from his Great. Important members of his Household also sit there:

Head Overseer: responsible for the Imperial Household and its servants and slaves. The Chief Servant and the Slavemasters report to her/him.
Head Commander: responsible for the troops and defenses of Dragon Isle. Commanders of the Legions and Admirals of the Fleets report to her/him. Must be a Member of the Imperial House.
Head Treasurer: responsible for the treasury and income of the Imperial House. The Chief Collectors and the Masters of the Mint report to her/him.
Head Inquisitor: responsible for the House of the Wise, which makes inquiries and researches into all topics. The Chief Librarians and the Master Inquisitors report to her/him.
Head Justiciar: responsible for settling disputes and ensuring contracts. The Magistrates and Arbitrators report to her/him.
Head Constable: responsible for maintaining the peace within Dragon Isle and quelling slave rebellions. The 1st Legion reports directly to her/him.

Other important positions don't have a voice at the Council but may hold some influence nonetheless:

Captain of the Imperial Guard
Castellan of the Palace
Cityhead of Viss
Dragonmaster
Stablemaster

House Velayre: The Lord of the Tides sits at the Great Council of Viss on behalf of House Velayre. The Council of Brass is used by the House to hear concerns and advice from their vassals and main Household.

ABOUT

I'd like for this to be a mostly story-driven RP in a setting where sex and promiscuity are common-place but don't take most of screen time. Ideally we'd have enough players that people would be able to RP whatever they felt like with whoever they want (and others wouldn't have to read it unless they wanted to).

But, if we get any players at all, we'll probably lack the numbers for that and everyone who joins will end up interacting with everyone else. In this case we'd better discuss our limits and what we want to be writing/reading about but, regardless of what we write, I envision the taboos of the Imperials as such:

- Nudity, incest, public orgies, and child-sex are near-daily occurrences;
- Bestiality (with dogs, horses, or even dragons) and watersports aren't common but happen every once in a while and most nobles have tried those at least once;
- Sex is regarded as any other activity, without special taboos regarding its exchange or performance that aren't given to other activities as well. Vows and/or contracts to perform being as binding in regards to sex as to everything else;
- The vast majority of nobles have never tried nor have interest in, but also hold no taboo against cannibalism, scat, and necrophilia;
- Most nobles have no interest in it but those who do have sadistic tendencies are allowed to take it out on slaves, doing it against Imperials is forbidden unless agreed upon beforehand.

I'm open to suggestions, to have more rules, to have fewer rules, to have different rules. This is a planning and interest check thread and everything that has been written so far is up for change. Also let me know if there's any particular thing that you disliked/enjoyed so I'm more/less likely to remove them upon further revisions.

I intend to keep the Imperial House mostly as background and lore, and play House Velayre instead, which has as many points as everyone else. This way I can play House Velayre as I see fit (no single Head, no main Household, etc) whilst allowing more opportunities for others to play: the Emperor is elected by players at the Great Council and players can hold different positions at a common city (either the more important Household positions or positions such as guards, dragontrainer, etc).

I'd like to have this set in such a way that, if everyone stops playing but someone else sees the thread a few years later, or someone decides to come back, they can create a House and start playing by themselves, getting steam for new players.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I've been inspired to write this based on 3 different fictional Empires, each of which was clearly inspired by others: the Melnibonéans by Michael Moorcock (1961), the Valyrians by George R.R. Martin (1996), and the Chosen by Ricardo Pinto (1998))

Tags: Political intrigue, fantasy, low-magic, adventure, play-by-post, PBP, forum RP, orgy, harem, scheme, plot, Melniboné, Elrik Stormbringer, White Wolf, Ymirr, Dreaming City, Young Kingdoms, Valyria, Targaryen, Daenerys Stormborn, Iron Throne, sister-wife, sister-wives, daughter-wife, Westeros, Seven Kingdoms, ASOIAF, A Song of Ice and Fire RP, SIFRP, Game of Thrones, Land of Always Summer, Summer Isles, Summer Islands, Littlefinger, Baelish, Carnelian, Quya, Kumatuya, Three Lands, Osrakum, First Law, Adua, Union, House of Questions, university, Talins, Castor Morveer, Day, Dragonborn, Elder Scrolls, Tamriel, Cyrodil, Roman, Rome, Prince, Princess, Empress, nudist, naturist, naturism, ageplay, RPG, Roleplay Game, Role-Play, Roleplaying.