Dragonlords of Viss

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

Interest check at the Talk Page or on the Forums

The setting hasn't and won't be copyrighted, feel free to use it in your stories, games, and other projects. Please leave a message if you do.

---

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

Check how to create your Great House.

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, exploration, 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.