...in France
In France, Emma returns to a country torn by war. Here her training seems strange. A Vampire Dynasty is supposed to teach her to manage and administer a village, which she is going to use to learn to Captain a ship under Omarosa's banner one day. That is what she is told.
From here she has a sandbox. She has to learn to manage a large area with numerous people awake when she's not. But how?
Aspirations
Plot Idea
Gaston, Grace, Charles, and the Herd are Emma's only allies in the town after she arrives. The town is riven with feuds over lost fishing gear, bad sales, and poached spots. The town leadership was Old Artus, an old fisherman-turned-netmaker known for wise decisions who resents the King for sending a Noble who's out of touch with the town's lifeblood (fishing) because what Noble would be? As a result the court is crowded with mortals all vying to get their side of the case re-heard by a Noble who doesn't know enough to give a fair verdict. They get Emma instead.
Emma wants to build up the town and so she tries changing policies that she feels hold them back: individual bargaining with the Chasse Maree, outdated fishing boats, bad infrastructure, and a lack of oversight of the town. The town in turn wants to run Emma out.
Emma has dozens of cases to hear but no order can be gained in the mob in the court. Emma is forced to improvise with her Vampiric abilities to draw attention to her.
Emma, once she has their attention, has a Social Conflict with Artus, who wants these old cases dropped and his judgments upheld, some of which were, admittedly, biased.
Emma has to rally the failing fishing industry and figure out a way for this small town to begin turning real profits. That means coordinating the fishing and bargaining hard with the chasse-maree, a wholesale fishmonger who took coastal products to the nearby towns. Luckily this is similar to what she did for her father's business.
During these scenes of court politics Emma will only have her new retainer Gaston to lean on. They will share long hours and sometimes the disfavor of the courtiers, but they have each other. Gaston will reveal more of his story. Reversing Age's grip on him becomes a dream, something he aspires to.
Interspersed among the politics will be scenes of desperation where Emma could help if she revealed her true nature, with death for the mortal if she doesn't.
A monster (read: Vampire) is hunting Amiens - word is he is searching for Emma. This will need to be handled delicately. The people might end up turning on her if her nature is revealed. Alternately, (read: Exceptional Success) they could see she's one of the good ones.
By the end of summer, after the harvest in September, Omarosa returns, and time is of the essence. They must leave. Safety means abandoning Grace and Charles, leaving them in France and missing the wedding. If they stay there is a confrontation with a group of Vampires that possess powers no Vampire should. This is the Introduction of the Stryx. If they survive, they are able to leave safely. Otherwise it might be game over, in which case a new simulation begins.
Plot points/Scenes
Mechanically, the Court Scenes are a Social Conflict: The town has 7 Doors, and an Unfriendly Attitude. It's goal is to stymie and or run off the Lady, and has a dice pool of 4 dice.
Between the scenes of Court are scenes where Emma is in the coastal town and witness sickness and ailments among the people that her nascent compassion urges her to heal with her vampiric ability to make ghouls...but that would reveal what she is. If she doesn't she might suffer Breaking Points for letting others die when she could help.
After two months she gets word that someone is looking for her in Amiens.
Comments