The Congress of Cinivia

Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Lady Martinet

Guest
Original poster
The island of Cinivia is something of an idyllic paradise. The coastline is rocky, true, but the buildings are brightly painted and open to the fresh coastal air. The smells of decadent cuisine waft through the air, and the climate allows men and women alike to dress in colorful, loosely draped clothing. The people are said to be more cheerful and kind than those in any other city-state. The reasons to visit are practically endless.

But the source of Cinivia's fame is Forte Lagorio, the stronghold built centuries ago. Rumored to be capable of withstanding any assault, the fortress now serves as the meeting place for the Congress of Cinivia. When tensions are high between the city-states, they send delegates to the island, where they're locked inside Forte Lagorio until a compromise can be reached. The proceedings are closely monitored by the Cinivians, who are widely considered to be neutral.

Despite years of peace following the last Congress, and the passage of the Pavoni Accord, tragedy has again befallen the city-states, and the time has come to convene the Fourth Congress of Cinivia. War threatens to consume all those who live within the region, the entire economy is hanging by a thread, religions are collapsing, and the world is changing faster than it can adjust.

In their time of need, your city calls upon you. Whether you are a diplomat yourself or simply a member of their staff and honor guard, you have a role to play in things to come. The exact details of what has been discussed within Forte Lagorio are still hidden from the public, but more than one diplomat has failed to reemerge. And if there is to be back-stabbing, dirty deals, ulterior motives, and utter deceit on Cinivia, you'd be best be prepared.

______________________________________________________________________________________________


If there is enough interest for something like this, something politically driven and intricate, I'll write up a bit more information about the city-states themselves. My plan is for this to function almost like a game, but I don't want egos to flare up. As such, participants would have to be level-headed, mature, and capable of extracting what they know from what their character knows. Competitive though the theme may be, the end result should always be a good story.

Once characters are created, each writer will receive further information, secrets shared with them by their sovereigns before setting sail for Cinivia. For example, the Duke of Turreni has troops stationed in the mountains, ready to sweep down and conquer Savorno at a moment's notice. The Baron of Savorno has hired an assassin to pose as a chef within Forte Langorio, and the ambassador need only leave a note tucked into his napkin to kill off a rival. For reference, neither Turreni or Savorno are city-states included in this RP. No free secrets for you!

Because I understand the possibility of action and risk drives a great deal of RP, those things will be included, but the chief motivator in this RP is still peace, achieved through negotiation and diplomatic maneuvering. That's the main reason I'm posting an interest check, I understand it might not be everyone's bag. If it's yours though, please let me know and I can get to work on the OOC thread.
 
You certainly have my attention.
 
Victory! Now we just need a few more interested parties.
 
Count me up. 2 things:

Firstly, though I highly doubt it, is there magic in this setting? Can we expect things like invisible ninjas or peculiar poisons or is it set in a realistic world?

Secondly, can we create our own nations or do you have nations already worked out? Or will it be a kind of hybrid situation, where you define the secrets and technology level of the nation and its members, and we're free to design its political/caste/military systems at will?
 
I'm imagining magic working similar to Game of Thrones. It's vague, it's rare, and people tend not to believe in it. It may well show up though, in some capacity. Dunno about invisible ninjas, but I'm certainly going to catalogue that idea. ;3

I have the major players loosely planned out, the city-states that command power and have resources to throw around. That being said, I'm open to the idea of y'all creating your own city-states, and you'll have a good deal of freedom when it comes to the finer details of city-states I created. Just keep in mind, the world has a very Mediterranean feel. The connection to other cultures is what allows some city-states their importance. Did you have a particular idea you wanted to base it around?
 
Awesome, so I can conjure a demon and eliminate my character's gay brother in like 30 mins? Obviously I'm not going to do that though. I'd like my character to be able to minor feats that can easily be passed off as simple trickery, but nothing major. Stuff that a decent non-magical illusionist could easily replicate at least in appearance if not function. Stuff like choosing the next card to be drawn from a deck and close range teleportation of objects with low mass. Also, witchery stuff. Nothing massive, more on the Macbeth being cryptic af while making a neat potion kind of thing.

As for the nation, it's not based on any in particular, though it's probably similar to one that existed at some point. It'd be a highly superstitious and pagan nation where the entire thing is pretty much governed by the idea of being as merry as is physically possible. If there isn't a festival on a given weekend, someone will decide on some random thing to celebrate and make a festival for it. Behind the scenes, it'd be rather more dark, and basically run by mass suggestion-based mind control spells spanning the entire continent. Nothing like actual mind control, more like a huge spell circle that while stood on it, you feel a strange but faint desire to do a given thing - usually have a party.

Reading it back, it feels very mythological Greek-style, so it should fit fine into the Mediterranean theme.
 
I'm afraid I'd have to veto things like that. Card tricks are totally allowed, but teleportation wouldn't be possible, regardless of mass. Suggestion spells do exist, but they're very rare and very limited in their scope. It's probably best to steer clear of magical characters. What you've got going for you is more political.

I already have a city-state similar to Greece in mind, but admittedly haven't decided much about it. I might be convinced to swap yours out. Be forewarned though, a city-state like that won't have much pull. When the goal is to live like the Bacchae, not a whole lot gets done. Cities need an economy, a military, that sort of thing. If your city is like Athens in other respects, functioning as the birthplace of democracy and philosophy, it could get a position in the Congress more out of respect than anything else. Like inviting the friend you don't really hang out with anymore to your birthday party for old time's sake.
 
What's your thoughts on the technological level?
 
I see. I thought you were meaning game of thrones-style in magnitude as well as scarcity, but I guess I misjudged. I'm keeping the ability to freely switch around the front face of cards in the same pack though. I don't have any interest in playing a character whose sole reason for being at the council is because of military or economic might though since they're too much of a central role to be the kind of character I'd want to play in such an RP. How about this person belongs to a group of people few in number who are the most adept at magic in the world (still limited to card tricks though), but who have a cumulative memory thing going on, in that members of the group have access to all the memories of their ancestors, even if they're deceased. They'd have an honorary role at the council due to the insane amount of wisdom and experience this would give them, but they don't hold any real political sway. They're there to barter access to their knowledge.

If you're worried about the magical implications of such a cumulative memory function, it's not that far fetched. Genetic memory already exists in that animals will pass down important memories to their children, and it's this principal (albeit expanded rather a lot) which is the basis of the Assassin's Creed games where they can retrieve his ancestors memories from his genes.
 
@Dahrinn I'm seeing the technology as Renaissance style with a bit more lavishness. Guns exist, though they're not especially common. They go to officers and nobles with more money than they know what to do with. Artificers and alchemists are in high demand amongst those types. The usefulness of it all is a bit limited, but the ability to use clockwork to accomplish something that could be accomplished without is a status symbol. If you have an elevator instead of stairs, you've made it. Is there a particular technology you wanted to have access to?

@Karakui I won't lie, I'm having a little trouble with the idea of an ancestral memory as well. I feel bad shooting your ideas down like this though. It's clear that some sort of magic is important to you, and I don't want to drive you off by not including it. Could you PM me to discuss some more specifics of what you'd like? I want to work with you without throwing off the setting, and maybe if I could understand your ideas in more detail...
 
This intrigues me to say the least. I am so ready for shady political assassinations

HAIL CAESAR!
 
Ew not Caesar. Nero was a way better emperor cos his name sounds like Zero and Zero is an awesome number.
 
So, it seems like we're not snagging too much attention after the three of y'all, buuuuuut I'd say three people and myself at least warrants a thread over in fantasy. I've got the next two days off, so I'll try to pound out some solid lore. Keep an eye out for the OOC!
 
I can't commit to anything at this point, but I'd be interested to see how the lore falls into place and go from there :)
 
Lying and backstabbing? Count me in.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.