OOC: The eagle and the bear

[DarelHute]

The idea of "The eagle and the bear" is a constant power struggle between four major houses ruling the Menos Island, the largest Island in an archipelago ruled by the King, who resides on heavily fortified city island. The four houses are listed below, with Houses Tarron and Eldar as the most powerful. Here are the houses:

House of Eldar
Coat of arms: Eagle.
Residence: City of Brevis in the North of the Menos Island, carved in the mountains, with high towers on the edges of a wide plateau. The only access into the city is a drawbridge over a deep ravine.

Ruler: Lord Renn and his wife Naevys

son - Nym
son - Eldrin
daughter - Elora
daughter - Raelin
son - Bellas

House of Tarron
Coat of arms: crouching bear
Residence: City of Iria, in the middle of the Island, placed on top of a hill in the middle of a vast and thick forest that stretches from the east to the west coast. The city is surrounded by high walls, and the only ways in are through the north and south gates, with drawbridges over a crocodile invested moat surrounding the whole city.

Ruler: Lord Iolas and Lady Imra

daughter - Gweyr
son - Faelyn
daughter - Sheera

House of Qildor
Coat of arms: Roaring Tiger
Residence: Port City of Tamaris, on the south western coast, the most southern city of Menos Island.

Ruler: Lord Ruardh and Lady Imryll

daughter - Sylmae
daughter - Eloen
daughter - Ikeshia

House of Eroan
Coat of arms: The Dragon
Residence: Port city of Nendos, on the south eastern coast, further north than Tamaris.

Ruler: Lord Ralnor and Lady Shyael (deceased)

son - Elidyr
daughter - Cerdwin

 

[landiek]

Sounds fantastic, i look forward to reading this thread.

 

[DarelHute]

Thanks. Here is the actual thread - http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1032718

Open to ideas

 

[Elegant_Emotion]

So in terms of over-arching plot, do you have ideas you want to run? Or would you prefer that I introduce potential hooks as well?

 

[DarelHute]

I was thinking that we could develop the plot a bit around the reasons why lady Shyael was targetted, as the Black Raiders are a very well organised group. One of the reasons could be that Elidyr is quite the playboy, perhaps pissing off lesser lords by fucking their wives and daughters.

But that wouldn't be enough. I would suggest that Ralnor and even Cerdwin are also responsible for the reasons Shyael was targetted by the secret company. In Elidyr's investigations he could find out that lady Shyael had taken advantage of her beauty and teased lots of lesser lords, perhaps used and discarded them.

What do you think?

 

[Elegant_Emotion]

That certainly sounds like a good plan to me. It also provides a good opportunity for anyone looking to provoke Rainor in the future. I might just sort of lay down some seeds and we can develop them how we want later on.

 

[Elegant_Emotion]

Sorry about the long delay and short post, I've been helping to plan a big memorial day party for work and it's been crazy busy the past few days.

Oh, so what do you think about maintaining a picture gallery for the characters? I like to find images to help me picture people in the story but if you prefer I can just keep them to myself.

 

[DarelHute]

It's quite alright, don't worry about delays in posting. I don't post until I am inspired

I think the idea of a picture gallery for characters could be very useful indeed! I will go and search!

 

[Elegant_Emotion]

Awesome! So I think the story is going really well so far, I'm enjoying it quite a lot. I thought I'd fire off a few potential topics for the ooc discussion as well though:

1. What are your thoughts on some of the more major world building factors? Like religion, major historical events, the King and his line? Do you think we should develop some of those things here or sort of take turns adding to it in the context of posts?

2. Do you have any particular vision or idea for the current story? I'm a big fan of surprises so don't feel a need to inform me of everything before hand but if there are any particular details or plans you are aiming for then I'm always open to nudges or hints on what people should/shouldn't do in my posts.

3. The Bastard. I sort of threw that character and Shaelya just so we had someone established to use for trouble later on. I figure the bastard is a suitably vague nickname that he could be any number of things: From some bastard of the noble line to just some mercenary.

I had him preparing to go through Nendos just cause that is where the story is focused right now, but he doesn't really have to get involved in the plot if you don't want. Though if you think having some conflict develop would be interesting he could have some long-standing dislike for House Tarron, and decide to delay in the city when he hears Faelyn is visiting.

4. I jumped to the arrival of the visitors in my last post, but I don't think we specified whether they were going to be arriving the same day as the breakfast with Cerdwin and Ralnor, so feel free to write in events or scenes set between the two times.

 

[DarelHute]

I think it's going well too! And it's a lot of fun, opening lots of possibilities. To the points you raised:

1. In terms of the wider historical plotline, we should introduce these slowly. We could potentially end up with an overly complicated situation. In terms of religion, I would suggest a competing array of magical religions with a variety of gods and goddesses. Some supernatural beings added in from time to time would be interesting. I would stay away from the King at this point, until we define the dynamics of relations between the houses on Menos. For the time being, we could say that the King is not related to any of the four houses, as it would be beneath the dynasty to marry anyone without royal blood.

2. I think the current plot works well, and I would focus on further developing the plots we already introduced. There is a danger of making it too complicated before we give them a chance to stick. There are already quite a few leads we can build on.

3. The Bastard line we could keep on the backburner for now, as we have other directions to follow through first. One idea could be that he is the bastard son of the lady Shyael which she had with some lordling from another island or even from Menos. He could be coming back trying to claim his birth right.

4. I think you did well to advance the story to the arrival of the delegation from Tarron. This works well and keeps it dynamic!

 

[Elegant_Emotion]

Hey! It's great to hear from you again. I've stayed subscribed to the thread in case you had a chance to come back to it. I hope things have gotten better at work and with your son.

I was thinking someone might try to kill Cerdwin at the feast, perhaps a man whose daughter was seduced by Ralnor and Shyael a few years before who might provide Cerdwin with some hints that there is more to her father then she knows. How would you like to see the feast and subsequent evening go?

 

[DarelHute]

Hey back! Sorry I was away for awhile. Things have improved and I'm back in the saddle.

Yes, your idea sounds good to me, and we can see where that is going. I too thing that there should be much more to Ralnor and Shyael than meets the eye, or what Cerdwin thinks of them.

 

[Elegant_Emotion]

So I'm not quite sure what the best way to handle conversation in a forum setting, so I tried to just leave it open so you could write anything you wanted Faelyn and Cerdwin to talk about at the table, does that seem like a good way to approach it?

Also, I'm thinking that in my next post I'll have someone try to kill Cerdwin while she and Faelyn dance.

 

[DarelHute]

I think you handled it well, especially since there was little of consequence that needed to be teased out in dialogue at that stage. When dialogue becomes essential, we can go with shorter posts and follow the dialogue. Not all posts have to be big.

I agree with where you want to take it with Cerdwin's assassination attempt.

 

[Elegant_Emotion]

A lot of curveballs! Things are getting pretty dramatic. Do you have a direction in mind for where things are going?

 

[DarelHute]

I don't have a clear idea of how it will develop. Let's see how it develops and what comes out of it.