These are a lot of questions, so I'm going to be splitting them up into multiple posts so it doesn't take me all day to get answers to you guys.
@Gear, there are plenty of elements of Your settings that are left in limbo. I would like to ask you to give Your answers to that. I'm not asking for the hell of it. For example, one of a question regarding empire is who is the power in Empire outside of the queen. As unconnected as it seems, if defines interactions. If I wanted to write the scene/omake regarding Aase in ministry, I would need to know what pompous nobleman can afford to do when venting his irritation and short man syndrome. And who can he afford to point it at. The answer for this question translates into ability to actually write such scene. Without it, as long as remains in limbo, attempt to write it would end in a "it does not work this way" reaction.
The Crown of the Northern Empire is pretty damn powerful, due to bad-ass magic viking ancestors, and got more powerful still when Frederick gathered noble support and went on his Christian conversion rampage. Nobles have some power through a house of lords and various advisory councils for various regions and causes. Mostly bureaucratic in nature. The biggest power they have in relation to the crown is money, as they have quite a bit of autonomy over their lands and basic government services in them.
I haven't been modeling them for the North, or for anyone else, to keep game complication down, but I've been meaning to redo the way I do nation turns, so it may become relevant sooner or later. Probably after the war.
City:
- How big is Arrendale? Comparable to London? Smaller? How small?
- What type of town it is? If someone arrives there, what his impression is? Is it bustling trade metropolis? Small town for elites? What type of buildings? Paris-like wide streets? Traditional homes? Or perhaps rows of tenement houses?
- What does Arrendale is famous for (outside the palace)? Trade? Fish? Museums and libraries? Production of jewerly? Universities? Cathedrals?
- Do you have general placement of Arrendale on a map? Norway? Iceland? Geenland?
1. A little smaller than London, due to being far further north.
2. The area around the castle still kind of looks like it does in the movie, and is the area for elites and the business' that serve the elites, but around that it's a trade metropolis, being a major port serving the west coast of Norway, and a major trade point for the Empire at large. Style wise, it keeps a lot of the styling you see in the movie, but it gets more industrial age the further you get from the castle, barring the clusters of nicer neighborhoods and commercial areas.
3. Banks and Trade mostly, but the Imperial Museums and institutions of Learning are a close second.
4. Arendelle really doesn't have a place on the map, as it's geography doesn't match up exactly to any one area, as it was designed. So there's a new major fjord south of Bergen where Arendelle is situated that cuts into the mountains and interior of Norway, which helps with Arendelle's trade.
Forest:
- How large is Mørkeskog? On outside at least? (not accounting how big it is on inside)
- Where is it located? How far outside Arendale? In which terrain?
- Does Mørkeskog duchy gives benefits other than title? How many people live within?
1. Haven't quite decided, but it's a couple of times bigger than Arendelle at least.
2. It goes Arendelle-hilly terrain-Eikendelle-Valley-edge of Mørkeskogen-mountain partially covered by the Mørkeskog
3. Other than making Aase and Astrid Nobility? Not much. Aase is eligible tbe elected to the house of lords, and can sit in on it whenever she wants. And no one lives in the spooky and highly dangerous magical forest.
Empire:
- Who is the power in Empire outside of the queen? Nobility? Houses? Trade houses? Guilds? Church?
- How does goverment is structured. There is a queen. But is there parliament? Or a noble advicing body?
- How do trade goes? What is most bustling trade port?
- Are there oversea colonies?
- How accessible are spices?
- How strong is christian faith in empire as a whole? How it is related to monarchy? How strong it is on political level and how active? What are key
1. Nobles, mostly through money, houses are mostly part of Nobles, but do extend into merchants a bit, merchants, trade houses, guilds, and such are mostly annoyances unless you piss them off enough to rebel, and the church has fallen far with the loss of royal support and the new magical support laws in place.
2. Haven't really made any detailed plans yet, as it hasn't been overly needed in the quest yet. But there is a house of lords, maybe a house of commons too. There are a lot of advisory councils around. I'll think about it.
3. Arendelle is very bustling, being the capital and a major deep water port with water connections to a lot of Norway's interior, along with places like Bergen and other major ports you can find on Google maps. The busiest would probably be on the southern tip of Norway somewhere, where Baltic Trade meets Alantic Trade.
4. Yes, I've mention some of them before. The North has Iceland and Greenland, though those aren't really colonies, along with practically all the islands in the North Atlantic. For actual colonies, there is the now lost East Canada, a small colony on the north east corner of South America, a stretch of coast on West Central Africa, West Australia, the Philippines, a 'Trade Zone' in China, Chile, and some outposts in Antartica that are holding on
5. At this point in time, anyone rich has a wide selection from around the world available year round, middle class can afford most spices year round, and the poor have some spices they can get year round.
6. Christianity is pretty strong since Frederick converted and tried to purge non-Christians from the Empire, but there are a lot more places to hide in the North than other European countries. So basically the farther south you go in the Empire, the more Christians there are, but there are still plenty of followers of the old ways, especially among the magical community. One of the laws protecting them was a law protecting them from heresy charges and from being prosecuted for following a different faith. The church has enjoyed royal support since Frederick, but that has been slowly fading away over the centuries as the North's power fades with it's magic, and has basically ended now, as Elsa will not step foot in an institution that asked her to murder her sister.
Politically it's not that strong in official avenues of power, as without Elsa, it would be dependent on influencing the Nobles to then influence the queen to change policy. But it does have a lot of influence with the commoners, who are more driven by religous motivations than the greedy/practical Nobles/Merchant classes.
As for Key figures, haven't made any yet, but there would be an archbishop for each of the constituent kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, along with Bishops for large areas/congregations.
- What is church approach to emergence of magic and Empire support of it?
- Mørkeskog ownership was not contested, which suggest it was mostly unused and unexplored. How many such areas is there in Empire?
- What is Empire opinion/relation to slave trade?
- How Empire navy compares to England and other empires?
1. They have been rather angry and dissapointed that Elsa has essentially legalized devil worship, and feel that she is damning humanity.
2. Mostly just the Mørkeskog, a few other places that may or may not be extension of it, and remote unexplored or barely explored pieces of land, and lots of land in the colonies, as they have very little nobility at the moment.
3. Legal, but minimal, as African slaves don't do to well in the land of ice and snow. There are some house slaves and servants, but it's mostly prevalent in the colonies, and mostly in North East South America and it's plantations. But overall, the North is far less invested in slavery than the other Empires.
4. The North has the second largest Navy at the moment, and thirty years ago had the largest. Spain is no. 3, France at no. 4, and the US at no. 5.
Mages:
- How many mages is there? Percentage compared to soldiers, and to civilians - as well as general amount.
- How mage familly looks like? Clans? Viliages for mages? Covens?
- What is magical tradition? How do they craft magic? Runes? Songs? Bones? It's not hermetic craft. What is origin/counterpart in RL? How magic marks them?
- How many people with a little bit of magic live?
- How mages earn money?
- How mages cooperates with empire? Are they enlisted to army? Or in special forces? Or are they allies to call on?
- How ministry of magic works? Where is it located? How it is governed? How many people belong to it? How many mages and how much non-magical staff?
- What are notable achievement of mages?
- What abilities beside direct magic, mages have? I.e.: do they live longer? Are tougther?
1. For Combat and support Mages, I'm putting them into three under strength Regiments of two Battalions each, where mages make up about 10% of the troops, with more scattered around to other postings, so about two thousand military mages all told. Civilian mages and alchemists are probably around 30,000 or so, maybe more, as there are no doubt many who are still hidden in the remote corners of the Empire.
2. Mostly like poor mountain families/clans, sometimes villages.
3. Traditions and abilities are all over the place, as many of these people have been isolated from other mages for centuries.
4. That's a hard question, as everything has at least a little bit of magic nowadays. But pretty much anyone can learn some kind of magic if they found the right kind and put the work in. It may not be powerful, or particularly useful, but under the right conditions, everyone could learn at least one basic spell.
5. mostly trading local resources like other commoners in their area, with some discreet under the table dealing on the side if they have any useful spells/alchemy. It's not publicly known, but nearly every noble in Europe has an alchemist or two in it's employ for various products.
6. Mostly in the Army, with some spread throughout the rest of the Empire's government in various ways.
7. The Ministry of Magic is small right now, Aase and her direct staff control it entirely, mostly concerned with dealing with various administration details dealing with mages. There are collections of mages working together, both civilian and military, to achieve their goals. It's occupying some empty offices in one of the Administrations office buildings in Arendelle, as do most of the branch offices.
8. Right now, the Military and the availability of potions and spells for healing.
9. overall, maybe just a smidge luckier. Some mages have spells that are more useful than others, but really depends on the individual.
Astrid:
- How goes her daily life, assuming she is not on voyage? How does she spend a day? Where does she stay and what does she do?
- Does she have friends? Who?
- How she bahaves in palace? How is she seen by others?
- How is her relationship with Anna and Elsa?
- What does she thinks about pallace? About travels? About world?
- what her dreams are?
1. Mostly taken up with tutors, she also spends a lot of time at the castle.
2. She knows several of the staff of the castle, who she reminds them of a less hyperactive Anna.
3. See above.
4. It's okay with Elsa, but she doesn't have a lot of time to spend with her. It's recently gotten a lot better with Anna.
5. She thinks the castle is nice, and it being warm is a nice bonus to her. She also liked how bright and warm the various places she visited around the world are.
6. Not much right now, but she does want to avoid ever being cold again, which is why she's been so focused on turning herself into living fire lately.
Aase:
- How goes her daily life (assuming she is not on voyage)? How does she spend a day?
- How often she stays in Arrendale? How often she stay in the nest?
- What is the cover for her lack of home?
- Where are her land? How close/far to Arendale? How come, that it is not contested and was free?
1. Mostly paperwork at the Ministry, whatever task Elsa has asked of her, meetings, spending time with Astrid, more meetings, spending time with Elsa and/or Anna, working on her own magical projects, etc. A lot of this is determined by players, so it can vary.
2. She actually spends more time in Arendelle than at her nest. She and Astrid have rooms in the Castle.
3. Too busy working for the Ministry of Magic and preparing for the war covers that pretty well.
4. I feel that the explanation for the Mørkeskog covers this well enough.
And that's two hours spent answering questions today.
And remember, all of this can be retconned at any time as I think more on it. But it should be generally correct. I'll try to answer more questions later on as I actually read through the other posts now.
