Ahh, Belles, the proudest land in all the world! Your armies have marched from shore to shore, your colonies stretch the world over! Not a rival stands as your equal! Holy Mother Church glorifies you in splendor, the necromancer-kings of the farcical Second Elven Empire tremble before your might, the Imperial Realm of Albion watches you with jealousy. But all this might avails you little. Now you lie fallen and despoiled, unworthy rabble and traitor-nobles feasting in halls that once made kings weep with their grandeur.
-A mournful tract written by an exiled noble.
The Glorious Fifth was the proudest night of my life. Even if I am broken on the wheel, and my soul bound to the Pillar of Traitors, I shall not regret it, nor shall I renounce it. The king had seen our might and blinked in fear, and sent assassins in the night to slay us as we debated. And with that single act of treachery, he had united bitter enemies. Proud nobles and arrogant bishops stood united for that brief instant, and hardly a moment passed without some relic of the aristocracies of old being brought forth and discarded. Of course, as dawn broke reactionaries tried to halt us, to drag us back, but the tides of history were already moving...
-From the journal of Carolic Redcap
They say the city of Belladora, capital of the Kingdom of Belles, has never fallen, not since the glorious days of the Empire of Elves. You know enough history to know that such a statement only comes with countless asterisks - it surrendered before the might of the elves, it was sacked by the Nordii and their gigantic warbeasts, and Emperor Carolic Half-Elf won it in single combat.
Today, you muse, there will be another asterisk added to that statement. For the city has unquestionably fallen. Its defenders were trampled under the stomping boots of street mobs, scorched by the furious spellwork of low mages, and outfought by republican militias and bandas. The Council of Estates stripped the king of his titles and imprisoned him in his own dungeon, the privileges of the nobility were abolished in one fell swoop, the elite Royal Templars turned on their liege or were hacked down by republican militias, while the household troops of the grandees cower in their manses.
And down the Royal Boulevard, past toppled statues of ancient kings, parade the ones responsible for it all. Bringing up the rear are the so-called Republican Nobles, one and all bearing stiff faces and ancient dignity as they struggle to comprehend just how swiftly things have changed. Before them march countless militias, ranging from entire army regiments who defected wholesale to the banner of the republic to barely-organized gangs of ill-dressed youths. Before them march the firebreathers who first walked out of the Council, the barefooted priests who followed them, the newly freed agitators, and all the great faces and figures of the revolution.
And before them all, scaled head raised high, diamond-hard claws leaving jagged scratches in the cobble street, tail casually smashing statues and monuments to rubble, parades the dragon Invitrix, newly appointed First Citizen of the Republic, its mighty body draped in revolutionary slogans, four coffins carefully cradled in its mouth.
It reaches the steps of what was once the palace where the mightiest king in all the world once lived and places the four coffins down with gentleness that seems impossible for something so fierce, and then it raises its head high and speaks.
"Adrian, Piedro, Amandu, and Ceria found me as a hatchling, with scales as soft as grass and not a single coin to my hoard. Where others might have taken me to their lord to be butchered for my blood and scales, they risked their lives to protect me, and taught me all they knew.
When their lord came for me with sword and lance and spell, I fought to return the favor, and fled to spare their lives. And years later, when I had grown into my strength, I found them once more, and took mortal form to speak to them. And I learned of what they had endured, at the hands of an uncaring aristocracy, and the price they paid for refusing to bow their heads to those who claimed power through blood.
And I saw them die, hacked down by bloody-handed tyrants, and in the name of the cause my dear friends died for, I fought."
It lifts its head, eyes turning to the parts of the city that still smolder from its flames.
"And in the name of the cause my dear friends died for, I swear by my blood and bones and hoard that I shall not rule, that I shall not act the tyrant, that I shall have my vote as a citizen and nothing more unless the fate of this republic itself is at stake. And because of this oath, I shall say no more."
It lowers its head and shuffled back to rapturous cheers and shouts of acclaim. It makes space for others to speak, yet it still remains perched on the steps, watching the crowd.
You begin to tune out the speeches and think of the duty you have been given. For the next three years, the remaining delegates of the Council of Estates will rule the country as a Popular Assembly, empowered by a provisional constitution passed in a frenzied session three nights before as the king rallied troops to end the beautiful experiment. One of the powers given to the assembly was the power to elect it's members to take ministerial roles. And you were informed, scant hours before this parade, that you have been given the office of the Minster of the Economy.
Carolic Redcap, leader of the Republican Alliance and newly elected President, met you in a tiny tavern study to deliver the news. You were rather shocked
After all, you were only a...
[] Golem-Maker Scholar: The Golem-Makers are a small and scattered people, persecuted for their faith and customs in every land they dwell in. Though the ghettos have had their gates smashed and golems of wood and cobblestone battled royalist partisans, your people are still mistrusted and misliked, and that will reflect on you. You shall endure it, as you always have, and do the duty you never expected to find yourself with. You are confident you can handle it though. You are a scholar through and through, of matters historical, magical, and mercantile, even if your practical experience is limited. And you have a large family scattered throughout several continents who could be very useful assets for you and for the revolution.
-Penalties to Assembly Support and Politicking dice, will experience discrimination
-Small to moderate bonuses to various dice due to diverse and deep knowledge base
-Decreasing penalties for personnel management due to lack of experience
-Stress will come from experiencing discrimination, not fighting discrimination, destruction of knowledge, not indulging in nepotism
-You know the simplest aspects of Low Magic, but you are a master of the spells favored by your people, both in making golems and indexing libraries.
[] Rebellious Merchant: Your father was a wealthy man who moved goods and slaves alike. You hated him and his wretched trade with a burning fashion. From the brutal oppression he inflicted on others to the bewildering array of tariffs, trade barriers, and custom laws you were forced to navigate, you despised every fragment of the life you were expected to lead. You rejected that, and you were willing to take up arms to prove it, recruiting some of the men he placed under your employ and seizing the warehouses and factories he owned. As the city convulsed, you fought in skirmishes through the industrial districts and dockyards of Belladora. Though experienced in leadership, you are ignorant of many of the practical details of production, and you are perhaps more belligerent and more profligate than some would prefer. But you will not compromise on the goals of the revolution: a just economy and an end to tyranny.
-No bonuses or penalties to Assembly Support or Politicking
-Decreasing penalties to various dice due to lack of general knowledge, bonus to trade-related dice
-Bonuses for personnel management
-Stress will come from not indulging in personal corruption/enrichment, not aggressively acting against slavery and monarchism.
-You are skilled in the aspects of Low Magic most used in your profession and have picked up a few scattered elements of it from your comrades
[] Foreign Exile: The Second Elven Empire, the Imperial Realm of Albion, the Great Kingdom of the Steppes, the Free Republic of Ameritus, the Terranovan Confederation. Many are the realms of this world, and few are those that tolerate the radical rhetoric now common to Belladora's streets. Your homeland was the kingdom to Belledor's south, the impoverished and benighted Grand Princedom of Spaltana. You were driven from first the court of the Prince, then from the Princedom entirely, for your personal eccentricities (pants are a tyrant's garment) but primarily for your radical (some would say insane) social, political, economic, philosophical, and sociopoliticoeconomicophilosophical theories. Those same theories did inspire quite a few of the revolutionaries who now make up the Assembly, and you do have extensive knowledge and great enthusiasm for putting your ideas into practice. Although you are rather high-strung, and your theories are still controversial
-Decreasing bonuses to Assembly Support and Politicking
-Small bonuses to a variety of dice due to knowledge base
-Penalties to personnel management due to eccentricity
-Stress will come from not indulging in your personal eccentricities, not enacting your theories, having your theories pan out badly
-You are a dabbler in magic both High and Low, familiar with all fields, but inexperienced in most.
[] Unbound Sorcerer: By law, the practice of High Magic was restricted to the aristocracy, although these restrictions had been mere paper for generations. For the poor bastard of a country priest though, they might well have been iron. Seeking knowledge that was forbidden to you by poverty and birth, you made a pact with one of the many small gods and wild fae that still remained, a dangerous choice that could have seen you executed for illegal High Magic or burned at the stake as a warlock before cheering crowds. And so when the opportunity to win favor through battle presented itself, you had no choice but to take part, summoning columns of fire and blasts of wind that saw you compared to Invitrix, shattering minds and bodies with your power.
-No bonuses or penalties to Assembly Support and Politicking so long as the specifics of your power are kept secret. Small penalties to Dragon Support.
-Small, decreasing penalties to a variety of dice due to lacking knowledge base but a thirst for education.
-No bonuses or penalties to personnel management so long as the specifics of your power are kept secret.
-Stress will come from not aggrandizing yourself and not taking advantage of political upheaval.
- Your magical powers and contracts will offer unique but dangerous bonuses and penalties, but the source of them must be kept secret or you risk serious dangers
