Fantasy City Guard Elites - Ordo Protectum (Hybrid CK2/character quest)

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Lead an Elite Order of 2nd Responders, when the local city guardsmen can't handle a hero, villain, or assassin, you take them down. Imagine being the AI units in Assassin's Creed, for one example.
Order Customization
Location
Michigan
Bay City is thriving, and yet a dangerous place to live. Home to many criminal organizations, pursuing the abundant trade from both river and sea, the City has countless stories of both villainy and the heroes who stopped the villains, and a lot of assassinations. When you have an assassin's guild in the hidden places of your city, you never know the next person who will fall.

The City Guard is hopelessly outmatched. Regulars cannot match up against the powerful. There are many powerful fighters, assassins, heroes and even some inventors and mages. Other Cities have faced these problems, and the Elite Orders have begun to found Chapterhouses in Bay City.

The City government is also tired of repairing the damage after heroes break everything. Collateral damage is not OK in Bay City anymore. Which is where you come in. The Elite Orders, and their chapterhouses in Bay City, are the response teams when the City Guards need help. They investigate, remediate and pursue, hunt and destroy the city's foes. They also take a proactive role by working with the City government on missions

Your chapterhouse is the first presence your order has had in Bay City. The rise in crime by powerful individuals and super destructive heroism means the Order has good reason to establish their presence here.

You will have to learn the city: it's geography and society. Both high and low society must be understood. You will have to recruit locals and train them, although you can bring a few members of your order with you, to get a good start.

You will need to develop your Order's unique way, and have a wide variety of capacities among your group. Fighting at City HQ to protect a VIP is very different than stopping a hero who is rampaging through open streets.

You have to pay for all of this by handling both Situations (major efforts to deal with a bigger problem to the city), and ongoing Small Operations (mostly unmentioned day-to-day efforts). Balance both your Chapterhouse's improving roster and the budget.



Fantasy City Guard Elites is a hybrid CK2 style and Character Quest. Your Chapterhouse leader will personally get involved in some of the battling, and at least lead the efforts of your team. You will develop and improve the Chapterhouse's capabilities over the longer term as well.

Fantasy City Guard Elites - Ordo Protectum is inspired by Assassin's Creed, Ninja Gaiden, even City of Heroes and Jax II. Combat is focussed on melee and martial arts, but enhanced by ranged attacks, and some magic and tech, but this is overall a Low Magic, Low Tech setting.

This quest is based on my favorite thing: flipping a premise upside down. Instead of being a character who has to deal with city guards and various elite opposition, you are the opposition that calls even the heroic characters to account for their actions.

I'm trying to keep this story confined to one city, and relying on the CK2 quest mechanics to reign in my story wandering habits.

Notes & Terms


Chapterhouse Snapshot - Story posts about how the Chapterhouse is running overall: recruiting, funding, training, etc.

Situation - These are the major battles / manhunts / pursuits which will have more story detail and quest votes.

Small Operation - These are the regular everyday operations which happen without always being remarked upon. Small Operations provide a lot of the regular funding needed to keep the Chapterhouse running.

Awareness - Espionage is being broken into Awareness / Gossip. Awareness is more helpful against individuals, informing your chapterhouse about significant individuals and their location and movement patterns.

Gossip - The second part of Espionage. Gossip is more useful in determining who is a member of what organization, and plans for organization activities.

Chapterhouse Positions

Chapter Leader - That's you. Controlling the Chapter's development as well as personally involved as the Elite of Elites in battle.

Battle Master - "Marshal". The Battle Master is in charge of day to day training and recruitment, and is 2nd in command during situations after yourself. He / She should be a formidable fighter themselves as well.

Treasurer - "Steward" Tighter rein on spending, and controls large projects like expanding the chapterhouse.

City Coordinator - "Chancellor" - Handles escalations from the City Guards as well as missions issued by City government. Improves response time to City Guard escalation, as well as providing access to better missions.

Scout - "Awareness" - Improves information on heroes, assassins (to some extent), and geographic information, such as where people are in the city.

Bard - "Gossip" - Improves information on criminals, conspiracies and assassin groups. Provides social information, such as who has who's back?

Head Mage (if available) - "Learning" - Researches magic and trains magically inclined members of the chapterhouse.

Head Tech (if available) - "Learning" - Researches tech and trains technically inclined members of the chapterhouse.

Lieutenant - Leader of an individually capable team. Recruit from within, or find good leaders from without.


Order Setup, Part 1

Make a unique Order by choosing two styles. For example: Mounted & Armored would make a traditional Knight,

Pick 2 styles - Plan Voting. Your order will be defined by the fusion of the two.
Styles with strategic advantages will be weaker overall, in other areas, and those with Strategic Disadvantages will be stronger in other areas.

[ ] Armored - Defensive Plodding Style with heavier armor and large shields.

Strategic Disadvantage: Equipping Cost increased.

[ ] Mounted - Fast Moving style with advantages in large open spaces and disadvantages in crowded or interior locations.
Strategic Disadvantage: Equipping Cost increased.

[ ] Scout - Fast Moving yet Weak Style with Awareness action advantages.
Strategic Advantage: Before any Situation, gain a free Awareness roll.

[ ] Bard - Adaptive Combat Style with Gossip action advantages.
Strategic Advantage: Before any Situation, gain a free Gossip roll.

[ ] Subtle Melee - Adaptive and Evasive yet Fragile Melee Focused Style

[ ] Power Melee - Brutal and Reckless Melee Focused Style

Strategic Disadvantage: 25% chance of falling to fall-back when ordered to by superior.

[ ] Monk - Unarmed Martial Arts Style with Reversals and Takedowns

[ ] Sniper - Slow Yet Deadly Ranged Focused Style

Strategic Disadvantage: Cannot Participate in most Indoor Situations

[ ] Dakka - Rapid Fire Ranged Focused Style

[ ] Inspiring - Cohesive Style, Leadership Magic

Magic: Will [examples: Courage / Rally / Charge / Excel]
Strategic Advantage: When leading a Situation involving multiple Orders and/or City Guard units, directly control subsidiary teams as if they were your own.

[ ] Ritualist - Slow Magic, Flexible Effects and Attacks

Magic - Choose Celestial / Life / Earth / Psionic
[This is a Low Magic setting, so effects common in other stories will take a lot of time to channel, or provide a more low powered version of themselves. Definitely not an easy mode choice. If you chose another less combat focussed style, the Order will be incredibly fragile and have a hard time succeeding from the combination. Probably best to choose Armored, Mounted

[ ] Siegeworks - Slow Defensive Tech, Durable and Powerful
Tech - weapons / earthworks / traps / etc
Strategic Disadvantage: Chapterhouse has much higher operational cost to run the siegeworks. Each use of Tech for a situation also costs money.
(Chosing Siegeworks with another slow style will make your Chapterhouse the most slow moving order ever, which will make things difficult.)

[ ] Crazy Tinker - Adaptive Tech (mostly minor effects), Fast and Fragile.
Tech - Macgyver / setting ships on fire through mirrors and other crazy ideas.


Flairs

These don't have any game advantage or disadvantage, but affect the character of the Chapterhouse.

[ ] Generic Chapterhouse

[ ] Valkyrie (Women Only)

[ ] Religious Order / Sect
(extra vote to determine details)

[ ] Social or Political Order
(extra vote to determine details)

[ ] Other (write in)
 
Nice idea for a quest!!!



[X] plan fast woman

-[X] Subtle Melee - Adaptive and Evasive yet Fragile Melee Focused Style
-[X] Dakka - Rapid Fire Ranged Focused Style

-[x] Valkyrie (Women Only)


Well the faster one, so all woman élites
 
[x] Armored - Defensive Plodding Style with heavier armor and large shields.
[x] Ritualist - Slow Magic, Flexible Effects and Attacks

[x] Religious Order / Sect


Don't actually mind the kind of order we go with, though religious order/sect seems to fit well with going ritualist!
 
[x] Armored - Defensive Plodding Style with heavier armor and large shields.
[x] Ritualist - Slow Magic, Flexible Effects and Attacks
[x] Religious Order / Sect
 
If Armored / Ritualistic / Religious wins, id love to hear some ideas for the religion.

On one hand, The Light from Warcraft or something similar seems like an obvious idea. But I also thought of these mages and mage guardians being somewhat agnostic Christian or similar, following old rules and beliefs as a practical way to organize the rituals of the order but not being big believers.

I'm all ears to your ideas.

You and your second in command are rare ritualists / shielder hybrids.

Your main units would be composed of a ritualist and 2-3 shielders using massive shields to protect the rituals.

You would be great at protecting important people but during the early turns your ability to respond rapidly to escalation would be limited unless they ran right towards your chapter house.
 
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[x] Armored - Defensive Plodding Style with heavier armor and large shields.
[x] Ritualist - Slow Magic, Flexible Effects and Attacks
[x] Religious Order / Sect


I mean, if part of the reason is to flip the often used cliché of PC vs Guards then you gotta go Templars.
 
I mean, if part of the reason is to flip the often used cliché of PC vs Guards then you gotta go Templars.

Templars is another good suggestion. My mind went to Dragon Age Templar, but Assassins creed Templar may been what you meant?

Thinking of Dragon Age templars, they worked with mages at the tower already. They could specialize in responding to mages in the city and their rituals could involve anti-magic (counterspell - mana bane - magic detection etc)
 
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[x] Armored - Defensive Plodding Style with heavier armor and large shields.
[x] Ritualist - Slow Magic, Flexible Effects and Attacks
[x] Religious Order / Sect


Templar city guard would be what the kids are calling 'Poggers'
 
Templars is another good suggestion. They could specialize in responding to mages in the city and their rituals could involve anti-magic (counterspell - mana bane - magic detection etc)
If your looking for some other places to look-
and a lot of assassinations. When you have an assassin's guild in the hidden places of your city, you never know the next person who will fall.
I could easily see whatever political elite exists in this place are desperately looking for better bodyguards, or at least some tougher bodies, to throw in the way of a literal assassin's guild. Probably how we got a chapterhouse in the first place.
 
[x] Plan: Into the Fray
-[x] Inspiring - Cohesive Style, Leadership Magic
-[x] Power Melee - Brutal and Reckless Melee Focused Style
-[x] Religious Order / Sect

Take command of other assets and throw them at the enemy until something breaks.
 
[x] Armored - Defensive Plodding Style with heavier armor and large shields.
[x] Ritualist - Slow Magic, Flexible Effects and Attacks
[x] Religious Order / Sect
 
[X] Armored - Defensive Plodding Style with heavier armor and large shields.
[X] Ritualist - Slow Magic, Flexible Effects and Attacks
[X] Religious Order / Sect

Well if you guys are intrested in knightly orders you guys should read about the Kinghts Hospitaller. An kightly order known through the ages for being scolors, doctors and salours who still oprate to this very day as the Sovereign Order of Malta.
 
[x] Plan Battle Nuns Go Fast
-[X] Scout - Fast Moving yet Weak Style with Awareness action advantages.
-[X] Monk - Unarmed Martial Arts Style with Reversals and Takedowns
-[X] Valkyrie (Women Only)
 
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I'll close the voting at noon, and then there's some follow up votes about your leader and second in command.

If Ritualist is part of the winning plan, there will be a vote about the type of magical system (are they speaking the language of ancients, perceiving the flow of magic like Mathilda in Divided Loyalties, or something else). If Religious Order wins, I'll have a vote for the type of religion and type of religious order.
 
City Map (rough draft)
I live in a smaller city with an East and West bay, and an abandoned state mental hospital, so I've taken a google map of my city, removed the names, and drew up new districts.

It's all subject to change, but it's just an idea of where the Order could be working. There will be a headquarters in the order district, but you may be working in any of the other districts, especially the seedy ones.

It's not really to scale, because I'm picturing Bay City as having a lot more activity, people and crime than where I live in real life. The V and ^ arrows indicate there is more to the district off the map.

 
[x] Plan: Into the Fray
-[x] Inspiring - Cohesive Style, Leadership Magic
-[x] Power Melee - Brutal and Reckless Melee Focused Style
-[x] Religious Order / Sect
 
I rolled a bunch of random orders and picked 5 to be already existing in the city. I expanded on them a bit to give them names, areas of the city they work in and personality tendencies. There will be other orders founding chapterhouses in Bay City in the future, if it's problems keep growing.

1st order in the city - Owleye Monastic Order - Scout / Monk / Religious
2nd - Masked Sisters Order - Subtle Melee / Sniper / Valkyrie
3rd - Holy Order of the Vinter - Bard / Dakka / Religious
4th - Fraternal Order of Equestrians - Mounted / Siegeworks / Other
5th - Reformed Youth Militant Order - Power Melee / Dakka / Other
 
[X] Plan Crazy Saboteurs
-[X] Scout - Fast Moving yet Weak Style with Awareness action advantages.
-[X] Crazy Tinker - Adaptive Tech (mostly minor effects), Fast and Fragile.
-[X] Other - A loose association of mad scientists, inventors, and alchemists,.
 
Order Customization 2
Armored / Ritualist / Religious Order wins!

6 people have voted
[x] Armored - Defensive Plodding Style with heavier armor and large shields.

BunnyLord Flake UwU Minkstur Derek58 GAWR

6 people have voted
[x] Ritualist - Slow Magic, Flexible Effects and Attacks

BunnyLord Flake UwU Minkstur Derek58 GAWR

6 people have voted
[x] Religious Order / Sect

BunnyLord Flake UwU Minkstur Derek58 GAWR

2 people have voted
[x] Plan: Into the Fray
-[x] Inspiring - Cohesive Style, Leadership Magic
-[x] Power Melee - Brutal and Reckless Melee Focused Style
-[x] Religious Order / Sect

Nevill kosi

2 people have voted
[x] Plan Battle Nuns Go Fast
-[X] Scout - Fast Moving yet Weak Style with Awareness action advantages.
-[X] Monk - Unarmed Martial Arts Style with Reversals and Takedowns
-[x] Valkyrie (Women Only)

Catpetter1981 Eternal_0bserver

1 people have voted
[X] plan fast woman
-[X] Subtle Melee - Adaptive and Evasive yet Fragile Melee Focused Style
-[X] Dakka - Rapid Fire Ranged Focused Style
-[x] Valkyrie (Women Only)

giodan


Vote what kind of Religious Order we will have:

[ ] Templars (Righteous, sometimes Self-Righteous, it just depends)
[ ] Paladins (Protectors and Seekers of Justice)
[ ] Ruler Worship (For The Empire! and similar motifs)
[ ] Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses (Pagan inspired and connected with the Magic rituals)
[ ] Other (write in)

Vote what kind of Magic are our rituals are focused on:

[ ] Holy / Light based magic
[ ] Arcane magic (volatile magical rituals tapping into some mana source)
[ ] Elemental magic (air / earth / fire / water / lightning : these are still ritual spells)
[ ] Celestial magic (sun / moon / stars) - power waxes and wans based on moon and sun cycles.
[ ] Other (Write in)

How do we carry out our rituals?

[ ] Spoken Words in an Ancient language (we've only recovered a small portion of the full ancient tongue)
[ ] Spoken Word / Latin chanting style (like in exorcisms, etc)
[ ] Magical reagants and geometric patterns (like in Charmed)
[ ] Elaborate Wand and/or staff motions (Hermoine's swish and flick, but if it was a much more complex ritual)
[ ] Other (Write In)
 
Okay, since the author gives us such a variety of possibilities, I see no reason not to make this story unique and fun.

[X] Plan: In The Name Of The Moon!
- [X] Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses (Pagan inspired and connected with the Magic rituals)
- [X] Celestial magic (sun / moon / stars) - power waxes and wans based on moon and sun cycles.
- [X] Spoken Word / Latin chanting style (like in exorcisms, etc)
 
Got 2 plan
[x] Plan: magic for the empire.
-[x] Ruler Worship (For The Empire! and similar motifs)
-[x] Arcane magic (volatile magical rituals tapping into some mana source)
-[x] Spoken Words in an Ancient language (we've only recovered a small portion of the full ancient tongue)
And
[x] Plan: the Templar's.
-[x] Templars (Righteous, sometimes Self-Righteous, it just depends)
-[x] Arcane magic (volatile magical rituals tapping into some mana source)
-[x] Spoken Words in an Ancient language (we've only recovered a small portion of the full ancient tongue)

Change can be made if the majority of those whose vote the plan discusses and agreed.
 
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