Vote closed.
- [X] Intrigue: The Spymaster is the master of soft power in the realm, responsible for hiding the Elector Count's secrets and uncovering those of everyone else. Gives you a great deal of leeway in how you go about things, but also makes you a target for everyone trying to get away with skulduggery in the province, and being anything short of omniscient is often considered a failing by those that don't have to do the job.
Number of voters: 10
veekie, bryanfran36, wingstrike96, lavanderjasmine, Skycrafterf, Azurath, Hannz, butchock,Troglodyte, EVA-Saiyajin
- [X] STIRLAND
Number of voters: 9
veekie, bryanfran36, wingstrike96, lavanderjasmine, Skycrafterf, Azurath, Drucchi, EVA-Saiyajin, Kingofbooks
- [X] Sleeper Agent: Perhaps you did not quite attain the position; perhaps it was thrust unto you, and perhaps those that did the thrusting have attached several strings to the position.
Number of voters: 6
veekie, bryanfran36, wingstrike96, lavanderjasmine, Skycrafterf, Azurath
You are the Spymaster of Stirland, and you aren't entirely sure who it is you owe that to. But you do know they won't let you forget it.
As the Spymaster of Stirland, your job will involve quite a bit of keeping a wary eye on Sylvania. Whether the local Witch Hunters of the province will start off answering to you, to the Faith advisor, or only to themselves, will depend on your Background and on whoever the Faith advisor ends up being. There will doubtless also the usual mish-mash of spying on neighbours, unruly nobles, and unhappy peasants.
Here you will select your life prior to achieving your current office. This stage and the next involve a form of chargen currency I've called, for my own amusement, shinies. These can be spent in the next stage of character development on traits, special resources, unique items, skilled followers, and other bits and bobs, mostly based on the background you select in this stage. Any shinies remaining unspent after that will carry over into the game and can be spent on powerful strokes of good luck in the first few turns.
YOU HAVE THREE (3) SHINIES.
Birth - will affect how people treat you.
[ ] Peasant: Though your position is a worthy one, your origins mean that you will have to earn respect a dozen times over before it is given to you. +2 shinies
[ ] Burgher: Coming from a comfortably well-off family, you attract neither scorn nor respect from the noble classes.
[ ] Petty Noble: Though your family can no longer boast of land or wealth, your blood demands respect. -1 shinies
[ ] Minor Noble: Your family is of noble blood and landed, and as such you wield power in your own right. -2 shinies
Province of Birth - will affect your appearance and options available to you in the next step of chargen.
[ ] Local: Already being tied in to the local power structures can be a significant advantage. -1 shinies.
[ ] Averland: A wide-open land of rivers and cattle.
[ ] Hochland: Small, densely-forested province of able hunters.
[ ] Middenland: Homeland of the Cult of Ulric, a largely uncivilized land of fierce fighters.
[ ] Nordland: Home of the Imperial Navy and the sea god Manann, Nordlanders are a hardy and loyal people.
[ ] Ostermark: An odd experiment in democracy, Ostermark lacks a single ruler, filled with largely self-sufficient townships and farming villages.
[ ] Ostland: A grim and terrifying land, dominated by the Forest of Shadows.
[ ] Reikland: The noble capital of the Empire, home to the Emperor, the Colleges of Magic, and the Reiksguard.
[ ] Talabecland: A large, thriving province built on commerce, Talabecland dominates the Empire's internal trade routes.
[ ] Wissenland: Famous for the Imperial Gunnery School of Nuln, Wissenland is a productive land of industry and technology.
[ ] Rootless: You either travelled too much to build up contacts, or lost them somewhere along the way. +1 shinies
Gender - no mechanical effects, some cultural ones.
[ ] Male
[ ] Female
Background - will dictate your base stats. By default they will be the total of 3d6. You will reroll the lowest for a particular stat for each + you have in it, and reroll the highest for each -. Traits picked in the next step of char creation will increase or lower these scores by a set amount. Your background will also heavily effect the options available to you.
[ ] Innkeeper: Not the most typical of precursors to being a spymaster, but the ability to keep track of comings and goings and make sure nobody's going to start breaking the furniture while just looking like you're placidly cleaning a glass is a useful skill to have.
+Diplomacy, +Stewardship, -Learning
[ ] Bounty Hunter: They give you a name, you return with a head. All the steps between those two stages have honed your skills to a razor's edge.
+Martial, +Intrigue, +Diplomacy, -Learning, -Stewardship
[ ] Criminal: You started with thievery, moved up to blackmail, and reached the pinnacle of your career ruling the criminal underworld of a major city. Being master of whispers for an entire province is a logical upgrade.
+Intrigue, +Stewardship, -Faith
[ ] Exciseman: The most hated citizens in the Empire. To do your job, you had to be sneaky. To survive your job, you had to be tough. But it didn't win you any friends.
+Intrigue, +Martial, -Diplomacy
[ ] Road Warden: Your public role was to keep the roads clear and deliver important messages along them. Your secret role was to read and pass on the information in those letters. Trickier than it sounds, to read and memorize a letter at a full gallop while watching out for threats from the woods.
+Learning, +Martial, -Stewardship
[ ] Knight of Morr: You spent many years under the vow of silence of the Knights of Morr. You have a great deal of experience with combatting the undead, but your other skills have eroded.
+Martial +Faith -Diplomacy
[ ] Priest of Morr: Your battles were not physical, but spiritual. You safeguarded the souls of the dead, and now you have expanded the battlefield in your war.
+Faith +Stewardship -Intrigue
[ ] Rat Catcher: You fought the secret war under the cities of the Empire against the ratman menace. A filthy but necessary job, what you lack in refinement you make up for in the ability to win a fight in a pitch-black tunnel with a small but fierce dog as your only ally.
+Martial +Intrigue -Learning
[ ] Witch Hunter: You sought out witches, heretics and mutants wherever they hid. A very polarizing role, but a necessary one.
+Faith +Intrigue +Martial -Learning -Stewardship
[ ] Grey Wizard: You have only just completed your apprenticeship, and now are able to usefully wield the winds of Ulgu, the grey magic of shadow and illusion. Very fitting for a spymaster.
-4 shinies, +Magic
[ ] Amethyst Wizard: You have only just completed your apprenticeship, and now are able to usefully wield the winds of Shyish, the purple magic of death. Anywhere but Stirland, an Amethyst Wizard as a spymaster would be a terrifying prospect and a sign that the Elector Count has gone seriously around the bend, but in Stirland it is... still terrifying, but understandable.
-4 shinies, +Magic
Magic is absolutely a valid and interesting choice, but I do feel the need to warn you that the voting did pick Sleeper Agent, and the sort of person with enough heft to get a wizard reassigned according to their desires is going to be a much bigger deal than, say, someone pulling the strings of a rat catcher.
If there's a background you feel is an appropriate precursor to being a Spymaster that isn't listed here, post it and if I agree, I'll stat it and add it to the list.