March Q&A Answer Post

Apologies for the lateness of this - I will try to make sure I post the April one in better time, and I hope you enjoy!

As someone who polyed with Max and Delacroix but got engaged to Blaise, what does that mean for the 4 of us by the time of Honor Bound?

That's something where I’m happy to leave it open for players to headcanon. The specifics on that particular branch were unfortunately too complex to include references to in the Honor Bound scene - there was so much to account for there!

The other element is that while I could maybe see Max and Delacroix being fairly chill about it, I could also see Blaise having some difficulties in adapting to a polyamorous romance, and while it could be possible for it to be resolved in some way, that’s something that would be complicated and emotional enough that I wouldn’t want to summarise it without the player getting to play through it onscreen.

So, please feel free to imagine what feels right for your MC and relationship! It could be that Blaise moves to Teran and was too busy to come to Elene’s Prospect; it could be that they have a different kind of living arrangement; I wouldn’t break up the PC’s romance offscreen, so you can be assured that they could all be together in some way, but it’s open for your own interpretation that’s right for you.

If Honor Bound ROs played TEHT, who would they romance?

This was such an interesting one to think about, and I'm still not totally sure on it. It'll be interesting to revisit once I've written more of the TEHT characters! I’m answering this with a haphazard combination of the Honor Bound ROs self-inserting and going for people they generally think are interesting.

Denario: Nikita

Fiore: Armell

Matia: Val

Raffi: Roschin

Savarel: Kiriyak

Korzha: Armell

Okay one of most memorable play throughs of Royal Affairs was where the MC had not quite polyamorous relationships with Javi and Dominque. The relationship with Javi was platonic while the relationship with Dominque was physical. For roleplay purposes, Javi and Dominque are cuddle buddies. I thought that Zaledo would be the better place for them. But how does the Royal court in Zaledo treat them? Are they accepted? I’m kind of curious how it plays out .. 

Aw, that’s a nice dynamic! I think that in Zaledo that would be considered within the area of scandal - there would be whispers about the fact that the MC had a physical relationship with Dominique while being with Javi, and there might be some concern from Javi’s parents about how Javi felt about it. But certainly Javi’s parents would be OK with that if they were sure that Javi was, and that Dominique wouldn’t be a political liability. Dominique wouldn’t have an official consort title, and nor could they get married as a trio, although the MC and Javi could award them a Zaledoan title if they wanted to.

I am fascinated by the concept of illegal charms and remedies, why Rizhala might ban them, what the concept of Rizhala law means in terms of the town's jurisdiction, are there conflicts between people like Roschin and people who live near Rizhala but are not necessarily a part of that community? Are the charms and remedies illegal because they don't work? Or because they do work and undercut a monopoly held by some powerful interest in the town? Or because there is something ethically and legally dubious about how they are created?

is Val breaking an unjust set of laws? Why? Do they have no other good options for generating income, or do they do it to rage against the machine? Who benefits from outlawing their charms and remedies? Are the laws old or new? If old, did they originally have a good reason that is now forgotten? Or a bad reason that is now forgotten? If new, was Val specifically targeted?

Rizhala's law technically stretches within its bounds and a bit of territory around it, but it's very loosey-goosey because there's a lot of non-owned/unclaimed land that's far away from towns or isn't claimed by farmsteads, etc. So: yes there can be conflicts between people like Roschin and people living nearby, and sometimes fights over unclaimed resources.

Charms and remedies of the kind Val uses are assumed not to work by the Rizhala leadership (whether they do or not) and there's not really a way of regulating them, so it's a general rule that it's fine to make and use them yourself - but selling them isn't allowed. Jan, the leader, does provide protective materials and instructions, some based on the priestly rituals of Vastan (the PC would recognise some of it from their experiences) and some less familiar.

Jan and the other leaders of Rizhala benefit from having greater control and awareness of who's moving in and out - not everyone would come to them for protection if they were going out to travel, but a lot of people would - and from Jan's perspective, they know for sure that their protections work so it's putting people less at risk.

I think that there were problems before this with people in Rizhala knowingly selling desperate people trash, resulting in deaths from storms - perhaps an organised group that was stamped out - though I'm not sure on the timing of it. It would have been within the last 40-50 years, I think (there are some elements I need to pin down to know exactly when it was, which I haven't done yet!) so it's a familiar state of affairs to the citizens there.

But other places aren't so bothered about it, so people from, say, Ven Lake where Issi's from might be like "umm? what?" or "yeah, I suppose when you've got such a big settlement you have to be strict" or "that's wild and I'm glad I live here" or "yep I wish our leaders were strong in that way, good to be tough on this stuff"... or whatever other opinions. Basically it's not something everyone would agree with. Val is raging against the machine, is handling grief about their grandmother badly, angered people a few too many times, and has an allergy to keeping their head down and out of trouble.

That's such an interesting setup where the theocratic leadership is the entrenched interest and yeah they do kind of have a point about whatever they've banned for safety reasons ... But they also have a monopoly. And it's a religious monopoly. And we are walking into this situation as a member of a monastic order of that religion who just happens to have God in their pocket. And how has the religion sort of grown and created institutions and what does Vashtan have to say about all this, and how are the Rizhalan leaders abusing their power and their monopoly? Did they maybe make it illegal to leave town at all without seeking protection/permission?

I think the thing I keep coming back to in everything I am reading/watching these days is "How will the people who currently have power use their resources to protect the status quo even when the status quo is objectively terrible for everyone?"

Vastan has a variety of opinions about how different places have interpreted the religion! I've enjoyed writing varied cultures and how their rituals and beliefs have diverged over the years. It's not as formal as split denominations but over a longer time period (and if there was more infrastructure and easier travel) it would likely settle into something like that.

Some of the stuff about what's going on in Rizhala, and indeed the other towns, is a bit spoilery and I need to pin down some things about how it's presented and how the leaders are seen, so I won't share toooo much in advance of it being seen onscreen. The PC isn't going to see Rizhala itself for a little while as it's a fairly long distance from them, but they'll see some ripples of its culture and leadership before they see the place for themselves. In general Rizhala presents itself as very prosperous, healthy, safe, and generous. NPCs have different opinions about that; the PC/players can decide how they feel about it!

Ven Lake is a bit less traditional, with rituals and festivals that are unfamiliar to the PC - and Yarigana, which is where Armell is from, has a different culture and religious practices, some of which are more traditional and the PC would recognise as being closer to what they experienced in Tulara. Yarigana has its own... let's say imperfect governmental structures and decision-making.