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A package is returned from Baz'eel, borne by a terracotta servant.

Precious Tariq,

Fdiz has removed your garden, but with this parcel is a handful of the soil from there, for your memory and mine. He has graduated to the Adliye, and I will say no more.

No doubt your demeanor has afforded you this hospitality. For this I thank B'aara. I hope you find the source of the blasphemy you mention, and through the reeds.

The Hakem has been in negotiations with the Murshids of the Grand Academy and the Majordomo of Ephia's Well for some time before you were given your leave. There are still some details, they say, but you may tell this Legate that the Sepulchre expects that his Maqbara may be ready for a war soon. That you and the Hakim were of the same mind pleases me.

May you partake of pear and medlar by the slow and high river.

Reverend Wulouq


Another letter included.

Tariq,

You're required to draft this into a contract to be signed by the governor, Bey, or Emir that this Legate (whatever that is) presumably serves. Be certain it does not leak, and seal it with Urazzir's resin. Angles, nephew.

1. That Twindari office (it) is installed and operated by the Sepulchre, in their Hall of Jurisprudence, without retainer nor interference by their scribes, magistrates, and bursar.
2. That its administration of the Adliye's blessings will be acknowledged, and that their jurisprudence will be recorded and reviewed by it.
3. That its advice, offered when pious or necessary, to magistrates and other officials in law, will be heeded.
4. That it will not be dissolved until the Sultan or his family or a standing Hakim dissolve it.

I believe you studied contracts before you disappointed your father, so it should not be an issue.

Notify me when it is ready. Salhin heard.

Avukat Umil Salah

[A note arranged in accordance to the specifics of the advertisement, put somewhere to be found:]

To the Upstanding Gentleman,

Quaint pseudonym, hopefully you are not some paradigm of irony, but the genuine article.

I will divulge one detail regarding my character, and leave the rest anonymous, it is this:
I hate puns.

For one thousand and six hundred dinars I would have silenced indefinitely whatever wastrel uses the bellows for to quip highly irritating, rote, and plebian pablum on such subjects as the nature of camels or the transactions of archaeologists.

For another five hundred, you would leave his body berobed in the attire of a jester, crucified outside the Gate of Coin, with some derisive jest of your own. As I despise witless humor, I will not prescribe the specific message. I hope you have a creative streak. If my seneschal finds it amusing, it will suffice.

The due will be paid in the private room of the Sultan's Head by a servant when the rubric is met, the next full moon after the deed is publicly noticed.

As you might perceive if you are capable of insightful perceptions, or infer if your wits are about you, the Union is incredibly busy; and moreso the Representative Hornsby entertains as he magnanimously wills or schedule allows, being the proprietor of the most fruitful enterprise in Ephia's Well.

That said, the ear of the Shop Steward is, perforce, available to the public, and may be bent on occasion by those with worthful business. And, while your flattering overtures strum a fine chord, the kernel of the message is absolutely obscure.

However, curiosity piqued, you may meet with me two weeks hence, and persuade me you are not simply another bag of air, like certain former Magistrates. Perhaps you will take this opportunity to refine and hone the edge of your intent.

- Shop Steward Caratrieste

Gamers in this thread.

No longer accepting PCs for this group for the time being.

Ultimately, this is intended. Human PCs, by design, are the preferred race to play in Chapter 5. If you want to be involved in these factions and mechanics, you are encouraged to come up with Human PC concepts.

That said, non-human PCs that do an excellent job of fitting into or going against the grain of these norms will be noticed and rewarded.

e.g. An Elf in House Velstra who acts servile and demeans himself, but is plotting and scheming for how own benefit (thing eunuchs in ancient courts). A gnome that styles herself a Blacktongue and dangerously flaunts and goads an established faction. A strong heart halfling that knows he can't join House Glitt, but becomes a "squire" of one of their retainers by carrying all their stuff around, and RPing fawning enthusiasm and blind sycophancy.

There are OUB non-house prestige items in each house store now that are intended to be gifts to non-retainer allies that could help facilitate such unofficial allegiances.

[Prestige Stores]

Hello everyone.

A lot has changed in the political landscape of the Peerage since much of the v5 content guidelines were published, and things have been added or removed piecemeal, and the Ward has become the main hub for the entire setting. It's time to tidy things up a bit!

Updated House association and NPC profiles (based on content within the association private forums) for each association are now updated and posted in public forums for everyone to consider and review when thinking about concepts or comparing notes about the trajectory and unique tone of each House.

Furthermore, the regional profiles are now tidied up to match, and provide a useful at-a-glance for new and seasoned players for the hub areas and environs (including newly introduced areas). Hopefully this is helpful, and any questions regarding clarity are welcome, and we can expand those posts if necessary.

House Moonspear has undergone a reorganization in tone, aim, and leadership to more properly suit the Peerage Ward setting, and to encourage creative exploration of aspects of the Peerage's history.

House Orza and House Moonspear now have the option for players to engage in low-consequence PvP in their faction HQs without DM oversight, despite the presence of blue NPCs. This is intended to accentuate their bellicose natures, and encourage more player duels. Note that this is not for sparring and not for serious PvP. Full damage, yank pack, blackout, and other high-consequence PvP behavior still requires DM oversight in these areas. Please respect the intent behind this exception to our rules, and make the most of it!


Prestige Stores

All four Great Houses are receiving sweeping updates to their equipment stores. This is a comprehensive update intended to diversify build options, suppress undesirable imbalances, create equivalence across all four stores in terms of cost and power, articulate each house's flavor better, and properly evaluate Prestige points.

1) I'm excited to announce the return of Prestige Wager items. They are now House-specific. These items are meant to be tools for RP related to duels, gifts for exceptional aid, or donatives for serious favors. Selling, looting, or gifting without strong IC reasons is discouraged OOC and IC. Please use this system respectfully so we can keep it around! Note that prestige point redemption value is 90% of the cost for these items, to reflect IC depreciation and to prevent exploitation.

2) The stores now offer a cloak item that can be gifted to any PC not affiliated with the House, other Houses, or other DM factions or associations. They are intended to be tokens of favor to allies and federals of that House who are not retainers, and wish to fly the colors.

3) Full plate is no longer an introductory uniform option, and must be purchased at the store. Breastplate (medium, 5/2) is now the heaviest introductory uniform.

4) All armor types have a MW upgrade, and cloth has a separate option for spell slots. MW Plate is now significantly more expensive. MW cloaks have been discontinued. DI items and other elite equipments are now limited and are only available as DM handouts. Each store has several unique items, consumables, and flavor options. More may be in the pipe!

5) Not all faction gear is in the store! Some of the best equipment is available as rewards from DMs for exemplary or interesting roleplaying as a retainer. These are on display in trophy cases.

We will not officially be offering refunds or exchanges for current prestige equipment. Some items have been improved, others have been nerfed. If you think you have a special case, please contact DM Secutor, I'd be happy to discuss. The exception will be current House Moonspear PCs, which I will contact via their discord channel. If you notice any issues with the new store items, please contact DM Secutor.

You will also note that several items are no longer in the store. Some of these have made their way to an Elite equipment case in each HQ, and can be considered earnable DM loot, a la the Royal Huntsman or the Arenas. I haven't finished populating these inventories as of this post, so please keep an eye on them for new and returning gear!

Please use your best judgement regarding the IC vs OOC-retroactive natures of these changes. House Moonspear, for instance, is undergoing massive tonal changes in accordance with IC shifts in leadership, so their new armory would be completely IC. Other Houses, seeing an influx in new retainers from the increasing population of the Ward, may have decided, IC, against offering Full Plate right away to fresh recruits. E.g. Velstra is reserving its supply for winter; Glitt is rolling out new equipment, replacing the equipment tattered from years of neglect; Lord Anders and Kristoff implementing more rigorous standards... Etc.

Other things like less DI on armor should be considered OOC, and an act of game balance. We won't nitpick these points, and trust players to do their best to maintain immersion and setting coherence.


Some final qualitative notes regarding Houses and expected conduct for PCs:

1) Houses aren't enemies, they are rivals. Peerage politics are complex, but in the current state of the plot, only House Sunpurse/Senuspur is an enemy to all. The other Houses function in high-friction, non-cooperative, dysfunctional rivalry and one-up-manship. House members will be rewarded for amplifying this conflict, but will likely be squelched by the betters for implying notions of inter-House war until IC events dictate otherwise. Going full bore over Dispensaries, IC-justified FDs, and waging pitched fights upon outposts outside of the Ward are also encouraged under the umbrella of dysfunctional rivalry.

2) Each House isn't a bloc. Intra-House conflict is welcome and encouraged.

3) Don't hesitate to notify the DM team if you feel your PC has conducted Prestige-worthy deeds. PC notes and screenshots assist in this. We are happy to reward House PCs with these points in lieu of XP.

4) If NPC leaders discover that PCs are doing things like hanging out in the ponds or the moil, or questing with changelings Prestige will be deducted or they will expel that PC from their House.

Not taking quests that your PC would not is a time honored tradition. We could set up variables on these NPCs to make it impossible for peerage PCs to do so, but that will only cause more problems. Player discretion is required, and may lead to interesting RP!

Some clarity regarding non humans as retainers is forthcoming, but we can't help it if there are a lot of sympathetic PCs organizing for equality and fairness active at this time.

When we possess NPCs we do our best to represent the ongoing disdain for non humans that is a permanent aspect of the Ward's history and culture. Hopefully the new areas aid in reflecting this.

Hello, this thread has been cleaned up for presentability. Take that how you will.

If you would like to contribute to the discussion relating to Howland's original post, please feel free.

This will be resolved soon.

Hello!

I am looking for sartorialistes to arrange some nice outfits for NPCs to create color and variety for in-game appearances.
This is an open invitation to submit armor pieces, predominately cloth, suitable for the COR setting: from foppish baronet to druther-scum waif, gilded campione of the arena to  deep ring gut-ripper.

You can download the .hak files in #player-workshop on Discord.

Please submit a screenshot and an .erf file (export from your toolset creation) to #fashion-police.

Please be mindful of model gender, and add [Male] or [Female] to the item name if it is intended to be only for that gender. Massive cleavage is discouraged unless thematic... I know that limits things.

And have fun!

Noted, this will be improved soon.

I will be running a prelude for 2-5 non-alt PCs. Evil, human, and antagonists. You will start at a reasonable level and with reasonable equipment. It is not likely to be a long-term commitment, but it should be intense with PvP and plot beats.

Please send me a discord message only if you are sure you are interested, rather than with clarifying questions.

The prelude will happen ASAP depending on applications and other factors. Thanks for your interest!

Edit: All timezones are welcome, but US timezones will be best supported.

Closed. Thank you for your submissions!

Hello, I am looking for a volunteer to write a canonical book based in the Peerage. It is intended to be a romantic recount of chivalrous or cunning deeds. Please send a little sample of your writing to me on discord if you are interested.

Of course, I'm happy to make some nice loot for your PC after completion, if your work is selected.