The Sun King Wants You: To Play a Noble

[Nyr]

The Chosen Houses of Tuluk have emerged from their chaotic conflict with only five Surif Houses remaining, and one of them has prospered more than the rest:  House Kassigarh.

As the current premier House in Tuluk's Triumvirate (giving it more influence within those meetings) House Kassigarh has made its name by financing, but it has maintained its wealth and increased it by finding ways to collect.  While it is rarely mentioned aloud or to one of these individuals, many view the common employees and partisans of Kassigarh as little more than thugs, and that is not terribly far from the truth.  The House is notorious for its utilization of shadow artistry to send messages, and the messages it prefers to send consist of broken bones and threats to those that decide they are late on their repayment.  To that end, they tend to utilize shadow artists moreso than the other Houses.  Factions within the House have pushed towards different ends, and it is difficult to say which one has the most influence; some are more known than others (such as the expansionists that seek to expand interests beyond Gol Krathu or the investors that aim to turn coin into more coin).  The marked interest this House has in obsidian means that it clashes with House Nenyuk on a regular basis.

Still, one can't overlook House Winrothol, often the premier House itself until recently.  After acquiring the assets of House Uaptal having to do with mount breeding and sales, the House is beginning to see an increase in expansion in this area, something that has positively affected the House in the eyes of the common folk.  After all, it is expensive to own and maintain a slave, whereas simpler beasts of burden are more easily affordable.  The House has begun focusing more on the arts in general amid rumors that the former "Uaptal Theater" may be changing hands.  This focus extends beyond the bardic arts--many recall that Winrothol (not to mention Tenneshi) was involved in the public assassination of one of Uaptal's High Councilors.

House Tenneshi is frequently seen as the premier House in Tuluk as well.  Now the claimant of the natural resource assets owned by former House Uaptal, Tenneshi has begun to consolidate its gains in this area, surveying the fields and barrens within the city-state.  Water rights and management has become a less-visible component of the House as the Templarate has become more and more involved in this vital resource.  The House is also known for its focus on artistic craftsmanship with regard to the construction of buildings, artwork, and the maintenance of infrastructure.

House Dasari has never been as influential as the other Surif Houses, but it has remained an oddity among the Chosen.  Its employees and partisans are frequently sent out on strange tasks, gathering who-knows-what from who-knows-where.  Who knows why?  More than a few dissidents, criminals, and ne'er-do-wells have had their disappearances linked tenuously to this House and its penchant for studious experimentation.  It is rumored that Dasari knows more about herblore and related poisons than any other organization in the Known World (though Rennik may disagree).  

House Lyksae has also been one of the outliers among the Chosen.  Raised to become a Surif House only after the Liberation, the House has retained its tribal ties far more closely than any might expect.  Among the Chosen, this House is frequently snubbed for several reasons, whether it be the House's youth, its seeming disregard for reading and writing, and its late tendency towards more coarse behaviors.  The more overt tribal ties of the House provoke an interesting dichotomy among the Surif, as the Ivory's tribal origins are often vaunted; Lyksaens tend to view themselves as more noble and closer to the Sun King than all other Surif.  With the demise of both Orders, the House had been pressed into "assisting" the new templarate in training, culminating in an agreement to send its main asset, the Lyksaen Warriors (slave warriors known to be loyal to the Sun King) to the Legions.  The House has been rumored to be taking up involvement and interest in the Tribal Levies, though the extent to which they have authority over them remains to be seen.  Without a noteworthy asset apart from a dwindling house guard force, it is unclear as to what the House will do to maintain its relevance and influence in Tuluk, but it has begun taking a peculiar interest in the arts of the Ivory...



The above five houses are open for a sponsored role call.  We will accept at most two nobles.  Some things that you will need to understand in advance, prior to applying:

• You won't have a whole cadre of players working in your House; at most, you can expect only a couple of employees.  Most noble Houses do not have enough for a horde of players to handle; Oash is an exception to that rule.  Interaction and enjoyment should come from cross-clan stuff and getting out there in public, not just you and your clan.
• Expect to utilize partisans to fill in gaps on things that you need.  These can be bards or other folks like shadow artists or just the odd merchant that sucks at everything but making arrowheads for your arrowhead jewelry fetish.  Partisans are like temp workers:  you don't really trust them with much, but you trust them to do a certain job.
• If you're in Tenneshi, you're not going to be doing new building projects.  This is an OOC restriction, not an IC one.  We don't have enough need for new stuff often enough to make it a player-focused task.  If we do need something new, we may run it through Tenneshi; this is up to staff discretion.
• Governorship stuff doesn't exist for nobles anymore; don't expect to be doing that!  You will still have coin, and in fact, you should have plenty!
• Your role as a noble is to fill a niche in the game and get involved; while you are a sponsored role and a leader, you provide quite a great deal of flavor and unconventional leadership.
• While we are altering documentation and revamping the noble houses, the snippets above explain in general what these Houses will be doing so that you have a good idea of what you're going to get into; the Houses are not going to change too much from the above summaries (which will be reflected in their public documentation as well once we are done).
• Intimidated?  Don't be.  We will help!  Never played a leadership role?  That's fine, apply anyway--the worst that could happen is that you get told that someone else was selected.  Worried your House or Tuluk will change drastically while you play?  We're pretty much done with the revamp stuff in Tuluk, so what you see above should be what you get, barring a few little tweaks we'll make to public docs.

Stuff you will need to do to apply:

• put in a request (role application -- Tuluki Nobles)
• include your proposed character name, background, and ideas/plans for the character
• include familiarity with Tuluk, particularly after recent changes and the like
• include your playtimes and expectations for availability
• agreement to the stipulations of sponsored roles

This role call will close at 11:59 PM server time (EDT) on Sunday, July 13th.  We will review applications for a couple of days after that and the new nobles can expect to be in-game shortly thereafter.  Good luck!

[Nyr]

Just a reminder that this closes tomorrow!

[Nyr]

This is closed, we are reviewing apps and should get the responses out tomorrow!