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Moods posted:

Afraid
Bonus to: Agility, Faith
Penalty to: Royal Demeanour, Weapons, Intrigue, Military

Depressed
Bonus to: Expression, Animal Handling
Penalty to: Royal Demeanour, Conversation, Athletics

Willful
Bonus to: Intrigue, Military, Lumen
Penalty to: Royal Demeanour, History, Economics

Angry
Bonus to: Weapons, Military
Penalty to: Royal Demeanour, Expression, Animal Handling, Medicine

Yielding
Bonus to: Royal Demeanour, History, Faith
Penalty to: Weapons, Lumen

Named Characters posted:

Joslyn - King Dowager of Nova / Duke of Caloris



Elodie - Crown Princess of Nova



Lucille - Countess of Nix / Duchess-Consort of Merva

Internal Affairs 20: Your maternal uncle?s wife, the Countess Nix, claims kinship to the old Merva line and originally asked your mother for title to the Duchy. However, no one could verify her lineage. As a compromise, your mother created her brother Duke of Merva.


Laurent - Duke of Merva

Internal Affairs 10: Until you have children of your own, your maternal uncle, the Duke of Merva, is next in line for the crown, and after him would be his daughter, your cousin Charlotte.

Internal Affairs 20: Your maternal uncle?s wife, the Countess Nix, claims kinship to the old Merva line and originally asked your mother for title to the Duchy. However, no one could verify her lineage. As a compromise, your mother created her brother Duke of Merva.


Charlotte - Heir to the Duchy of Merva

Internal Affairs 10: Until you have children of your own, your maternal uncle, the Duke of Merva, is next in line for the crown, and after him would be his daughter, your cousin Charlotte.


Julianna - Duchess of Ursul

Internal Affairs 40: The Duke of Maree has paid suit to the Duchess of Ursul to no avail. The Duchess?s brother is opposed, as he will inherit if she dies childless. Your agents suspect the Duchess is actually more interested in the Duchess of Hellas. Neither has ever been linked to a man.


Banion - Duke of Maree

Internal Affairs 40: The Duke of Maree has paid suit to the Duchess of Ursul to no avail. The Duchess?s brother is opposed, as he will inherit if she dies childless. Your agents suspect the Duchess is actually more interested in the Duchess of Hellas. Neither has ever been linked to a man.

Internal Affairs 60: The Countess of Dis is now married to the disinherited third sibling of the Duke of Maree and the Duchess of Hellas. Currently, both Duke and Duchess are unwed. If either dies without an heir, a title may still pass to the Countess?s husband.


Alice - Chambermaid



Brin ? Duchess of Hellas

Internal Affairs 40: The Duke of Maree has paid suit to the Duchess of Ursul to no avail. The Duchess?s brother is opposed, as he will inherit if she dies childless. Your agents suspect the Duchess is actually more interested in the Duchess of Hellas. Neither has ever been linked to a man.

Internal Affairs 60: The Countess of Dis is now married to the disinherited third sibling of the Duke of Maree and the Duchess of Hellas. Currently, both Duke and Duchess are unwed. If either dies without an heir, a title may still pass to the Countess?s husband.


Kevan ? Earl of Io



Sirin ? Countess of Miranda and Callisto

Skills posted:

ROYAL DEMEANOUR

Composure

10: You practice deep breathing exercises, learning to find and maintain a sense of inner calm.

20: You practise positive thinking, maintaining a good self-image, and conditioning yourself to carry on rather than be frustrated by any past misstep.

Elegance

10: You practise walking along a narrow rail, taking each step carefully and focusing on your balance.

20: You practise standing and walking with books balanced on your head.

30: You practise the elegant way to hold and sip from a teacup, your pinky slightly extended for balance.

Presence

10: You practise wearing the royal regalia and looking at yourself in a mirror. Young as you are, you are a queen of the blood. You are your mother's daughter. You are a force to be reckoned with.

20: You stare at yourself in the mirror and practise focusing and transmitting energy with only your eyes, turning the "intensity" of your gaze on and off at will.

30: You practise using different styles of breathing in order to feel more energetic and to let that energy surround you for others to share.

40: You plant your feet in a strong stance, imagining that you are a tree, deeply rooted in the earth. You can feel that power within you and know that you will not be pushed aside.

50: You practise focusing your attention on individuals as you pass, letting them feel a brief connection with you before you formally acknowledge them with a nod.

60: You practise being aware of your environment, seeing everything as it transpires around you and feeling that you are in control of it all.

70: You practise giving commands to the castle staff, neither asking nor demanding, but telling them what needs to be done. As long as you believe it to be true, they will as well.

80: You practise watching people and willing them to feel your gaze on them. Inevitably, they will be drawn to you.

90: You imagine things that you want to happen in the near future, and then convince yourself and others that those things will happen.


CONVERSATION

Public Speaking

Court Manners

10: You review the correct greetings for guests according to rank and when to extend your hand to another. All nobles expect their due honors.

20: As the person of highest rank within the domain, no one may sit at any formal event unless you give them permission, and no one must ever turn their back on you. If they do, you are intended to recognize the insult.

Flattery


EXPRESSION

Decoration

Instrument

Voice


AGILITY

Dance

10: You practise curtseying, standing, and walking across the floor in a graceful manner.

Reflexes

10: Your teacher walks around you, prodding a finger at you slowly in order to train you in blocking those touches without triggering fear or faster breathing.

Flexibility


WEAPONS

Swords

10: You take up a wooden sword and practise correct grips and stances.

20: You practise slow swings to move your blade to precisely marked targets, building up your muscles and control.

30: You drill with a partner, attacking and blocking in carefully timed patterns.

Archery

Polearms


ANIMALS

Horses

Dogs

10: You visit the kennels and learn about different breeds of dogs.

20: You learn about dog grooming and the most common diseases and injuries that dogs suffer from.

30: You learn the standard commands for working with trained hunting dogs and retrievers.

40: You practice working with trained dogs in a small area, telling them to stay, search and fetch.

50: You choose a young puppy and begin raising him to respond to you over all others.

Falcons


HISTORY

Novan

Foreign Affairs

World


INTRIGUE

Internal Affairs

10: Until you have children of your own, your maternal uncle, the Duke of Merva, is next in line for the crown, and after him would be his daughter, your cousin Charlotte.

20: Your maternal uncle?s wife, the Countess Nix, claims kinship to the old Merva line and originally asked your mother for title to the Duchy. However, no one could verify her lineage. As a compromise, your mother created her brother Duke of Merva.

30: The last Duke of Mead was the older half brother of the current Duchess. His reign was brief and highly scandalous ? he defied tradition to pledge himself as the lifemate of the old Duke of Ursul, then broke that off only a year later. He retired into seclusion and died still unwed.

40: The Duke of Maree has paid suit to the Duchess of Ursul to no avail. The Duchess?s brother is opposed, as he will inherit if she dies childless. Your agents suspect the Duchess is actually more interested in the Duchess of Hellas. Neither has ever been linked to a man.

50: Countess Lieke of Dis married the old Duke of Sudbury, who was more than twice her age, then divorced him as soon as she?d borne him an heir in order to marry another. It was considered shockingly rude by the general nobility, but the old Duke apparently had no objection.

60: The Countess of Dis is now married to the disinherited third sibling of the Duke of Maree and the Duchess of Hellas. Currently, both Duke and Duchess are unwed. If either dies without an heir, a title may still pass to the Countess?s husband.

70: Several generations back, the rulers of Elath and Sedna in neighbouring Talasse married. The citizens of Elath objected to this foreign influence, and the resulting heir died in suspicious circumstances, after which the title was passed to a distant branch of the family rather than another child of the Elath-Sedna union.

What you learned from King-Dowager Joslyn aka Elodie?s father: After Fabian (Earl of Titan and Duke-Regent of Elath) passes away, the heir is young Lord Adair, who will not reach his fifteenth birthday for over two years. His step-mother is Arisse the Duchess of Lillah. The Duchies of Lillah and Elath are neighbouring territories.

What you learned from a failed Novan History check in Week 22: Lillah and Elath comprise almost the entire eastern border of the Kingdom of Nova.

What you learned from a partially successful Internal Affairs check in Week 22: Duchess Arisse?s previous husband was supposed to be a nasty piece of work. He may even have attacked Adair?s mother before her untimely death. He?s gone now, of course, but she (Duchess Arisse) is still the sort of woman who married a monster.

What you learned from King-Dowager Joslyn aka Elodie?s father: Lord Adair has a living grandfather, the Earl of Ishtar.

Foreign Intelligence

10: The current Duke of Sedna is twenty-six years old and unmarried. He might be considered a good marriage prospect for you if you desire stronger ties with the domain of Talasse.

20: The domain of Shanjia, across the sea to the west, has been steadily increasing in size, and now controls a wide range of coastline as well as most of the navigable rivers.

30: The political disruption in Tombula in recent years has caused a disruption in their chocolate production, which is to the benefit of Nova, particularly the duchy of Kigal.

40: Since their recent revolution, the Tombulans have twice begun gathering troops on the Novan border. Both times, their camps were struck by fierce storms and earthquakes, and they decided to give up on the idea.

50: Pirates are once again operating out of Orcus, although they are currently sticking to the northern seas and no threat to Nova. However, if they turn to slave raids, the Borealans may be quite vulnerable.

Ciphering

10: You practise reading words whose letters have been arranged in reverse order ? the simplest of transpositions, which anyone literate can puzzle through if they try, but sometimes useful to hide information thg is nia lpni.

20: You practise shifting substitution ciphers, where each letter is replaced by one a few steps further along the alphabet, so that ?cake and pie? becomes ?fdnh dqg slh?.

30: You practise random substitution ciphers, where the normal alphabet is replaced by one in jumbled order. This is harder to decode, but most people need a written substitution chart to read or write it, and that chart can be lost or stolen.


MEDICINE

Herbs

Battlefield

Poison

10: The first treatment for most ingested poisons is to purge the stomach by forcing the victim to eat powdered charcoal, which can absorb dangerous substances.


ECONOMICS

Accounting

10: You brush up on basic mathematics with the help of an abacus.

20: You study the manipulation of larger quantities through direct calculations, using written numbers instead of an abacus.

Trade

Production


MILITARY

Strategy

Naval Strategy

10: You learn that the sea is not something you hold, it is something you travel across. Naval strategy ensures you free travel while denying it to your enemies.

Logistics

10: You learn about the types and amounts of food required for an army on the march, and how long they will remain edible.


FAITH

Meditation

Divination

Lore


MAHOU SHOUJO

Sense Magic

10: You close your eyes and learn to feel the magic within you.

20: You practise using small amounts of magic and feeling that power outside of yourself.

Resist Magic

10: You increase your awareness of your own thoughts and emotions, making it more difficult for more-affecting magic to twist your reactions.

20: You learn to consciously project a magical field through your thoughts, blocking outside magic from touching your mind ? but only when you have the energy to consciously resist.

30: You gain innate resistance to light and dark ? you can now see in the blackest caves or stare into the sun without going blind.

40: You learn to consciously project a magical shield around your body, blocking intrusion; a powerful technique, but you can?t keep it up for long.

50: You gain increased resistance against heat and cold, becoming comfortable in different weather and environments (and able to sip hot soup without burning your tongue!)

Wield Magic

10: You learn to summon a small glowing light which you can then move around independently.

20: You learn how to cast rays of white light which can banish shadows and blind your opponents.

30: You learn to create tiny discs of solid light which can fly through the air and cut into targets.

40: By concentrating, you can create a wave of discontent which panics or enrages animals in the area.

Skill Checks posted:

Week 3
Composure ? Skill Level 10 was enough to pass

Week 5
Foreign Intelligence ? Skill Level 15.05 was enough to pass
Court Manners ? Skill Level 10.05 was enough to pass

Week 7
Elegance - Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Reflexes - Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Court Manners - Skill Level 10.05 was not enough to pass

Week 8
Production + Trade ? Production 0 / Trade 0 was not enough to pass

Week 9
Foreign Affairs = Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Military ? Strategy 0 / Naval Strategy 0 / Logistics 15.4 was enough to pass

Week 10
Novan History = Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Foreign Affairs = Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Foreign Intelligence = Skill Level 52.4 was not enough to pass
Accounting + Trade = Accounting 0 / Trade 0 was not enough to pass
Logistics = Skill Level 15.4 was not enough to pass

Week 12
Herbs + Battlefield Medicine = Herbs 0 / Battlefield Medicine 0 was not enough to pass

Week 13
Novan History = Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Internal Affairs = Skill Level 80.4 was enough for a partial success
Court Manners = Skill Level 10 was not enough to pass

Week 14
Divination = Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Falcons = Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Lore = Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Novan History = Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass

Week 16 (Leading a parade, without making a speech)
Decoration ? Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Elegance ? Skill Level 46.5 was not enough to pass

Week 17
Presence ? Skill Level 100 was enough to pass
Intrigue + Court Manners ? Intrigue 160 / Court Manners 10 was not enough to pass
Court Manners + Flattery ? Court Manners 10 / Flattery 0 was not enough to pass
Sense Magic ? Skill Level 10 was not enough to pass
Week 18
Composure ? Skill Level 39.2 was not enough to pass
Presence (If you choose ?Scorn?) ? Skill Level 100 was enough to pass
Intrigue ? Skill Level 160 was enough to pass
Choosing ?Assassins? => ?More Training? = -1 Afraid / -1 Depressed

Week 19
Accounting ? Skill Level 21.9 was not enough to pass

Week 20
Sense Magic ? Skill Level 27.3 was not enough to pass
Choosing ?Imprison? => The self-proclaimed demon-possessed murderer escapes during the next week, together with other ?dangerous criminals?

Week 22
Novan History ? Skill Level 27.3 was not enough to pass
Internal Affairs ? Skill Level 70.4 was only enough for a partial success

Weekend activity - Getting past the guards at the treasury
Accounting ? Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Skill Level 21.9 was not enough to pass
Presence - Skill Level 0 was not enough to pass
Skill Level 100 was enough to pass