Kenash's Comments Questions & Suggestions Thread

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Kenash's Comments Questions & Suggestions Thread

Postby Gossamer on May 24th, 2013, 5:48 am

Families...if they want...can have consortia pages.

Phil...Yes all other usurper families and clans are fed to gators. If you want a proud family heritage/history...join a family. This is a no brainer. Don't create your own. We smack down such independence... or get NPCs to do so.
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Kenash's Comments Questions & Suggestions Thread

Postby Philomena on May 24th, 2013, 10:53 pm

Talking to Banickle today, we wer ethinking about ways to provide interesting elements for the slave characters. So I was thinking of writing a series of articles on the treatment of slaves by each of the different families. Here's on, about the Sitai - if this seems like a horrid idea, do let me know. Otherwise, glad to hear suggestions...


The slaves of the Sitai family can be divided into two basic classes, raised for very different purposes an dunder very different conditions.

The first of these classes is what the rich upperclass of Kenash calls commonly the "Sitairites" -the famed pleasure slaves of the Sitai. Selected from the stock of the Sitai, and sometimes even purchased from the promising stock of other families, Sitairites enter an intense training regimen beginning no later than seven years old. The Sitairite education begins with etiquette and grace, as well as the acquisition of parlor skills, but it advances with the onset of puberty to mor complex and adult subjects.

Sitairites are infused from a young age with a strong sense of individual pride in their position, and are taught, as well, in the religious worship of Nikali - this is one reason they are initiated at such a young age. They are not simply slave prostitutes, though the external understanding of them as such is remarkably common. Instead, they are trained as 'companions', with great expertise not only in entertaining their masters, but also in lubricating social situations, and bringing others out of their shells, socially. This combination of propriety and social skill makes them particular favorite, for instance, of Morealis house, while their pliability and sensitivity has made them popular with the Askara.

Sitairites are raised and trained in an outbuilding of the plantation, known colloquially as The Den. The instructors there are, in general, older Sitairites of both genders. The Den itself is strictly off limits to any but the members of the House Sitai.

There four stages in the life of a Sitairite. The first of these begins with the induction ceremony. The young child is taken to the Den, where the older children go through the complex process of "Washing up", an almost ritual transformation of the physical aspects of the child's appearance. This is usually a day long affair, both because of the intensity of the activity, and because many of the activities involve teaching the child to perform the services for themselves in the future. "Washing up" culminates in "Dolling", where the child is brought before the Elders of the Den, who examine her and design her series of scents, and the palette of her makeup. The child is then taught to apply both - both male and female Sitaireites are famed for their complex makeup and scent.

From here, the children enter on the life of a "Bluey", so called for the Indigo blue smocks they wear. A Bluey's life is at once more physically difficult and emotionally simple than a true Sitairite. The Bluey's wear their makeup and scent, and are judged largely n how week they can keep this intact throughout the day. But their dress is practical, and their work largely mundane. Aside from the several hours of learning they do in the morning, most of their day consists of simple manual labor - they clean the Den, prepare food, and tend to the older Sitairites.

The Bluey's are never to leave the doors of the Den, except in cases of severe emergency. One of the first lessons a Sitairite is given, in fact, is the Tale of the Three Blueys, which retells the story of three young Blueys who chose to die rather than break this vow. In reality, the Blueys are worth too much to be discarded in the name of an ideal, and in cases of severe illness, for example, they will be taken out for treatment. But a Bluey who breaks the rule willfully finds that it still has teeth - once a decade or so, a child will try to escape the Den. They are publicly whipped and executed, no matter the age.

The one exception, if it can be called one, to this cloistered existence is the system of Lending. I this system, a Bluey can be lent for the years until they reach puberty as a personal maid. This arrangement is uncommon, and comes with the implicit promise that the borrower will purchase the Bluey later, when they are grown into their full maturity. Even so, normally a Bluey is Lent only in conjunction with a full Sitairite, who they will assist in their dressing. The Oath also comes with the promise that the Bluey will be allowed to cloister herself within the dressing chamber, and avoid company apart from the person whom they will dress.

The Blueys are intended, however, to learn to be social experts, so they must be exposed to society. As such, the Sitai institute Tenth-days, a sort of family holiday, in which favored members of the family are invited by the Patriarch of the Sitai to spend the afternoon and evening in the calling room of the Lodge, where they are entertained and served by the inhabitants. The Blueys are often given prize positions in these entertainments, so as to allow the Sitai to oversee their education and ensure they are being properly trained.

At the age of nine for girls, or eleven for boys, the Blueys are inducted into the next stage of their life through a ritual 'education' of sorts known as "Freshening." The actual outlines of this initiation are largely left vague to the outside world, but there is a great deal of education involved on subjects cogent to puberty. From here they enter the second stage of Sitairite life: Parlour Girls or Boys. A Parlour Girl begins a more active education in all of the arts of a Sitairite, and are taken out of the Den for specific balls and parties, to act first as observers, then later as entertainers and conversationalists in their own rite. This period is actually the one in which Sitairites are most commonly seen by the outside world, as they are available for parties at a very minimal charge as they perfect their skills.

When they turn sixteen, they begin to be examined by the Elders of the Den, to see how their skills are progressing. When they are proclaimed ready, usually sometime before nineteen, the are initiated into the full Sitairite phase of their life.

This initiation, the "Blooming" is the most famous outside the Sitai family. It begins with a ritual tattooing, in which they are given a second inking of the Sitai crest on their pelvis. It then progresses to a ritual auctioning of the Sitairite's virginity. This is not a true slave auction - the Sitairite is not purchased, during the Blooming, only a night of her time - but fair specimens have been known to fetch quite high prices. These Auctions take place on a scaffold outside the Den, in the gardens of the Sitai plantation.

From there, many Sitairites remain as servants of the Sitai themselves, sometimes being hired out for parties, sometimes serving as attendants or courtesans to their masters. These Sitairites, when they grow older, eventually enter the final stage of Elder. An Elder is retired back into the Den, to educate the next generation of Blueys and Parlor Girls/Boys.

The illusion would be that Sitairites are vexed as something more than a slave. In fact? They are in many ways less. The Sitairites are treasured, but more as objets of art, than as people - love for a Sitairite would be, amongst the Sitai, an occasion for both derision and horror by other members of the family. Nor are the Sitairites immune to the horrors of other slaves. The Sitai have been known, for instance, to celebrate a particularly important family event - the birth or ascension of an heir to the family, or a milestone birthday or anniversary, by a family party in which one of the Sitairites is 'artistically killed' - tales of artistic killings of the past, in fact, are some of the treasured lore of the family. Additionally, there are no compunctions about using a Sitairite to slake even the most unpleasant of lusts.

The only exception to this is found in the spat between the Sitai and the Dhani family of Kenash. One of the Dhani once purchased a Sitai, then turned around and sent permanently as a field labor, as a sort of private joke. This offended not any sense of humanity amongst the Sitai, but rather their sense of family pride - the act is still seen as a direct insult to the artistry ad talent involved in the farming and harvest of Sitairites. In the end, this is essentially how the Sitai see the Sitairites - as, more or less, simply another crop, the most potent drug they produce.

Contrary to the beliefs and stories of other families, however, the Sitairites are not at all common in the population of the Sitai slaves. Most of the Sitai's chattel, as with most families, do the work of the family - they work as field hands, house servants, shop servants, and personal attendants to those family members important enough to have one, but not so important as to have earned a Sitairite.

The method of control of these slaves, however, is unique to the Sitai: grey-bloom. The families research into recreational drugs in the fifth century led them to examine the Grey Poppy, a moderately common swamp flower. It had mild narcotic effects, but nothing worth trying to sell, naturally. However, when the poppies were bred and cultivated for several years, they produced a drug with a peculiar mix of effects - it was cheap to produce, maddeningly addictive, and produced none of the pleasant effects of normal narcotics.

While as a commercial product, this was a bust, the Sitai saw it for ti was - a highly effective method of control. As such, they began to lace the drug into the food supply of adult slaves, so as to bind them to the plantation. IF they were to escape, most slaves would be driven mad, killed by the effects of withdrawal, or drawn to return apologetically to their masters. punishment on the plantation follow the normal course of affairs of whippings for minor offenses, but for major ones, they have a worse punishment: The offender is locked into stocks, and then simply not given their daily dose of the drug for a varying time period based on the severity of their offense.

Greybloom is not give to the Sitairites - in fact, Sitairites are denied the pleasure of any mind altering substance, and are punished for as much as imbibing alcohol. But the rest of adult slaves will be addicts of the substance, and will suffer considerably if denied access to it for more than 24 hours.
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Kenash's Comments Questions & Suggestions Thread

Postby Banickle on May 25th, 2013, 3:51 am

THE MAGISTRATE

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This is certainly not an official write-up, so, please, take this for what it is: a WIP.

During a conversation with Gossamer yesterday, she shed some light on the role of The Magistrate. Now, for those of you under the impression that the families sort of run things on their own or that there is some sort of council, you'd be mistaken. There is one individual who oversees everything: The Magistrate.

He or she is hand selected by the Head of Household of whichever family is currently "in season." Basically, for many years now, the ruling families have decided to rotate the seat of power from one to the next with the turning of the seasons. Therefore, with this rotation comes a new Magistrate, which also means new rules and regulations...ever...single...season.

What fun!

Now, you may be thinking, what would stop a family from abusing this power? Well, for the most part, it's as simple as, what comes around, goes around. How far would a family want to push the other families, knowing that their time will come to place a Magistrate of their own? Granted, there are twelve families, so, a strategic family could peck away at another that won't sit in power for another two or three years!

For example, if the Zulacas are in power the Summer of 513 AV, they could take a few hits at the Lynints, knowing that they will not place a Magistrate until the Fall of 515 AV. Would the Lynints remember what was done to them ten or eleven seasons ago or would they forget? Time will certainly tell, literally.

Gossamer and I did discuss the idea of having The Magistrate be in charge of selling property to Freeborns, too, but it didn't get much further than that statement right there. So...additional details forthcoming!

DYNASTYPassing RotationApproaching Rotation Future Rotation
PailleSummer, 510 AVFall, 513 AV Fall, 516 AV
KonrathFall, 510 AVWinter, 513 AV Winter, 516 AV
AskaraWinter, 510 AVSpring, 514 AV Spring, 517 AV
SitaiSpring, 511 AVSummer, 514 AV Summer, 517 AV
LorakSummer, 511 AVFall, 514 AV Fall, 517 AV
DraerFall, 511 AVWinter, 514 AV Winter, 517 AV
MorealisWinter, 511 AVSpring, 515 AV Spring, 518 AV
RadackeSummer, 512 AVSummer, 515 AV Summer, 518 AV
LynintFall, 512 AVFall, 515 AV Fall, 518 AV
RajorWinter, 512 AVWinter, 515 AV Winter, 518 AV
AckinaSpring, 513 AVSpring, 516 AV Spring, 519 AV
Zulaca Summer, 513 AVSummer, 516 AV Summer, 519 AV

As you can see in the above chart - man, do I love my charts or what? - the Spring of 512 AV was skipped over. I haven't gotten a chance to run this by Gossamer yet, but I really like the idea of the Radackes being really mad that their season of power was ruined by the Djed Storm, so they demanded to be in charge the following season. This will also prove fun for those families accustom to ruling in a particular season. As you can see, all of the other families were pushed off by a season. This could get ugly. Like, really, really ugly.

Happy writing,
Nick
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Kenash's Comments Questions & Suggestions Thread

Postby Philomena on May 25th, 2013, 3:23 pm

Binky -

On the subject of the Magistrate, what limitations are placed on his power? I mean there is clearly some - for instance, it would seem the magistrate cannot arbitrarily make a law that changes things so he/she is the magistrate indefinitely. I imagine certain other protections in the 'constitution' as it were of the place too? Maybe, for example:

1) The Office of Magistrate may not overrule the head of a family on internal family affairs
2) The Office of Magistrate may not emancipate any slaves, or intercede in the punishment of slaves
3) Disputes over land boundaries are overseen by the Magistrate, but must be confirmed by the heads of family
4) The Office of Magistrate cannot charge any Head of Family with a crime.

I dunno if those are applicable - the argument could be made against them, of course, and could be made for many more, depending on how structured the office is. It could always just be a sort of informal code of honor, as well. What do you think?
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Kenash's Comments Questions & Suggestions Thread

Postby Gossamer on May 25th, 2013, 3:36 pm

I don't think you understand.


The Magistrate SETS the laws of Kenash fresh each season. He can change the laws to whatever he wants whenever he wants as soon as he ascends to office.

Can he change the rotation? Evidently yes, because they have in the past. Can they extend their length of service? Evidently yes, because they have in the past. Will they make radical changes? Sure. Maybe. It depends on how brave they are and how much repercussion they think they can take and if they have a good enough excuse.

Kenash has no constitution. Kenash has a gentleman's agreement between the head of the families. This is subject to change any time. Has it so far? No. Because the system is working. Can the magistrate intercede, kill, or emancipate a slave? Sure. Why would he though? It's a slave and thus beneath his notice.

Disputes over land boundaries are settled by the families themselves. And I visualize the boarders as fluid, ever-changing, and the biggest families keeping the most land due to their sheer size. Why would the Magistrate get involved? He'd let them duke it out especially if it potentially weakens the two families and hes not part of either one. The Magistrate can charge the head of anything with anything he wants too. He's the magistrate. He's not put in place by the head of all the families, just by a vote of his own family.

Again. There is no charter for Kenash, no constitution, and one lives or dies here by their success interacting with others, eliminating those that cause them grief, and surviving the endless rounds of law changes.
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Kenash's Comments Questions & Suggestions Thread

Postby Gossamer on May 25th, 2013, 3:49 pm

Writeups for Kenash-

Feel free to make any suggestions you'd like in this thread. This is the Comment, Questions, and Suggestion Thread. However, if you want to make a full fledged writeup, you'll need to run it by me first. I would hate for people to waste their time writing up things that are completely contrary to what I had in mind for the city or what the staff agrees on. It's great people want to help, and I'm more than willing to let family members do some writeups and submit some things about their families. But all of this will be pending the Cyphrus Staff's approval and as always I'm retaining final veto.

Please remember, slaves are not going to have education. And as Banickle wishes, they will be working themselves up into special positions via rp, and not placed into say skilled tiers immediately. As I've said before, they will not have culture. I hate rigidity and would like to see this young young city grow into what it will become through roleplay as much as through initial setup, so though we can throw guidelines out there, we will be fluid in our initial guidance.

This is one of the reasons the magistrate system was designed like it was. Leadership isn't stable. It changes. Thus the flavor and feel of Kenash should rightly change season by season for people within the city. If a Magistrate hates purple, the wearing of purple could be outlawed during his reign. It's just as simple as that.

Someone brought it to my attention they wanted formalized duels. And in doing so they wanted someone to oversee a duel and make sure the etiquette of the duel was upheld. I scratched my head at this. This city isn't filled with slothful lazy pretentious people. It's filled with strong powerful young men and women that are privileged. If one wants to kill another in a duel, they aren't going to set it up as a formal event. They are just going to go outside, have a brutal knife fight, and whichever one isn't dead at the end of it will be the winner. And if someone wants to take offense to the 'winner' while hes standing there bloody reveling in his victory while propping a foot on the dead corpse, then they will and a second fight will occur. There won't be any paces counted off, bleachers filled with people, and etiquette. It's going to be fast, brutal, and deadly. And if the person that is still alive afterwards kills someone that's important to someone else, they've just put their entire family at risk, possibly their crops, and none of their slaves will be safe stepping food either on the enemy lands or in town unprotected for a while.

Kenash will have real assassins too. Not freelancers, but definite full fledged Mortanis folks. And they are a real danger to the population. Life isn't going to be rosy, not for the rich and decidedly not for the slaves.

It would go a great deal father too, if folks kept in mind what has already been written when making proposals and asking questions or commenting.
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Kenash's Comments Questions & Suggestions Thread

Postby Philomena on May 25th, 2013, 4:24 pm

Just out of curiosity - and this is just a question, not a doubt - if Kenash is about 100 years old, how have the Askara had ten generations? Or did they come before the city?
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Postby Gossamer on May 25th, 2013, 4:45 pm

Don't worry about it! All the lore will be streamlined and make sense before the city is open. Remember, we are a WIP currently.
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Kenash's Comments Questions & Suggestions Thread

Postby Banickle on May 25th, 2013, 5:13 pm

Philomena, look at it this way. Someone that is 100 - rare, but possible - could easily have a son that is 84, and he could have a son who is 68, and he could have a son who is 52, and he could have a son who is 36, and he could have a son who is 20, and he could have a son who is 4. That's seven generation right there! Plus, they could have started with a father, son, and grandson. Also, if you haven't noticed, the Askaras are a little nuts. Perhaps a ruling figure was assassinated and he was immediately replaced, but a mandate went down that a new "generation" had begun! Whose to say they're even of the same bloodline? As Gossamer says, it will all get worked out in the end. WIP. W. I. P.

Long live Kenash,
Nick
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Postby Philomena on May 25th, 2013, 5:21 pm

*nod-nods* I figured. Just figured I'd point it out, while I ws reading through it :). Sorry,w ill shut off my editor's mode :P
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