Kenash's Comments Questions & Suggestions Thread

[Tinnok]

If that just leaves Silverbite I'll be happy to jump in and claim it!

[Banickle]

Wren & Tin, I say, go for it! However, just do me a favor and PM the PCs who are family members from each plantation to see if they have any wants or needs. I would hate for you both to craft up great locations, only to have to change something later on. Thank you, Nick

[Gossamer]

Is it possible to repost the post you made that had PC family members, updated? I'm going to post a character registry for Kenash in the main forum so we can see who is still here and who's absent. I have a feeling we lost a good deal of PCs already due to retirement, not being on the game anymore, or newbie vanishment. I kinda need a head count for quest design. Posting it in a sticky temporarily in this forum would be really really nice. Please and thank you. BTW I already named the streets after swampy things. I don't want the city to get any bigger than it is, or make little small streets just to get family names on them.

[Gossamer]

Slavery I would like all of you Dynasty people to read this really great PBS piece on antebellum slavery. Its in four parts, but part four I think is the most pertinent to Kenash and her plantations. I was having a conversation with one of the Kenash PCs last night and when sharing our views about slavery, I discovered his vision and my vision was vastly different. This is not a bad thing, but then I wondered what other people were thinking and feeling on this rather sensitive topic. In essence I was thinking each plantation had around twenty to thirty slaves. I'm not sure where I got that number, but I do remember in some of my college studies on Anthro and History, I had the impression that was a common number on plantations. Anyhow here's what PBS has to say about The Conditions of Antebellum Slavery. The standard image of Southern slavery is that of a large plantation with hundreds of slaves. In fact, such situations were rare. Fully 3/4 of Southern whites did not even own slaves; of those who did, 88% owned twenty or fewer. Whites who did not own slaves were primarily yeoman farmers. Practically speaking, the institution of slavery did not help these people. And yet most non-slaveholding white Southerners identified with and defended the institution of slavery. Though many resented the wealth and power of the large slaveholders, they aspired to own slaves themselves and to join the privileged ranks. In addition, slavery gave the farmers a group of people to feel superior to. They may have been poor, but they were not slaves, and they were not black. They gained a sense of power simply by being white. Now, Kenash is not the South. I realize that. But what we know of plantation life is based on the southern US and places like Jamaica where these practices were standard. Well the PC had it in his mind that there were hundreds per plantations, and he wanted them living in separate slave villages scattered around his particular Kenash plantation. Okay, this wasn't what I had in mind so I asked more questions and decided to get more of a feel for what he was thinking. The reason? Kenash isn't outside of the general Mizahar conditions. Things are still dangerous, between wild animals, unassociated people, and all kinds of dangerous things including djed storms, rujaro & drykas raids etc. There are no villages around Mizahar because its too hard to protect them. Even south of Sylira in the Syliran Fields, they must be heavily patrolled by Syliran Knights to keep the farmers safe. So my vision was that the plantation house was like a core of a mini fortress patrolled area with slaves living in close proximity to it, and any outside buildings like barns, smoke houses, storage facilities, processing things are all in that area as well. If they are close at hand, they can be guarded and defended better. You don't have to walk out of the back door of the plantation and into the slave quarters, but they need to be close - out of sight is fine - for defensive reasons. Its still dangerous to work the fields. Its still dangerous to be outside after dark. So what did you guys have in mind for your counts? I'll have the plantations up today, and I'm probably going to post a chart form for acres and slaves held by the family as well. I'd love to hear your thoughts before I post the chart and final plantation map.

[Wrenmae]

Well, granted that this is based off the South...I was thinking at least up to fifty slaves per plantation. I saw these plantations as at least large examples of their kind, always trying to expand.

Since I had understood that Kenash was the kind of climate that allowed growing year round, I figured that the property would be divided into four sections...and that each season the families would be harvesting a different part of their land...at least to keep trade moving.


But that's just what I saw, personally.



Edit: Ok, this hasn't been done yet...but I want to put out there that I really want something crazy to happen in Kenash so someone can say "Radacke-ulous!"

[Katherine Morealis]

From what I remember from our class readings on American History, 50 slaves per plantation (the average sized ones) sounds about right. This number already includes those working inside the mansions directly under their masters. In my head the lands of each Dynasty are huge, but they're not as large to gain hundreds of slaves as a plantation owned only by one family who's not sharing them with 11 others.

[Gossamer]

Chart forthcoming

[Jaadis Sitai]

Nice job on all the maps, Gossamer, they look fantastic! I also love how the thirteenth plantation is still included on that last one...I really want to know what happens with them!

As for slaves, the thing we have to remember is that in, most cases, plantations were little more than a single white family unit and their household of slaves, with a couple to work the field as well...there were not many plantations that held endless fields of cotton and hundreds of slaves to work them. A plantation with 100 slaves alone was considered to be huge...but I'd have to say Kenash is a bit different from the old south in this regard. We have all of twelve families with many, many acres of land (or so I assume from that last map), so they're going to need many more workers to keep up with their amount of crops. So I'd say they would have more slaves than the average southern household...not by much, but maybe 80 or 90 slaves per plantation?

I definitely agree with your centralized and heavily guarded slave quarters idea, though.

A couple of questions. Do freeborn work the fields as well as slaves? What about plantation members? Perhaps an out-of-favor cousin is sentenced to pick cotton for a day or two?

Second, how does one actually reach the city of Kenash? I know the Kabrin Road reaches Kenash, but it's not on the map so I figured I might ask. Does it like snake through the plantations or something?

Switching topics, I'd like to just apologize for the whole slave and employment debacle Gossamer talked about a page or two back...I'm definitely one of the main perpetrators of that, and I really hope I didn't lead anyone else into making the same mistake I did. Rest assured, I'm getting that worked out ASAP.

Thanks!

[Banickle]

Dynasty PC Key NPC Relation PC Relation(s) CS Status BP Status Location Write-Up J'aqil Konrath Aunt of Konrath HOH None Posted WIP Tea Room Submitted In Draft Adair Askara Cousin of Askara HOH Alexandre Posted WIP Tattoo Parlor Submitted Posted WIP Alexandre Askara Cousin of Askara HOH Adair Posted WIP Scribe Shop Submitted Posted WIP Jael Sitai Son of Sitai HOH Jaadis, Jed Posted WIP Hemp Shop Submitted Posted WIP Jaadis Sitai Niece of Sitai HOH Jael, Jed Posted WIP Brothel Submitted In Draft? Jed Sitai Son of Sitai HOH Jael, Jaadis Posted WIP Perfumery Submitted Posted WIP Verena Lorak Sister of Lorak HOH None Posted WIP Clinic Submitted Posted WIP Jack Draer Son of Draer HOH Opal Posted WIP Brewery Submitted In Draft? Opal Draer Sister of Draer HOH Jack Posted WIP Music Shop Submitted In Draft? Rowan Morealis Brother of Morealis HOH Katherine, Solene In Draft? Not Submitted No BP Yet Katherine Morealis Niece of Morealis HOH Rowan, Solene Posted WIP Cosmetic Shop Submitted In Draft? Solene Radacke Niece of Morealis HOH Rowan, Katherine Posted WIP Not Submitted No BP Yet Adrienna Lynint Niece of Lynint HOH None Posted WIP Pet Shop Submitted In Draft? Keba Ackina Nephew of Ackina HOH Ophelia Posted WIP Not Submitted No BP Yet Ophelia Ackina Sister of Ackina HOH Keba Posted WIP Slave Boutique Submitted In Draft? Favre Zulaca "Son" of Zulaca HOH None Posted WIP Tailor Shop Submitted Posted WIP Slave PC Plantation Position PC Connection CS Status Lilou Draer Field Slave Jack, Opal & Spoons Posted WIP Spoons Draer House Slave Jack, Opal & Lilou Posted WIP Mitti Morealis Field Slave Rowan & Katherine Posted WIP Coal Radacke Field Slave Solene Posted WIP Liana Ackina Field Slave Keba & Ophelia In Draft? Sevonne Zulaca Field Slave Favre Posted WIP Freeborn PC Allied With? CS Status BP Status Location Write-Up Haeli Twilight Lorak Posted Herb Shop Submitted Posted Adelix Thracewake Unknown Posted WIP Looking for Work N/A Rathe Keogh Unknown Posted Looking for Work N/A Sypha Kai Unknown In Draft? Looking for Work N/A Garush Saltspray Unknown Posted WIP Working at Lighthouse N/A

[Banickle]

Okay, Goss, the above charts reflect what I have as of this very moment in time. It looks like we have 24 active (or semi-active) PCs, with one or two coming up the path. I know Selena Snowsong has a slave CS posted and Sypha Kai was asking about being a freeborn mercenary. I removed the following PCs from all of my trackers and lists because they have either not said a word in weeks or have no CS/BP: Alexis Morealis, Athus Morealis, Isabella Radacke and Samust Radacke. I'm assuming at this point that Coraline Draer is also out, since the mod linked to her retired. I left Jael Sitai in the mix, regardless of the fact that the mod linked to him also retired. He has a CS and a BP, as well as a location write-up, and he logged in just a few days ago. The only other PCs I'm concerned about, which I left in the mix, are Solene Radacke, Adrienne Lynint, and Keba Ackina. They haven't said much in the last few weeks, however, they all have CSs and one of them - Adrienne - even went as far as submitting a BP. So, for now, they're in...I guess. Oh, and I haven't seen anything from Rykanis since his spy idea was turned down. I pm'd him with an offer to work with J'aqil, but no reply yet. I think that's everyone and everything. If anyone is reading this and going, "OMG! I totally forgot about Kenash!" or "OMG! Banickle forgot about me! That jerk!", please, for the love of the gods above, speak up now! Time is running out! Long live Kenash, Nick