Healthy Wife, Happy Life

[Jerial]

Through the summer it's looking shaky. NPC me if you must, I will squeeze in a post whenever possible, trust me. Number one Internet priority, right here in this URL. I am thinking that Jerial will want to trust Saruna instinctually. He will want to go with her. I'm thinking that as Jerial recovers, Fay slips back into a coma.

Now, Jerial is immediately self-serving, and will be attracted to the power of the government, and without the counsel of Fay, he will not be drawn as much into the rebellion unless he is shown the power of the subtle grassroots undercurrent.

Pending civil communication with Frug, Jerial will remain ambiguous for a while, only taking the side he feels will win unless some sense of loyalty wins him over to the opposite side. Fay has gotten him off of his self-centeredness...for now. The longer she is away, the longer the power-hungry voices have to sway him into apathy.

I love character development

[Saruna]

Alrighty, so here's my idea:

Kori has been released from the Justice Hall and thoroughly informed that he's to spy for the government, infiltrate the Paragon, and report back to them. He, in turn, goes to the Red Chalice to get thoroughly drunk.

Fayane has some sort of unforseen (or forseen but not-likely-to-happen) relapse, and collapses into unconsciousness and maybe a coma. She's put back to bed, nothing further can be done for the moment, Saruna offers Jerial, Tanobi and her a place to stay in her home.

Kori gets thoroughly drunk and loud, and Saruna sees him downstairs at the bar. A new thread begins, and whomever wants to make the transition to the new thread is more than welcome to.

The new thread will involve the sacrifice of Melagone to/by people unknown, perhaps some narrow escapes by investigating guards, and some disturbing revelations about the Paragon, as well as whatever else happens or whatever other ideas people come up with.

Tell me what you think.

[Jerial]

You completely lost me in the last paragraph. The others I get quite well. In fact, I wrote up a little summary of Jerial's stand in this entire thing in the long term. Be sure to remember that:

- Jerial is immediately self-serving
- Consequently, he will remain neutral, or switching sides often, until one side winning appears evident
- Consequently, his supposed stand with the rebellion is seriously reconsidered when Fay refuses to wake from her comatose state
- Consequently, Saruna will probably want to show him around the rebellion’s sites, have him meet their members, the normal recruiting thing
- Consequently, Jerial will probably secretly go and receive the same treatment from the government

Here’s the decision:

Jerial’s terms for joining the rebellion:
- Payment
- Equipment
- Fighting officer status (e.g. command position, but still fight in the field)
- Veteran’s salary after the coup d’etat
- Fayane.

Jerial’s terms for joining the government:
- Payment
- Battlemage equipment/training, if not a position as a battlemage
- Open usage of magic in Marn (tentative after official end of rebellion, guaranteed until then)
- Fayane.

The advantages are that Jerial is obviously, as a former mercenary in Corezo and central Eyropa, an able warrior. He will be able to give valuable information to both sides about the opposite side (tactics, leaders, weak/strong points, etc). Jerial is on officially neutral terms, meaning he could prove a pivotal assassin or carrier of similar tasks.

The disadvantages are that Jerial comes at a high price and he is volatile, able to drop allegiance at the drop of a pin if one side angers him in any way.

PLEASE READ: If this is overzealous, say so, please. Don’t sugarcoat it. I know I went a little overboard, but I wanted to capture the fact that Jerial thinks he’s more of a hero-mage-super-guy than he is. In fact, he will outright lie to get his way in this. So beware.

[Saruna]

The thing is involvement is 100% totally member choice. The whole purpose of the rebellion plot was because members kept coming up to me and asking about board wide plots, and this and that, and though at the time it was something focused on Saruna's thread, eventually when others showed interest I decided that it could function as a board wide plot (set in Marn) that could allow others to feel like their characters and character choices would have a bearing on the setting in minor or major ways, as well as achieve a feeling of belonging to something Big.

It's set up in a way so that no matter what route an individual character may want to go, the player would be able to be involved in whatever way suited them. Betrayals, loyalties, briberies, reluctances -- just about anything remains possible so long as it remains feasible to both setting and character.

You've probably noticed I harp hard on feasible, and that's because in order for a stable rp environment for anyone who chooses to play, whether they've been here a day or for years, it is imperative -- in my opinion, and for the most part frug's opinion (which is largely what I try to operate by, since we're expanding on the idea and setting and, most importantly, atmosphere he created), -- that things make sense in some way, shape or form. People come here because the setting is understandable and laid out in such a way that when new things happen it corresponds to what you already know about the setting (or, in the case of more outlandish things, gels with what's already there -- people know silver wristwatch wearing werewolves won't fly here, etc).

With all of that said, whichever route you the player choose to go in regards to the characterization of Jerial is your decision to make, so long as you do not break the plot or setting for the other players and their characters.

You do not need to explain yourself, or Jerial, unless you want to plot up ahead how things will work out (which may or may not be the purpose of this post, I can't tell). Keep in mind that as this is a cooperative writing site, things may not go as planned pending other characters and npcs. Both sides of the fight here have their own powers and plans, and can be ruthless when it suits them. But, then again, that's why most people tend to write cooperatively; you get both the feelings of creating and experiencing the story, because you will never totally know what will happen.

With all of that said, if you want to get Jerial involved but are not sure how due to his character limitations, then we can work something out.

As for the last paragraph, I am working outside influences on the rebellion situation into threads where they seem feasible. This one pretty much dropped into my lap, so I am taking the opportunity as it appeared. This is partially to help keep things moving, and partially to give characters something to do when they might otherwise have issues gelling into the overall plot.

[Saruna]

Agh, and a separate word about power and ability:

bad shit happening and characters not always getting what they want = Thar

stomping all over bad guys = not Thar

[Jerial]

You are right in that I am plotting out way in the future (IC and somewhat OOC). I believe this answers your concerns:

Overall, I believe you misunderstand me. I am preparing all you guys for what Jerial will be like as a character, so I don’t confuse people as players. Jerial has a bit of a complex system of honor and morality. As a player that won’t be around much if at all over the summer, I took the opportunity to lay the character out on the table, not the player. I personally am not giving the choice; Jerial the character will be giving the choice to both sides IC. I’m sorry if there was misunderstanding, and more so if I am misunderstanding what you said.

That said, I have to reiterate that I’m throwing all I can about Jerial out there as much as I can so that if it comes to the point where someone or a few people have to NPC me (which might not happen as, as I said, he won’t be directly involved until late in the game, and as you said, we can’t know how this will go down, and that includes OOC timeframe), though I would love him to get into some under-the-table dealings before he chooses sides, as I said before.

One more thing: the feasibility thing. I’m not sure if I know exactly where you’re coming from, but I wanted to clarify this anyway. I’m in no way trying to get Jerial the character any more than he deserves or that it is feasible he will get. I’m saying that IC, Jerial will want these things, having a bit of a pumped-up delusion that these rewards will indeed be fitting for his service. Of course, in the dialogue of a thread (presumably), both sides would shut him down, most likely. That is, unless you think differently, which is more than likely.

Finally, we have Kado and Cerion, my two NPCs that are part of a plotline that will probably not come to pass (Jerial’s father), at least not during the rebellion as I foresee it, which is unfortunate. However, they are still there, and when Jerial decides to play it both ways (no innuendo intended), they both will second-guess the rebellion side, even though as a player, I would like to see them take the rebellion’s side just for the mage-on-mage (again, no innuendo intended) battle scenes that I hope come at some point. In fact, when I came up with that idea, I believe that one point that either you or Niabi made was that they could be an (OOC) ‘counter to the battlemages’, presumably to keep it from being a slaughter on the government’s part. If I’m wrong on that, oh well, it was a cool idea.

Thanks for reading all of that if you did.

[Fayane]

This is where I pop in and say that while I had to poof (and I'm truely sorry about it) I'm back. Had some personal issues that wouldn't allow me on here, but they're gone now.

Plot wise. Fay's still in serious recovery, the only reason she was awake after her bloodlust was to make sure Saruna was okay and to see what she needed from Fay. Once all that's aside, Fay'll likely pass out for a couple days, a week tops. Seeing as we're looking to move this fast, I'm sure a loud noise or Jerial screaming and shaking her for her to wake up, just might do it.

Sides? Fay's obviously is anywhere Saruna is, she doesn't care WHAT they're fighting for atm (too delirious/tired to care) she just wants to make sure that Saruna will be fine.

Jerial I can continue to NPC you, I haven't been gone THAT long. Cya on the battlefields, tell me what you need, and let's lock and load <3

[Saruna]

Just about every character on this site has their own complex system of morality, so do not feel pressured to explain your character. It's only when a character acts way out of their established personality that we'd step in, and nothing you've listed is outside of the personality you've already had Jerial exhibit in rp and in his character sheet.

If you want Jerial to be involved it's likely he'd be forcefully coerced into joining; neither would bend to those demands. He could be found useful by whichever he encounters first, and either joins by their smooth talking or by someone more powerful than he collaring him, so to speak. Or, perhaps something goes down that requires him to temporarily work with them of his own volition for some yet unexplored reason.

And no, I don't believe either myself or Meesha talked about your npcs countering the battlemages -- we'd need a lot of mages to counter a battlemage due to their power, but it is certainly something we could work towards.

Back to plot discussion, we can either continue with the new direction or go in a different direction; I'll need to see where Kori would prefer to be placed. If you guys would rather do some fighting we can figure out a run in of some kind. Otherwise cloak and daggers -- Saruna still has yet to make actual contact with Paragon, and the government might just be spying on them, you never know.

[Jerial]

Well, now that we know that Fay is back, Jerial will not have to worry about neutrality- his loyalty is with Fayane, though he has no reason to tie in with the rebellion and he is just as likely to attack (verbally or otherwise) anyone that crosses him or threatens Fay (or indirectly Saruna, though Fay, though that's sketchy at best), be they rebel or gov. loyalist.

The whole reason I layed all that out was that I thought that Fay wouldn't be around to NPC for me when I wasn't there, so I had to re-line out what exactly Jerial's darkest intents were. Sorry to waste a half of a page arguing about something that isn't even relevant at this point. Welcome back, Fay!

I vote cloak and dagger, it is the best realm for Jerial and I would love to keep him there as it foils his personality well. And you know I love foils .

Happy to see the ball rolling on this. Now just need Cyric to get done, ahem. (Just kidding, I understand)

[Saruna]

Ah, perhaps you've misunderstood me. You don't need to take any of my comments personally; though hashing things out might be frustrating, I don't get angry with people or any writing (ic or ooc) on the board. What you might construe as an argument is me trying to make sure that everyone -- from you to new people like Ulfric, to steady players like Navarre, to old players like Erryl -- has rp that will not overlap or contradict in a breaking-plot sort of way. Me at my stubbornest is due to potential for conflict icly (and not the good kind) down the road that will cause more problems in the construction of meta-plot than is wise, or will adversely affect other players. It's a pain in the ass, yes, but I wouldn't be a moderator if I did not accept the bad along with the good.

[Jerial]

"Did we just become best friends?"

"Yup."

[Egg]

Kori posted, and is in the tavern. Saruna told me to add it ot the Happy Wife thread, so i did.

[Saruna]

Tanobi and then Fayane/Jerial should be up next!

[Tanobi Durant]

acknowledged.

[KoriStronghammer]

Roger roger.