Chaka
Cuddle-fiend
It is the Year of Our Lord 1340.
Norman-British rule of Ireland was at its highest point 40 years ago but by now direct rule from England is slowly but surely receding back toward lands around Dublin, a state of affairs that will persist until the time of the Tudors. The Earls of Ormond and Desmond have become largely autonomous, and large swathes of the west and north of the country remain under native Irish rule and the Norman lords who settled the areas have gone native themselves. Much of the midlands remain covered by dense, dark forests of oak and ash and travel is mostly around the coast by ship between the major ports of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. A delicate political balance is coalescing between the native inhabitants and the Norman invaders, by day.
By night a bloody war of conquest has come to an uneasy truce. The vampiric kingdom of the British Isles, the Courts of Avalon, came overseas with the Normans but other vampires were waiting. The domain of Dublin and its environs is known colloquially by vampires as The Pale (a name its mortal inhabitants will come to adopt), referring to the entrenching of the borders against incursions by the blood-soaked Lhiannan: a pagan bloodline dwindling in Europe but maintaining control of much of the heart of the island by night though the mortal populations have long since turned to Christ. A large domain, it is the province of Drest: a Pictish Brujah who rules in the name of Mithras and the Courts of Avalon. Other 'civilised' domains (known collectively as the Freeholds) exist in the major ports of Cork, Galway and Limerick, but these domains are fiercely independent and wary of the Courts. However, at least they won't waylay an unwary Cainite, torture them to the point of torpor and then diablerise them in honour of their blood-soaked goddess, so that's something.
For reasons known only to himself and his closest advisors, Drest has withdrawn his advance into the Lhiannan territory and sits in the Pale, watching the borders uneasily. There are whispers of power struggles in the Courts in Britain, certain Ventrue factions wishing to gain control of this traditionally Brujah stronghold as the War of Princes truly gets in to full swing across Europe. A tumultuous time in Cainite society, Drest's court is ringed by enemies from without and a nest of whispers within, but for its newest fledgelings it offers many possibilities for power and glory...
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That's the plan, anyway. Dark Ages Vampire, set on the oul' sod. I'm thinking a fairly sandboxy game within the setting, though there'll be a few different things on the boil in the background. In terms of clan availability, most of the High and Low clans are acceptable. Drest has many old friends and allies from his early days in Rome and is always willing to foster their fledgelings in his court, so you can be pretty much anyone from anywhere. Assamite, Tzimisce and Follower of Set are a little hard to justify purely due to georaphy, but I'll accept any justifiable and solid concept. Natively speaking, besides the Lhiannan (who I won't be accepting PC characters of, by the way
) the island has played host primarily to Gangrel, Brujah and Nosferatu, though the monastic tradition meant there are also populations of native Malkavians and Cappadocians, and in former times a number of Salubri. Tremere have been appearing in the port towns and cities on the strength of the scholarly tradition, but in small numbers. Other clans are less likely to occur natively, but most of the western European clans have at least some small presence in the population.
I've already had a couple of people interested, but I wanted to open recruitment generally. So. Come at me, bros.
Norman-British rule of Ireland was at its highest point 40 years ago but by now direct rule from England is slowly but surely receding back toward lands around Dublin, a state of affairs that will persist until the time of the Tudors. The Earls of Ormond and Desmond have become largely autonomous, and large swathes of the west and north of the country remain under native Irish rule and the Norman lords who settled the areas have gone native themselves. Much of the midlands remain covered by dense, dark forests of oak and ash and travel is mostly around the coast by ship between the major ports of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. A delicate political balance is coalescing between the native inhabitants and the Norman invaders, by day.
By night a bloody war of conquest has come to an uneasy truce. The vampiric kingdom of the British Isles, the Courts of Avalon, came overseas with the Normans but other vampires were waiting. The domain of Dublin and its environs is known colloquially by vampires as The Pale (a name its mortal inhabitants will come to adopt), referring to the entrenching of the borders against incursions by the blood-soaked Lhiannan: a pagan bloodline dwindling in Europe but maintaining control of much of the heart of the island by night though the mortal populations have long since turned to Christ. A large domain, it is the province of Drest: a Pictish Brujah who rules in the name of Mithras and the Courts of Avalon. Other 'civilised' domains (known collectively as the Freeholds) exist in the major ports of Cork, Galway and Limerick, but these domains are fiercely independent and wary of the Courts. However, at least they won't waylay an unwary Cainite, torture them to the point of torpor and then diablerise them in honour of their blood-soaked goddess, so that's something.
For reasons known only to himself and his closest advisors, Drest has withdrawn his advance into the Lhiannan territory and sits in the Pale, watching the borders uneasily. There are whispers of power struggles in the Courts in Britain, certain Ventrue factions wishing to gain control of this traditionally Brujah stronghold as the War of Princes truly gets in to full swing across Europe. A tumultuous time in Cainite society, Drest's court is ringed by enemies from without and a nest of whispers within, but for its newest fledgelings it offers many possibilities for power and glory...
__________________________________________________
That's the plan, anyway. Dark Ages Vampire, set on the oul' sod. I'm thinking a fairly sandboxy game within the setting, though there'll be a few different things on the boil in the background. In terms of clan availability, most of the High and Low clans are acceptable. Drest has many old friends and allies from his early days in Rome and is always willing to foster their fledgelings in his court, so you can be pretty much anyone from anywhere. Assamite, Tzimisce and Follower of Set are a little hard to justify purely due to georaphy, but I'll accept any justifiable and solid concept. Natively speaking, besides the Lhiannan (who I won't be accepting PC characters of, by the way
) the island has played host primarily to Gangrel, Brujah and Nosferatu, though the monastic tradition meant there are also populations of native Malkavians and Cappadocians, and in former times a number of Salubri. Tremere have been appearing in the port towns and cities on the strength of the scholarly tradition, but in small numbers. Other clans are less likely to occur natively, but most of the western European clans have at least some small presence in the population.I've already had a couple of people interested, but I wanted to open recruitment generally. So. Come at me, bros.
