One Family One Character One Life to Live

[songqu88@gmail.com]

The Basics

1. I will play one (1) family (duh)
2. I will play only one (1) character at a time
3. Said character will be a commoner
4. I will actively make my character avoid any actions that would be associated with adventuring of any sort
5. In keeping with #4, that means only that my character will never hunt monsters or undead unless "Scouting a region" reveals that there are a significant number (the outbreak dialogue that plays when there is a good chance that monsters or undead will appear later)
6. The character should be viewed more like an NPC, but will nevertheless respond if you really have to talk to him
7. In keeping with #6, the character will never actively pursue any player character interaction, with interactions limited to reactive dialogue and actions
8. Those who are not aware of this thread will receive a private OOC letter in-game from me pointing them to this thread. Hi!
9. It's in first-person
10. You can advise on where to go, but like any good commoner, the character will not be willing or able to travel too far. So really, it's whether you want him to set up shop eventually in Rines or Athol Margos, and whether he should collect materials found only in mountains all the way down in the mountains of Bym. Also, whether he really should eventually try to make a life in Grehk.
11. Adding on to #4 and #5: Hunger drives the character's actions above all else. If he ever runs out of silver for food (and other expenditures), the character can and will go out and hunt stuff, preferably for bounty.

The Story

The Norman family is a modest group, but this is not the story of their nobility and whatever game they play. This story is about the common man. Alan Norman is the eldest son of the farming and fishing region of Cjelegy. His family lives in a small hut along the coast, where his father works as a fisherman and his mother works as a seamstress. Alan, however, wants to be more than a fisherman, but as with any young man, he is unsure about just what he wants.

With cities such as Rines and Athol Margos near to the west and east, Alan believes he may one day become an apprentice in the big city, find a loving wife, start a family, and then retire to live in peace for as long as a commoner might.

Part One: Decision Day in Cjelegy

I woke up to another sunny day, the sounds of the ocean waves ever present in the distance. Some seagulls were squawking again. I got up, got dressed, ate some salted fish. The same routine for the past twenty years since I was born, minus years where I was a baby.

Dad is outside fishing. He'll only come back in the evening. Mom left for the village market to sell her cloth and buy new materials. The rest of my family is not around. They're either off somewhere in the village or the fields. I hope they don't play too many pranks on the farmers' cows.

Today I think is the right day for me to start making for the city. I don't know yet where I want to go. The stories about the two cities, Rines to the west and Athol Margos to the east, sound good. I think maybe I can live a less boring life there. Maybe the women there look prettier too.

Well, I guess I have to start somewhere. I have 9 hours to spend today, so I first visit the estate that the nobles who used to be proud to be called Normans live.

You are not welcome in the family home.

I guess they don't like me. At least it didn't waste any time.

It's time to get to work somehow though. But going in without first scouting the area is likely to get me eaten by a bear, so I will spend two hours and play it safe. One never knows what is out in the fields. Sometimes there are mad cows that fight dirty.

A scouting of the region shows that there is a noble named Celeste Deytheur, Viscountess of Cjelegy, Marshal of Guard of the Daughters Hand. I will try to go unnoticed by her. It also seems like I am the only commoner of note in the region. That makes me feel special, but I would prefer to blend in with everyone else. Maybe it is because of my ambition to move to the city that separates me, or maybe it is my own ego taking over, since I am the one writing down my report.

Now it is time to investigate how much I should be scared of monsters and undead.

You investigate the monster situation in Cjelegy. There can be no doubt that there are monsters here, aside from the many reports you can see signs of their presence yourself.
Then you turn to look for undead. You hear rumours about undead and a few who claim to have seen them from afar.

I hope I don't get eaten by a bear then, and stay close to the village when I go foraging. Let's see if there are any strange people around.

You spend an hour talking to the locals, chatting up the beggars and listening to gossip.

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any interesting rumours.

I'd say it's fortunate that there are no interesting rumors. I'd rather not get involved with anything that would break into my peaceful life.

So with four hours left before I have to go back home and help with Dad's fish and Mom's materials, I will go check the village for any unclaimed items. I don't want to wander too far since there are monsters around though, so I will go look for only the most obvious things, and avoid going into dark alleys and less inhabited parts of the village.

You wander around the rural and...
1st hour: You find nothing of value.
2nd hour: You are disturbed by peasants and militia and can not gather anything.
3rd hour: You find nothing.
4th hour: You find yourself too tired to concentrate well enough.

That was no good. At this rate I will never make it to the big city.

[Miriam Ics]

You are back? But not Artemesia.

[songqu88@gmail.com]

The Schedule

As any good commoner who follows a set pattern of activities per day, the character will follow a set amount of actions everyday.

On weekdays, the character will sleep 6-7 hours, or more depending on injuries and fatigue. The actions and time afforded for each one are as follows:

1 hour investigating
6 hours gathering
6-7 hours sleeping
The remainder is free time for the character to wander around
Travel times and monster hunting for survival (like a high level threat or lack of silver) will overrule this schedule, but the character will seek to return to normal schedule ASAP.

On weekends, the character will have the same sleep schedule as on weekdays. The actions and time for each one are as follows:
1 hour investigating
1 hour listening to rumors (about sages and wizards)
2 hours mixing with the locals
3 hours listening to rumors (about weird mortals)
2 hours scouting the region
6-7 hours sleeping
Any remaining hours are free time

Part Two

You investigate the monster situation in Cjelegy. Outside the settlements, the region is full of monsters. You have seen several yourself.
Then you turn to look for undead. You hear rumours about undead and a few who claim to have seen them from afar.

It seems like the monsters are still roaming around outside. Since I only have three silver left on me, I could go out and try to fight some of the weaker ones and sell their pelts for extra income. At least that is better than asking my parents for food. But I am horribly ill-equipped right now, so I better gather what I can first.

You wander around the rural and...
1st hour: You find nothing of value.
2nd hour: You find nothing.
3rd hour: You have found a small and used lamp that can give a little light in dark nights.
4th hour: You find nothing of value.
5th hour: You find nothing of value.
6th hour: You find nothing of value.

If I find myself travelling alone at night the lamp might be useful. I would have rather found something better to sleep in for free than the floor though. Some more items and better selling ones would also have been better. Maybe I should start searching for rarer items than the abundant ones.

[songqu88@gmail.com]

Week's Report

I got hungry so I decided to wander into random graveyards and "hunt undead". For my troubles of going out and risking my life to protect the village, I helped myself to some of the valuables stored in the "undead" tombs. Now I have 3 gold.

After that I found a strange person.

Rumours and your adventuring experience have led you to a wizard, one of the reminders of ancient times, when magic was strong. He is one of the few remaining mortals capable of shaping magic and casting spells. Most importantly for you, however, he can bind his spells into magic scrolls, which even those unfamiliar with magic can use.
Fair warning: Some scrolls are not yet implemented, you can buy them but you can not yet use them.

He can write the following scroll(s) for you, in exchange for some items that he needs for his studies:

Scroll of Glow of Health
Scroll of Teleportation

And here are the items he asks for in exchange (regardless of which scroll he writes):
2x Hair of a Maiden
2x Snakeskin
1x Murder Knife

Magic can only disrupt my peaceful normal life. I will certainly not go around cutting maidens' hair, presumably with that murder knife, with some disturbing implications. Or perhaps he means for me to use the murder knife to kill snakes for their skin and get the maiden hair some other way. I do not know, neither care. What is important is that I now have enough gold to make my way to a city, but I'd like to save just a little more first.

[Penchant]

Awesome idea. Btw, its great to see you back in the game and on the forums. (Even if its really limited.)

[Tom]

I really enjoy reading this. It's great to see that even the most simple adventurer life can create stories if only one cares to look at it with care.

[Miriam Ics]

Adventurers are amazing, and how Artemesia creates their stories is even better. I dare to say this could be something we could use to attract new players. But I will not start any discussion, will just continue to wait for the next chapter of Alan Norman story.

[Shizzle]

The advy game, when narrated properly, can be quite interesting; Morganna Beldragos has often amused me with her adventures

[songqu88@gmail.com]

Part Three

After an uneventful night of sleep, I woke up to meet another day of helping with errands around the house. When I had the chance I went to the many village meeting places to see if the strange man talking about magic was gone.

You hear rumours that Chrealtenth, the Keeper of the Secret of Dawn passed through here recently.

Thankfully it seemed like any sort of adventure had passed me safely. I am now back on track to collect more supplies for my eventual trip to the city. With enough gold to get to either Rines of Athol Margos, the only question remaining now is which to go to first. Rines is the capital of our republic, and probably will have more activity. But it also will have more nobles, which only means more potential for my peaceful everyday life to be disturbed. Athol Margos might have less activity, but at least there I can probably settle down and find a nice girl. I suppose we can set up a small shop of some sort and slowly work up enough for our children to have when they take over the place.

But right now, I don't even have a bedroll or a tent to sleep in when I'm travelling away from home. My plans involve spending as little as possible and saving to make it to a city, but that means sleeping on the floor. I'm not even sure where I can find a tent or bedroll. From those eccentric fellow commoners who go about adventuring, I learned that at least I am in a rural region where I probably can find a bedroll or some sort of tent, but I do not know whether I should look for pretty plenties, go for a balanced approach, or look for the rare items. Surely, sleeping gear is not that rare?

Gods above, if you can hear me, please be this humble fisherman's son's guide.

Invitation to You

As with my previous attempt that fizzled due to various factors (I do not like how slow Colonies is) forum posters can involve themselves. The in-game translation of the tips you give will be interpreted as inspirations for the character. It is akin to those times when you suddenly get an idea but have no idea from whence it came.

Unlike the previous attempt though, I will provide a little more goal direction for suggestions, since I am trying to get the character to reflect an unremarkable NPC that is a PC in name only. However, if for whatever reason the character gets opportunities to make unique items and/or scrolls, he will do so. In those cases, the character may or may not place the items for sale, with the reasoning behind it being that selling those items requires him to actually talk on his own in-game rather than limit himself to responding to others.

That aside, here's what I'm looking for your help to do:

1. Which city should be Alan's dream destination? The current places in running are Riombaran cities of Rines (the capital), Athol Margos (right next to his home village and the capital), and Grehk (further south, larger city, probably more expensive to live there too (I understand that strictly by mechanics he does not pay more, but by my standards I'd say the cost of living might be greater. Or maybe Rines is greater since it is the capital. It is purely for flavor purposes and does not affect the actual quantity of gold and silver the game says the character has.))

2. How can Alan get a bedroll, old tent, small tent? I think the best option is the small tent, but since it has been over a year since I last played an adventurer (or this game, really) I am not up-to-date.

3. Write down some names with a one-sentence/phrase description including their age, gender, occupation, and general personality. For example: Alan Norman, 20 yo male fisherman, no unique qualities like some pathetic anime protagonist. These should be NPC identities that you do not mind me using in this project. That also means I will take liberties with their actions, though usually it wouldn't consist of more than "I bought a new pair of trousers from Tanya the Tailor." (24 yo female tailor, slightly quirky romantic who dreams of a prince charming even though she lives in a republic) I probably won't make them talk.

Have fun.

[Indirik]

Yeah, it can be fun if you get another player or two to do some group RP.

[Tom]

Inspirations:

Go to the capital, maybe nobles aren't all that bad? Doing a service for one might get you all the money you need in one quick go because you have heard of their unbelievable riches.

Search balanced. Finding something of value might not give you a tent, but might give you gold to pay for a cheap inn.

[songqu88@gmail.com]

Part Four

The past few days have been mostly uneventful. Someone named Agnes the Man Stomper sends out messages about monsters in the region, but when I checked in the morning, there were no signs of monsters at all. The hunters must have done a good job. That makes me feel safer when I go out to the fields gathering.

Speaking of gathering, I still have no bedroll or tent. I did find several useful things though. Some bandages and alcohol will be useful if I ever get a bad wound while traveling. Two lamps would also help me travel at night, but I think two is a bit too much. The rest is junk, literally, junk, and oddly, two thief's hands. They don't look to be from the same person, and they are both right hands. I also have a set of battered armor that probably won't protect me much. I can't even fit inside either. I have a wolf's hide and crystal globe to round things out.

So I have come to a decision to aim for the capital. I have this feeling that somewhere there is a force guiding me to the direction of Rines, where there are many commoners and many nobles. The fishing village in Cjelegy is all I have known since I was born, and I have never seen a place with more than perhaps a hundred people at a time. The thought that there would be thousands of people in one large city surrounded by stone walls is frightening to me. I'll need money, and supplies. But at least there will be more people and perhaps more opportunities. If I can just get a shop open to sell various items and trade and sell, say a pawn shop, then that would be great. It would beat going out fishing day to night all the time.

I still worry about my family though. Will they be fine without me? As the oldest in my family I was supposed to take over as head of the family after my father, and become a fisherman as well. If I'm not there, then that job will probably go to the next oldest child, my younger brother. He seems more interested in hunting than fishing so I wonder whether our family will be able to continue living at the coastal village. At least mother will have my sisters and my youngest brother, who appears to enjoy making women's clothing. Perhaps they could live in the city too where they can find more customers.

But I think I understand why I should go to the city. It's not just to do something more than fish for a living. Even though I was born into this life, and there's nothing wrong with being a fisherman like my father, I think my family could use some help with money. If I can get established in the capital, maybe that will bring in enough silver, even gold, to support my family for several generations. I can live a more urban life, and my family can get more money. I think it will work out for the best.

It's just that I am not yet ready to say farewell to my home just yet. For twenty years I have never gone further than the north coast, stopping short of the crossing to Ajitmon. Always I have been a son of Cjelegy. To leave now feels very sad, and I think I should at least speak to my family about this before going off. It might also help to get more items, so that when I do set up a shop to sell my items, I will have more selection for the customers. So far the most expensive item I have is my crystal globe, which can fetch more than a gold, but buyers are rare in the village. I can only imagine how much better of a price I can get in the city.

I have also heard about the great mountains of gold some nobles have. Unlike commoners like me who can barely get enough silver each day to pay for the necessities of life, and the rest to pay for taxes, I heard that most nobles actually get paid and don't even have to pay anything. They also don't use silver coins, doing business only in gold! I remember when I got my first gold coin, I thought it was amazing. It was the first time I ever laid hands on the glittering metal that never rusted or tarnished, unlike the silver coins that often turned black with age and use. One gold coin would be enough to live on for almost a week, if not more. But I don't think the nobles will really want my wares. They have so much money they can probably buy whatever they want, and all I have to offer are commoners' goods. Besides, I have not met any nobles in person, and have seen only two in passing in my life. Always they were surrounded by an armed escort, and had colorful banners displayed. It is rather intimidating. I'll probably have no choice but to run into more while in Rines. I hope I can manage to give a good impression, so they don't pay my shop any mind and let me go about my peaceful life.

Right now, I have to focus on getting what I need to set up. There won't be too much time for me to go aimlessly around in Rines once I get there. My meager gold coins will only get me a couple of days I think, and after that I'll need to be self-sufficient, or at least somewhat capable of supplying my own meals. If nothing else, I could try going around the city graveyards and tombs to keep undead down. I could also try my hand at monsters. Do monsters exist in the city? I sure hope not.

Inventory

Common Items
Battered Armour
Crystal Globe
Junk
Thief's Hand (2x)
Wolf's Hide

Useable Items
Bandages and Alcohol
Lamp (2x)

[NireusD.Natalle]

Can the commoner join another realm?

[egamma]

Can the commoner join another realm?

yes, but he gets an automatic ban in his previous realm.

[Miriam Ics]

No point for him to join another realm now, I think.