This weekend past saw us having a successful plot team meeting where only half of us were virtual digital balloons (don’t ask). After the meeting one of our longest-serving plot writers David Young (you may remember him from such roles as ‘angry egregore’, ‘Dawnish poet’, and ‘on-fire eternal’) wrote up a few hundred words aimed at new players dealing with the thorny question of “how do I get some plot”.
Here are those words. Any spelling or grammar mistakes are down to my ham-fisted editing as there were just a couple of things we needed to {REDACT] that we’re not quite ready to talk about yet. Without further ado…
Sometimes it can be confusing to know how to get involved in plot at Empire. The game is very complex, and there are many ways in which characters can explore the world and pursue a plot. Some of these ways are open to everyone, some are controlled by people in positions of power, and some are available to anyone with the Thrones to pay for them.
The challenges involved in paying for an opportunity or convincing other players to help your character are deliberate - they are part of the game design intended to make pursuing plot a challenge. However we want it to be challenging to make use of these opportunities, it shouldn’t be challenging to find out they exist. So this guide helps draw together many of the different ways you can get more involved with a plot. It is not an exhaustive list, but hopefully it does give some ideas on how you can be proactive in finding plot at Empire.
What won’t work is mailing pd between events and asking for IC information or saying that you are investigating something in downtime. We very deliberately don’t support free text downtimes, instead the game is intended to play out on the field. All the developments in the plot happen because of the decisions the characters make at the events.
Battles, Skirmishes, and the Sentinel Gate
The Sentinel Gate is a wonder of the world - a magical artifact that allows Imperial citizens to visit locations around the Empire for quests, skirmishes and battles. The nature of the Sentinel gate and it’s link to the Wanderer means that it will always create conjunctions to places of fate (so there will always be something of interest at that location)
Any mage can cast detect magic on the gate and name a specific location in a territory and region, to find out whether there will be an opportunity to visit that location during the weekend. This is always useful to do if an NPC mentioned a certain place, but it is also common for places mentioned in Winds of Fortune to include the possibility of a quest.
The Sentinel Gate is also how Imperial heroes take the field to battle the enemies of the Empire. These battles begin when the gate opens at 11 o’clock on Saturday and Sunday morning. There are often several different options for the battles that the members of the Imperial Military Council must choose between at the Muster that takes place on Friday night. This year, we’re planning to start providing information about battles and skirmishes during the Winds of War we publish before the event. This will make it easier for players to know what the options are, and to get involved.
##Egregores and the Three Refrains
Each nation has an egregore spirit, created through ritual magic to personify the nation. Though there is only one egregore spirit for each nation, it is often present in more than one host body at any time. Egregores are not there to make decisions for the nation or provide leadership or direction. They may take a role in their nation’s elections - they may even vote, but their role is to support the nation, not to lead it.
If you are looking for ways to pursue a piece of plot then it is always worth discussing it with your egregore. The NPCs are knowledgeable about the game world and will be able to help advise you on ways you can use to further your goals. More-over the egregore spirit has a mystic connection to all the people of their nation - so some times they will be able to use this connection to help you uncover secrets.
The Three Refrains are an order of bards who deliberately recuse themselves from the politics of the nations - so that they can focus on sharing information and aiding citizens in pursuit of heroism and glory. They may be found at their order’s tent near the Senate, or in any of the nation camps where they may be performing or simply sharing news and gossip. If your character is seeking lost information, the Three Refrains have many contacts throughout the Empire that they may be able to put you in touch with for a nominal fee.
##Missives and Messengers
There are several rituals that can be used to contact NPCs such as eternals or citizens of foreign nations. The Night ritual Missive for Sadogua, for example, allows anyone to send a short message to that whimsical eternal asking questions, offering help or seeking his aid. Likewise the Day ritual Swim Leviathan’s Depths can be used to question that wise eternal about past events that may lead to future adventure.
The Autumn ritual, Call Winged Messenger is a little different - it can be used to contact anyone in the mortal world if you know their name and their general location. This is useful if you know the name of the character you are interested in and where they live. Provided you have that information your letter is guaranteed to reach them - though it is impossible to predict how they will respond.
You need to be a ritual magician with skill in the right realm to cast these rituals, but any player who can find a suitable coven can arrange for them to cast the ritual on their behalf.
##Challenge the Iron Duke
Challenge the Iron Duke is Summer ritual that asks the eternal Barien to provide a challenge that will test the mettle of the target (or targets). The ritual also secures a promise to reward anyone who successfully completes the Iron Duke’s challenge.
A herald of Barien - often Castellan, Barien’s companion and lieutenant - will come to speak to the players to find out about them so that they can help Barien set a suitable challenge. Barien will usually issue the challenge by next festival; it will involve some task the characters need to complete that may involve quests, investigations, and bargains with knowledgeable characters designed to stretch their abilities to their limits.
You can only be the target of Challenge the Iron Duke once and it needs a powerful Summer coven to perform it. The rewards can be significant - but the challenges are often difficult and most people will need find aid from others to help them complete it.
##The Mirror of Acacius
In addition to the many opportunities for adventure in the mortal realm, magicians regularly visit the eternals and their servants in magical chambers that exist between realms. Acacius of Calator Spire created a magic mirror for the Imperial Conclave that resides in the Hall of Worlds and allows magicians to predict when opportunities to visit these chambers and their denizens will arise. The mirror lights up an hour before the Hall of Worlds connects to the magical chamber, and if it is lit, any magician can use a detect magic spell on the mirror to find out which eternal is due to appear.
##Past Life Visions
A past life visions allows your character to experience a spiritual vision of events from the past by taking a dose of true liao. Our plot team prepare the visions before each event tailored to each character who is due to receive one. We have a dedicated tent near the plot room which the team prepare each time, so that a vision can be acted out. Whoever consumes the liao will find themselves in the vision - alongside our NPCs who are playing the other characters.
To get a past life vision you need a dose of true liao. The amount of true liao produced each season varies; the Throne is given the first dose and the second is auctioned to the highest bidder. All the remaining doses are assigned by decision of the gatekeepers, a council of characters appointed by the Cardinals in the Synod to choose who is virtuous enough to receive the a past live vision.
Past life visions often contain important plot information, as well as providing a window into the events of your past.
##Historical Research
The Empire has the ability to commission two historical research requests every season. These cost five thrones and may be authorized by the Senate, or by a number of characters with Imperial titles such as the Minister of Historical Research. Between events, the civil service searches records and archives all over the Empire to uncover as much information as possible about the topics commissioned and provides a report within a summit or two. Sometimes the response is in the form of a written document, or an interview with a knowledgeable NPC.
Historical research requests are expensive - but they are one of the most targetted ways to discover more information about a given subject. Often they can lead to quests, or reveal valuable information about the campaign world.
##Bourse Private Auction
Each summit the Imperial Bourse has a private auction of unique and valuable items. These are gathered from all over the world and presented to the Bourse Seats to be won by the highest bidder. Many of these items are unique or offer unique opportunities. Some of the items offered in the auction are linked to current plots, or represent plot hooks for new plots.
Although only a character with a Bourse seat may bid on the lots, you may be able to persuade someone with a seat to bid on your behalf, or to sell the items on after the auction. Every nation has at least one national bourse seat which may be the best place to start if one of the items interests you.
Starting this year - following an in-character change of management of the private auction - we will be publishing the private auction prospectus as part of Winds of Fortune. The auction is still only available to those with a Bourse seat, but now anyone in the Empire can find out what it is up for sale.
##The Purple Sails and the Silent Bell
One of the lots offered in the private auction is an opportunity to gain the assistance of the Fellowship of Purple Sails. The Fellowship are a sodality of ship captains and merchants with extensive contacts throughout the Empire and the civilised nations beyond. Each season they use the Bourse auction to sell the opportunity to direct their resources and contacts towards locating a specific item of interest. There is no guarantee that the Purple Sails will be able to help you locate the item you are pursuing, but they will always come back with something - usually an opportunity for a quest that is linked to the item in some way.
A similar sodality exists in the Imperial Synod. The Silent Bell is a group of pilgrims dedicated to the virtue of Vigilance. By long tradition, they offer their services to the Assembly of Nine - the eight Cardinals and the Throne. Any member of the Assembly of Nine can raise a judgement instructing the Silent Bell to investigate something on their behalf. Over the coming months they will look into the matter requested and return at the next summit to deliver a report. As with the Fellowship of Purple Sails, these investigations will often lead to a quest or other dramatic opportunity.
While the Assembly of Nine ultimately determines what the Silent Bell will investigate, there is nothing to stop someone convincing the cardinals that the interests of the Synod align with the interests of a private citizen.
##Winds of War and Winds of Fortune
In the run-up to every event we publish a series of reports about the campaign battles called Winds of War, and the details of a number of significant events in various parts of the Empire called Winds of Fortune. These go on the wiki, and we also publish them through our facebook page and on our official forums. They represent common knowledge that anyone in the Empire can know if they want - and they often contain a range of opportunities, challenges, and threats that any character can get involved with.
##And Finally…
As we expand and improve the game we are adding new mechanisms to allow characters engage with the campaign world and pursue plots and agendas. Sometimes these are done through changes to the political system - we’re currently working on a mechanism to allow the Conclave more influence over the Eternals involved with the Empire for example. Others we present as opportunities through plot that characters can work towards or oppose - for example Lashonar has offered to grant the Empire the right to use his Caucus Forum. If or when the Empire chooses to meet Lashonar’s requirements for this aid, the Forum would allow Imperial citizens to request a face-to-face meeting with representatives of another nation where matters of plot and politics might be discussed.
.
as they are busy people with many things on their attention. Cardinals in general are easily bribed in my experience by offering them food, drink and a seat in a place where they will not be found for at least half an hour. Lobbying an assembly at their meeting in Anvil (check the Hub for details) is another method to getting a Cardinal to support this, but that can require more extensive bribes.