dramatispersonae

IOLITE

[You're in an oval, almost egg-shaped room, with a high dome and clear walls that allow you to see the other team's rooms, although you can't hear them. In the middle of the room is a table, with some of the items from the Ring scattered about. An ornate book lays there as well, open to the first page:]

"There were formerly a king and a queen, who were so sorry that they had no children; so sorry that it cannot be expressed. They went to all the waters in the world; vows, pilgrimages, all ways were tried, and all to no purpose.

At last, however, the Queen had a daughter. There was a very fine christening; and the Princess had for her god-mothers all the fairies they could find in the whole kingdom (they found seven), that every one of them might give her a gift, as was the custom of fairies in those days. By this means the Princess had all the perfections imaginable."

The Princess is already wonderful, isn't she? What more could you want in a princess?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All characters receive this information as they enter the room.

Your goal is to build the best princess you can imagine! Your starter princess already has the benefit of modifiers like beauty, wit, grace, dance, song, and music. You have 8 units of ??? to decide where she goes from here!

(You can't quite remember what the units you were given are units of. If you try to focus on that word, it feels like it could be something like "struggle" or "effort," but that's not quite right…)

There will be one round to decide your Princess’s outfit and accessories and justify those decisions, a second round with an opportunity for customized input, and a third for wrapping up and adding more details if you like. DO NOT worry if your selections mean you have units left over, as scoring will be based on your reasoning for each choice in Round 1 and on your creativity and reasoning in Rounds 2 and 3, not on units spent. While all rounds have an important effect on the outcome of the game, the later rounds have the potential for the greatest score impact if used wisely. Please manage your time/discussion with that in mind!

You will receive a final outcome for your Princess in a specific situation depending on what you input, and the cumulative effect of everyone’s efforts will be seen at endgame.

[The book opens itself to the next page. Handwriting in a flowing script that is magically comprehensible even to those who can't read appears on the paper, and you know that the book will record your answer even if you can't write it in on the provided lines. There's a strange sensation when you run your eyes over that ???illegible? word...]

Please choose one item from each list (Clothes, Shoes, Hands, and Accessories). You have 8 units of ??? total to spend on your choices. Justify your choice for each item with an explanation of that choice, even if part of your explanation is "I didn't have enough left to get what I wanted and got this instead."

Clothes
Light armor set. | (costs 3 units)
Simple but elegant dress, cut for free movement. | (costs 2 units)
Beautifully rich and luxurious gown, suitable for a palace. | (costs 0 units)

Shoes
Tough, practical boots. | (costs 3 units)
Decorative but sturdy shoes. | (costs 2 units)
Soft, heavily-embroidered thin slippers. | (costs 0 units)

Hands
Sword and shield. | (costs 3 units)
A heavy book. | (costs 2 units)
A spindle. | (costs 0 units)

Accessories
A full-face helmet and gorget, protecting the head and neck. | (costs 3 units)
A sterling silver key necklace. | (costs 2 units)
A lantern. | (costs 0 units)

For the princess' Clothes, give her light armor to wear. I'm sure a dress and a gown are nice, but she can dwear something like that when she is not in a warlike situation that would call for armor.

Give her boots for Shoes. A good pair of strong boots is handsome enough, and will do good for walking and riding anywhere.

Place a book into her Hands. She has been graced with wit, I see, and it will do well to encourage that skill. A princess is a leader of her people, but I do not see why she need be given a sword and shield and sent on to the front lines. There are knights, surely, who are more skilled in that area? Let her take a book and become as a strategist.

She may have a lantern for an Accessory. A helmet might save her from getting punched in the face or from a weak sword blow cutting through, but it sounds very heavy and too restricting of movement and vision. I have never seen any dragon's crewmember wear one nor any other hero here, there is not enough gain in it. Better to have a loose head that can see to try and dodge if someone should ever come so close to her. She does not need a sterling key, she is having gifts from Iolite so she may have Iolite's protection. Lanterns are good enough things, they guide and signal and warm and drive away shadows.

[The book turns its own page again. This one looks a little different...]

Design a custom accessory or item for your Princess! You can only give her one item, and the item cannot be a person, but otherwise there is no limitation as to what the item can be. You must explain why you chose to give her this item, and the meaning behind it.

Give her a flying horse. It should be good breeding and hotblooded, and trained for the battlefield; it should not have fear of loud noises like guns and roaring, and nor should it have fear of dragons. If you cannot train it out of the latter, as I know that is incredibly frightening to some horses, fill its nosebag with herbs so that is cannot smell dragons and other beasts that might like to hunt it.

A quick and strong flying horse will help her to escape when there is danger, to go where she is needed quickest, to carry others out of harm's way, and to give her an eye over all her kingdom or battlefield, wherever she may be.

I cannot give her people, so I cannot promise her anything like a dragon or griffin's aid, and I should not make gifts of people anyways, so a horse shall have to do.

Edited 2015-01-10 04:37 (UTC)

[The page turns one more time, revealing a space for a small drawing and quite a lot of text under the instructions.]

Provide a final summary of your Princess! This can include personality and history, or be a simple cumulative description of her appearance and personal style. You can include a drawing, if you like.

((ooc: This is where you can add a Dreamselfy link with your text answer. You know you want to.))

[DREAMSELFY]

The Princess has foregone her long dresses for light armor, good pants, and sturdy boots. Her hair has tied back to save it from the whipping of the wind and to keep it out of her face. It could have been cut, but long hair is a free adornment and beautiful with only some effort, so she keeps it for when she may show it off, and keeps it up when she must focus on other things. It is a practical uniform to be sure, but she still wears some proud trappings of her elegant rank: a tiara for a princess of the people, and shoulder-cords for an officer of the military.

There might also be a simple pendant, a token of the gifts and protection offered to her by Iolite. The armor and the boots are a part, and with them are a simple lantern, a heavy book, and a powerful flying horse. Others have blessed her with a graceful body trained in strength and motion by dance, and sharpened her witty mind with the practice of song and music. She is a clever and strong-hearted strategist who, though she may abstain from taking the front lines with sword and shield herself, will aid her knights with skill from above.

Edited 2015-01-10 05:09 (UTC)

[This question appears at the bottom of the page where you've been recording your choices once you're finished. You know without looking at it that answering it won't affect your game results… but maybe someone's reading this.]

If your Princess was separated from her Prince by grave danger, what would you think she should do about it? Do you think she would be well prepared to do that, based on the choices you have made?

The Princess should confer with her knights, her allies, and her friends. I can understand if she would like to go chasing to his rescue herself, as I have done for my captain before, but she is not alone and I am sure she has reliable people that she can count upon. The Princess might ask for advice and make plans. We have given gifts that support her wisdom and her mobility, and so she might be able to go alone, but I hope we have also in our gifts helped her to be someone that, in supporting others, is also someone that knows when and how to use the assistance that would surely be offered her, and to trust in the dedication of her knights and friends.

[You see that your Princess is awake, animated. She stands amid her knights and gives them directions. She mounts a horse herself, heading off with her friends; perhaps even leading them. Her Prince is just over the next hill, and she's going to bring him home with her own hands.]

((to endgame.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

IOLITE

INSTRUCTIONS

ROUND ONE

DISCUSSION

DECISION

Re: DECISION

ROUND TWO

DISCUSSION

DECISION

Re: DECISION

ROUND THREE

DISCUSSION

DECISION

Re: ROUND THREE

BONUS ROUND

DISCUSSION

DECISION

Re: DECISION

FINAL RESULT

Re: FINAL RESULT