Veronelle, A spying and politicking race to the top!

[Artsydaze]

I have an idea that I would love to try but I need people to play and work out the details with me. First, how will the government of Veronelle function? When will our story start? How will our main character begin? Will they be new to the city, in hiding inside it or again trying to leave for the other empires?

Stuff like that.

Her goes:

Summary

You are a dealer of information.

Spying, blackmailing, eavesdropping and betrayals of trust are constants in your life.

You are running away and just set up your latest hideout in the city of Veronelle where politics and civil war abounds.

It is an age of mysteries as the detectives and juridical system is practically nonexistent as the various government of the world has long since prohibited any technological advancement that would have hindered their less than stalwart behaviours, engendering the Age of Mystery, an heaven for criminals and spies alike.

You, a young upstarts, had grown up with the knowledge that information was the most important commodity of all and could bring you everything you desired if you knew enough about what you sought. And now what you seek is power. Power enough to bring a nation to your heel for a reason of your own.

Veronelle, a national capital, could help you with that.

You will need to weave lies, construct plots and forge alliance in your way to the top of both the capital and it's country. The tracking technology stopped at the end of the 19th century but the cops and detectives, as corrupted as they are, did not stop their work for it and indeed somewhat flourished in bribes and violence. Will you thrive too, or be crushed by your rivals?

Further info:

Timeline and Political Geography

World War One never happened, and as a result the whole world is a small number of great empire spanning their entire continent the empire are as such:

The European Continent have Veronelle as it's Capital. This great city is situated in France and is the centre of intrigue of the world. The European love their social lives and are constantly enmeshed in politics and plots in hope of gaining more favours and power.

The American Empire is headed by Sorenda, in the great country of Brazil and is focused on the business and financial sphere, making this empire the richest and most involved country of the world with business connections all over the world, that it be official or underground.

The Asian Empire, for it's part, is headed by the fortress of Zeng that, like it's empire, is heavily focused on it's army and police force, making this area a place of discipline and justice in this corrupted world.

The Australian Empire is headed by Manmade, a great island that started the empire's hunger for academic knowledge of all kinds.

Veronelle

Veronelle is constructed around the Ballroom, a massive square used for all the cities dealings, that it be formal or merely a get-together. That impressive monument of humane hubris is in fact a gigantic fountain made of precious material with numerous bridges and platform gracefully arranged around the great artificial waterfalls at it's centre and more minor waterworks sprouting all around the marbled terrace.

Five great stairways found all around the oval contraption are leading down to three successive district, from rich and posh to poor and miserable.

Just beyond the Ballroom is the residence of the President and his retinue, their power over the city permitting them to won spacious villas without needing to pay the price in the High District. A bit lower are the rich and famous and glamourous shop interlaced in lazily spiralling paved streets. All is beautiful and clean here, as numerous servants are taking care of the plant-life and debris found in the city.

After a series of small peaceful garden lay the Middle District, the home of the middle class and merchants catering to the more powerful. It is less grandiose but hold more shop and is quite charming in appearance with it's little stone townhouses and numerous little parks.

Lower still are the wooden Low Districts, where the only materials available are wood and iron and the only ways are either to go up or die. It is a miserable place that all newcomers starts in when they first immigrate to Veronelle.

Gameplay

Your character would need to do information gathering in order to blackmail their rivals into submission if they want any power. They will also need to keep their own vices and secret out of the others' grasp in order to stay on top.

Information Gathering: From simple eavesdropping to full on breaking and entering, this ability will need to be honed in order to get more important information. Of course, the victim's abilities will change the odds as a lower ability than theirs would mean discovery and defeat.

Blackmailing: The art or dissimulation of intent will be crucial in this delicate endeavours as giving too much or too little would bring about negative result on the blackmailer's attempt at power. No matter if the blackmail is borderline blatant or anonymous, a good social skills and solid proof and plans are needed.

More will be added as I think about it.

I want four players in all including myself, all with their primary character originating from one of the four empires. That is I want one European, one Asian, one American and one Australian.

[joonsexual]

Personally, I love the set up.

But, having said that, I do find that the execution of the game to be somewhat lacking. From my understanding, the RP seems to be sustained on a series of interactions taken by the players (you're expecting players to assume almost all initiative) and, well, from my experience, this rarely works out.

Of course, if you can convince and persuade people to plot creatively with each other (all working on the same page and out of the same idea), you'll have no problem in proceeding (and it does SOUND rather lovely), but... hmm.... It just seems like a bit of a hassle. Of course, if you could elaborate on the specifics of the game's logistics (are there skill points being offered or is everything meant to be "implied?"), it might clear things up.

At the moment, it just seems like everything (the recovering of information) is left up to the RPers. It just... it just sounds better as a scripted movie than a RP. But, I could be reading/understanding incorrectly? I mean... it is a little late where I am, haha...

[Artsydaze]

You're right, the problem is that's all I got right now. I'm still thinking about it and it'll probably get better as time wear on but right now that's it *headdesk*

Let's see... Ah! Maybe an exchange program, the foreigners tries to get information for their empire while trying to get to the top in an attempt to get even more power for themselves, for a reason of their own.

[Artsydaze]

Reworked!

Project: Veronelle

It is the new year of 1947.

None of the World Wars ever happened, prompting the creation of massive empire all over the globe, each spanning an entire continent and specializing in their own particular ways of keeping their considerable powers. Five empire, all with their clearly delimited border, each dying to get yet more but afraid to be the first to disturb the status quo, in the process attracting the wrath of the other four.

So they turned to subtler means of warfare.

Spying, conning, blackmailing and stealing are now commonplace all around the world from agent of one power to another, each eager to earn a more important place in their great nation to the detriment of the others. Each Imperial families have their own agenda which their advance by using their agent and each agent advance their own agenda by climbing the social ladder of their empire. It is a beneficial relationship, they say in shadowed corners, far away from indiscreet ears.

That stagnancy was banished by a startling news; The European Throne was left empty after a tragic accident. This was what the other nations were waiting for and that which had them all in a frenzy of sending as many agents as they could to amass enough support to become the new European President, a newly appointed status after all of the last monarch's blood was spilt. That mission was started by an arch contract that assured the Empire the total control of the agent's territory, in a undercover manner, of course.

The first part of this long mission would be to be admitted as a citizen of the capital itself: Veronelle.

Thus our story begins.