Sunday, March 22, 2009

House Castriati of Tidehall (Liege: Hoster Tully, Lord of Riverrun)

Land Holdings 38 (0)
  • Plains (Small Town, Coast) - Northwest of Oldstones along the coast of the Ironman's Bay
  • Weltands (Ruin, Dense Woods, Stream) - East of the coastal domain containing part of the wetlands North of Oldstones and the tributaries of the Blue Fork.
Defense Holdings 34 (4)
  • Tidehall (Small Castle just outside the town)
Wealth Holdings 40 (5)
  • Sept (Small Town)
  • Port
  • Marketplace
Power Holdings 41 (2)
  • Trained Archers
  • Veteran Guerillas
  • Veteran Warship
  • Trained Garrison
  • Veteran Sailors

Influence Holdings 30


House Fortunes Roll Modifier
  • +9
  • +1d6 to any positive Wealth result
House Stats:

ResourceStartingDomainPlayersFavorInfraFavorDeclineFavorInfraInfraTotal
Defense24-5+6+0+5+0+0+0+4+034
Influence22-5+6+3+0+2-3+1+0+430
Lands30+5+0+1+0+5-6+3+0+038
Law29+0+0+5+0+6+0+6+0+046
Population33+10+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+043
Power35+0+0+5+0+1-6+6+0+041
Wealth22+5+11+0+3+0-4+0+5+446

41 comments:

  1. Looked at the book. Fun! Since my system familiarity is ~nil, I'll play only instead of co-running.

    House creation and maintenance rules are a riot. The fastest way maybe something like this.

    step 1: Founding roll!
    If we do this first, I think everything else that's roll-based can happen simultaneously. Roll 1d6, and the historical 1d6+/-x. You could even do this for us.

    Step 2: every other roll!
    Some diktat from you on what each of us roll (like I roll the 7d6 for influence and law, someone else for power and land, etc.)? We can also roll our PC extra 1d6 at the same time, with some kind of "most important/second most important" placement. You can also hand out the historical event rolls to each of us to complete.

    Step 3: Math!

    Step 4: Discuss!

    I guess it's also necessary to figure out what people generally want to play, seeing as some of character creation is dependent on house resources. I'm fond of randomizing, so I rolled up a character concept as follows:

    12:middle-aged
    4:status 3
    2:fighter
    12:held prisoner
    9:revenge is his goal
    10:stability is his motivation
    8:he is just
    8:but licentious (loves them ladies)

    sounds like my kind of guy.

    Region-wise, I'm up for anything. Using my voting dice, I'll say 12, Westerlands, because who doesn't want to be subject to the Lannisters.

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  2. Region: Dorne might be neat, but I'm okay with any location that would be accepting of both Foreigners and Valerians (necessary parts of my character's backstory). Off the top of my head this would preclude Iron Islands, Dragonstone, and King's Landing.

    Berkstani, remember to roll life events for each age period of your character.

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  3. Sam, so your concern with Valerian is that you'll be identified with Targareyns? Doesn't that preclude all the realms that sided with Robert?

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  4. I shouldn't think so. Only the lands previously immediately controlled by Targareyns or in the lands of those most devoted to the cause of killing off any potential Targareyn heirs (the character is not Targareyn, but, as you say, could be identified as such by strangers). I would think that most people didn't care that much about killing off the entire family, but only deposing the Mad King. Quite a few might even fondly remember one or two of the previous kings.

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  5. good catch SR - I rolled a 7,7,4, so 2 great deeds and involvement in a battle. I'm thinking 1 great deed is a jailbreak, the other is something during the aforementioned battle.

    Dorne would be fine with me.

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  6. I personally would prefer a traditional medieval setting. Riverrun gets my vote - right in the thick of things - lots of foreign merchant traffic. I also like it because it's fairly undefined - we can have all sorts of situations here.

    Anyway re: Valerian recognition - couldn't you wear a hat? dye your hair? say your mother was forced? it needn't be immediately obvious what your character is.

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  7. A random die roll between Riverlands, Westerlands and Dorne came up Riverlands. Anyone have any objections to this?

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  8. Alright, lets start with Resource rolls.

    Berkistani - Defense, Influence
    SamRoswell - Lands, Law
    Micah - Population, Power
    Me - Wealth

    Lets post them here.

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  9. Defense: 24
    Influence: 22

    no modifiers yet, just the straight 7d6

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  10. population: 33
    power: 35

    these are unmodified.

    with riverlands mods:
    population: 43
    power: 35

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  11. History Rolls:

    Age - 3 - Old
    Events - 7

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  12. PC die roll: 4 in defense

    Event #1: Favor, 3,1,5,5 for influence,lands,law,power, respectively.

    Event #2: Infrastructure, 3 and 5 to be placed in wealth and defense, respectively.

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  13. House name: Castrioti
    Castle name: Tidehall

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  14. veteran archers = 8
    veteran guerillas = 7
    trained infantry x2 = 14
    trained warship = 10

    total = 39

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  15. Influence 24: Maximum status of 4 (for Head of House)
    We can invest 20 to allow one Heir to have status of 3.
    All others have status of 2.

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  16. I know that seems like a low status given some things the book says, but I think we've also established that what the book gives in examples and what the numbers say are often very different. I think this status level makes some sense given your house resources and what the rolls say about its history. Though you are an old and powerful house, it looks like you were maybe raised up to nobility from the merchant class but still pursue commerce and development more than influence within the realm (even in marriages).

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  17. If you're interested in having some sort of water-based secret exit from the castle I'm okay with that. Not exactly sure how it would work. When high tide is in a cave is filled enough with water to float a boat from under the castle out to sea or something.

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  18. So some interesting house history questions. Your house stems from around the time of the Rhoynar invasion (Nymeria). At that time Riverlands are ruled by Harren from the Iron Islands. The Tullys come to power during Aegon's conquest for rebelling against Harren. Seems to me your house might have been ennobled by Harren actually, but rebelled with the Tullys. Thoughts?

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  19. Maybe we supported Harren, thus explaining our Decline period once Tully came to power? And the initial raising came from defending the town from an Ironborn raid?

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  20. Err.. Nix that last part, unless it was a matter of Ironborn respecting tenacity in battle. More likely a ship's captain or other raider distinguished himself to be granted the lordship over the conquered town. (Harren being king of the Iron Islands as well as the Riverlands).

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  21. That makes sense. For some reason the Tullys decided to keep you instead of kicking you out and installing someone else there. Maybe they wanted someone with seafaring experience to hold their western port.

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  22. I like the idea that the tully's have grudgingly kept us around because there's no one else who's better. It's consistent with the relationships I'm seeing in my guy's backstory.

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  23. So, House Castriati was founded when an Iron raider was gifted the small town after it had been conquered during the ironblood expansion into the Riverlands. Over the years Castriati oversaw the construction of Tidehall, and the filling of its coffers. Castriati again gained favor of the Iron King during further expansion into the Riverlands, protecting the northern flank of the invasion from Seaguard and Frey interference. However, loyalty to the Iron King proved disadvantageous when he was cooked in Harrenhold, his Riverlands holdings granted to House Tulley of Riverrun. Ever adaptable, House Castriati gained favor from House Tulley when a newly raised young lord assisted his foster family repel a series of Ironman raids along the coast. In the times since, House Castriati has been maintaining its holdings and securing its fortunes. In many respects they are very different from their Iron ancestors, favoring the golden rather than iron price, but they still breed Hard Men whose souls are called to the sea.

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  24. I like it. In my mind the Castriati are seen as useful by the Tullys, but there is no especial love between the families. They saw quickly that having skilled seamen along the Ironman's Bay and decided to take a chance to see if you would stay loyal. They have granted some favors and respect given that the family has remained loyal, but have never shown great affection for the family our brought it closer to the inner circle through marriage, offices, or land grants.

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  25. Start thinking about regiment names for your units. Also, given how the house has developed I question the lack of a sailor unit (which from my reading is basically a unit of marines) and guerillas and archers being veteran rather than the warships and sailors. Also, a garrison unit for one of the infantry might be cheaper. Ultimately, these are your decisions, I'm just throwing it out there.

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  26. The town still needs to be named. Also, anyone care to flesh out Haunted Stones? What are these ruins of? Are they from the First Men?

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  27. I'll leave town names to someone else - Martin likes the two word conjunctions, but has used all the easy ones. Maybe Fenport? Freehold? I dunno. Here's my take on everything else.

    The Haunted Stones are thought to be the ruins of a tower built late in the time of the First Men, probably destroyed during the war with the Andals. The Stones are thought to be haunted by the ghosts of the old gods, since there is a circle of ash in the center of the ruins where the Godswood stood, surrounded by a faerie ring of bright orange poisonous fungus. The Stones lie deep within the marsh, but are fed pure water by a small spring that joins the stream.

    Based on the discussion regarding troops, I propose the follow new unit setup, to be discussed by my estimable peers.

    -Fletcher's Guild (Archers, trained. Agility 3, Marks 4)
    -Morning Star, Howling Wind, Ice Maiden, Wanderlust, Excelsior (Warships, veteran. Aware 4, Fight 3, Marks 4)
    -Seaguards (Sailors, veteran. Agility 3, Aware 3, Fight 5)
    -The Watch (Garrison, trained. Aware 3, Endurance 3, Fight 3)
    -The Huntsmen (Guerillas [wetlands], veteran. Athletics 4, Marks 3, Stealth 4)

    By my count that's 39 points. I don't see us as having units of standing infantry, based on the background we've been crafting. We've got little history as an offensive powerhouse. Instead, I see us as having archers and garrison troops manning defense, and we take the battle to them in the surrounding marshes with our guerrillas by land, while the ships and marines guard our backs at sea.


    I'll update the heraldry with the motto tonight ("Constant as the Tide", right?) and make a few more changes. I'm liking the green/blue/gold shield now, so I think I'll build off of it.

    Thoughts?

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  28. I like, except the names for archers and guerillas. Not sure what would sound better...

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  29. I like the suggestion of BR for our archers and guerillas.

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  30. LR, I need a D6 roll from you to add to the House resources. Choose one of the categories: Defense, Influence, Lands, Law, Power, Wealth, Population, then roll the die and report the results here. Terry should do this too.

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  31. We'll say influence, with a roll of 6.

    Glad I brought dice to work.

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  32. I just had an idea for Tidehall: It is built at sea-level so that all ships coming into port must pass by its walls (maybe with a sea-chain connected across the gap). The road leading to its main entrance has a dike on either side of it to protect it from tides, but a trap door can be opened so that the area between the dikes will flood during high tide, and trap the water when the tide lowers again, in case of siege. Even if the dikes are destroyed, the area will consistently flood, disrupting the use of any siege engines.

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  33. Where is the town located?

    Possible Town Names:

    Willport
    Willtown
    Castwill
    Freecast
    Castoff
    Townhold

    I actually like Freecast.

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  34. Sam, I like the castle detail, gives it some character.

    LR, while I enjoy the irony of a feudal town in the shadow of a castle named "free" anything, I'm not convinced it fits. I like the others, though.

    Some more town name alternatives:

    Greenhaven
    Rock Harbor
    Tannyr's Quay
    Deep Basin
    Gullcove

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  35. BR,

    Rolled a 6, want to add it to wealth.

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  36. That puts you guys in range to buy a Maester too. 46 total.

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