I'm looking for plots and family members for House Wyndham, a mage-sympathizing noble house during the Connloathian civil war. The general premise is they are a small, backwoods noble family from a remote valley in Ahjfeld who have remained culturally isolated from the rest of Connlaoth. They're seen as backwards by most, and in secret they worship fey and harbor numerous magical bloodlines.
After Harmond marched through the Duchy they are on the move, using banditry and fey curses to seize land, conscript mages, and menace loyalists to the Grand Duke. The idea is to carve out a province that tolerates magic, resorting to dark and unseemly and powers (and maybe a little blood sacrifice) to defend itself from Mordecai.
So far I've made Wylie (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=20341.msg292628#new) who is the inexperienced head of the household. It could use other family members, men-at-arms, or servants. I'm looking for rustic types with a creepy undercurrent: a mad cousin who wandered into the woods, vanished for 10 years, and returned not a day older but with the power to animate trees; the old midwife who uses her powers to send pox and blight to rival villages; or a grizzled hunter who wants to show those waist-coat wearing dandies from Reajh what's what. Good inspiration might be the Boltons (http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/House_Bolton) or Reeds (http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/House_Reed) from a Song of Ice and Fire, Hjaalmarch from Skyrim, the Wicker Man (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wicker_Man), or the Lottery by Shirley Jackson. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lottery)
I'm open to almost anything in-terms of plots. Some ideas I had were:
-Negotiating alliances with other families from Ahjfeld.
-Conscripting mage-refugees.
-A grand duke loyalist dealing with banditry and blighted land.
-Slice of life roleplay with vassals or family members
Are there any particular familial roles you're looking to be filled or just anything? :)
I'm not looking for anything specific, or rather, I'd rather work with you to develop something you'd like than force a specific role on anyone. He currently has a sister and two nephews. I suppose he could use another younger sibling or cousin. Maybe a brash swamp-ranger might make a good foil, or a relative sent away to Reajh whose become more mainstream?
@Whim I offer deceased cousin and spellsword, Caliban (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=23399.msg349367#new). It's sparse but I figured I'd find out more about him as I went along.
Didn't know if I should mention Wylie finding say his crystal heart, then planting it or performing some ritual and Caliban coming out of the pod thing xD. So I left that open too.
He looks good to me! Love the name, and the crystalline heart is a nice touch. Perhaps he can continually be regrown from it so long as its intact? I think his heart being recovered, perhaps in an archaeological dig of the house's old grounds, works well. Especially if he was a former hero from the olden days. Perhaps resurrected to be kind of a tactician or vanguard?
Depending on where you wanna start it could be the moment of his resurrection?
Or I had the idea of the Wyndhams originally having sworn fealty to some do-gooder Grand Duke supporter's family. Sister was married into it and had two mage-kids who were sent off to the camps. Figure the Wyndhams could enter the war by murdering the brother in-law and seizing the castle? could introduce Caliban that way. or have it be his idea? Depending on his personality (his heart is HARDENED).