Science and Industry
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This is the information thread for the alternate universes Age of Colonization RP.
Locations
Due to severe time constraints I will most likely not make official maps depicting locations. Instead, I will describe locations by words only and if you don't know a location then a quick search on wikipedia or google images will reveal more information. Likewise you can write about any location in the world, and if I and other players don't know what/where you're referring to then we will do a wikipedia or google images search to find out more about the location.
Selected Locations
((Click spoilers for more info))
Antwerp Antwerp on the River Scheldt in Flanders Province is the richest city in the Netherlands and the richest city in Europe. Its prosperity owes to the happy confluence of all the major transcontinental trade routes at its markets. Wares from all around the world are unloaded and traded here, and it is also the site of a great ideological ferment of new ideas. Manufacturies and workshops overfill with orders and produce goods both great and small. In religious matters the city is majority-Roman Catholic but the Protestant tenets of John Calvin are clearly increasing in popularity. The city's sizeable Sephardic Jewish community is well-integrated into civic life. In Anno 1557 the city of Antwerp is a vassal of the recently crowned King of Spain, Phillip II, and the people are cautious but optimistic about the next few decades under the new King.
Amsterdam Amsterdam is a modestly sized but prosperous city in Holland Province, Netherlands. Although it hosts a brisk North Sea trade, this city obviously cannot compare to Antwerp.
Utrecht Utrecht is an important Catholic archbishopric in Utrecht Province, Netherlands. Although it boasts a distinguished Catholic ecclesiastical tradition, lately Calvinism has become popular among all classes of people here.
Madrid Madrid is the capital of the Spanish Empire, perhaps the most powerful nation in the world. The newly crowned King of Spain, the ascetic Phillip II Habsburg, rules over a global empire that stretches from the Netherlands and Italy to California and the Andes Mountains to territories in Africa and Asia. Those who seek their fortunes under the crimson saltire banner of Spain would do well to maintain good relations with the court of Madrid.
Seville The port of Seville in Andalusia is the official entrepot of trade with the New World. Under Spanish law, Seville is the only place where imports from the Americas can be legally unloaded in Europe. Nonetheless, smugglers rather routinely circumvent this monopoly, and illegal trade with the Americas is carried out in all the ports of Europe. The streets of Seville teem with sailors, merchants, mercenaries, fortuneseekers, and conquistadors back from lucrative adventures in the Americas, or preparing to depart the Old World for a chance at glory in the New World.
Cartagena of the West Indies Cartagena of the West Indies is a rough and tumble boomtown on the coast of South America. Founded barely 20 years ago by Spanish conquistadors, this port city teems with thousands of citizens and drifters eager to exploit the vast riches of the Americas. However, the black specter of piracy constantly threatens Cartagena and the entire Caribbean coast.
Goa The Portuguese have a stronghold in India called Goa, and many Spaniards have visited there, bringing back accounts of the great potential for expansion into India and even further east.
Malacca We hear of reports of Portuguese successes even past Goa, where in the orient beyond India they have captured an island city called Malacca. Seeing with our own eyes the Portuguese galleons returned home laden with the fabulous wealth and exotic spices of the furthest east, merchants and adventurers all over Europe have made preparations to rival the Portuguese.
Macau Rumor has it that the Portuguese have established a presence in China at a place called Macau; if true then it would mean the Portuguese will soon reach Japan, which even after Don Fernando de Magellane's circumnavigation of the globe is an unimaginably distant and exotic place.
Selected Events
Spanish Treasure Fleet Every year, a Spanish Treasure Fleet departs from Cartagena in South America and unloads at Seville, Spain. The fleet consists of dozens of cargo galleons hauling gold, silver, and other valuable goods from Spain's colonies destined for the royal treasury. Pirates and enemies of the Spanish Crown would make an astronomical fortune if they capture even one of these fleets. However this task is not at all simple; the fleets are escorted by heavily armed galleons ensuring that any attempted raid would result in a full-scale naval battle.
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Legitimist
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Player Characters
((Click spoiler with player's name for that player's character information))
Al Araam Character: Melech Feininger, born 11 December, 1516 (Age 41)
Background History: Melech Feininger was born to a wealthy Jewish family in the city of Brielle. His parents saw that he received a proper education and his father groomed him to assume control of the family’s money lending operations when he could no longer see to it himself. For much of his early life, Feininger was dissatisfied with his father’s business. At age eighteen, he packed a few belongings and ran away from home. He was, however, so horrified by the manner in which the poor were forced to live his life that he found he could not reproach his father for providing his family with a better life. Ashamed of his actions, he returned to Brielle, begged his father for forgiveness, and threw himself wholeheartedly into the money lending business. First his father then his mother passed away, leaving him to hand out loans alone. Melech is a lonely man. Since his family left him, he has been consumed with a burning need to profit and this need has driven anyone who might have been a friend to him away. He still maintains a few acquaintances in the local Jewish community, but few would ever do much more than give Feininger the time of day. Meanwhile, Melech’s continual drive for higher profit margins has made involvement in operations that could not be considered strictly legal seem more and more desirable.
Resources: Melech possesses 1,819 doubloons in his bank vault. His balance sheet includes another 35,290 doubloons lent out which generates a net profit of 26% interest per annum. However, 29,000 of those doubloons are lent out to the King of Spain, and Melech is highly concerned that the King is in danger of defaulting on all or part of the obligation due to the mushrooming costs of the ongoing Italian War which is pushing Spain to the brink of bankruptcy. If that happens, he will at least try to collect the collateral: a fortified keep near Delft, Holland and a coastal fortress near La Coruna, Galicia.
Atticus Character: Rònan Gwrtheyrn, born 10 Jul 1529 (age 32)
Background history: Rònan Gwrtheyrn was born in Isle of Anglesey, to a middle class family. A massive child, he enjoyed a life of education and seafaring. The community he lived in, being largely Pagan, was highly persecuted at the time by the nearby Catholics, and in many instances, Gwrtheyrn was beaten by large masses of other children. As he fought back, he became known as a brute, although untrue, and was further distanced from the general public. At age 18, he decided to become a mercenary, to escape it all. Gwrtheyrn was employed by a Spanish Noble as one of several bodyguards in an prominent and advance unit. After a heated argument with the nobleman over the issue of Paganism during a trip, the old rage flared inside his, and the gargantuan Gwrtheyrn struck him dead. After killing several of the other guards with his immense physical strength, Gwrtheyrn ran off, fearing for his life. A massive manhunt ensured, in which the Spanish, aided by religiously intolerant Catholics, raided his hometown, killing most of his relatives and his family. On his 22nd birthday, he was finally caught and imprisoned by the Spanish. Instead of executing him, he was turned over to the Spanish Inquisition, due to his Pagan beliefs. For several months, Gwrtheyrn was tortured and beaten, leaving his body badly scarred. He finally broke out when one of the guards accidentally locked him in rusty chains, and Gwrtheyrn was able to break out and escape. Gwrtheyrn made his way back to Wales, only to find his hometown destroyed by the Spanish and his very own neighbors. Gwrtheyrn went on a rampage, killing many of those responsible for the death of his family and fellow pagan neighbors. Luckily, an old flare had left him with a son, who survived the killings. After the killing, Gwrtheyrn took the loot from the dead and started a life at sea. He gained a fearsome reputation, helping the captain capture unsuspecting Spanish ships who dared travel up north. For 4 years, he helped plundered Spanish ships all across the ocean. When he was 29, the captain was shot as they boarded a Spanish Galleon. Most of the crew was killed in the battle, and only Gwrtheyrn and a few Welshmen survived. Due to his courageous actions in the battle and his fearsome reputation, the men elected him as captain. He sailed back to Wales, where they collected a number of rough and hardy Welsh sailors. From there, he sailed North to the fjords in Scotland. Leaving his men at the mouth of the fjord, he traveled up and buried what wealth he had, approximately 2,400 doubloons, somewhere along the coast. He was last seen heading to Antwerp, after hearing rumors of the Claireite DisOrder of the Erisian Archsaints.
Resources: Gwrtheyrn possesses 1300 doubloons and earns 24 doubloons per annum. He also possesses knives, swords, axes, halberds, several wheel-lock pistols and other firearms, a ship and all its necessities, and a crew of 50 Welsh sailors/pirates.
Esternarx Character: Kehara Jund, born 6 Mar 1534 (age 23)
Background history: Kehara Jund is a member of the Claireite DisOrder of the Erisian Archsaints, an archaic international conspiracy / quasi-religious black-market organization that has a significant presence, both licit and illicit, in the economy of the Low Countries. The main headquarters of the Claireite DisOrder is maintained in secrecy behind a small and conventional Antwerp church front, one that could easily be assumed by passerby to be affiliated with any number of the nondescript churchhouses of the Reformed religion. Literally underneath the church is a large, hidden castle-like structure where anarchists and subversives of a wide variety congregate and have kinky sex.
Resources: Kehara possesses 405 doubloons and earns 12 doubloons per annum. Her organization controls 4 oceanworthy galleons along with dozens of other smaller vessels.
Hesperia Character: Linus Knapper, born August 22, 1520 (age 30)
Background history: Linus Knapper is a Jesuit priest serving at a school in Spanish-controlled Amsterdam. A Dutchman himself, he was born in the province of Brabant but was abandoned at birth and was raised in a Catholic orphanage. He joined the Jesuits as soon as the order expanded into the Spanish Netherlands, having previously been intrigued by the message of the Protestants. He worked as a blacksmith nearby the orphanage where he grew up before joining the religious order that he has been a member of for 6 years. He is a torn man; although he is sympathetic to the plights of his fellow Dutch, he feels that if he supports them, he will be killed for his Catholic faith (which he is also beginning to question again), or pursued by the Spanish, since he has been working for them in a de-facto manner.
Although he is a calm man with a strong sense of duty to God, his anger can get a hold of him sometimes and causes him to make rash decisions, and secretly holds the will that if he ever meets the parents who abandoned him, in revenge he will hand them over to the Inquisition on false charges. The pressure he is facing from both sides of the political spectrum is not helping with his psyche.
Resources: All his wealth has been given up, and any resources he receives are from the Church and the Spanish government.
Lansdallius Character: Marcus Van De Mirn, born 18 Nov 1511 (age 45)
Background history: Marcus Van De Mirn is a prosperous citizen of Antwerp. He is a master carpenter by trade and through hard work and luck has accumulated a not unsubstantial wealth allowing him to dabble in trade and investments. This soberminded man attends the local Calvinist church every week and lives in a middle-class town house which is located directly above his carpentry shop. Marcus is married and has 2 sons and 3 daughters ranging from the ages of 16 to 25. These days his sons do most of the work in his carpentry business while Marcus himself has time to devote to mercantile activities, including a scheme to import salted codfish from the Baltic Sea.
Resources: Marcus possesses 96 doubloons and earns 7 doubloons per annum. He is a partner in a small trading company that imports salted cod from the Baltic Sea. He helps manage a fleet of 5 small cargo ships that are capable of travelling the coastlines of Northern Europe but are not worthy of venturing further out into the open sea.
New Harumf Character: Jesus Rodriguez, born 16 Feb 1522 (age 35)
Background history: Jesus Rodriguez was born to wealth and comes from a long and prestigious line of Castillian noblemen who have descent from the legendary medieval warrior of Christendom, El Cid. Nonetheless, Jesus' own life has been a succession of tragedies and farces that have reduced him to penury. His troubles began when, as an administrative agent of the Spanish King in Luxembourg and a married man, he fell madly in love with a German Lutheran woman who was not his lawfully wedded wife, leading to a series of irrational life decisions that caused him to denounce the Pope and proclaim himself Protestant. Romantically recalictrant in his newfound spirituality, Jesus had his titles, lands, and property stripped from him by the Spanish Inquisition, and he is currently living in a hovel on the outskirts of Antwerp. This gentle soul suffers from nostalgia and heart-break and is daily bullied by the other residents of the slum he lives in. He is also frequently harrassed by the Spanish Inquisition. Jesus is cut off from his family, except for a sympathetic aunt who sends him a pittance from time to time.
Resources: Jesus possesses 12 doubloons and earns 1 doubloon per annum the money he receives from his sympathetic aunt. He also possesses a full panoply of weapons and armor, including swords, halberd, lance, cuirass, wheel-lock pistol, and arquebus.
Quaon Character: Daniel Weizman, born 8 Jun 1532 (age 25)
Background history: Daniel Weizman is the product of a rape that occurred in a rancid alleyway in a Palatine Jewish ghetto some 25 years ago. His mother carried him to term and he was sustained on the charity of a local synagogue. He knows only poverty and is poorly educated. His sole advantage in life is his immense physical strength, and he is called by the nickname "Samson" for his ability to accomplish feats of strength. The Jewish populations of the Upper Rhineland being under threat from the violent ambiguities of the Reformation, Daniel decided to emigrate to Antwerp, the richest city of Western Europe, to seek a new beginning and a new life.
Resources: Daniel possesses 0.8 doubloons and earns 0 doubloons per annum as he is currently unemployed. He also possesses a homemade shiv that he uses to protect himself against bandits.
Rhadamanthus Character: Ambrosio de Gavilan Saavedra, born 3 Aug 1516 (age 41)
Background history: Ambrosio de Gavilan comes from a family of Castilian minor nobility and according to tradition, as the second son of the family, entered an ecclesiastical career. At Salamanca he specialized in Canon Law and became a prosecutor for the Spanish Inquisition. Due to the successes he achieved in breaking secret Erasmian and Lutheran heretics in the Castilian nobility, Ambrosio was elevated to Cardinal and sent to the Low Countries as a mobile inquisitor to combat against the growing influence of Calvinism there. Ambrosio is forbidden to marry, as a churchman, but he has significant family connections in Spain. His elder brother is a wealthy landowner and a military commander for the King's army in Italy, and his younger brother is a resident diplomat in England.
Resources: Ambrosio possesses 186 doubloons and receives 8 doubloons per annum from his family's estate. He is personally not paid by the Inquisition in the Netherlands but manages its annual operational budget of ~300 doubloons. He also commands 50 cavalry bailiffs and 400 infantry bailiffs.
T.O. Character: Friedrich Sebastian Klein, born 16 June 1531 (Age 26)
Background history: Born to a poor, Lutheran, family in the working class district of Hamburg, growing up he did not have many options. Either he was to join the poor workers or seek advancement else where. He took the latter option. In his travels he met a band of landscheckts (German Mercenaries) who where eager to add him to their ranks (He was quite the large man). In turn the band of mercenaries found employment in the Army of The Republic of Siena. Where they where defeated at the Battle of Marciano. Captured during the battle he was imprisoned, but after two years of imprisonment he managed to kill one of the guards, grab his sword and purse and escape. Being on the run he traveled to Antwerp hoping to find new opportunities in the rich city.
Resources: Friedrich possesses 4 doubloons and earns 0 doubloons per annum as he is currently unemployed. He also possesses the sword he stole from the guard.
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