For the Royal and nobler Houses, order would matter more, I'm guessing. :3 But I like the idea of competence being a factor for the lower classed Houses. [yes] I did edit a bit in case you didn't see it: namely a question about Mithril and then a list of Houses in order of power. :D

I'm also thinking that being a member of the Arsenic "Family" would be rather taboo for any House, though the lower classes would have less restrictions there.

As for jewelry, I was thinking that most jewelry would be of the usual kind, but I do kind of like the thought of having different types of jewelry for every House. It makes it seem more stratified. :P So, while it won't be illegal to be caught wearing a piece of jewelry made from a different metal than your House, guards normally assume immediately that its stolen? Or something similar.

I see...well, if there's going to be multiple people for each family, then I wouldn't mind becoming the second son/daughter. :P But if there are no multiple characters for Platinum, then I'll go with Gold...or maybe Mithril. I'll need to think about that. Whatever suits my character best, I guess. xD But I also agree with Wyrm on the undecided heirs and the "whoever does things better is the heir" kind of thing.

Being found to be a member of House Arsenic should definitely be a cause for imprisonment at the least. It's no fun if it's not dangerous! ;)

And yeah, I figure people are proud of their families and would normally only wear family-colored jewelry, so custom instead of law makes sense. Exceptions might be inter-house alliances. Like a Copper lady married into Gold would be likely to wear jewelry of both metals.

So, I'm thinking that I would like for every House to have at least one person before we go to having multiples. Does that sound like a good idea? It's just that I don't want one House to be completely forgotten while another has tons of members. [sweat]

Having different systems of choosing the heir for the lower Houses is something that I definitely want to implement as well. :3 It doesn't make a lot of sense for the higher Houses, as it matters "more" for them to have a heir at all rather than to wait for the perfect one.

That's exactly what I was thinking, Wyrm. :D That means, of course, that Gold probably would not have a monopoly on jewelry, but rather focus on other luxury goods like silk and such.

Also, in case no one noticed, I changed Pewter from religion to servants, paid of course. I'm all for any other suggestions, but it seemed to make sense to me at the time. It could still be an influential position though; servants typically overhear a lot about their employers' lives after all. [;)]

I like Pewter being servants. It makes more sense than one family being in charge of religion.

Besides, if everyone can be part of the Church, that gives lower-born people a way to gain higher rank, and high-born ones a chance at reaching titles they might have been denied by not being first-born!

And I agree with one person per house before we start... and to facilitate that, if someone wants Brass, I'll hand it off to them and make my second character a part of some other family. [:)]

---------- Post added 01-01-2013 at 09:06 PM ----------

Oh! And I just saw your comment about Mithril being inter-house. I agree. The three traditional methods of social mobility are crime, the church, and the army. :)

Okay, if no one objects, then we'll have that set up. :3 And I actually hadn't thought about that concerning the church. [sweat] I'll have to do some worldbuilding tomorrow.

If no one has any major complaints or concerns, I think I can get the thread itself up tomorrow, as well as the OOC. XD

And I feel the same way about my Copper character. So just ask if you want it! I'll choose another one. [yes]

I'll also adjust Mithril into being inter-House, but that means that we'll need one more metal to keep everything even (two characters a piece). So, if you have an idea, feel free to offer it up.

Here's an idea I just had though:
Electrum - Bankers (electrum was often used as coins during medieval times)

If anyone thinks they have a better one, don't hesitate to post it! :3

I just went back to check the list and you put my character as Mercury instead of Gold...^^;

But other than tht, I don't see anything that I really have any problems with. I'm excited, waiting to see the thread up! c: I think I'll be going to bed now, I've got to wake up early for class tomorrow...

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the thread started up. :3

Electrum is good. I like the idea of a bankers' guild, and money means power!

I had a thought, though... where do artists fall? Gold, since art is kind of technically a luxury item? Or Brass, because music and art are both 'artistic'? I was just wondering, because artistic talent doesn't exactly run in families. Maybe if someone shows an aptitude outside of their family, they usually marry into the 'appropriate' family? Or get adopted by the family, perhaps... I'm kind of just throwing out ideas. XD

Lead comes to mind as a metal, too... but all I can think of for lead would be the absolute lowest classes. People who don't even qualify for a 'family'. Trash collectors, ditch diggers, farmers. People who are necessary and inevitable, but considered beneath the notice of the characters we're likely to play.

I like the idea of all these 'pure' families calling the lower classes 'dross'... because it amuses me.

:o Do you still have any room? -- like... 'empty' houses?

Check this post, Mythos. :D

It's accurate except... I think DaniCalifornia wanted Mercury and Q U E E N wanted Gold?

Sweet.
If it's alright, I'd like to sign up for Pewter now and perhaps add another personality into Gold when we have enough to do so?

Hmm...yeah, I also like the thought of Electrum being bankers. Hm...about the artists, could we put them as Aluminum? If I remember correctly, Aluminum is the most commonly used metal in art and also can be anodized to hold different colors. I don't know if you guys want Aluminum to be art, so I'll just give you an idea and we can work on it. xD

I like the idea with the lead as being kind of an ultra-low class. Since Pewter is already servants, then the Lead would have to be even lower than them...

My only problem with artists having their own metal is that we already have musicians as brass. :)

>.> And assuming Pewter are the servants of the wealthy, that doesn't really make them very low-class. Professional servants would be well-paid and skilled members of the household. They probably have keys to every room in the house, and even if they don't, they know what goes on in the house. The servants saw who you came home with last night, and they know where you keep your valuables. They also have control over what you eat and whether or not your underwear has starch in it. Odds are they also know if there are secret passages or chambers in your house *cough*Batcave*cough*. So basically servants are really important but basically invisible to their employers most of the time. [ninja]

And I think Lead would be kind of unofficial. The lowest class are that because they have no special talents or bloodlines that fit them into a family.

Oookay, I see what you're getting at now. I like it. c:
Now I guess we just need to wait for Angelo to come on. xD Unless someone has more to contribute? Because I'm juiced out of ideas.

Hey um, where should alchemy fit in? it's kind of awkward since most of the ideas in actual alchemy has to do with pure metals, so would some of the Mercury people be into the whole Arsenic stealing-metals scene?

Or would there be a general fogiveness of it?

Or should I just cut it out because it can be seen as sort of elitist (This metal is better than that one, therefore we should learn how to change one into the other)

Actually on second thought, that makes for a pretty good conflict...
(Ha sorry, just brainstorming a bit)

In my mind, the Mercury people would be into the whole quest for the philosopher's stone type thing. Searching for immortality, or at least a way to turn lead into gold. I'd probably also assume they had a lot of mad science going on, too. But that's just my spin on it. :P

Haha I was TOTALLY going way too deep into symbolism. Stupid literature messing with my head again xD
I was on the train of thought that if they turned lead into gold, than what about the Lead people?

But I don't think that's really going to play in, thinking about it...

I dunno... depends how evil you want to be. XD I could see an alchemist who turns people into gold!

For now, we'll keep brass as the artsy people. :3 If we need another metal later, we could use aluminum or something else.

Wyrm put it pretty accurately; they're going to be responsible for all of the scient type things. Like astronomy and physical laws and such, though they don't have to be very accurate. They are a sort of early society after all.

As for Lead, maybe it could be an actual "Family," but they are the disgraced? For instance, if a character gets banished, they normally get taken in by the Lead "family." Or they could be slaves, but I don't really think that's viable because we already have servants. :P

I was mostly thinking that we need people to do the absolutely awful tasks. Clean out cesspools, dig ditches, all the stuff that our families won't want to do. And I'm assuming they'll have enough money not to need to do them, as our lowest named class is still middle-class for the most part. It's those people I was kind of figuring for 'Lead'-- people that we really wouldn't want to play because they don't have any influence on world events.

I'm also thinking that the idea of Stone and Wood classes will need to be implemented as well. [sweat] It doesn't make much sense for there to be only House members in the city after all.

As for the main plot, I was thinking of something similar to Jack the Ripper: a murderer is going around targeting prominent members of the Houses in order to weaken the Empire for a coup. Maybe the people could be upset with plague and other, similar issues and want change?

If the Stone and Wood are outside the city-- perhaps along with Sea or something for the seafaring folks-- there could be some argument that they should take over! Obviously most of our characters wouldn't want them to take over, of course.

Well, I was thinking inside the city, but as common laborers. Outside does work too though; farmers and what not. I don't want them to be Houses persay, but rather castes? Does that make sense? So some inside the city as like innkeepers and shop owners and such, and some outside doing sea-faring jobs and farming?

Also, what did you think of our mystery killer? It could really be an entire group later if someone would like to play as some of those characters. I just feel that we need an all-encompassing conflict in addition to all of the inner conflict between the Houses. :P

Maybe the killer should start off on lower-ranked people before moving up? That way the danger would grow steadily through the game.

I like that. :D So, like a serial killer who's really just practicing on people no one really cares about until he knows he can get away with taking out the bigger fish? :3 That sounds awesome!