|M| {The Novel of Bad Manners} |OC|

[Alura]

Prepare for a tale taller than the most chic of wigs! Burn your guidebooks and grab your grain sacks for The Novel of Bad Manners, Chapter 1: Cake or Death! Unrest has floured into all-out riot as the French Revolution of 1789 to 1799 has risen up from famine across France. Years of poor grain yield and relentless taxation from the clergy and the bourgeoisie have baked a deep sense of desparation and resentment into the proletariat that live near subsistence. The King's predecessor treated the fighting Americans, among others, to a taste of French generosity that has left the royal coffers with mere crumbs. Far from Paris to the southeast of Lyon, the Day of the Tiles in Grenoble on June 7, 1788, in which parliamentarians are battered by roofing tiles for their half-baked efforts in supporting the needs of the people has finally burnt the bottoms of the indignant peasantry to set them in action.



In great cities like Paris, women and cross-dressers spill into the streets clamouring for relief from unjust taxes and patisserie parity to alleviate the hunger of their families and communities. Despite efforts of the royals to enact reform, their levity only serves to allow their less savoury advisors, merchants, and clergy to continue to pepper the populace with unreasonable pressure to provide precious grains to assuage the pangs of shortage that the crown and other members of the noblesse are also beginning to feel in earnest.

The bourgeouise, hearts harder than the blackest bread, refuse to hear the people's cries for justice. After a very serious tennis court affair that involved a great deal of swearing, we find our story opening outside of the Bastille on the morning of July 14, 1789. The fires of revolution are being stoked to new heights. For three days, residents of the city have been positively toasting the customs offices which collect taxes to vent their ire as they search to acquire arms and food. The former Estates-General have begun to take on more layers than a gateau de mille-feuilles. The icing on the cake? Angry, revolutionary-minded citizens have surrounded the prison where rumours of massacres and other dark conspiracies have been circulating, shouting their disapproval at the King's recent silence and the continued power abuses and hunger running rampant.



Deep within Versailles, the typically accessible King Louis XVI has angrily dismissed his sole non-noble advisor, Henry Necker, in the wake of the changing of the Estates-General he convened to help alleviate the people's suffering into the new National Constituent Assembly. Though nobles at court and a few select members of the clergy, academia, and other tradesmen have been allowed to trickle in and out of the once glittering court; the commoners who have begun to overstep the representative powers he has given to them begin to force his hand.



Though impossible to know what may yet come: dough not despair! Petitioned for help by an old friend, Denis Francois, a Parisian baker; Charles Messier and his friend and assistant Pierre Mechain have found themselves waiting for the man here outside the Bastille to discuss the growing unrest in the city and some outlandish claims the generally reasonable Francois has made about bakeries being ransacked late at night. To make matters worse, some of the millers that supply the city's flour have also been vanishing, putting the already embroiled bakers between a rock and a hard place. Can the two scholars, along with the help of unexpected allies in high places and low, uncover the roots of the trouble crumbling the infrastructure of the city itself before the city's bread supply dissipates entirely and the country erupts into all-out warfare?



~*~ Timelines ~*~



Age of Reason: 1685 - 1815
Georgian Era: 1714 - 1830
Age of Enlightenment: 1715 - 1789
Classical Era: 1750 - 1820
First Industrial Revolution: 1760 - 1840
Romantic Period: 1770 - 1837
Jane Austen: 1775 - 1817
French Revolution: 1789 - 1799


~*~ Lignees | Bloodlines ~*~

Spoiler:  

The Africans
The Americans
The Dutch
The English
The French
The Germans
The Italians
The Irish
The Japanese
The Polish
The Russians
The Swedes

~*~ The Cliques ~*~

Spoiler:  

The Goth Kids (Artists) - Writers, Painters, Musicians, Performers, Architects
The Mean Girls (Aristocrats) - Monarchs, Public Officials, Sadists, Bourgeoisie, Clergy
The Spinning Jennies (Industrialists) - Manufacturers, Hobos, Railroad Builders
The Party People (Politicians) - Political Officials, Social Activists, Military Leaders, Soldiers, Burghers
The Pencil Pushers (Academics) - Philosophers, Scientists, Inventors
The Croppy Set (Revolutionaries) - Irish Rebels, French Rebels, African Rebels, Proletariat
The Bone Saints (Travelers) - Explorers, Expeditionists, Slaves, Sailors, Pirates, Hunters, Colonists

~*~ P's & Q's ~*~

Spoiler: {Approved Character List} 

Spoiler: |GM Characters| 

Louis XVI
Charles Messier
Pierre Mechain
Marquis de Sade
Comte de Mirabeau
Napoleon Bonaparte
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Denis François
Marquis de Bouillé
Nicolas Stohrer
Etienne-Gaspard Robert
Peter Baudry
Eugene Delacroix
Thomas Paine
Marie Anoine (Antonin) Careme
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
Jean Sylvain Bailly
Sir Percy Blakeney

Spoiler: {Rules} 

1. Follow the RPA Rules.
   
   
2. Follow the Golden Rule. The only requirement I'll set on literacy, post length, etc., is to post like you would want someone to post for you. Using a word processor for spelling and grammar checking, giving enough length and content to give others material to respond even if that varies, and contributing to the roleplay whether your inspiration is at 40% or 100% on a given day: these are really all that I look for and appreciate receiving in return. The same rule of thumb applies to absences. Life happens, just post here or PM me to make us aware.
   
   
3. Posting Order: Unless otherwise indicated at the time of the IC OP posting, please post in the order Character Sheets were submitted to the OC. If you wish to skip a turn, just post that here so the next person knows to go ahead with theirs.
   
   
4. Bloodlines, Cliques, Occupations: Choose carefully. "Know the rules in order to bend them", which is to say: know the material you choose well enough that you could play your choice believably. It does not have to be perfect and no one should be nitpicking the accuracy of details unless something is glaringly wrong. Just know that it will be more enjoyable for you and the other players if you have enough material to bend things to a "believable" level of absurdity. Mixing and mingling Bloodlines, Cliques, Occupations, or including those not listed here are acceptable, just sell any oddities in the biography and make sure that you can back it up, or you may be asked to edit.
   
   
5. Major Historical & Literary Figures: Generally open season as player characters or player-written NPC, but do please let me know what you intend so that I can adjust or ask for change-ups if they happen to be a character already central to the main plot of the IC. My list of central/plot-specific characters under the {Accepted Characters} section is flexible outside of Messier and Mechain if you want to discuss any of them over PM.
   
   
6. Death & Dismemberment: If you want to kill a historical character in a legendary way or even an original character that you want to off in a way that a major figure is rumoured to have done, you are welcome to do. Killing other characters needs to be okay'd by the person biting it and I need to be told, but don't need to approve it. I am a fan of dark, but not a fan of cruel. In public. So take it to the boudoir/PM if things are going to get exceedingly kinky or gorey, please; by which I mean, fade to black. Group roleplays are hard to hold threads for if anything essential happens in PM, so let's not try.
   
   
7. Rating: While there are many starry-eyed denizens of this time period, it remains the time of such figures as the Marquis de Sade; so the real bad boys and girls of history are not off the table if you feel so inclined. This roleplay is [M]ature for a reason and I don't intend to police that - so if that is not something you are prepared for then please forego this one. That being said, follow RPA rules and remember that this is meant to be a parody.
   
   
8. Extended Absences/Inability to Continue: I try to write characters "off stage" so that a player can return if desired later when something unexpected will keep them from being able to continue. Occasionally if it's funny, appropriate to the plot, or I'm feeling petty I'll off them. If this happens and you wish to rejoin you can either post here or PM me a convincing re-entry/revival or post a new Character Sheet in order to continue!
   
   
9. Conflict Resolution: I have a central plot and some smaller ideas that I want to run through to a conclusion and in that way will help guide things along. Feel free to reach out for help with subplots you want to include. If you have questions or encounter a problem, please let me know and I'll do my best to resolve it. Democracy is prefered: talk to each other, work things out, but if I get involved or make a decision please honour it.

Spoiler: {Character Sheet} 

Name:
Age:
Bloodline:
Clique:
Favourite Type of Cake:
Occupation:
Temperament (in 5 Words or Less):
Pedigree & Past (Biography):
Entourage (Player-controlled NPC):
Notes (Optional):

Spoiler: {Updates} 

Spoiler: {18.10.2020}{Revised OP} 

{The Novel of Bad Manners| Cake or Death} is now open for character submissions! Please let me know if you have any corrections or questions! My list of plot-impacting characters is under the {Accepted Characters} section if you wish to look at it. If you want to play one of the people who appear there, don't lose your head! Feel free to PM me as most of them are negotiable! If you prefer to find out who may pop up along the way organically and want to avoid peeking at the list, you can also PM me directly with any historical/literary figures for a yea or nay on whether they've been earmarked. Now get your bundts moving and come Carmagnole with the investigative astronomers Messier & Mechain!

Spoiler: {13.10.2020} 

The current vote sits in favour of The French Revolution (1789 - 1799). If there are no other votes and this remains the same by this weekend, then my goal is to have an amended synopsis up by Monday, October 19, 2020!

Spoiler: {19.09.2020} {OP} 

Welcome to the Georgian Era. Novels of manners written by socialites like the Austen sisters serve as a commentary on the wonders and woes of society and keep the presses hot. With Europe coming to a boil (Don't worry, it's more murder and less plague this time!), the tea & scandals could not be hotter. Not nearly so hot, however, as life in France is about to become. Literary figures, politicians, industrialists, academics, and revolutionaries all caricature the best and worst of the period in a roleplay that will have you - and possibly your head - rolling.



Did Mary Shelley drop laudanum like Gauss dropped knowledge? Was the pre-Regency world beset by a higher volume of hair than Common Sense? If you have the wit and the will to paint the town like Delacroix and make even Diderot's Jaques do a doubletake, then pull on your blue stockings and come along on a parodic journey through the turn of 18th Century Europe and the world beyond. We have cake.


~*~ Timelines ~*~



Age of Reason: 1685 - 1815
Georgian Era: 1714 - 1830
Age of Enlightenment: 1715 - 1789
Classical Era: 1750 - 1820
First Industrial Revolution: 1760 - 1840
Romantic Period: 1770 - 1837
Jane Austen: 1775 - 1817


~*~ Lignees | Bloodlines ~*~

Spoiler:  

The Africans
The Americans
The English
The French
The Germans
The Irish
The Japanese
The Polish
The Russians
The Swedes

~*~ The Cliques ~*~

Spoiler:  

The Goth Kids (Artists) - Writers, Painters, Musicians, Performers, Architects
The Mean Girls (Aristocrats) - Monarchs, Public Officials, Sadists
The Spinning Jennies (Industrialists) - Bourgeoisie, Manufacturers, Hobos, Railroad Builders, Proletariat
The Party People (Politicians) - Political Officials, Social Activists, Military Leaders, Soldiers, Burghers
The Pencil Pushers (Academics) - Philosophers, Scientists, Clergy, Inventors
The Croppy Set (Revolutionaries) - Irish Rebels, French Rebels, African Rebels
The Bone Saints (Travelers) - Explorers, Expeditionists, Slaves, Sailors, Pirates, Hunters, Colonists

Did I include a few 1970's - 1990's references in my 1790's forward Georgian/Romantics period OC? Yes. Yes, I did. Onward! I have three potential ways of running this, and since I am as democratic as I am beautiful we shall decide it by popular vote!

1) The Life and Times of Jane Austen (1775 - 1817):

Spoiler:  

A pure novel of manners parody that would essentially be one giant troll on the world between Jane Austen's birth and death dates, since this encompasses a fair bit of this genre of literature for the crossover from Enlightenment to Romantic. 1790 or thereabouts is the year I had in mind for a start point for this roleplay. If this option is selected, everyone chooses knock-offs of literary characters or actual literary figures, artists, painters, musicians, architects, etc., that would have been alive in England, the United States or France, during this segment of the Georgian Era. Very little restriction on playable characters other than the general caveat that if you play an actual notable, you should have a decent knowledge of that person so that you have something to riff off of accordingly. This was the main intent behind my initial interest check and what will be on offer if a poll is deadlocked.

2) The French Revolution (1789 -1799):

Spoiler:  

This could start as early as 1783 and run until 1820 or so to wrap things in a bow. It would focus more on continental Europe, specifically France (obviously). This could either be strictly historical or include literary characters set in the time frame (e.g. - The Scarlet Pimpernel or Jean Valjean of Les Miserables). To do this well we would need a few people to play the major royals/aristocrats and Robespierre, etc. A smattering of players across social strata and some starry-eyed revolutionaries would round things out nicely. This one would be more straight-laced (if no less entertaining a parody) than The Life and Times of Jane Austen because it's a fairly linear series of events on a set timeline with less flexibility on that front. May be a short-ish roleplay, but nonetheless it's always fun to visit this time frame.

3) The Age of Reason & The First Industrial Revolution (1685 - 1840):

Spoiler:  

This is less of a one-shot roleplay and more an investment. If whatever we choose goes well and there is interest, we could span this larger timeline and incorporate both of the other two options and additions as we see fit (Pirate sea voyage with real historical figures and recreational bird sketching? Really annoyed colonists trying to figure out how corn works?). I believe that I can offer reasonably entertaining storylines for England, Ireland, France, the United States, North Africa in general, Japan, and perhaps Russia during this period. Anything outside of that I'm willing to learn if desired, but it could get a little dicey. My intention for these is to make light of subject matter that can get a little dark, because humans have been trying to human for a long time with varying levels of success and failure. If more serious roleplays are preferred then I'm sure we could come to some arrangement, so that is not off the table.

~*~ P's & Q's ~*~

Spoiler: {Rules} 

1. Follow the RPA Rules.
   
   
2. Follow the Golden Rule. The only requirement I'll set on literacy, post length, etc., is to post like you would want someone to post for you. Using a word processor for spelling and grammar checking, giving enough length and content to give others material to respond even if that varies, and contributing to the roleplay whether your inspiration is at 40% or 100% on a given day: these are really all that I look for and appreciate receiving in return. The same rule of thumb applies to absences. Life happens, just post here or PM me to make us aware.
   
   
3. Posting Order: Unless otherwise indicated at the time of the IC OP posting, please post in the order Character Sheets were submitted to the OC. If you wish to skip a turn, just post that here so the next person knows to go ahead with theirs.
   
   
4. Bloodlines, Cliques, Occupations: Choose carefully. "Know the rules in order to bend them", which is to say: know the material you choose well enough that you could play your choice believably. It does not have to be perfect and no one should be nitpicking the accuracy of details unless something is glaringly wrong. Just know that it will be more enjoyable for you and the other players if you have enough material to bend things to a "believable" level of absurdity. Mixing and mingling Bloodlines, Cliques, Occupations, or including those not listed here are acceptable, just sell any oddities in the biography and make sure that you can back it up, or you may be asked to edit.
   
   
5. Major Historical & Literary Figures: Generally open season as player characters or player-written NPC, but do please let me know what you intend so that I can adjust or ask for change-ups if they happen to be a character already central to the main plot of the IC. I will list my central/plot-specific characters once a selection is made from the three OC options.
   
   
6. Death & Dismemberment: If you want to kill a historical character in a legendary way or even an original character that you want to off in a way that a major figure is rumoured to have done, you are welcome to do. Killing other characters needs to be okay'd by the person biting it and I need to be told, but don't need to approve it. I am a fan of dark, but not a fan of cruel. In public. So take it to the boudoir/PM if things are going to get exceedingly kinky or gorey, please; by which I mean, fade to black. Group roleplays are hard to hold threads for if anything essential happens in PM, so let's not try.
   
   
7. Rating: While there are many starry-eyed denizens of this time period, it remains the time of such figures as the Marquis de Sade; so the real bad boys and girls of history are not off the table if you feel so inclined. This roleplay is [M]ature for a reason and I don't intend to police that - so if that is not something you are prepared for then please forego this one. That being said, follow RPA rules and remember that this is meant to be a parody.
   
   
8. Extended Absences/Inability to Continue: I try to write characters "off stage" so that a player can return if desired later when something unexpected will keep them from being able to continue. Occasionally if it's funny, appropriate to the plot, or I'm feeling petty I'll off them. If this happens and you wish to rejoin you can either post here or PM me a convincing re-entry/revival or post a new Character Sheet in order to continue!
   
   
9. Conflict Resolution: I have a central plot and some smaller ideas that I want to run through to a conclusion and in that way will help guide things along. Feel free to reach out for help with subplots you want to include. If you have questions or encounter a problem, please let me know and I'll do my best to resolve it. Democracy is prefered: talk to each other, work things out, but if I get involved or make a decision please honour it.

Spoiler: {Character Sheet} 

Name:
Age:
Bloodline:
Clique:
Favourite Type of Cake:
Occupation:
Temperament (in 5 Words or Less):
Pedigree & Past (Biography):
Entourage (Player-controlled NPC):
Notes (Optional):

[AngelDellaNotte]

Viva la revolution!

[Alura]

A little mood music for your waiting pleasure:



Don't forget to cast your vote in the poll if you think you might like to play!

[AngelDellaNotte]

Lol I'm a ditz I didn't see the poll.

[Alura]

I suppose I could have made that clearer, apologies, haha!

[InfraredHero]

Hmmm, I'm torn. I can't pick between The Life and Times of Jane Austen and The French Revolution.

Which one do you wanna do, Alura? Or are you equally in favor of all three?

[Alura]

I don't want to sway the voting, but I feel prepared to do any of them. To be honest, if it's enjoyable for everyone I'll probably try to kick up an OC for whichever doesn't float later down the line. So there are no wrong answers!

[Alura]

{Update}

{13.10.2020}

The current vote sits in favour of The French Revolution (1789 - 1799). If there are no other votes and this remains the same by this weekend, then my goal is to have an amended synopsis up by Monday, October 19, 2020!

[Alura]

{Update}

{18.10.2020]

The OP is revised and {The Novel of Bad Manners | Cake or Death} is now open for character submissions! Please let me know if you have any corrections or questions! My list of plot-impacting characters is under the {Accepted Characters} section if you wish to look at it. If you want to play one of the people who appear there, don't lose your head! Feel free to PM me as most of them are negotiable! If you prefer to find out who may pop up along the way organically and want to avoid peeking at the list, you can also PM me directly with any historical/literary figures for a yea or nay on whether they've been earmarked. Now get your bundts moving and come Carmagnole with the investigative astronomers Messier & Mechain!