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Application for a Holdfast
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The potential crowds of people within the Commission part ways for your entourage as you all walk alongside and on the rich carpet and the wooden floorboards beside them towards the Magistrates, of whom, seated on their chairs behind the desks all look expectantly towards your entourage... You know why you are here, they know why you are here. Whether you have been expected or not, there are not many reasons why a group of seemingly high-importance individuals would make their address in this building...
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Right then, with the introductory statements and the rules and guidelines all said and done, now you are ready to apply for a Holdfast within the Canon Roleplay! For one, we'd be happy to see you participate and always welcome new roleplayers, and as soon as procedure is down and I, Ayu and/or the Clerics have reviewed the application, you'll be accepted and your creation will be officially a part of Caer Sidi.
But, before all of that, the application process, right? Below, you will see general guide on how best to make a Holdfast application and all of the stuff you should fill in for it. I promise to you, it will be a whole lot less daunting once you start reading.
And without further ado!
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1: What's the Holdfast called?
Right, the first step is pretty self-explanatory. Before we even begin with detailing who lives in your Holdfast, where it is located or how it is governed, a name should be given to it, right?
Now, if you want to elaborate on the name and perhaps describe the Etymology of it, that is all well and dandy, but that won't be necessary.
2: Where is your Holdfast located?
The second step I would want you to pursue when applying is to detail where the Holdfast is located within the Warren of Caer Sidi.
To let you know, there are a couple of stipulations as to where you can, or can't place your Holdfast... First of all, places where the Chaosium occupies ( Marked in red hexes ) or places where other Holdfasts have already claimed are not allowed to be chosen as locations where your holdfast occupies. In addition, please don't put your Holdfast in or around the Queensland peninsula ( where the Bastion, and Chail are located ) ... I'd also recommend that you refrain from putting your Holdfast in places where there are already "structures" on the map, like the depicted farmland east of Chail. The various bridges, however can be an exception to this.
Oh, and this is also important... There are many Hexes which define where your Holdfast is, and how large it is... On average, a single hex is comparable in size ( Square Kilometres/Miles ) to the city of Chicago, at 585km²... And five Hexes, which is the maximum amount of Hexes one can claim is similar in size to the County of Cheshire in England, or for a more American perspective, Yosemite National Park at 2,925km²
As for how you claim the Hexes that you want, I'm going to tell you how to do it by bullet points down below, because I think that'll be the easiest and most comprehensible way to do it... So, without dilly dallying any longer:
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- Click on this link, it'll bring you to a map of CS with the locations of established Holdfasts, Chaosium and also with "Hexes" as well
- Copy the image into your preferred image editing software. I personally use a internet site called Kleki, but anything like Photoshop, Paint or anything else will probably work as well.
- In whichever way you find convenient, outline 5 or less Hexes ( You will be permitted no more than five hexes, at least for now ) where you want your holdfast to be.
- Save the image
- Upload the image to an image hosting site of your choosing, like Imgur or Flickr... If you're having problems with using an image hosting site, do feel free to send me a personal message here or contact me on Discord.
- Attach the uploaded image to your Holdfast Application just below the name of the holdfast. We'd prefer it to be visible, but if that is a problem just provide the link, that's okay too.
I hope that's easy enough to follow. Remember, if you're having any problems with anything here, just ask me or one of my Clerics for assistance in whichever way is most convenient to you, either by the Forums itself or Discord
3: Introduce your Holdfast!
So, now that we know what your Holdfast is actually called, and where it is located, now's the time to introduce what your holdfast is! Like anything of this caliber, one of the first sensible things to do is to provide a quick introduction as to what one can expect when thinking about the Holdfast. This part of your application can be pretty free-form, and all I request for this part is that you tell us about what you think is the most important parts about your Holdfast, be it the Government, what races live within it, any important points in it's history, etc. etc.
Below, I'll provide a random example of something that a Holdfast introduction could be, for reference:
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The Holdfast of [ Name Here ] is a small Kingdom of predominantly Humans, with minor pockets of Sidhé Elves, Sprites, Satyr-Folk and Merfolk in the Sea nearby. [ Name Here ] can trace it's origins back to the First War against Chaosium, where [ Name Here ] was established by a sect of refugees from Syvsia which split off from the main group of the Queensland Peninsula. The Holdfast is ruled by a Monarch which has full authority over everything about [ Name Here ], and is currently ruled by King [ Generic Name ], who is known to be a kind ruler, if naïve and a little weak.
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This part can be as short as you want it to, but as a brief introduction to your holdfast, I'd recommend that you keep it shorter than 400 words.
4: Define the way your Holdfast is governed
Right, this part is quite important indeed... Though a "Holdfast" is inspired mostly by the way of Vassalage during the times of Feudalism, your government does not at all have to be limited to Knights and/or Kings and Queens. As long as you keep your holdfast's government thematically in line with the setting, which may I remind you is inspired by times before Nationalism and Socialism, then you have the liberty to choose and get creative...
I think in order to help you picture how best you could structure this section of your holdfast application, I am going to provide a few questions for you down below which might help you get thinking... Feel free to follow and answer them - or not - at your leisure! But without further comment:
- What title is given to the person who rules your Holdfast? This could be anything from Monarch ( King/Queen/Prince/Princess ) to Commander to Lord and/or Knight to Administrator and anything else your heart desires! Just make sure it confides to the setting in place, so perhaps "Prime Minister" or "President" might not be such an appropriate title
- Is the ruler the sole power in your Holdfast? And if the answer is no, then who else holds power within your Holdfast and what titles may they have? Not all Holdfasts need to be absolutist, just like not all Holdfasts need to be managed by the wider community whom lives in it.
- Are there any specific ways in how your Holdfast administers certain things? For instance, does it hold a philosophy on how to use the money in it's coffers? Or are there any cultural quirks that affect how things are Governed? That sort of thing.
- Is there any additional information that you think would be important to mention on this subject? This question pretty much explains itself.
I want to stress this; you don't need to pick a rigid Government style. You've got the ability to mix and match different ways, as long as it seems appropriate for the roleplay and could be plausible.
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The Holdfast of [ Name Here ] is managed by a Semi-Constitutional Monarchy, where the King or Queen has the power to make influential decisions within the Government, yet is not necessarily the final word on any and all issues. The Hereditary Monarch has to confide with a Senate of elected Senators which primarily manage [ Name Here ]'s civil and administrative duties.
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5: Who, and what lives in the Holdfast?
For the 5th part in creating a Holdfast submission, you'll want to define what the population of the Holdfast that you are creating is, how it is split between ( potentially ) multiple different races and species, and if you're adding in a custom race, what they are and what we can expect from them. This part is one of, if not the most important aspect of Holdfast Founding, so be sure to take care and make sure that what information you are putting here is something that you will be happy with, and of course, what you think the Oracle or Seasonal Queen will be happy with
First of all, please give a quick overview of any and all custom races you will be interested in adding in... Similar to the Introduction you gave in step three, we are not expecting an essay of thousands or more words on what they are, but just highlight the most important qualities of them, such as their appearance, their talents and abilities, any important information on their origin or other notable points of their history, etc. etc.
As I have done before, I'll provide a quick example on how you could write something like this down below...
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The [ Insert race here ] are intelligent creatures that look more similar to birds than humans, though they do share some features with the Syvsians and Sidhé, such as being bipedal. Covered from head to toe in feathers, with avian features such as a beak instead of a mouth and sharp talons at the end of their feet, where arms on a Human would be, the [ Insert race here ] have wings instead, which though allows them to catch wind and glide, are not capable of performing sustained flight... It is said that the [ Insert race here ] were always present within [ Place in Forest ] even before the founding of [ Name here ], and originally treated the Humans with hostility, but learned to live with them after years of both cooperation, and strife with one another
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After you've given a brief description about any and all custom races you'd be interested in adding to your Holdfast and thus, the world of Caer Sidi at large, the next step would be to state what the total population of your Holdfast is, and then how the total population would be divisible between the various different intelligent races that exist within it.
This part would not be too hard for you to complete, I imagine. What I would suggest is first list of the population of each different race separately within your Holdfast, and then using a calculator ( or your mind if you're a smarty-pants ) add them all together, and then record the total population below all of that... Oh, and a friendly reminder that a Holdfast can't have more than 87,500 people within it
So, something like this:
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The population of [ Name here ] is:
⠀- Syvsian ( Human ) : 31,680
- [ Insert race here ] : 11,320
- Merfolk: 4,300
- Sidhé ( Elves ) : 2,150
Total Population: 49,450
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5B: Military Information
The Warren is currently at war with the forces Chaos, military is something that should be considered in the making of your holdfast, please consider these questions.
Do you have a formalized military, militia, defense force, etc? What is it like?
In peace times, what percentage (maximum 15%) of your population is part of your military or defense force/militia etc?
In times of war, what percentage (maximum of 15%) of your population is active military or defense force? If there is no formal military, what percentage of your population could reasonably be called upon to defend your holdfast?
If you have any ideas that fall outside of the questions, please talk with the clerics and Oracles, we want to hear your ideas!
6: Oh, goodie! ( The Goods of your Holdfast )
Did you like my pun?
This will be the penultimate part of your Holdfast application, but not at all the least important part... You see, to facilitate roleplay opportunity, and also to be... Well, generally realistic to the setting and it's many canonical struggles, your Holdfast can not be self-sufficient. Now, what do I mean by that in this sense? Simple! Not every Holdfast is going to have everything it needs to thrive and prosper right in it's borders... A Tundra or plains are not going to offer enough wood to live comfortably with for instance, non-fertile lands are not going to have bountiful harvests and are likely unsuitable for the production of incense or spices, and a non-mountainous area probably isn't going to have a ready supply of Gemstones or Gold.
Since your Holdfast simply isn't going to have everything it needs, this makes an "Official" Holdfast with connections to the Queensland and it's trade networks, either to it's own supply or the supply of other Holdfasts even more lucrative and important, and gives "Unofficial" Holdfasts a drawback, thus making things... Well, making things more interesting. ( By the way, I'm going to be explaining what I mean by "Official" and "Unofficial" Holdfasts toward the end of all this )
So, to facilitate these natural limitations, your Holdfast will only be able to choose from select resources and goods it can have naturally within it's borders, and in addition the goods that they can produce with these resources, depending if they... Well, have the resources to begin with, and also if they have the expertise to make something out of them.
And don't worry, your Holdfast isn't going to go hungry if Corn or Fruits etc. etc. aren't chosen as a good. If you specifically choose to take up a "slot" for one of these, it will mean you have a surplus of food, which mind you is useful for a lot of things, such as trading with it, or keeping it around so your Holdfast can support itself if under siege from enemies, be it the Chaosium or otherwise.
And in support of the system that I've discussed up until now, how you'll manage which resources are and aren't in your Holdfast will be done via a "point" system, which will help in clearly cataloguing what you have within your borders, what your civilisation is able to "tool", allow some creative freedom in what you can choose whilst also limiting the amount of goods you can have naturally. - discluding trade, of course -
Here's how it will go. So, your Holdfast has a base of eight points to use... A natural good ( what I mean by that are goods that can be extracted from your Holdfast's borders without any need to forge with it or change it via industrial/craftmanship/magical methods, so things like raw gemstones, Elwydium ( see below ), copper ore, tin ore and simple foodstuffs like fruits, corn, cattle, rye etc. etc. ) only uses a single point, whilst a processed good ( so, things that are made from natural goods with specific methods of doing so, such as clothing from wool harvested from... Well, wooly animals; marble structures from raw marble, magical reagents crafted from Elwydium, religious reagents crafted from incense, copper weaponry from raw copper ore, bronze working from tin and copper, and iron working ) will use up a total of two points for only one processed good. Only six of your eight points can be used for processed goods, and only four of your eight points can be used for natural goods respectively... Are you still following?
Right, with the semantics of this system out of the way, perhaps the next question is "what exactly can I use as either a Natural and Processed good, and what would make sense for my Holdfast?"
Well, let me start with the latter part of the question. When it comes to what "makes sense for your Holdfast", of course I would say that the geography of where you placed it would be the main driving factor of this. A mountainous Holdfast probably won't be making a surplus of food for themselves, but they'll have access to Copper, Gold, Gemstones and maybe even Tin and/or Iron. Meanwhile, one located on some flat plains will have a lot of room for Cattle and Farmland, but might struggle in procuring wood and finding any sort of ore would be quite the errand. But, and this is important, the limit to what you can choose for your Holdfast is your own creativity! If you find a way to justify a community in a Taiga having a lucrative incense gathering and trading business, then more power to you!
As for what you can use, once more your imagination is perhaps the most important factor! But, there will be some specific things relating to the setting of this Canonical Roleplay that will be important to note down, and important for you to consider. For the most part, if you can picture a society from the onset of common Iron Working to before the Renaissance and the invention of the Blast Furnace and what they had available to them, that's what your Holdfast could probably have as well.
Anyways, let's be a little more specific, shall we?
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Elwydium
Now then, to begin with, if you remember the predominant Magical Reagent material in the past being "Mercury/Quicksilver", that is because it was! Alas, having a real world resource be applied to something like magic and a source of magical energy was really confusing and jarring, so after talking with the Seasonal Queen and the Clerics, it has been changed to a homebrew mineral known as "Elwydium".
Now, onto what Elwydium is. Well, it is a type of mineral found within the earth of the Warren that is latent with untapped magical energies, powerful yet unrefined and even dangerous in some cases, so if your Holdfast is to have Elwydium, you better hope it has a safe way to procure and handle it lest the magical energies cause any side-effects. This magical mineral - which glows faintly in many different colours - is extremely useful in the creation of Magical Reagents; which act as sources of magic for magic casters to cast from, not only increasing the potency of their potential magic in some cases but also stops their own energy being drained from the use of magic. There are potentially limitless ways to make Magical Reagent from anything magical in the world of Caer Sidi, but by choosing to have and use Elwydium, you have a common, simple and easily applicable source.
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Incense
More important than making your humble abode smell nice in this instance, if you have the ability to do so, you can take Incense and make it into something called a "Religious Reagent", which will be used for all kinds of religious activity and ritualistic magic. Special types of magic connected to the great aether or other mysterious sources not so common in the Warren itself will not rely on standard Magical Reagents for a source of energy, and that's where a different source comes into use. If you're planning to bless or curse someone, or simply make your worship to the Gods and Goddesses more... Well, respectful and serious, you will need some Religious Reagent with you!
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Here's some other common goods which your Holdfast could contain
⠀- Gypsum can be processed into Plaster, which is used for many medicinal purposes
- Dyes are useful if you want to make things more colourful, and are great for trade!
- Choose a Foodstuff, and your Holdfast will deal with military campaigns easier than before! Either ones protracted by yourself, or ones that you are defending against
- Gold and Gemstones are valuable trade commodities, and can be made into even more profitable items like jewelry. And if you want a reliable currency for your Holdfast, gold is also very important for minting coins for use.
- There are all kinds of Ores out there. Iron, Copper, Silver, Tin, you name it! Refining them into something useful is quite the process however. The most common use for any of these proves to be weaponry, but there are oh so many other uses as well.
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So, with all that out of the way, here's an example of how you can handle the Goods and Services section of your Holdfast application... Oh, and here's an important part of all this that I should mention, if there's anything your Holdfast can't produce but needs, mention it in your application. Doing so will allow your Holdfast to open up trade with others, and the Queensland to trade for said things that are needed.
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The Natural and Processed goods of [ Name Here ] are:
[ Total points available: 8 ]
[ Total points used: 7 ]
(Foodstuff) Spices = 1 point
Elwydium = 1 point
Marble = 1 point
Magical Reagents = 2 points
Marble constructs = 2 points
[ Name Here ] is renowned for their Forests of naturally growing spices, which [ Insert race here ] are known to harvest often, and make a lucrative trade with their marble mining and constructing... However, [ Name Here ] has little to no gold in their lands, a threatening prospect for the minting of new coins which they use as a currency, not to mention the general population's wishes for comfort and decency in more outstanding apparel made from wool and cotton
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7: A subforum description of your Holdfast
So, for the final part of your Holdfast Application, there's just one more little thing we'd want you to do. Please summarise what you've already told us about your Holdfast in... Let's say a single paragraph, no more than 60 or so words. So, maybe something like...
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[ Name Here ], founded during the times of the 1st Chaosium War, is a small but prosperous Kingdom, ruled by a monarch and senate. The sights of the lands are as varied as the people, from the Merfolk of the sea to the [ Insert Race Here ] in the Forests and the few other faeries that are under the dominion of the Kingdom
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Final notices and conclusion:
Well, I hope you managed to get through all that alright! But need not worry, after I mention a few small miscellaneous points that might be important for you here, I will stop my blathering and allow you to fill out your very own Holdfast Application - with or without an application template I have ready for you - ... As for the miscellaneous points, I will quickly run through them here. So, first of all, something which I brought up quickly before and hadn't elaborated on up until now, your Holdfast can either be "Official" or "Unofficial"... What I mean by that is that you have the decision as to whether your Holdfast is actually swearing their loyalty to the Queensland by canonically submitting their request to be recognised, or you can choose to have your post here be moreso an Out-Of-Character notice for the Oracle ( that's me! ) or the Seasonal Queen to peruse over without any such application taking place in an In-Character sense. This will be useful if you want your Holdfast to be a reclusive hold that has no connection to the Queensland, or is outright hostile to the Queensland for whatever reason that may be! To put it simply, if you want your Holdfast to be "Unofficial", please make sure to make a note of it in your application somewhere that it's actually going to be unofficial so we know, alright? If you put down no such note, we will assume that your Holdfast will be an official one.
Second of all, the idea of a Holdfast is cemented in the idea of a settled community of people making their homes in a specific place, thus the "record your location on a map" idea. However, that does not mean that your civilisation can't be nomadic or otherwise more tribalistic, like Pre-Columbian civilisations of the Continental United States if that's what you want.
If you do, there's only one thing you really need to change up. If your "Holdfast" ( in quotation marks ) is Nomadic, instead of plotting a place of five or less connected hexes on the map, draw some sort of migratory line or common nomadic route for your civilisation instead. The rest can be filled out normally, but do note that you'll still be following the "Goods and Services" part.
Now then, with those two points out of the way, I'm going to provide a Holdfast Application Template for you to use ( or not use ) at your leisure, and then leave you be! Good luck on your application to the Caer Sidi Canonical Roleplay!
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