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#intrigue
aqua-regia009 · 1 year
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Dongni Hou (Chinese b.1987)
https://www.instagram.com/douni_hou/
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soulinkpoetry · 5 months
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Goosebumps arise from stimulating the mind first. Intriguing conversations that leave you wanting, craving, tingling.
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~ Brown and Gray ~
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tmblrfuckingsucksass · 3 months
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Hey lovely - art by jayh.sketch
🇺🇸⚢🇬🇧
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365filmsbyauroranocte · 2 months
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L'été dernier (Catherine Breillat, 2023)
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gildedcageif · 7 months
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Gilded Cage
Nothing but ashes remain of your home. Your loved ones have all been taken from you overnight, leaving you all alone in the world. 
Fight, flee, cry, scream, rage. Seek revenge, find forgiveness, fall in love, break hearts. Poison, lie and sleep your way to the top of the imperial harem.
The golden chains wear down heavy on your pretty little neck. And they will do so until you break them.
You were still a child when the Zephyran hounds razed hell on your homeland. Overnight, everything and everyone you knew and loved withered before your eyes, claimed by the flame and the ashes.
You were fortunate enough -or unfortunate, depending on how you see it- to survive that fateful night. Instead, heavy chains were placed around your wrists and you were sent away to whoever would pay to own you.
Some masters were kinder than others. But captivity tastes just as bitter regardless of how opulent your cage is. 
And this is the most opulent cage you will ever be locked in. The Jade Palace is where you being shipped off to this time. The capital of the grand Zephyran Empire. The very same that ripped your childhood apart.
You have been selected to join the imperial harem of Sultan Ahmad, an honor bestowed only upon the most beautiful and worthy of servants.
Regardless of how you feel regarding this great 'honor', you are every bit as powerless to fight against it as you were to defend your homeland when the Zephyrans came for you.
Don't despair yet, child of the Ancients. There are many opportunities in the Jade Palace for those who wish to seek them. 
You may find yourself pulling the strings and changing the course of history, whispering in the ears of royalty, marching bravely into battle, even escaping and claiming your own freedom once and for all, away from this mess that was inflicted upon you. If you play your cards right, you may even one day become the parent of the next Sultan.
Beware however. There are many who will stand in your path. The worst enemies are hidden not in the shadows but amongst our closest of friends.
Gilded Cage is rated 18+ for explicit language, explicit sexual themes, graphic descriptions of violence and depictions of slavery. 
FEATURES 
•Create your MC. Anything from what they look like to how they feel about their years of servitude and their arrival to the Jade Palace is for you to choose. Are you a conniving courtesan, set on claiming the crown for yourself? Do you merely wish for a life of peace after all these years of hardship? Do you have a single-minded focus on achieving your own freedom? If so, what are you willing to risk for it? 
•Define how others perceive you. You are no ordinary servant after all, you are a member of the Sultan's harem, and those around you are eager to watch your every move? The nobility, military and common folk will all form opinions based on what they hear of you, as will many important political figures like the Valide and the Grand Vizier. And of course it is better to be admired than mocked, ridiculed and despised...
•Engage in a world of intrigue and danger. The Zephyran Empire is deadly. The harem even more so. One wrong step and it will be off with your head, if the Sultan is feeling generous that day. Many plots and schemes are already in place by the time you arrive to the Palace. Some of which may or may not involve you. It is on you to uncover secrets, distinguish enemy from ally and keep yourself safe from the vipers of court. In these halls, few are truly innocent and you might be forced to get your own hands bloody.
•Climb the ranks of the imperial harem. How you achieve that is up to you! You may ally yourself to Valide Sultan, act as a mole for the Grand Vizier or even become a tutor for the young Prince! And of course, if you are willing to participate in some old fashioned seduction, the Sultan's bed -and his heart, if you are capable enough- is the road to unimaginable power and wealth, but also danger.
•Change the course of history. Raise the next Sultan, assassinate your enemies, encourage a military uprising, cause a shift in the religious establishment, become a general, an advisor, even a Haseki. If you are daring enough to bare the consequences of failure. Your actions will have farfetched consequences for the future of the Zephyran Empire and the wider world. So be wary. History has its eye on you.
Romantic Options
The Sultan of the Zephyran Empire: Ahmad
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You have heard of him only in hushed whispers and screams of terror. He rules en empire stretching far across the east and west. He is the master of the hounds that raided and destroyed your home. He took everything from you and now he owns you. Still, your very survival depends on his whims.
Yet, when you come face to face with the Lion of the East, he seems less monstrous than you had expected...
The Grand Vizier: Selim
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He has had an eye on you since you first entered the palace. And not for good reasons. He may very well be the second most powerful man in the empire-after the Sultan of course- and he seems to have decided you are a threat to his master.
Getting him on your side might just be the thing you need to propel yourself in the court. If you manage to do that anyway. Selim is known as a tough man to charm, but who knows what hides underneath.
The Valide Sultan: Nazli
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The Sultan may rule the world, but have no doubt his mother rules the harem and she does so with an iron fist. She controls everything. Who does the chores, how much gold each maid is afforded, who gets to enter the Sultan's chambers. She has her finger on the pulse of the harem. She wants things a certain way and she will have things a certain way. This Queen Dowager is every bit as much of a lion as her son.
She is distant, but not unkind. Most importantly, she can raise you to the highest of highs or doom you to the dungeons in less than a glance. You will have to earn her respect before she accepts you into the inner circle.
The Favourite (?): Meryem
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Meryem is the most beloved of the Sultan's concubines. Or rather she was. For unknown reason, it seems she has fallen out of his favour. Rumor is it has been a year since he asked for her.
Still, her position remains significant as the mother to the only son of the Sultan. Her son, Mustafa, in combination with the support she receives from the Grand Vizier has helped her hold onto her power.
But her position remains insecure while the Sultan's eyes wander. You could intergrate yourself amongst her closest companions. Or you could be the downfall she so fears.
The Artist: Emil De Angelis
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Emil is a... controversial presence at court to say the least. He was raised from a starving artist to the next big sensation by the Sultan overnight. He has been involved in several projects ever since, whether that be art, poetry, singing or architecture. Known around court for his -perhaps a bit too daring- wit and charming smirk, it is hard not to notice him.
He is also the closest to a friendly face you have at court. Emil has handpicked you as his next side project of sorts. The new thing he will concern himself with to fill up his time. You will have his support in whatever you strive for.
Be warned though. Emil acts with ulterior motives as much as anyone else at court.
The Childhood Friend (shouldn't they be dead?): Helena
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You thought you had lost them. They died in your arms. You held her body. You carried it. You buried it.
Now they are back. Somehow they have returned from beyond the grave.
The worst part?
They don't even remember you.
Asks: Open
Demo: https://href.li/?https://cookie-bun.itch.io/gilded-cage
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theresattrpgforthat · 24 days
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This may have already been asked about: but courtly intrigue games!?
THEME: Court Intrigue
Hello friend, I’ve got a nice selection for you, with surprisingly a lot of games housed in the Forged in the Dark framework! I��d also recommend checking out the bottom of this post for other games I’ve talked about in the past!
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Court of Whispers, by Alexiconman.
The Court of Whispers… the nobility here are neither great nor good. They all have dark secrets they wish to keep hidden, while hoping that their rivals are exposed and lose face in court.
Court of Whispers is a TTRPG/social deduction game for four or more players playing competitively, but requiring negotiation and brief alliances to succeed. No dice, GM or stats are used. The Court itself can be wherever you want it to be - historical, fantastical, whatever. Perhaps it's a mythological pantheon or faerie court or convocation of demon dukes?
Decide on your name and title, then invent a dark secret in three parts.Your rivals will, amongst them, know these details, but you will know parts of their secrets. Who will be the last to have their secrets revealed??
A game all about piecing together information, this will probably appeal to you if you like social deduction games. Bargain away pieces of information that you hold in order to gain crucial secrets that belong to someone else. Lie, blackmail and negotiate until you think you have someone’s complete secret, and eliminate your opponent when you announce it to the group. The game ends when only one person remains, their reputation not completely tarnished.
Rebel Crown, by Narrative Dynamics.
Rebel Crown is a tabletop roleplaying game of courtly intrigue, obsessive ambition, and perilous conflict. One player takes on the role of the Claimant, former heir to the throne who was betrayed by their family and robbed of their rightful titles. Others play their most stalwart allies: wise chancellor, devoted knight, idealistic noble, vengeful soldier, or opportunistic outlaw. Conflicting duties and ambitions will push them into points of tension, but their commitment to the Claimant’s ascent ties them together.
A GM plays the other inhabitants of the cursed and fractured Empire: nobles, commoners, outlaws, and undead wraiths. The GM presents opportunities, foreshadows consequences, and introduces adversity. They present the challenges that make the player characters’ fight for the throne uncertain and exciting. As a group, you play to find out whether the Claimant can take their throne and what sacrifices must be made along the way.
Rebel Crown has a pretty detailed gameplay loop, re-contextualizing the Downtime and Score parts of Blades into a Recon and Sortie phase, respectively. The group’s goal is laser-focused: you’re trying to put your Claimant on the throne. However, there’s different objectives that you can complete in your goal to restore their rightful title, including finding a way to gain status by building trust, weakening factions that oppose you, and either seizing or destroying holdings that are vital lands within the kingdom.
You can build your own kingdom and Claimant if you wish, but the designers have also created two campaigns with some details already decided, to help speed up your session 0, called Serpent & Oak. You can also check out a quick rules reference and the playbook handouts for free!
Courtiers, by Levi Kornelson.
In this game, players will take on the roles of (competing) courtiers, each of whom is lobbying the royal court in an attempt to promote their local agenda.  The game uses the front and back of a single sheet of paper, and requires four players, a stack of index cards, pens, and six-side dice to play.
This is a combination roleplaying-game and boardgame, relying on the randomness of the dice and the placement of index cards in a row to determine what proposals the court passes and what proposals are denied. Each player will pick up a pre-written character and flesh out their specific goals using proposals, and then take turns trying to push for their proposals to pass. The game has a very specific end point - that being that the approval pile has three proposals.
I think Courtiers is good for folks who want a single-session experience of court politics, or perhaps a way to determine how a kingdom changes before diving into what that means for their characters in a much larger setting.
Most Trusted Advisors, by the HORIZON MACHINE.
Execute your cunning plan before your liege executes you.
Hark, ye players of games! Indulge in the merry vice of dice-playing with this comic production, easy to pick up and play with but a quick skim of the rules. The digital manuscript has been crafted by our finest computer artisans to be perfect for light-hearted, madcap one-shots and short campaigns.
There is nary a heroic act to be documented within these pages. In Most Trusted Advisors, you'll one-up your friends' plans with Twists and buy their credulity with Ducats as you compete for your feudal lord's approval. Poison and murder your enemies as the loathsome Blackguard, start duels and wars as the boisterous Marshal, or pick one of four other dastardly playbooks with which to accomplish your wicked schemes. 
You can set this game in the provided setting, or create your own. The playbooks are reminiscent of Forged-in-the-Dark games, with action ratings, friends and rivals, and special abilities, but much of what you can do follows the same style of play as Belonging-Outside-Belonging games. This is through the Ducat system, which allows you to gain Ducats through certain (nefarious) actions, and spend Ducats in order get new information, present something new to the fiction, or change the story in a specific way.
If you are looking for a courtly intrigue game with the potential for high camp, this is likely the game for you.
Court of Blades, by A Couple of Drakes.
Court of Blades takes place in the vibrant, fantasy renaissance city-state of Ilrien, in a world populated by scheming nobles, court magicians, and dashing duelists.
As a noble retainer, you will engage in the polite civil warfare of the great families. You will host lavish balls, and manipulate the courts, uncover the plots of your rivals, protect the city from arcane dangers, manage your own intrigues and personal scandals, leverage your reputations, connections, and so much more.
Inspired by infamous warring families like history's Medicis and Pazzis, Shakespeare's Montagues and Capulets, or Game of Thrones' Starks and Lannisters, in Court of Blades you will take on the role of a talented retainer to a newly risen House of the Esultare in the great city of Ilrien. The Esultare, composed of the six Houses Major, are considered to be the most powerful families in the Principalities. Amongst them they have their own pecking order, and every citizen of Ilrien is aware of every house’s position within that order.
We play to find out if our noble retainers can play the Great Game and win it all, or if they'll fall prey to the machinations of their rivals or their own human failings.
In this game you’re not the most important members of a great house, but rather just beneath them. This makes you vital to their success, however, because you have the ability to walk where the noble dare not tread. If you can succeed, you may find yourselves elevated to a true place of power.
This is a great game for whispered secrets behind elaborate fans, masked balls where conversations are held throughout a dance, and eavesdropping happens behind false walls or under lush balconies. There’s also magic involved, and a hidden world that you can exploit in your desire to rise to the top. If you like dramatic storytelling and a romantic setting, this might be the game for you.
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planet-gay-comic · 10 months
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The Abducted Lover: Captured Between Intrigue and Passion
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Dungeon: How Grief Blooms
After the tragic death of his wife, the halfling Earl of Eastbrook has become a recluse, abstaining from social functions, seldom seen in public, and conducting much of his concerns through various agents. Agents like you, paid well so that you conduct the Earl’s business promptly and without asking too many questions. However, after some weeks of gruntwork and strange favours, you can’t help the feeling that something rotten is going on at the Eastbrook estate.
Adventure Hooks:
Most of the party’s assignments are doled out by a Mr. Moiler, a functionary of the Earl’s who always seems to be under the weather and insists that they have their meetings while he takes lunch at a local tavern. Presumptuous and frequently unpleasant, Moiler is quick with the money when he has proof the work’s been done not wanting to waste any more of his finite time with the party than he has to.  It’s during one of these meetings that the functionary begins choking and coughing like he’s going to hack up a lung, and right there on the dinner table spits up a mass of rotten plant matter that bears an uncomfortable resemblance to a human hand. While the party is paralyzed with shock, the limb begins to skitter away, barely recovered Moiler demanding that they catch it before it escapes or the other inn patrons see it.
Eastbrook has many concerns that need tending to: Mines that must be checked on, merchants that must be negotiated with, monsters that must be driven off from tenant lands. Then there the more unusual jobs: travelling to nearby towns and escorting a member of the royal horticultural society to the Eastbrook estate without ever being invited in themselves, having a stern chat with a local priest who’s rabblerousing about all the body-snatchers that’ve been plaguing local cemeteries lately. These odd jobs pay the best, but there’s only so much weirdness the party can take right? ... Right?
Dressed fancy and forced to leave their weapons at home, the party are finally given a chance of meeting their employer when tasked with escorting him to a social function at which he needs to show some muscle. They’re given a very brief impression of the earl: tired eyes, fingers are stained with green and soil as if his servants plucked him out of the garden and threw a bit of finery over his thinning frame. Leaving them to attend whatever business he left his secluded estate for, the party are approached by a young woman with a knowing smile and a lot of interesting questions about Eastbrook. If the party are willing to do a little snooping on her behalf, she’d be ever so grateful, and is sure she can arrange some work for them in the future should  their current arrangement fall through.
Background: Before the death of his wife, Earl Wennley had a deep and abiding love for growing things. Taking far more interest in the upkeep and administration of his tenant lands than any of his peers, the earl would forgo social functions and ditch his noble finery to lend a hand when there was planting or fieldwork to be done, simply to feel the dark earth beneith his fingers.
His wife Ren was a firebrand and world traveller, and originally began courting the earl by brining him exotic flowers from distant lands to cultivate in his hothouse. They were different people who wanted different things from their lives, but they also wanted eachother, and that was enough for love to take root between them.
That was before the sickness caught up to lady Ren, one of those bitter hereditary things that lurks around in the family tree like a viper. In a matter of months it claimed Ren of Eastbrook and took Wennley’s every joy with it, but not before he discovered that one of the flowers she’d brought him was thought to have restorative properties, claimed by some occult scholars to be able to even be able to resurrect the dead.
Thus began Eastbrook’s decent down a dark road, cultivating the plant’s growth in his lover’s dirt-packed casket, fetching more cadavers for its trailing roots to feed off of while trying to bring its many strange flowers to fruit.  The process has taken years, resulting in spasmodic gasps of resurrection, twitches and mutterings, but no true return of the vitality or wholeness that haunts Eastbrook’s memories.
Further Adventures:
a sick vitality has spread throughout the Eastbrook estate, twisting the plants he once took such judicious care of and bringing forth strange hybrids and mutations. While most of this dangerous flora remains on the estate, a few have spread their seed over subsequent seasons and ended up popping up in surrounding lands. The disruption caused by such plants may inadvertently put the party on their employer’s trail.  
What poor Wennley cannot know is that his lover wasn’t merely taken from him by chance, but by the insidious will of Zuggtmoy, demon queen of despair and decay.  Eastbrook was unwittingly chosen as a saint of Zuggtmoy, who now awaits the moment she is summoned into Ren’s resurrected body to walk the world of mortals and enjoy the people’s sorrow first hand. 
Many of the Eastbrook estate staff are sick, some fungal infection that’s taken up residence in their lungs and produces a purple-green rash they’re all too quick to conceal. This sickness makes them dosile and unquestioning, and is spread by Moiler, a demonic agent of Zuggtmoy in disguise, who was likewise the one to slip Eastbrook the particular texts that hinted at the flower’s potential uses. Should any of the staff fall ( or be slain by Moiler should he be discovered) their bodies will rise as mould covered undead.
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thepariahcontinuum · 5 months
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MARZ Rising - Chapter 136: Plotting and Scheming
The villains put their plans into action and prepare to sneak into Atlas whilst the team prepare their own plans to break free.
FF Net
Ao3
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angelfruittree · 18 days
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PLEASE I BEG YOU ON PAIN OF DEATH IN THE NAME OF GAY EVERYONE WATCH MARY AND GEORGE RIGHT THIS MINUTE
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aqua-regia009 · 1 year
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Francesco Balsamo (Italian, b.1969)
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Photography by Mike Ware
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musewrangler · 3 months
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Leia’s eyes flicked to Luke’s again. “Our agent has uncovered evidence from the very top levels that Lord Vader has two living children. The Emperor knows this.”
Piett’s shock was palpable, but he schooled himself admirably.
“Lord Vader has never given any indicator regarding that,” he stated firmly.
“There are a few possibilities for that,” Luke said. “One, he knows and is protecting them. Or two, he doesn’t know, but they are still a threat to Palpatine.”
It was odd to be speaking about himself like this.
Piett glared at his leg. He had the air of a man who needed to pace and that option was not open to him at the moment.
He opted instead to gently tap his finger upon the table top.
“I grant,” he said at last, “That this seems ridiculously elaborate as a way to get me to give you sensitive information. I would appreciate some time to consider my own course of action.”
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365filmsbyauroranocte · 4 months
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Sisters (Brian de Palma, 1973)
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