A Kingdom For A Stage

Staff

Sim Creator/Game Master: Silent Hunter

Summary

Europe, six centuries ago. A time of knights and kings, where military might rules over all. A group of travellers heard for Henry IV’s England, where they discover a plot to overthrow the King and gain revenge for a long-ago act. Join the quest today!

The Characters

Key NPCs

Eleanor

A female jester who is making her way home from Poland.

Calvino de Zêna

A graduate of the School of Salerno, Calvino is a doctor of medicine and a man of science and proof, something new in these times. He wanders the world researching herbs and their potential uses in medicine and practicing his trade, though rarely for free.

Vincent 'Vex' Edgefield of Exeter

An Oxford graduate and mendicant Friar, Vex was excommunicated from the Roman Church for refusing to recant on certain beliefs he accepted from Wycliffe's disciples at Oxford. Vex has most recently been a student for almost a year of Jan Hus in Prague after some time serving as the chaplain to a Lollard knight errant in the Mediterranean, and is returning to England to spread the Reformation.

Phillip 'Feck' Eccles the Englanbarrangoi of Ampthill

Dressing in the garb and gear of a Variag, Feck's knowledge of Outremer and the East would seem to stack with his claims to be a veteran of the Constantinople Varangian Guard. In truth, however, he is a Knight Templar. The Order have been disbanded for a hundred years now, but some continue their activity in secret. As an initiated and loyal member of an illegal organisation, Feck has been accustomed to avoiding suspicion and going around in secret for long years.

Basic plot (so far)

In the aftermath of the Battle of Tannenburg, a group of strangers meet in an inn. Travelling together, they start on a journey for Danzig, killing a robber on the way. As they arrive at the port city, they discover it is under siege.

Behind the scenes

The creation of this sim was directly inspired by the computer game Europa Universalis III.

The title itself comes from the Prologue to William Shakespeare's play Henry V (a play that has worked its way into the English national consciousness, most notably the "Once more into the breach" speech at Harfleur):

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

As the future Henry V is very much in charge of England at this point in time, it seemed an appropriate quote.