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[keened]

Every ten years, a girl of age who is educated in the arts, possessed of glowing health, and made strong by trials of war is offered to the gods for blessing and good fortune. She becomes the queen regnant, and for ten years she will rule in absolute power over the realm. This is the story of what comes before she is crowned. BASICS | During the offertory, every house (titled) or family (non-titled) must offer at least one daughter in her cusp years (18-25) to the enclave. In the absence of a daughter, the eldest son who is not married must be offered to serve. In the absence of any children, land or property equal in value to the family name must be offered in service to the crown. All daughters and sons are given forty days to make it to the enclave, after which the gates will close and the sacrificial will begin. The gates will remain closed until a new queen has been chosen. All daughters must fight. All sons must serve. The last daughter left standing, and who has not yielded, will be named queen regnant. SETTING & GENERAL TIME PERIOD | Anachronistic early 1930s, Eastern European vibe. Power shift to women, who are the authority within society, while men encounter double standards based on appearances (ugly and/or weak is undesirable). Families may rise based on the strengths of their daughters, but can fall just as quickly by their shame. GODS & BLESSINGS | Gods exist in this world. There are three gods: Agamath, who values obedience and loyalty; Hebaron, who values courage and duty; and Adeva, who values wisdom and discipline. During the enclave, the gods gift their offerings with a blessing: small tokens of power to help them in the battle royale. Blessings only enhance what is already present; if a girl is good at hunting, she may be blessed with keen ears or swiftness. If a girl is practical, she may be blessed with a vision or two. Blessings are small and taxing, but when you're fighting for the gods' favor, you take what you can get. NAMES AND TITLES | Servants - can be born to the family they serve; adopted by the family; taken in or employed; owned by or indebted to the family. Those born into, adopted, or employed by families may keep their names up until they're chosen for the enclave, at which point they are given a new name. Those owned or in debt are stripped of their given names until they have earned freedom. House vs Family - Houses have titles, families do not. Houses may include more than one line (e.g. the Starling House is made up of the Starlings, the Finches, and the Swifts), but families are strictly one line pulled together. The name line of a house is always titled, while the rest of the house is rarely so. Titles - Grant a noble the privilege of protecting another family, for which they are paid in taxes and a portion of the protected family's income. The higher the rank of the title, the higher the taxes and claim. TERMS & ETC. | OFFERTORY — The year after a reigning queen's decade, in which she prepares to be relieved of her crown and the future queen is tested. THE SACRIFICIAL — The event that decides who will be the new queen of the realm. The event takes up to 40 days, usually during the cold months of the year, during which only an offering and their servant may participate until a daughter can be discerned as the last one standing. ENCLAVE (GROUP) — A community built of the elders of the three faiths, who advise and guide the queen regarding the matters of the realm. ENCLAVE (PLACE) — An entire province that is reserved strictly for the offertory. Only its caretakers are allowed to enter; not even the queen is permitted to enter during her reign. THE BLACK WALK — Once a new queen is chosen, the incumbent must walk along a path of blackened earth to a deep tar pit that was once the remnants of a volcano. This is her final resting place. (Sorry, girls.) As long as the walk is finished, a queen's servant may put his queen to rest as mercy, then follow her into the pit. THE RULES for daughters (offerings) | — All offered daughters must have passed her letters and worked a year in conscription with her majesty's army. — All offered daughters must have bled before the offertory has begun. — The queen must be chosen before the nameday. (Everyone has the same nameday.) — Servants are weapons. Use them. — No daughter may fight without honor. — In a fight, a daughter must yield or die to be released from the enclave. — A fight is won if a daughter yields, or is fatally wounded and cannot continue. Any daughter who survives without yielding will be ascended to a title. — No house nor family may offer more than three daughters. THE RULES for sons (servants) | — You must serve the daughter who chooses you until your death. — You must serve her even after her death. — You must never refuse her. — You must never touch her without her word. — You must never speak her name. — You must never speak your name. — You are who she makes you to be. — You must be faithful always, in mind and body. THE RULES for queens | — The queen may do what she wishes, in keeping with the realm, until the offertory begins. — The queen may not interfere with the enclave, the offertory, or the sacrificial. — The queen may take as many husbands and have as many children as she chooses. — The queen may not take another woman's daughter to serve her without the enclave's permission. — Once her successor is chosen, the queen must take the black walk. long story short | A game of thrones that only the ladies can play.

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ora kadan.

[surplused]

ORA KADAN (19) OFFERED BY | KADAN HOUSE SERVANT | Styra, BLESSING | heightened sense of smell Born to Ura and Iro Kadan; younger sister to Ima (23) and Ula (23). Quiet, observant and preferring animals over people, Ora was a junior cavalryman in Her Majesty's Army. Had this been a sacrificial in better days of House Kadan she would not have been chosen - however, the house was struck by ruin in recent years, their holdings afflicted by famine and plague (rumored to be a demon's bargain of a rival house). Most of the family succumbed to illness, leaving behind only a few. Ura Kadan is no risktaker, her youngest daughter was born to spare the elder two.