Princess Maker 1.5: future is now

[idolpro]

[ When you insert the key and open the door, you'll find the room inside looks like the living room of a mansion. There are several doors, but one in particular stands out to you: it is ornately decorated, the very door's wood itself carved beautifully with gold etched in to make luxurious patterns depicting what looks like the sky and the wind blowing through the grasslands. Though the door is closed, you can see through it—as if it's somewhat transparent.

The room is painted baby blue and a gold-plated cradle sits in the room. Inside, a baby cries—high pitched and noisy. That child, your charge—you're her nursemaid, so you go to her and rock her to sleep. ]

-

[ Slowly, the scene changes, fading in and out with various silent scenes—the baby sits up, trying to climb out of her cradle; a little toddler dressed prettily with expensive clothes beams pleasantly; a tantrum, thrown by the little girl who's distressed; the little girl holding a puppy, pleased as punch; then the wall becomes opaque. ]

[ In the middle of the open doorway, a young girl at the age of 11 sits on a chair, smiling at you. A long-haired, pure white cat is curled up beside her.

This is your little girl. you couldn't help spoiling her, honestly—after all, she's a noble too, and she should like to become a princess as well. She deserves it! But you also know, with how her family history has gone, she's going to have to work to get to the top. Still, you have faith in her—she's your girl, after all. Fortunately, when she goes to the Lost Continent, she won't be alone: you, as her longtime caretaker (her third parent, really, or her first, if you consider how her family's left her care entirely to you), may accompany her to her new school. You'll be her ally, her support, her greatest weapon; you'll be the one who determines her success . . . or her failure. ]

[ Of course, you're not the only one that thinks your charge deserves the world: Primrose Victory Bacon^3, one of the Queens of your Kingdom, hand-selected your employers' child. She doesn't have a child of her own to send to the Lost Continent—and even if she did, she would have her own inheritance battle to face within the Kingdom anyway—so she's selected theirs to sponsor. It's because of her that your charge will be able to go at all. That your child would catch the Queen's eye surely means the inheritance is as good as hers!

. . . Though, it's a little unsettling that the one rumored to be the Queen of Crime is your charge's sponsor! ]

Comments

ROUND 0

[idolpro]

Snobby temperament.
+5 charm.
+0 intelligence.
-10 diligence.
Moral compass: Neutral.

CHILD'S NAME?

[idolpro]

Submit your charge's name here by the end of Round 1.

Re: CHILD'S NAME?

[scarvedforlife]

Her name shall be Sheepity.

ROUND 1 CLASSES

[idolpro]

CURRENT STATS

[idolpro]

Snobby temperament.
+5 charm.
+0 intelligence.
-10 diligence.
Moral compass: Neutral.

DECISION

[idolpro]

What classes do you choose to have your charge take? Will you give her free time?

You may choose from Culture class, Martial Arts class, and Math & Science class. If you choose to give her free time, please note what that free time will be dedicated to.

You have 48 classes to schedule for. If you'd like, you may simply note "evenly divided" for 16 classes in each category, or note 50% X class and 50% Y class, etc.

If you note "evenly divided between all classes and free time", that will be taken as 15 classes each/3 sessions of free time.

Re: DECISION

[learntofly]

[ 10 classes each of culture and martial arts.
25 for math and science

3 free times as follows:
- A day spent visiting jewelers, seamstresses, blacksmiths, and other laborers to learn about the diligent work that "commoners" do in order to make all the finery for the life she leads. Includes a discussion about how she needs to make sure they know she values and appreciates them. Courtesy of Shark.
- A day spent learning how to fight in situations calling for self defense, courtesy of Jason and Aurora/Arya
- A day spent learning street smarts in order to begin learning the basics of navigating tricky social situations, courtesy of Sho and Jason. ]

DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

Re: DISCUSSION

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Well, at least our previous princess seems to still be doing well for herself.

[Evil dictator though she may be. That's just a perk.]

[dumbjockenergy]

More than anything else, I think we need to make her smarter.

[ +0 intelligence? damn. ]

Re: DISCUSSION

[scarvedforlife]

... Where did this name come from.

Re: DISCUSSION

[asonoficeandfire]

I agree she needs to be a bit smarter.

ROUND 1 DILEMMAS

[idolpro]

CLASS DILEMMA

[idolpro]

Perhaps as expected, a hierarchy has already established itself in your child's class. Only the best of the best are in Class 1-A, all of them most certainly sponsored by the most elite of the elite—but not all girls are made equal.

There's a collection of girls at the top of the food chain, born and bred aristocracy. Below them are the technical nobles—girls from knight families that have titles and lands but not really any prestige beyond the battlefield to speak of. Then there are the philanthropy projects: commoner girls who somehow managed to get into the school despite their lack of pedigree.

Not even halfway through the semester do you enter the classroom to see that the place is absolutely destroyed. The desks have been turned over, the chalkboards have been broken, the windows have been smashed, the doors have been split in two . . . and moreover, everything made of gold, silver, and jewels—the ornaments on the windows, the hanging plates that indicated which classroom this was—have been stolen.

You're not certain who did it, but there are rumors that commoner, with her barbaric friends, are responsible. In fact, several girls would say that they witnessed her and her friends, and your charge has threatened to have the girl deported.

What should you do?

DECISION

[idolpro]

PERSONAL DILEMMA

[idolpro]

Your child has recently been returning from time spent with friends anxious and restless. It's not clear at first what's going on, but some subtle nudging and snooping around leads you to realize there's a group of students attempting to pressure others, including her, into participating in all sorts of things - pranks, dubiously legal activities, and even outright bullying.

And if she doesn't play along, they might start going after her as a victim next. At the very least, they won't be her friends anymore...and it's not as if she has any others.

What do you do about this?

ROUND 2 CLASSES

[idolpro]

CURRENT STATS

[idolpro]

Rebellious temperament.
+59 charm.
+29 intelligence.
+24 diligence.
Moral compass: Neutral.

DECISION

[idolpro]

What classes do you choose to have your charge take? Will you give her free time?

You may choose from Culture class, Martial Arts class, and Math & Science class. If you choose to give her free time, please note what that free time will be dedicated to.

You have 48 classes to schedule for. If you'd like, you may simply note "evenly divided" for 16 classes in each category, or note 50% X class and 50% Y class, etc.

If you note "evenly divided between all classes and free time", that will be taken as 15 classes each/3 sessions of free time.

DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

ROUND 2 DILEMMAS

[idolpro]

CLASS DILEMMA

[idolpro]

Fortunately, since there's no evidence, no one was deported. Instead:

One family essentially swept the incident under the rug by paying off the damages, declaring what actually happened to be impossible to discern the truth of; both accusers start trying to get closer to the commoner, not leaving her alone.
One girl is punished by cleaning the school, although another would help clean and yet another would help pay for the damages.

The commoner seems to be discouraged from going to school, entirely avoiding the rest of the semester. Her parent seems to be trying to get a sports class going at school, but they need everyone's support in order to be able to proceed.

The semester passes without further incident, but . . . !?

On the first day of the new semester, the stolen possessions show up in the lockers of three different girls: were they the culprits after all. . . !?!?!

So now the tables are turned and you're being accused of wrongdoing and, uh -

Well, your daughter doing all this "1v1 me in the pit I didn't do it and I'll fight anyone who says I did" isn't really helping anyone think she might not be the culprit. Also, she hangs out with commoners too, so even without the fighting, people are still suspicious...

What do you do about this?

PERSONAL DILEMMA

[idolpro]

Your child has been perhaps getting into too many fights. Teaching her to defend herself was all well and good, but that combined with her rebellious attitude and appreciation for those less fortunate have led to her getting into fights whenever being so obnoxious people leave doesn't actually work.

Which, given a lot of her peers are also obnoxious, is actually pretty common? She's winning her fights, at least, but it's very disruptive and also she broke a noble kid's arm and his parents are pissed so that's kind of a really big problem, actually.

There's also still the problem of the kids she's managed to spurn - and those kids are definitely having their parents pull strings to make things harder for your poor sheep to succeed.

What are you going to do about this?

ROUND 3 DILEMMAS

[idolpro]

FINAL DILEMMA

[idolpro]

With the help of several, the sportspuck bake sale would be a success; the commoner's guardian is able to become a coach! Sportspuck is available as a sport at school now.

One family begins to stand out as the belle of the class—the top dog, if you will. Her family holds many many parties and fundraisers, of which many girls attend, even if they aren't rich enough to go—but surely everyone's all friends enough that status shouldn't matter. There, the girls learn of the family's many business endeavors in the Lost Continent: fashion, cosmetics, bakeries, the works!

. . . For some reason, in these parties there are incidents of pickpocketing and thievery, although no one can figure out who did them. . .

At the end of the semester is a grand ball, though there's a bit of a ruckus there: many of the nobles invited are rather unpleasant, insulting and passive aggressive that someone keeps getting invited when there's clearly a rat in their presence. After all, who else keeps stealing things? First the beginning of the school year, now the thief is brazen enough to steal directly . . .

The atmosphere is unpleasant. Then, a fight nearly breaks out—fortunately the girl from the knights families manage to stop it, with another helpfully keeping people away, but the accusations toward the commoner are still widely heard: on top of being a thief, she would have her own gang of savages come around to ruin their livelihoods, to cause disruptions in their lives, to stir mayhem and humiliate them. She doesn't seem to understand what they're referring to, and so they threaten: mark their words, those who strike them will pay with blood—

. . . And then, somehow, the knight's girl calms them down, even to the point of rescinding their words if only so that she would not hear the harshness of them. Rumors and whispers spread throughout the party: it must be true. This girl can make anyone do anything for her.

The party ends before the hour is up and everyone manages to go home . . . but there are rumors that those who had complained loudly and threatened the commoner had their carriages tampered with, resulting in terrible injuries. Several girls won't be able to make it to school for some time, and a few have started entirely homeschooling. . .

With all that in mind, the school decides to take a semester to renovate, thanks to the many donations from almost everyone but especially one family. Well, at least on the surface it's renovations: there are, however, rumors that the Lost Continent program might try to go on pause due to how unruly the savage locals are. Perhaps the Lost Continent is lost for a reason. . .

At least sportspuck is still open. Even the savages love sportspuck.

In any case, there are a few things most pertinent to you:

• Your cameras yield to certain success: you're able to find out that, in fact, there were savage locals wearing gold sneaking around and being generally suspicious. The girls from the noble families that claimed their lives were being ruined? These girls have been targeted with by the savages wearing gold, though all the crimes are petty: putting gross shit in their lockers, turning their desks upside down, etc. In general, it's a lot of petty bullying that isn't harmful but is unpleasant.
  
  Though, interestingly, Intensity and Sheepity spot the same gold worn by suspicious people leaving the carriages that would later result in accidents, and thus, injuries.
  
  Could it be . . . ?
  
• Then again, one family has invited you to a tea party with another: it seems to the guards of the school have been causing trouble with common citizens and locals, even going so far as to hurting their charge when she was only standing up for what's right. Isn't that awful? Shouldn't the higher classes do something about guards hurting lower and middle class citizens? Is this related, or is this unrelated. . . ?
  
• Incidentally, you are able to catch recordings of guards being rather imposing on savage citizens, since you did have all those cameras installed. It was far off, hard to pick up, but it seems like one of the locals started reaching out to one of the students, only to start convulsing violently. He was dragged away.
  
  . . . Incidentally, you heard there was an execution the other day. Could this be related to all this?
  
• Your daughter is tired of all the CRIMES that are happening. She's going to do something about it. You clearly have evidence now of those savage folk—surely it's because they're not well trained, that someone isn't keeping them in line. It's truly a failure on the guards' parts to not be stricter!
  
  Well, your daughter can do it. She'll be the one to resolve these issues.
  
  What, if anything, should you do?