bakerstreet | Royally common. Commonly royal.

Companion to Royalty Meme

There's one truth you must know of royalty: though power may lay in their hands, the crown is a cage. Whether you've always been noble, came into this position recently by complete surprise, or a simple person caught in the fray, you're realizing that leaders actually lead very little - even down to choosing who they spend their most intimate moments with. From eternal bonds of matrimonies to the distractions provided by courtesans, the people behind the throne make the rules. They cannot risk losing control of their most elevated and strategically placed pawn with a match gone wrong, which could create a domino effect and doom possibly thousands.

So, what part do you play in this game?

Lifetime Royal: This is what you've been raised to do.
Sudden Royal: You just learned of your position, which has been secret from you your entire life, or you unexpectedly inherited the job.
Spouse: You're to be married to nobility.
Concubine or Courtesan: For the royal, you're to be a sexual diversion.
Unaffiliated: You're either a lower-ranking noble or a peasant, but you're free from all the machinations of the shadowy cabal...for now.

How willing are you?

Completely Willing: Either you love the person you know you'll be matched with, or you're excited about the possibilities.
Wary: There's no choice in the matter for you, so you may as well approach this situation cautiously.
Unwilling: You didn't want to be matched up with someone. At all. Ever.

What path will you follow, once you're set upon it (there is, after all, little choice for the chosen ones)?

Prepared for This: Either you're a royal and have been one since birth, or you knew you'd marry or sexually entertain one.
Make Up for Lost Time: This life wasn't the one you lived until now, but times change. You're important or will be a companion to a very important person, like it or not.
A Sacrificial Token: Somewhere along the line, your people royally pissed off someone in a key position. So, in an attempt to smooth out relations, you've been given away as a gift to the highest power, either as a spouse for a political alliance or as a concubine or courtesan.
Pomp and Circumstance: All proper, this arrangement. You're to be married, as you've been promised to each other by your respective families. Consummation on the wedding night is key. Perhaps it's encouraged that the two of you act as if this is really a love match, to add insult to injury.
Genuine Love: Speaking of love matches, congratulations! You're one of the incredible few who gets to marry for love, so your lovemaking should be all the more enthused.
Only a Plaything: Heavy is the head who wears the crown, so you're expected to take on some side entertainment even if that's not your preference. Or you could be the courtesan...such a pretty, perfumed word for what the role really is...
Volunteered: You wanted this position, either of spouse or concubine. Your reasons are your own.
Cruel: You're powerful. You can do what you want to this person, a mere ant in comparison to you.
Forbidden: Even the most powerful can't have everything they want, such as someone who's promised to or with another; taking them for your own would create strife and destroy alliances, even to the point of tempting war.
Work Your Way Up: There's always a right tool for the job and you find no shame in using your own special tools to better your life.
Give Me an Heir: Whether you're legitimate or a concubine used as a surrogate, you must help in continuing the royal line.
Mutual Benefit: Both of you are comfortable with this arrangement because you're either compatible or it takes the pressure off of you otherwise.
Want to be More: Though you've been relegated to courtesan, you want to be there one and only spouse...no matter if that role is already filled or not.
Growing Affection: It may have started as all puppet strings and power plays, but now, you lo- care for them.
Loved Before: Before you became so important and powerful, before you became the focus of all the world, it seems, they were there with you. They were with you then, and you want them to be with you now. They ground you and they care about you for you.
Because You're Normal: They're outside of all the court's nonsense, and that's appealing to you. It's like a breath of fresh air.
WILDCARD

How to Play

Comment with your character, preference, preferred role, and any other information.
Reply to others.
RNG or choose your options.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Most definitely a willing unaffiliated person.]

[Unaffiliated, willingness will depend on who's involved.

Voicetesting.]

[Possibly sudden, but most probably one of the last two options. Any level of willingness is fine!]

[Could be either role, depending on your character.]

[[Camilla's spent her life in a very dangerous royal court, she's used to this. Up for just about anything, though there's two scenarios on the lighter side I'm particularly interested in. The first is her being married into a much more stable royal family, so her pitch-black humor and distrust of her peers make her look like a violent, paranoid bint for a while (played for laughs or drama, your choice). The other is an arranged marriage where she and he spouse haven't had much time to warm up to each other, but she knows what's expect of them, so she suggests they stop being so polite and start off as sexfriends.]]

((Would you mind Cor here for either of those lighter scenarios? He's normally a blunt, Common-Born badass with a tender side for those close to him, so having a wife that shares his own sense of gallow humors would be great. I'd also be happy to AU him as either the brother-in-law or biological brother of his king Regis, because he's otherwise a brother-in-arms to the king as well as a close friend and protector of the royal family.))

[[I certainly wouldn't mind! There's no need to change bloodlines. Nohring politics being what they are, a sworn and trusted brother-in-arms would probably have a stronger claim to the title of prince than Camilla and her siblings. They're all bastard half-siblings by mistresses, for context, which kinds of makes it even more fitting Camilla might have been married out to a common-born.]]

((OOC: Ahhhhh, yeah. That would do it, then. Any preference on either scenario before I get started? I could go either way, but I just wanna check with you first.))