Out of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, and Regency authors of today, here is an opportunity for budding writers to create a story in the English Regency time period together with other like-minded people.

It's 1813! Napoleon has most of Europe at war, there is fighting between Britain and the fledgling United States of America. At home, the richer are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

The player characters will begin and interact in a village in the English countryside (Hertfordshire), then may choose go to London for the Season. There might be an encounter with historical personages of the time, or meetings with imaginary non-player characters of the town or of the city. The rating is Mature, to allow for occasional words and actions.

Will you join us?

If anyone should have a question about mail service of the time, I may be able to answer questions directly (if they are not too complex). And, I know mostly where to go or who to ask to obtain an answer, if I don't.

The Allton Circulating Library

I'm going to propose that Allton has its own circulating library, with a subscription price per household of 20p. per quarter. For convenience, there will be novels, travel books, and certain books on physical science and natural history.

Courtesy of Felicity Thornton's player


Assistant's comment:
Thanks to Felicity for that. Most players in this game will be in the top three classes unless it is in the interests of the game to make an exception. And I suspect Allton probably has more than its fair share of First Class residents already.

 I found this tidbit of info at a Regency period site, which would have impacted my character when he was younger: "Marriage Act of 1753 was passed and required parental consent for anyone under the age of 21 to marry. The Act did not apply in Scotland. Gretna Green lies just over the line in Scotland. Many couples eloped without parental consent and were married “over the anvil” at the popular blacksmith’s shop in Gretna Green. After 1856, Scottish law changed to require 21 days’ residence for marriage."  So Scotland is where William and his young sweetheart where headed at age 17 before they were caught.

Interestingly enough it was actually not recommended to show up at a dinner party with a gift before the second half of the 20th century. It was considered an imposition to do so at the time as the hostess would have to stop what she was doing and deal with the gift, thanking the giver, finding a vase for flowers etc... Proper etiquette was to send things before hand or a day or two afterward as a thank you and/or to return the invitation.

Actually 1810 was the arrival of the Waltz in England.  However it wasn't until 1814 when Lady Lieven, one of the Lady Patronesses of Almack, made it acceptable when she danced with Lord Palmerton.  So it was known but considered scandalous until then.  Lord Byron actually wrote a condemning poem about it in 1813.

http://www.regencyhistory.net/...s-london-season.html

The British National Archives has posted a link to a batch of prisoner-of-war records from the Napoleonic Wars, in case William wants to add some realistic details to his experience.
The site it links to also has an interesting article about George Rose, originally an escaped slave from Jamaica, who managed to join the British Army, fought at Waterloo, transferred to the Black Watch, after long service became the senior ethnically black NCO in the British Army in the 19th century, then retired, went back to Jamaica, and served as a Methodist missionary. Remarkable man.

Neat!

http://hibiscus-sinensis.com/regency/index.htm

Use of Surnames and Titles.

The rules regarding correct forms of address are too complex to list here, but there are two common usages that will be used frequently in our game - knights and gentlemen.

A knight, such as Sir John Smith, is always called Sir John, never Sir Smith, whether you know him or not. If you know him well, and you are of at least the same rank, you may eventually find yourself on first name terms, at which point you may drop the Sir, and just call him John.

A noble, such as Lord John Smith, Earl of Gloucester, would be known simply as Your Lordship by anyone of lesser standing, but other Lords would refer to him as Gloucester.

In a similar way, Gentlemen (and frequently knights) often refer to each other by surnames. Calling an acquaintance Rackwode is not an insult, it is less formal than calling him Mr Rackwode or Sir Richard, but not as intimately informal as calling him Richard - which would only happen in the case of close friends. Members of a club would generally address one another as Gloucester, Rackwode, Grey and Hood, which also serves to blur the ranks - which is the decent thing to do for fellow members.

Hopefully that hasn't created more confusion than it has dispelled...
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:25, Wed 09 Sept 2015.

In reply to The Storyteller (msg # 12):

This is almost all correct. However, an earl would not be "Lord John Smith" --lord first name last name is the usage for sons of earls and above -- e.g. Lord Peter Wimsey, younger son of the duke of Denver, --daughters of earls and above are Lady First name last name as with Lady Mary Crawley on Downton Abbey, or our own Lady September McKellan. An earl would be addressed as "Your lordship" by inferiors but referred to in third person as "Lord Gloucester."
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