Editing Lovedagger (section)

== Lovedagger Fantasy ==

=== Empire ===

With less of an aesthetic emphasis on war and death and more on courtly intrigue and romance, the gritty-dirtiness of medieval Germany gives place to the grandeur and extravagance of Imperial Austria. The Empire is an anachronism anyway - there's no reason its architecture and fashions shouldn't be based on 18th or even 19th century central Europe, even if its military technology remains unchanged (or even without it. The effectiveness of weapons on the tabletop has always been pretty arbitrary, and steam tanks don't make sense anyway. They might make even more sense in a society that might've feasibly invented the hot air balloon (can you say airships? Because I think airships fit in). 

That isn't to say that in Lovedagger Fantasy the Empire doesn't have its share of blood and gunpowder soaked battlefields, rat-infested sewers or filthy back alleys, it's just that the drama focuses on the fabulous palaces. If anyone does fighting "on-camera", it's less likely to be in ranks of muskets and more likely to be a handsome, swashbuckling prince swinging off the chandelier with a rapier in hand and a belt of (ornate) pistols.

The Empire was founded by a woman known as Sigrun Liebendolch. Sigrun was the beautiful barbarian maiden wedded as a young teen to one of the region's warlords. He was a brave, honorable man, and she truly loved him, but she also knew that his obsession with honor and glory made him too violent. Like the other warlords who ruled humanity back then, he couldn't make allies or unite tribes because everyone was always busy going to Valhalla. The Lovedagger was a wedding gift from the elves, a beautiful little blade that promised to fulfill one's heart's desires, but at the cost of that which is most dear to them. Understanding the meaning of this, Sigrun killed her beloved husband and, with her own wisdom and compassion, managed to unite the warring tribes into one powerful empire, which she ruled for a time before sorrow overcame her and she killed herself using the very same Lovedagger.

=== Bretonnia ===

Bretonnia, meanwhile, to balance out on the Empire becoming more outwardly elegant and "sophisticated" (you know, the nobles all wear beautiful masks while they stab each other in the back, and they use poisoned knives instead of swords), goes full hard Mists of Avalon/Arthurian Paganism. The Lady of the Lake and her Damsels become even more central to the drama (if not necessarily the culture), and the land takes on a less "shit-covered middle ages" and more "French Fairy Tale" feeling. The knights are actually handsome and chivalrous, but tend to fall prey to their own passions (Pendragon style) and get themselves killed off on fits of romantic madness. The peasants are still probably generally fucked up, but aren't all to the last one a bunch of illiterate, hopeless, inbred mutants. Hope and perseverance against impossible odds (especially socially) are key elements of the genre. In Lovedagger, it's hard but not impossible for a peasant who is brave and true and virtuous to achieve great things, and possibility earn a knighthood. It's also not impossible for a knight to remove "his" helmet and reveal they were a woman the whole time, of course. A Joan D'Arc equivalent figure is an absolute must. In terms of religion, maybe go as far with the pagan elements as to make the Lady of the Lake a tripartite goddess

=== Kislev ===

Is controlled from behind the scenes by a Baba-Yaga stand-in. It's also got a Tzarina, all-female spellcasters, and gorgeous fur coats.

=== Dwarfs ===

The gruff exteriors and grumbly demeanor of the dwarfs of Lovedagger hides a gentler, tenderer side. Within their hairy barrel chests beat romantic hearts which crave not gold and jewels, but true beauty in all its forms: a beautiful piece of music, a beautiful flower, a beautiful face. Dwarf craftsman toil for centuries in order to produce a work of impossible, unmatchable precision and ornamentation because that's what they put their heart to. By the same token, a dwarf gardener may spend centuries breeding a tulip which would be just the right hue and have the right kind of perfume, and the result would be just as impressive. The dwarfs of Lovedagger are highly sexually dymorphic: while the males are your familiar beardy vikings, the females are actually slender, graceful, and almost elfin in appearance (though still short and hairy). The dwarven appreciation for beauty extends to their own women, which are placed on a pedestal, courted from a distance and nearly worshipped. Their relative rarity makes them even more precious. Of course, that same preciousness means dwarf females aren't allowed to do much of anything, since Vala forbid they be harmed. They are dressed in the finest of garments and jewels, including face-concealing veils (to protect their honor, of course), and are expected to sit still being pretty while the males toil around them in an attempt to impress them. Naturally, in the feminist fantasy inspired world of Lovedagger, that is a Bad Thing (TM) and a proper dwarf heroine would be one who challenges the existing order by expressing a wish to become something more than a treasure: a craftswoman or warrior herself.

=== Stuff ===

Sigrun of the Lovedagger, the first Empress, was the archetypal Maiden: young, passionate, merciful, but ultimately driven to ruin because of love and sorrow - dying and (thus, in a way) remaining eternally young.
The Lady of the Lake is the Mother of Brettonia: overbearing and terrible, but also nurturing and protective. The health and fertility of Brettonia literally flows from her.
Kislev should have a central character standing in for Baba Yaga as the Crone - cruel and incomprehensible, but also wise. This Baba Yaga figure is probably an ultimate death monster on the tabletop, but more often appears in the (far more popular) RPG and novels as a mentor/adviser/trickster, as in Slavic myth.