tax collector Ned Jemmy
Name: Abner Addams / Puck
Theme: Where the order ends, the fun begins.
Age: 30 / 1500
Archetype: jester
Class: radical
Religion: whatever you choose to pretend
Money: 150
Taxes: 0
Lives: 2
Resistance: 7
Taxes: 0
Equipment: Ledger
Special:
- Ledger: Make a tedious notes about taxes there, everything you collect, as reflected by reality. You are strict with this. And it can be stolen, so it can uncover any machinations you might be doing.
- Taxes: three times per game, collect taxes as indicated in timeline. If someone won’t pay, you can bring cops and have them arrested. You are expected to put on Mayors table 2 500 minimum within an hour of starting a collection. You can be asked to present your numbers (but fortunately, mayor doesn’t understand the numbers at all, so you can fool him easily).
- Debt: once per game, you can over-rule Mayor in what you need, because he owns you a debt.
- Christian: at least once per game, go to confession.
Ned Jemmy (48) is a high raking officer in Aetherwick, second after the mayor. Even the chief of police is his subordinate, even though authorities are unclear, and they can easily get into a clash of rights and responsibilities. Formerly known for his silence and meticulousness, he’s since become something of a ghost in the corridors of power—unwelcome, unreadable, and always scribbling something into a book that shouldn’t exist. His gaze makes even nobles sweat. His breath smells like ink. Some say he sold his soul to balance a national budget. Others think he just never went home.
Dreams
You had them as long as you can remember. Dreams of clinging sword, spears glittering in noon sun, or midnight moon, arrows flying, men screaming, dying. You dreamt your own death, impaled on a sword, but is it future or a past, you can’t say for sure.
You dream of praying. A lot and lot of praying, and ruling a land, as a judge, as a general.
Man of power
Maybe those dreams are the reason why you have always been so weird, different, never fitting. You are not bothered by it, not any more. You have found your way in the world. With your super-mind for numbers, you got a good position as a city accountant, and later on a tax collector, which brought you unparallel power and possibility to shape the city as a grey eminence, from behind the curtain.
When you were growing to power, your keen eye manage to uncover a dirt in the top authority and take them down. The mayor didn’t fall, but is in your debt ever since, which gives you extra advantage towards him.
Alone in the world
You have basically no friends, but you know everybody, and everybody knows you. You are taxing every man in the city, and a lonely working woman as well. You have a list of approximate taxes you should collect from everybody based on their reported income, but how much are you going to demand of them, that is fully up to you. Yes, then can come to complain to police or mayor, but would they?
Taxes
| Name | Taxes | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| sir Waverly Scott | 100 | Waverly Scott used to be one of the biggest name in Aetherwick, but he is without an income for ages. God knows if he can afford to pay what he suppose to now. He is paying taxes also for his wife and daughter. As an ex-soldier, when pushed into corner, he can be dangerous. |
| sir Early Clubb | 100 | He pays taxes for himself and his wife. Both of them reeks decadence. His wife tried to invite you to some club of powerful in the past, but you refused. |
| merchant Bradley Harrington | 500 | High income shark, about to launch his mechanized shoe factory that will cost jobs bunch of poor people. His competitors always disappeared or died in mysterious circumstances. It is quite clear he must have some ties to underworld, and might be clever to go through his numbers properly. Or use his situation to your own advantage. |
| Hughie McMillian | 500 | Merchant, rigid Christian with some small vices. Sick, in last days, sick, and fading. But touch Scotts who wouldn’t react well to any threats, blackmail or fuckery. |
| Arthur Dart | 1 000 | The richest man in Aetherwick, brat, spoiled, merchant who inherit his business and knows nothing about it, so he is just wasting his money. |
| Neil Johnson | 5 | Police captain with a police income, but for such a low income, he has way to nice house. Bribes must be a thing, but how to find about them, how to prove them? And do you want to be proving them anyway? |
| Mitchell Donaldson | 2 | Low income police man, honest and just. Probably. |
| Liam Conolly | 2 | Tough police veteran, low income and struggling. But old enough to be dirty, and well known for his hard core methods. |
| Merrill Collins | 50 | Officially, a businesswoman doing a legal business of running entertainment clubs, in reality a bordel-mamá and a crime lord. Might be difficult to prove her illegal business, but maybe you will find a different way how to manipulate her or make her pay het debt to society. |
| Logan Ahern | 50 | Officially, a businessman doing a legal business of running entertainment clubs, in reality a chief of illegal hazard dens which are hurting nobody, though. But Logan is hurting when someone’s doesn’t pay. Might be difficult to prove his illegal business, but maybe you will find a different way how to manipulate her or make her pay het debt to society. |
| Linda Ritchey | 50 | American with British roots, a journalist, a businesswoman running her own newspaper. Trouble maker but pointing out important things. So the only question is: do you feel like having her on your side, or destroying her? What is better for you? And what is better for the city? |
| Ruby Conray | 10 | Young doctor who received her licence in America. There is something fishy about it. She is treating poor for miserable price, or for free. Making her life difficult means making life of poor difficult. But she is a woman. Should woman be a doctor? |
| Bruno Turner | 100 | Rich academician, doctor of rich, who asks ungodly prices for his service. Openly and loudly atheistic, amoral, but undouble skillful. Real menace, and in the same time necessity for the society. |
| Arnold Shea | 3 | Poor man paying taxes for himself, his wife and his daughter. |
| Arthur Higginbottom | 1 | Poor young boy working for sir Waverly Scott, paying taxes just for himself. |
| Glen Addams | 60 | He came to Aetherwick recently, with his whole family. Paying taxes for himself, his wife and son. He gave a first declaration of income upon arrival, but what is a real state of his finances, hard to say. He deserves a deeper investigation. |
Priests
Priests are exempts from a taxation, but they still won’t escape your careful sight. There is an Elliot Gregory, a good priest to whom you are going for a confessions. There is bishop Columbus Ede, a man too fat and too jolly for his office, and you suspect a foul play there, and want to pay closer attention to him. And then, the new priest, Silas David, Vatican emissary – his religious fervor is both scary, and attracting for you. You would like to get to know him better.
Rulers duties
You wonder what led you to the believe that this place needs a control. But at certain point, you have realized you are acting as a hidden ruler, power behind the curtain, and you are manipulating others to shape politics to your liking. You have always felt a strong calling from God, but in the same time, you never though about entering a convent. Your duties are earthly, not divine.
Dance with the devil
Still, there are your dreams, so vivid. They led you to play with old esoteric books, and ask questions: What is my role in this world? What is my duty? You called to the heaven, and then you felt them something answered to you. Not with words, just with a simple knowing: I am coming, it was saying to you. I am coming.
How to play the character
Ned Jemmy is highly experimental character. The player has a lot of freedom in choosing how to approach him. Will you play a good man wanting the best for the city? A zealot punishing all misbehavior? Cardinal Richelieu, manipulating the world to his own benefit? Will you be pro or anti feminist? Will you go to brothel, play poker, or simply pray all the time? Will you have a heavy conscious because of your sin, or be pure as a white sheet of paper? Will you be hetero-, homo-, bi-, or a-(sexual)? Will you be apathic or proactive? The choice is yours, we simply want to observe what is going to happen. Still, you have an important gamistic duties. Collect taxes. Somehow. If you ask for less or more, if you will blackmail or not, that is up to you.
A recommendation from us: choose ahead what character you want to play, and then follow it. There is a challenge for you anyway: will you be a good ruler, or not?
Major
NPC, ultimate judge of the game, but he owns you a favor, so once per game, you can collect your favor and force him to decision or action he wouldn’t want to take.
sir Waverly Scott (52)
Old soldier, nobility falling out of favor, too fond of alcohol and hazard
sir Early Clubb (32)
Dandy, supposing head of the family, but you can’t shake the feeling his beautiful wife is the one who is really holding the rain in the relationship.
lady Muriel Clubb (33)
She offered you once a membership in some private clubs of hers, full of enjoyment, but you refused, as you didn’t seek
merchant Bradley Harrington (42)
Rich and dangerous, possibly with some connection to criminal underworld.
merchant Hughie McMillian (55)
Hard working Scottish man, tough as a steel, who made a fortune, but now he is old, sick, and possibly dying.
merchant Arthur Dart (30)
The richest man in Aetherwick, spiled brat, and party animal who knows nothing about business.
chief of police Neil Johnson (45)
Who is above whom is mysterious. He can resist you for sure, and it would be mayor, who would have to do the final ruling. You were avoiding each other up until now, but if someone will resist your tax collection, you will need police support for enforcing. And… you suspect Johnson is not fully clean. How else could he be so rich?
detective Mitchel Donaldson (25)
Young and idealistic detective.
detective Liam Conolly (30)
Not so young, and definitely not so idealistic detective well known for his hard-boiled methods.
priest Elliot Gregory (35)
A good priest to whom you are going to a confession time from time.
priest Silas David (25)
A new priest, a Vatican emissary, in Aetherwick. Religious zealot, both scary and attractive to you.
bishop Columbus Ede (45)
A bit too fat and a bit too jolly. Also, he only pays attention to a rich. Not very Christian behavior, you would say, but religious behavior for sure. You suspect corruption and foul play, but have no proof.
crime-lord Merrill Collins (40)
Chief city whore who can fuck with you tremendously (by knife. In your guts).
crime-lord Logan Ahern (40)
Main poker player in the city. If you play, pay, otherwise you might speak with a fishes soon.
journalist Linda Ritchey (25)
Young trouble maker, a journalist from America.
doctor Ruby Conray (30)
She helps poor, but she also got her diploma in America, and you wonder… is it truly true?
doctor Bruno Turner (40)
Skillful, but arrogant doctor, who doesn’t do anything for free, nor cheap.
Arnold Shea (25)
Poor man, trying to take care of his family.
Arthur Higginbottom (17)
Poor, still a boy, who started to pay taxes only recently. Works for sir Waverly Scott.
Glen Addams (40)
Commanding, majestic figure you know nothing about, but a sense of foreboding is not leaving you. You know nothing about him, apart from what he declared, but you need to know more.
Maria Addams (30)
The moment you will spot her for the first time, your heart will start to beat as crazy. You don’t know what it is. You have never felt love, and you don’t know if you would called this love, but it definitely feels like obsession, strong inclination, desire, but in the same time fear, repulsion, all emotions you don’t experience often and you can’t successfully explain in their contradictions. What is this?
Abner Addams (15)
He is just a boy. So why do you feel strong pain in your belly anytime you see him? As if something would be piercing your guts. But in the same time, you see a little lost boy, a bit devilish, but only because he is lacking love and good leading… and you feel very paternal feelings towards him, and wish to mentor him and lead him. Maybe you should made him your assistant.
- You have a dreams of war, and dying
You don’t know what the signifies, but you have always understood you have a calling. - You consider yourself a grey eminence of Aetherwick, and you actively act as one.
You understand your control is not yet complete, and you seems to become an ultimate puppet master. - You played with an esoteric books
You were asking God to tell you your purpose, and you know that something answered, and announce its arrival. You have no clue what it was. - When you will spot Maria Addams, you heart starts to beat as crazy
But she is a married woman, and you know that your weakness could be used against you. - When you spot Abner Addams, your belly hurts, but you feel paternal instincts
You can’t explain your experience, but you are eager to research it further. - Mayor owns you a favor
You know some dirt on him, and you could use it against him. So he will comply to you. But only once.
1. Collect taxes
It is your main duty, and when the time will come, you will gather what you should. But what you should gather… that depends a bit on you. But careful, Mayor can go through your books.
2. Control the city
You are a shadow eminence of the city, you will decide which way it will go. All you need to is to exercise your power. But do it carefully. You are still a human. You can be killed.
3. Get close with Maria Addams
You don’t know what it is about her. You knot sure what you want: to sleep with her? To be with her? You need to research this feeling further… and understand where doest it originates from.
4. Educate Abner Addams
You can’t explain your feelings towards him, but you will pay a closer attention. This pain. This care. Where is it coming from? In the end, you see a little boy in need of leading, and that’s what you would like to provide to him. You wish to show him a way.
5. Investigate Glen Addams
You don’t know who he is. You don’t know where he came from. You don’t know his real income, neither its source. You don’t know what does he wants. And he terrifies you a bit. You need to find out more if you are to exercise your function properly… and if you are to rule.
6. Investigate big players of Aetherwick
There is bunch of names which deserves your closer attention. Maybe you give them to law, maybe you will control them as a puppet master you are, but you need to know more about bishop Columbus Ede, Clubbs family, police captain Neil Johnson, both crime lords, Linda Ritchey and Ruby Conray.
7. Get to know Silas David
As a servant of a God, he is interesting for you. You wish to meet him more deeply, and possibly make him your friend.
D1
18:00 Mass of bishop Columbus Ede
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Taxes
D2
9:00 Mass of your choice
12:00 Taxes
13:00 Lunch
16:00 Weddings
18:00 launch of factory or Knitting class or Poker
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Taxes
D3
9:00 Mass
10:00 Elections