The Patrician’s Circle

Brainstorm

• TO DO

  • Remembering that the outline isn’t necessarily chapter by chapter, especially for later sections

• TPC original brainstorm

  • Going from basically running a gang to taking on a global conspiracy
  • A rival gang is helping a Circle front business
  • Edward creates elite wing to do more sneaky political subterfuge stuff
  • Someone/something allows Edward to ascend into that level where big, conspiratorial decisions can be made

• Maybe a trial of some kind for Edward’s crimes
• “There is no chain that binds stronger than the crown upon a king’s head.”

• • ALT: “There is no prison cell stronger than the crown upon a monarch’s head.”

• The Patrician’s Circle gets more desperate as Edward continues racking up power?
• “It’s called The Patrician’s Circle” “Are they Venetian?”
• Edward joins a revolution against a city government but betrays them to curry favour with said government
• The big arc

• • The first rumblings of the conspiracy are a wave of arrests, and one of Edward’s lot get swept up
  • Stoke popular discontent with the monarchs and replace them with Circle-favoured candidates?
  • Edward hears that one of the monarchs knows somewhat about the existence of the circle

• • • VERY cagey about giving Edward the time of day, thinks he’s a Circle agent, only relents after …
    • Belgian king or equivalent

• • People think there’s just a natural ebb and flow of kingdoms/empires rising and falling but really it’s the influence of The Circle

• A character is a poet by trade, maybe the hunter?
• Edward uses his gang to escape the king’s wrath

• Use Edward’s father not being murdered as part of the proof that The Circle don’t kill anyone

  • As part of The Patrician’s angry monologue to Edward

• “(Town Lord) had been throwing lavish parties, sleeping around with townsfolk, and getting in brawls near pubs.” “Sounds like a great guy, honestly.” “Sure, if he wasn’t bleeding the treasury dry and harassing locals. Where have you been living the past few years?” “Not important.” “When he died, we made an agreement that we would at least give this town as many years as we can of proper service before we are caught.” “And you’re not worried about being executed?” “Of course, but we owe the townsfolk a good life. If only for a moment.”

Threads

• Edward going from excited kid to schemer

  • Show Edward explicitly saying he won’t kill, unless he has to
  • Judas disappears, Edward’s acting coy about it, and it’s implied that Edward gave the order to the gang to kill her
  • Realising the true cost of what he wants

• Gabriel going from reserved religious man to hedonistic to repentant

  • In London, Gabriel talks about wanting to spend the night with another man, Edward nods his head and says go for it

    • NOTE: Don’t portray being gay as hedonistic, maybe something like Edward presenting him women and him asking for a man instead, so he’s more tempted by the sex itself and not tempted by “being gay”

  • Gabriel, at his most unethical point, church fighting priest scene

• Discovering what happened to his father

  • Finding his father’s grave at an unmarked location, with assurances that this is really him

• Discovering the Circle and what it is

  • Some representation of the Circle present initially (kinda like the suited representation of The Shadows from Signs and Portents)
  • Discover more about the Circle through Mentor

• Getting revenge on Judas then the Circle

  • Judas seems to have aged poorly over the last few years, now she’s old and sad

• The mentor getting revenge on the Circle via an Edward assist

  • Taking on a consortium of some kind, like the hanseatic league?
  • First rule: Know EVERYTHING about everyone you’re seeking to butt heads with

• Gang war in London

  • The Ashmore gang is at war with the Tichborne gang in London
  • Edward organises an attack that goes poorly

• Getting trained by the mentor on how to be a schemer

• Eda wanting to maintain her sense of fun in the face of the heavy politicking

• Discovering who Lord Baron is/discovering where John’s money went

  • Edward goes to his father’s estate office and it seems to have been left in a hurry/ransacked

• Discovering the big plan that The Patricians’ Circle is attempting to enact and beating them to it

• The Patrician getting less composed and more insane as the story proceeds

  • The trial and execution of Edward
  • The Circle’s other members start growing disillusionment with each other and the Patrician himself

• What to do with a kidnapped Patrician

• Lord Richter’s men attempting to give the good life to their people, however fatalistically for them it is

  • Attempted assassination on Edward

• Discovering more about John’s father and his role in England

  • “So why’d you take me in in the first place, Gabriel?” “For the Bartum name? I would be willing to take you in for ten lifetimes.” “What, for a spice merchant?” “You clearly don’t understand how powerful your father was.”

    • Starts with a conversation about Gabriel’s relationship with John

  • Explain later in a flashback that John got burned for trying to expand beyond London

• Beating the Circle to having their own pope

• Sections

  • Prologue
  • Fall from grace
  • Edward finds out father is dead
  • Edward is destroyed by the Circle

World

The Patrician’s Circle

• A group of the nine
• “Chase not the signifiers of power, chase power alone”

• • Motto of The Circle

Characters

• Edward

  • Cheeky petty crim to high level schemer
  • Wants to exact revenge on those who wronged him and his father

• John

  • Jolly bearded stiff upper lip brit
  • Wanted recognition beyond England

• Gabriel

  • Reserved lumberjack
  • Wants the simple life, but swayed by those above himself (God with spirituality, Edward with money and power)

• Eda

  • Cheeky thief, foil to Edward
  • Wants mischief and fun with friends

• Town Steward

  • Dry, poor public speaker, but wants what’s best for the town and its people

• The Hunter

• Hextilda

  • Leader of Edward’s allied gang
  • Wants to run a more refined gang that acts more like peacekeepers in London rather than thugs

• Sancho

  • Former Circle liaison
  • Kinda cranky teacher

Outline

Teatime at the farmhouse

John is burned and the whole kingdom comes down on him

• Edward looking out at the water, is shouted at and gets in a fight, he claimed that this guy’s family are thieves because he hadn’t returned the money, he flees, heading back to the spice shop run by his father, but his father can see the black eye and knows what he did, Edward complains that he wants to be powerful and respected but John, with kindness, lectures him about getting caught over such sloppy pettiness, and realises that he needs to teach Edward what it really means to do what he wants, and to meet him at St. Paul’s cathedral

• John flexes his power to Edward on the debted family and confirms the meeting with the Frenchman

  • Edward apologises to the boy at John’s behest

• The moment is buzzing in Edward’s head, and he can’t wait to learn more, but everything goes to shit, with the mentor telling Edward to save his father which he does

• The Frenchman is executed, Edward and John escape London, demonstrate a bit about how far-reaching John’s influence is through his connections, Edward is put on a ship out of England with instructions on where to go and John promises to come back for him

  • “You’re not secretly a lord, are you?” “Absolutely not. I simply have had a lot of business in England over the years.”

Edward finds out dad’s dead

• Edward looking out at same, now disrepaired road. Show Edward’s life in French town, farming, and friendship with Gabriel, who translates humorously for him. (?- SOME COMPLICATION THAT forces Edward to go find papa)

  • “My father will return, I promise it”

Edward takes on Judas, but the Circle reveals itself and squashes Judas like a bug

• A representative of the Circle arrives and tells him, in vague terms, that he is to not persue this gang war and expand their territory any further. The person does not say who they are.
• Judas is taken by the guards and executed, in almost the same circumstances as John’s ousting years ago

? Edward exacts a retaliatory blow on the Patricians’ Circle (more specific pls)

• Edward is taught that the Circle stretches far wider than England

• Edward finds out that mentor was former Circle member

• Edward finds out about the role of the Circle in his father’s downfall

• Edward disrupts the Circle’s attempt to …

  • For petty reasons, of course, to stake his claim that he’s here and he can’t be simply blacklisted

Edward is captured and almost executed

• The members of the Circle discuss Edward and how ethical it is to execute him, ultimately agreeing to kill him

Edward burns Europe to the ground and assassinates the Patricians

EPILOGUE: Teatime at the farmhouse…again