Courtship Points

[Mindshred]

Courtship Points

During this game, characters will be demonstrating their skills and talents to the Unicorn in order to obtain a spouse.

The process of determining which characters will end up engaged to each other will be determined via Courtship Points. Courtship Points represent a character's desirability as a spouse, with a greater number of points representing not just how favorably the Unicorn look upon the character, but also how much leeway they will grant that character when it comes to his or her marriage wishes.

Each character will begin with a certain number of Courtship Points, as determined by a rubric that will be made public once the game begins. In addition, characters will also be able to earn additional Courtship Points during a series of events planned throughout the festival. Taking first place in a contest will generally award the character three Courtship Points, taking second place will award two Courtship Points, and taking third place will award a single Courtship Point.

In the event of a tie, the awarded Courtship Points will simply be duplicated for everyone at that ranking. Thus, if three characters tie for first place in an event, each will receive three Courtship Points, and the character in second place will still receive two Courtship Points.

Character can also earn or lose Courtship Points through roleplaying; characters who behave as proper adults and act like proper samurai may gain points, while those who exhibit behavior unbecoming of a samurai may lose points. These gains and losses will be entirely at the whim of the GM, but will generally not exceed a gain or loss of a single point except in the most extreme of situations.



The End of the Miai

At the conclusion of the miai, each of the participating characters will be matched up with their future spouse. Beginning with the character with the most Courtship Points, each character will be allowed to choose a spouse from the other participants. Unicorn characters must choose a spouse from among the participating non-Unicorn characters, and non-Unicorn characters must choose a spouse from the participating Unicorn characters.

A character may elect not to choose a spouse, but doing so provides an insult to the Unicorn Clan or the Clans of the Empire, as appropriate. Such a character will leave the miai unmarried but will lose Honor as if they had disobeyed their lord's commands, and they will gain two ranks of Infamy and the Sworn Enemy (Unicorn Clan Samurai) disadvantage.

Non-Unicorn characters with a positive number of Courtship Points (0 or higher) who are left unmatched will be engaged to members of the Unicorn Clan who are not present at the festival, while those who have a negative number of points (-1 or lower) will be sent home with an apologetic letter from the Unicorn, unengaged and quite shamed. These characters will lose Honor as if they had committed a major breach of etiquette and will gain 1 rank of Infamy.

Unicorn characters with a positive number of Courtship Points (0 or higher) who are left unmatched will return home, unmarried but without stigma. Those who have a negative number of points (-1 or lower) return home to shame and punishment from their families and superiors. These characters will lose Honor as if they had committed a major breach of etiquette and will gain 1 rank of Infamy.

Depending upon the pairings, characters may or may not be pleased with their spouses. At the conclusion of the miai, characters may choose to grant their spouse either the Blissful Betrothal advantage or the Bitter Betrothal disadvantage, though this is by no means required. It is entirely possible for one member of the pair to love or hate a fiance who does not return the sentiment, and thus does not grant them an advantage or disadvantage in return.

Characters who become engaged to an Imperial will gain the Imperial Spouse advantage.

Those marrying characters of higher Status will be assumed to be marrying into the Clan of the higher Status individual. Should the Status of two characters be equal, the character with the lower number of Courtship Points will marry into the Clan of their spouse.