Morpho Londinium: Overview
Morpho Londinium specifically refers to London in a period of literal transformation. “Morpho” is the Latin designation for butterflies, which refers to their metamorphosis. “Londinium” is the original Latin name for the city of London. In 1699, London is being transformed in many senses. Politically, the city is settling into a newly restored monarchy which followed after almost a dozen years of kingless Commonwealth (from 1648 to 166). Religiously, the recent civil war was a storm of opposing religious beliefs which remain unresolved — ranging from the pantheistic Ranters, to Quakers, Puritans, Anglicans, and Catholics. Physically, the city has been literally devasted. The Great Plague of 1665 wiped out nearly 1, people — roughly 15% the population. The following year, the Great Fire wiped out an area of one and a half miles by half a mile, destroying 87 churches and 13,2 houses. Three years later, the city is still rebuilding itself. Intellectually, the Royal Society, which is to become a central institution of developing science, was founded in 166 immediately upon the restoration of the monarchy.
The game is about the eight guests at Lord Clayton Wyndham’s home in London just off the Strand. It is not very large but richly furnished and well stocked with amenities. He has been a patron of the arts and sciences as well as a scientist himself, and is throwing this party to celebrate the publication of Malpighi’s work. This is not a delicate Victorian tea party, but rather a meeting of opinionated and often pugnacious minds in a rowdy, tense period. There should be plenty of drinking and lively discussion. As you drink, your character has an intoxication level which goes up. This makes it more difficult to lie, but insulates you from social snubs and insults.
Each of the guests is an exaggerated fictional character based on historical figures of the time, and each is identified with an insect. Three of the characters will have secrets that they are trying to hide. These are not necessarily punishable or fatal secrets, and they might even stay within the circle after the party. However, they do have real risk. For each character with a secret, there will be one informer who wants the secret revealed but does not want to be known as the source of the secret. The game will primarily be in-character conversation. Ostensibly they are there to celebrate and discuss the Royal Society’s latest publication on entomology. However, beneath the surface they are probing each other for secrets.
In addition, there are conflicts among the characters. These may often be disguised as discussion about insects — since each character is identified with such. Comments about ants, bees, and other insects are veiled comments about the other characters at the party. In addition, each character has a set of absolute abilities based on their sphere — represented by a card. For example, the hostess is symbolized by The Bee, and has a social string power that will force anyone to back off in some way. Powers will always succeed when used, but they may be lost after being used.
Tags: John Kim, Morpho Londinium
