Born to the Purple: A Rebel Crown Campaign

I posted previously about my custom setting for Blades in the Dark, Blades in the Latin Quarter. After 71 sessions starting in April 2020, the Crickets finally clawed their way to the top of the heap in the slums of Constantinople circa 1200 CE.

Not knowing what to do at Tier 4, I started to look at different ways to approach the setting and discovered Rebel Crown. The Crickets brushed up against the… byzantine… politics of the era but–being a motley group of gutter thugs–were never more than catspaws. Rebel Crown presents a cool opportunity to indulge in a little alternate history making and make use of my compulsively gathered research.

Allow me to introduce you all to the tentatively named Born to the Purple campaign.

It is 1200 anno Domini and the Eastern Roman Empire stands at a crossroads. A wanton and profligate emperor plunders the tombs of his predecessors for gold while corrupt bureaucrats wring every last bezant out of their office. The imperial legions recently suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of renascent Bulgarian Empire, and the Queen of Cities’ once-great navy rots in its moorings, stripped to the nails of anything of value.

Into this twilight pageant comes Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera, the empress recently returned from exile. She is no longer content to helm the ship of state while a lesser man–her husband–sits on the throne. Like Theodora before her, Euphrosyne refuses to be bound by the strictures of convention. She travels to the Thémata of Thrace and Macedonia to recruit allies and build up a base of support to challenge her husband and the middling curs who surround him.

And as call for Crusade rumble in the West, the stakes are nothing less than the survival of Imperium Romanum itself.

Dramatis Personae

• The Claimant: Empress Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera
• The Chancellor: Currently deciding between a charismatic Bogomil preacher or a doctrinaire Bishop a la Claude Frollo
• The Devoted: Olympia Botaneiates, an Anatolian Akritēs
• The Idealist: Hegemone Vatatzes, nun and daughter of the Empress’s slain paramour
• The Vengeant: Manuel Kamytzes, a historical Byzantine general betrayed by the Emperor he served

I’ve got the beginnings of a map and show bible available to view, though everything remains a work in progress. I welcome input!

The world has elements of the World of Darkness Dark Age setting, but I suspect interactions with night creatures will be minimal for our heroes this go around. You may also notice vestiges of a previous attempt to adapt the setting to Birthright.