Helvetica Background

Premise

Boarding school for noble children, located on unclaimed territory in the mountains between Montaigne and Eisen, currently seeking teachers, staff, assorted hangers-on and/or refugees from the Revolution that just erupted three days ago in Montaigne. Accepting first four applicants who aren't using anything from outside the core rulebooks. My e-mail's in my finger info.

Geography

Helvetica is a region in the White Mountains, between Eisen and Montaigne. There are roads into Eisen and into Montaigne, though the main pass between those two powers is further north and bypasses the region altogether. From Geneva, the only town of any note, it is about a day's ride to the nearest Montaigne town (Bois-Franc) and two days to the nearest Montaigne city (Mont Saint-Gabriyon). In the other direction, it is one day's ride to either Strassenburg (east) or Karnstein (northeast), and three days to Stahlfort.

Helvetica was originally Eisen territory, part of Sieger's lands. After the War of the Cross, it was signed over to Montaigne in the Treaty of Weissberg, but Montaigne was more interested in the rich forests southwest of Helvetica than in the mountains. So Helvetica went unclaimed by either side, and decided to quietly seize its independence.

The monastery of St. Alsace is nearby, and makes a hypothermia-fighting brew to help rescue travelers.

History

For over a century, the Geneva girls' finishing school has stood on the shores of Lake Lorraine, just outside town. Two years ago, the local lord, Baron Walter Schriftsteller, sponsored the creation of another school for boys, a stone's throw from the girls. The Baron intends to concentrate his resources on improving the quality and reputation of Helvetica's educational system, believing that foreign powers might hesitate to strike at a town that holds the children of several varied and powerful aristocratic families within its walls ... and who knows, perhaps the progress of science and technology within his domain might give him a few other advantages as well.

The Revolution in Montaigne has changed a few things, naturally. There are concerns that the new Republican government will suddenly realise that Helvetica is theoretically Montaigne soil and that numerous students of aristocratic Montaigne families are lodged there; the Montaigne students, for their part, are deeply concerned over their families' fates. And then there are concerns that Eisenfurst Sieger will decide to take advantage of the political upheaval to claim back the lands he'd lost to Montaigne, including Helvetica. None of the local Helveticans care to give up the independence that so recently fell into their laps.

Rules Tweaks

Swordsman schools cost 20 HP each. Sorcery also costs 20 HP, giving you 3 ranks to distribute in sorcery knacks. There is no distinction between half-blooded and full-blooded sorcery, and no such thing as twice-blooded sorcery.

Seems to make sense to me that if you're practiced in two or more skills that have the same Advanced knack, that you should be exposed to that Advanced knack enough to have a free rank in it. So, if the same Advanced knack crops up in 2 or more skills that you have, go ahead and take that knack at 1.