You've already got your own money, please keep a count of what you have because after the start your accounts will be secret to everyone but yourselves and me. I will keep a second count but that's only to make sure there's no cheating.
Below is the first vote, to place a vote please PM me before 10am GMT on Wednesday the PM should read as follows:
Character name:
Vote:
then also include any additional information such as
“had to give Player X, Y amount of money to vote for me or I would like to buy a senator etc”
All votes will be secret, and the results will be displayed.
background wrote: Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, Emperor of Rome towers as a God above all others. His Empire is the largest the world has ever seen and in his capital he has launched several building and welfare projects. Loved by his people and feared by his enemies.
Three years ago Parthia antagonised Rome, forcing the Emperor to once more lead his armies. At first this much resembled his early campaigns; his victories were swift and many. This however has slowly began to change. In the field of war he has been forced into one long and costly siege after another. The projects he launched in Rome are also suffering from a lack of funding, tax is unpopular and the spoils of his wars are too few. Then came the rumours that his health was poor, with no heir and being so far from home something is happening that hasn't happened in generations. The Senate the crux of the Emperors power is waking up, if he died without an heir it would once again assume supreme power. If he proclaimed an heir whilst so far from Rome it would be the Senate who would have to ratify the appointment.
In Rome the throne is empty hopelessly awaiting its masters return, and in the Senate the wolves have arrived......
Senator Crassus was perhaps the most dangerous man in Rome, for the last decade he led the Senate and held an equal amount of power outside it. There was one reason and one reason alone that the Emperor felt safe with such a powerful man in Rome. Crassus lacked ambition. Brutal, cunning and powerful: he had risen through the ranks come within reach of the throne and stopped. No one knew the exact reason why though there were many theories passed around at parties.
It was this man who now stood before the Senate.
“Friends, We have been summoned here today by the invitation of our Emperor Trajan. He requests additional men and supplies. The cost of such would be an additional ten thousand Denarii per caravan until the war has ended, and after vigorous investigation our studies have deduced that there is only two possible options to raise such a sum
We either de-regulate the smiths, breaking the monopolies held by the Guilds which would drop the price of such items by the required sum.
Or
We place regulations on the Merchants forcing them to sell the raw materials to the Guilds for less
I understand that many of you will feel the need to verify these sums and discuss amongst yourselves therefore the vote will be held on this coming Tuesday evening.”
As was the fashion of the Senate most Senators then retired to a party at a Senators house in order to discuss the problem, form alliances and sway enemies. It is at such a party in Crassus's house that our characters now find themselves.
[So the two choices are drop the income of character 2 by 10 (in turn leading to character 1 having 10 less expenses – or drop the income of character 3 by ten and the expenses of character 2 by 10.]