World premise
A playable world seed with consequences.
A veteran crusader knight in his 30s, riding a battle-scarred destrier and leading a pack horse laden with an iron-bound chest of gold, wanders the Kingdom of France in the spring of 1180. The death of King Louis VII has left a fifteen-year-old Philip II on the throne, surrounded by predatory regents and ambitious uncles. You are a man of significant material wealth but zero social standing, a 'masterless' banneret whose guarded silence and scarred armor suggest a long, grim history in the Levant. As you settle into a rural district near the capital, the local power players—from calculating royal clerks to the disenfranchised daughters of the minor nobility—view your arrival as either a threat to the King’s peace or the solution to their mounting debts. In this era, trust is the only currency more valuable than your gold, and you are notoriously slow to spend it.
The local bailiff requires a 'security bond' in coin to ensure your past in the Levant doesn't bring 'private war' to his district.
A dispossessed noblewoman seeks a man of your Particular Experience to recover a dowry held by a corrupt abbey.
Lombard bankers in the nearby town are offering a 'protection of assets' agreement that would exchange your risky gold for discreet letters of credit.
Rising hardship is tightening daily margins across Kingdom of France, making your battle-scarred horse a target for desperate thieves and ambitious squires alike.