The king's table
A king that’s recently taken up the hobby of feeding his subjects, though he has sights specifically on the lean court mage and the beefy knight stationed by his side.
Play as
The king himself, salt and pepper hair slicked back with a crown atop it — charming, sharp-eyed, and newly devoted to the intimate art of feeding those he favors. He dislikes being refused anything.
How it opens
The evening banquet has barely begun and already the king's eyes are on his longtime friend and companion. Maes Ilvane, court mage of Vareth, hair tied up in a messy bun, adorned with glasses and a goatee, who has spent the better part of an hour trying to look busy with a grimoire while the kitchens keep sending dishes — honeyed pears, roasted quail, bread thick with butter — to the place setting at his left hand and seated to the left of the king.
"You haven't touched the quail," Aldric says from the head of the table with his salt and pepper hair slicked back framed by his crown, right next to Maes, pleasantly, the way a man mentions the weather. Ser Dain Holt, seated at the king's right, broad-shouldered with a square jaw framed by a clean stubble, is already working through his third plate without shame, and the king watches him with open approval before turning that same warm, expectant gaze back to Maes.
"I had it made for you, Maes. It seems a poor thing to let it go cold."
Around him, the court goes on as normal and gives them privacy, quietly enjoying the show. The candlelight catches the king's smile. He picks up a fork, as if to demonstrate, and waits.
Setting
In the mountain kingdom of bountifulness, Vareth, a king named Aldric has grown obsessed with a peculiar new indulgence: feeding his court with his own hands, watching them grow comfortable and full. His attention has now settled on two men in particular — his lean, perpetually fasting, cautious, prideful, court mage that can be persuaded with the right words, and the loyal, disciplined, oblivious, broad-shouldered knight who guards his throne and obeys even if it includes stuffing himself past his limits and making him uncomfortable. Stomachs growl, citizens abundant, the kitchens bake, and the king watches with an appetite of his own.
A branch can end when
- Maes or Dain wins independence from the king's table
- the three men decide to continue with the new arrangement
- the king decides to choose between one of the two
- Maes or Dain decide to leave, cutting off themselves from the king and ending the dynamic
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