Welcome to Chichester

Thank you for your interest and for your visit to the site; I hope you like what you see.

The nature of the game is social and political intrigue set within the dangerous and important Cathedral city of Chichester, a key 'port' city dominating the shire of Sussex in the south-east of England. The game starts at the height of the industrial revolution period when the lifestyles of all classes changed. Factories (coal powered) were on the outskirts of many cities, cities were overcrowded with the poor and the working classes, there were mining operations and railway/canal construction everywhere. Chichester itself is an important trading port, so merchants and sailors comingle in all the working class pubs. As a member of the kindred race, are you involved in any of these innovative developments?

Literature was a great pastime for the middle-classes, as was going to the theatre and the music hall, discussing the material later in the coffee-houses and better pubs. The upper classes attended the opera, discussing the plays later in their salons, while the working classes took in games at the local sports arenas - football, rugby - and drank in the less well established pubs. Does you character enjoy any of these activities?

A word on the class structure. Etiquette rules all. For those of the upper class there are rules for everything from proper forms of address, clothing (e.g. jewellry), colours to wear, foods to eat, when. While the middle-classes tried to emulate their social betters, the lower class, the poor, didn't have time for etiquette. Which class was your character born into?

The Upper and Upper-Middle Class
From the slightest burp (social ruin if it was heard) to how a gentleman spoke to a young lady, Victorian society was greatly concerned with every aspect of daily life. From the moment the upper class left their beds, their days were governed by a rigid code of ethics.
The horror of social ostracism was paramount. To be caught in the wrong fashion at the wrong time of day was as greatly to be feared as addressing a member of society by the wrong title. It was important to know whom you could speak with - especially if you hadn't been properly introduced. For a woman, being asked to dance by a complete stranger could pose an etiquette problem which might have repercussions for days or weeks. Young ladies were constantly chaperoned. To be found alone with a gentleman who was other than family was tantamount to social death. Her reputation would be ruined and her gentleman companion would find himself the object of gossip, and most usually derision. The established career for society women was marriage - full stop. They were expected to represent their husbands with grace and provide absolutely no scandal. Charity work would be accepted, but only if it was very gentile ... sewing for the poor, or putting together food baskets. How does your character, if female, get around these conventions? Gentlemen had to keep track of when it was proper to either smoke or have a glass of sherry in front of ladies. When to bow and to whom to tip your hat could cause gossip if the wrong decision was made. Members of Victorian society kept busy with parties, dances, visits, dressmakers, and tailors. Keeping track of what other people in your social class were doing was also a full-time occupation.

The Lower Class
Victorian society did not recognize that there was a lower class. 'The Poor' were invisible. Those members of England who worked as chimney sweeps, ratcatchers, or spent their days in factories had no place in the echelon of the upper class, although their services would be needed from time to time. The prevailing attitude was that the poor deserved the way they lived. If good moral choices had been made, the poor wouldn't be living the way they did. The best way for society to deal with the poor was to ignore them. They were 'burdens on the public'. There were people who cared, however, unfortunately, in trying to help the lower class, conditions usually did not improve. Workhouses were developed, but the living was horrendous and it was almost better to be back on the street.
Being just too busy trying to survive, etiquette played little part in the poor's daily existence. But that's not to say that pride wasn't available. There was a 'social stigma' to applying for aid, and some families preferred to keep to themselves and figure out their own methods of survival. Although Poor Laws were put into place, it wasn't until after the Victorian age ended that 'the lower class' was able, through education, technology, and reform, to raise itself, in some cases literally, out of the gutter.

Victorian society could be quite pleasant, but only depending on your financial status.

How does your character fit in with all this?