Update to previous post...
...because people have rapidly scrolling friends' pages.
In answer to queries:
Sources/inspirations:
The Tempest as in the Shakespeare play (also Caliban's Hour by Tad Williams, which was based on the play).
The Crucible as in the Arthur Miller play (thank you taimatsu, I'd forgotten who is was by, it's ages since I read it). Salem witchtrials and all that. When I'm putting stuff together for the game, I'll be including links to online sources if I can find them.
Period:
I need to set this a bit more clearly, but it's more likely to be regarding who is on the throne, recent events and so forth than a set year. It's going to be set in that era in the same way as, say, Neverwhere is set in the present day - you don't need precise dates to know the setting - and rather more importantly, I should state now, although this is a 'period' setting, it's not going to stay purely by-the-book historical - and I may well tweak the setting to make things fit better - for example, witch trials still going on at the time of the game, even if historically they'd stopped by then - however, I will be writing a gameworld history to make such things clear. If that makes the historians twitch - think of it as 'inspired by' rather than strictly accurate)
Setting...in particular, magic and witchcraft:
In case the previous post didn't make things very clear (I blame scribbling things before 9am ;) - as I said above, this isn't historical/scientific. Witchcraft is...well, "alive and well" sounds a little too cheery, but it's definitely Out There. There's always someone who knew someone saw old hags dancing naked and calling up the Devil/got cursed by the old biddy with cats. It is certainly understood that people can get unnatural powers, but these are by making infernal pacts - that is to say, there's no doubt about the existence of such powers, but they're a Really Bad Thing to admit to knowing too much about. At the same time, many people who would still consider themselves good christian folk will not consider this to be inconsistent with getting a poultice/blessing from the local wise woman (right up until one of their sheep gets sick after they shirked on payment, and then it's likely to be pitchfork time...) Witchfinders like Hopkins are about - and while (because various people I know will hang draw and quarter me unless I make this clear) witches are not being burnt at the stake on any sort of regular basis, there ARE witch trials, interrogations and torture do happen, and being found guilty will result in being hanged by the neck until you're dead. Heresy and treason were still fair game for burning, particularly for women (the normal method of being hung drawn and quarter being considered unacceptable because it would have involved nudity).
I may indeed be persuadable to let you have some witchcraft on your character - but I wouldn't recommend letting other characters know about it, because there IS likely to be at least one other character out there who will want to see you 'saved' (in the executed sort of sense), and a lot of others who will be too concerned about ending up as suspects themselves to be prepared to speak out in your favour.
This is not to say that this is necessarally 'how' magic works, or indeed how your character would believe themselves to be able to do supernatural things if they are a practitioner - but it is certainly the common belief, and one that I would expect most characters to follow.
Compare the belief in witches/witchcraft perhaps to the modern belief in Al Qaeda. There may be a lot of young asian guys with backpacks who have no intention of blowing anybody up - but there's certainly SOME out there, whose actions are quite probably inspired by that organisation, as evidenced by events in the news - and the authorities are likely to stop and question (and possibly take away for further interrogation) those who fit the stereotype; and people living near someone who fits the bill may well start getting very twitchy about what is being cooked up next door.
Finally - gender roles:
I'm a firm believer in people having a free choice of characters - however, I do think that people playing the opposite gender is at best initially confusing to other players and a bit of a pain to remember, and at worst tends to make other players continutally break character. You may consider that to be their roleplaying inflexibility rather than yours, but it doesn't make for a good game for the group - which is bad for everyone. Trust me, I've tried bindings & an eye-liner beard, and it just Doesn't Work. This means, if you want to play a role that would more usually within the period have been limited to the other gender (ladies, I'm afraid this is going to mostly apply to you), try to come up with a good background reason that fits with the setting to explain why you got into it. Perhaps you helped your husband/father out for some years, then when he died suddenly you took over the reins. Perhaps you are IC disguising yourself as the other gender (Yes, this IS ok - there's a big difference in my opinion between a CHARACTER disguising themselves and a PLAYER trying to convincingly BE the other gender) - or perhaps you disguised yourself like this in the past, and got away with it for long enough that when you showed yourself as you were, you managed to gain acceptance. Think about all the gender-disguising in Shakespeare (Twelfth Night, As You LIke It....) if you need inspiration.
In answer to queries:
Sources/inspirations:
The Tempest as in the Shakespeare play (also Caliban's Hour by Tad Williams, which was based on the play).
The Crucible as in the Arthur Miller play (thank you taimatsu, I'd forgotten who is was by, it's ages since I read it). Salem witchtrials and all that. When I'm putting stuff together for the game, I'll be including links to online sources if I can find them.
Period:
I need to set this a bit more clearly, but it's more likely to be regarding who is on the throne, recent events and so forth than a set year. It's going to be set in that era in the same way as, say, Neverwhere is set in the present day - you don't need precise dates to know the setting - and rather more importantly, I should state now, although this is a 'period' setting, it's not going to stay purely by-the-book historical - and I may well tweak the setting to make things fit better - for example, witch trials still going on at the time of the game, even if historically they'd stopped by then - however, I will be writing a gameworld history to make such things clear. If that makes the historians twitch - think of it as 'inspired by' rather than strictly accurate)
Setting...in particular, magic and witchcraft:
In case the previous post didn't make things very clear (I blame scribbling things before 9am ;) - as I said above, this isn't historical/scientific. Witchcraft is...well, "alive and well" sounds a little too cheery, but it's definitely Out There. There's always someone who knew someone saw old hags dancing naked and calling up the Devil/got cursed by the old biddy with cats. It is certainly understood that people can get unnatural powers, but these are by making infernal pacts - that is to say, there's no doubt about the existence of such powers, but they're a Really Bad Thing to admit to knowing too much about. At the same time, many people who would still consider themselves good christian folk will not consider this to be inconsistent with getting a poultice/blessing from the local wise woman (right up until one of their sheep gets sick after they shirked on payment, and then it's likely to be pitchfork time...) Witchfinders like Hopkins are about - and while (because various people I know will hang draw and quarter me unless I make this clear) witches are not being burnt at the stake on any sort of regular basis, there ARE witch trials, interrogations and torture do happen, and being found guilty will result in being hanged by the neck until you're dead. Heresy and treason were still fair game for burning, particularly for women (the normal method of being hung drawn and quarter being considered unacceptable because it would have involved nudity).
I may indeed be persuadable to let you have some witchcraft on your character - but I wouldn't recommend letting other characters know about it, because there IS likely to be at least one other character out there who will want to see you 'saved' (in the executed sort of sense), and a lot of others who will be too concerned about ending up as suspects themselves to be prepared to speak out in your favour.
This is not to say that this is necessarally 'how' magic works, or indeed how your character would believe themselves to be able to do supernatural things if they are a practitioner - but it is certainly the common belief, and one that I would expect most characters to follow.
Compare the belief in witches/witchcraft perhaps to the modern belief in Al Qaeda. There may be a lot of young asian guys with backpacks who have no intention of blowing anybody up - but there's certainly SOME out there, whose actions are quite probably inspired by that organisation, as evidenced by events in the news - and the authorities are likely to stop and question (and possibly take away for further interrogation) those who fit the stereotype; and people living near someone who fits the bill may well start getting very twitchy about what is being cooked up next door.
Finally - gender roles:
I'm a firm believer in people having a free choice of characters - however, I do think that people playing the opposite gender is at best initially confusing to other players and a bit of a pain to remember, and at worst tends to make other players continutally break character. You may consider that to be their roleplaying inflexibility rather than yours, but it doesn't make for a good game for the group - which is bad for everyone. Trust me, I've tried bindings & an eye-liner beard, and it just Doesn't Work. This means, if you want to play a role that would more usually within the period have been limited to the other gender (ladies, I'm afraid this is going to mostly apply to you), try to come up with a good background reason that fits with the setting to explain why you got into it. Perhaps you helped your husband/father out for some years, then when he died suddenly you took over the reins. Perhaps you are IC disguising yourself as the other gender (Yes, this IS ok - there's a big difference in my opinion between a CHARACTER disguising themselves and a PLAYER trying to convincingly BE the other gender) - or perhaps you disguised yourself like this in the past, and got away with it for long enough that when you showed yourself as you were, you managed to gain acceptance. Think about all the gender-disguising in Shakespeare (Twelfth Night, As You LIke It....) if you need inspiration.