The rest of this post is now outdated (and irritatingly is suffering an imageshack error of some sort so I actually have to delete some of it just to get this edit to post...)
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Madeleine Valois is a prince's companion. Her job is to guide and advise him, to dress him up and make him look good so that he can land a royal bride.
It is her responsibility to keep him out of trouble - not to let him walk blindly into a political minefield, not to let him get arrested for a crime he didn't commit, and definitely not to let him fall in love with her.
Unfortunately, things don't seem to be going according to plan...
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Madeleine
A clever young woman who takes her responsibilities seriously, so much so that she tends to isolate herself from others.
Prince Oscar
Madeleine's employer / charge. An easygoing young man with a winning smile and a tendency to believe the best of people.
Princess Cassidy
A wealthy young heiress whom Oscar is supposed to be paying suit to.
Prince Callum
The sullen and unfriendly brother of Princess Cassidy.
Prince Nazagi
Another of Cassidy's suitors, with an ominous reputation.
Prince Gaston
Another of Cassidy's suitors, a bombastic gentleman.
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So, here you have a rarity from me: a pure visual novel, no minigames, and even more novel-y than most (longer descriptive passages in a special display so you don't have to click-click-click constantly).
It is "low" fantasy in the sense that there are no wizards and dragons, and no world-threatening evil demon armies on the move. This is all about people plotting against people, falling in and out of love, and occasionally trying to murder each other. Maybe. The setting is not exactly Standard Medieval Fantasy. Techwise, we're closer to Late Middle Ages / Early Renaissance. Guns exist, but they're sufficiently awkward and unreliable that most people don't run around with them. Alchemists are still working on how to turn lead into gold, but have found a few other fascinating things in the process. Medicine, at least along the lines of 'drink this and you'll feel better', is eyed with extreme suspicion. And, of course, beautiful men are the order of the day.
I am opting not to label this as otome for the moment because even though there is a female protagonist and there very obviously may be some romance going on, this is not one of those stories where everyone falls madly in love with the heroine at first sight for no reason and can be happily chased into marriage. That, and I have no intention of revealing at this stage which characters are and aren't romanceable.
I am still interested in recruiting beta readers, and will be looking for different people at different stages of development - I want fresh eyes on things after I put them through changes! So just because I ignore you now doesn't necessarily mean I'm rejecting you. Applicants should be capable of demonstrating discretion and at least some skill at reviewing / literary analysis (anyone posting just "ooo, mee!!" will be ignored
) On the other hand, feel free to post random excitement and ideas for things you'd like to see or not see based on what little information I am making available; I'll probably ignore it but you never know, you might inspire me!
)
