Overview

From Wiki

The Kushiel's Legacy series and setting (and thus KushielMUX) is, in a nutshell, a quasi-historical alternate universe medieval-era Europe. What does this mean? Essentially, it is a late-medieval Europe where a number of things have differed from "real life" history - some names are changed, the history of countries are different, and so on. Since the theme is thus quite similar to real life, anyone who has never heard of or read the books should find it quite easy to understand.

Essentially, the setting asks a number of 'what-if?' questions; What if the Celts drove off the Romans from the British Isles? What if the Saxons headed southwards into Germany instead of into Britain? What if the Franks never moved into France, but France was instead populated by the offspring of angels and humans? What if Greece was never conquered, or the barbarian hordes of the early medieval never existed? By answering these, you get the essentials of the Kushiel's Legacy period-- Ireland and England (Eire and Alba) are ruled by the blue-tattooed Celts (the Picti). Germany and Scandinavia (Skaldia) are settled by the warlike, pig-ignorant Skaldi (Saxons). France (Terre d'Ange) is populated by the d'Angelines-- a people renouned for their literal angelic heritage, and the Roman (Tiberian) Empire has collapsed centuries ago in the wake of corruption and civil war, leaving a loose coalition of city-states in Italy (Caerdicca Unitas) with dreams of reviving their former glory.

The series, and KushielMUX, are focused intently on political intrigue based on the powerful, prosperous, and liberated country of Terre d'Ange. The balance of power shifts between the various noble houses (the Duchies of the 7 provinces) and the Crown, while the surrounding countries look to Terre d'Ange with a mix of resentment and awe. There are many, many reasons for increasing one's stature up the political ladder -- wealth, authority, respect, or simply the ability to make the world a better place. In any case, the tools of political intrigue are many and varied, as well; personal influence, the energy to deal with many people, the rumor mill, loyalty, even the use of one's own body as a weapon to gather intelligence - the Royal Court is always rife with plots within other plots within bigger plots.