Equal Rights v. Social Norms

Entirely unrelated question that has come up: are chaperones a thing in this alternate history? How does it work, if so?

It's an amazing game concept, and I'm super-excited about it! I think what I'm mainly wondering is how the Catholic Emancipation is being debated now if the original Act of Toleration was allowed to stand. (I'm also very open to offering suggestions on this if that would be welcomed, but definitely don't want to overstep in terms of your world-building. One possibility to reconcile these things might be that William and Mary went ahead and restricted the crown's power to dictate religion but kept their control of specifically Christian doctrine in England, but in this world Parliament used its new power to allow all *other* religions to be practiced for trade reasons.) It would be fun for me personally as a player if this/Dissenters was an active topic of debate, but obviously I understand if it isn't!

Thank you for the clarification on this! I am also curious about how much different religious groups are accepted among different classes/circles.

Answers to some of the queries I see above:

Women can and do fight in battle and hold positions in army, navy and Parliament. Ex. Duchess Vera Everbloom is in the House of Lords and server some time as a Calvary Captain in the Army in her youth to get some adventure, see the world, sow her wild oats...oh yes and to defend crown and country of course!

Illegitimate children are a problem and a disgrace. Children should only be born of official and society approved marriages. It is uncouth to ask the specific biological aspect of a child born into any family whether that be in a heterosexual, homosexual or polyamorist pairing. If all parents involved publicly claim the child as their heir, it is accepted (although that doesn't mean rumors and gossip might not still happen, as it does in our real world).

It is unseemly to marry bellow your station or for love. Marriage is intended to improve the status and social contracts of your family first an foremost. Yes love stories are told, but practical people know better.

The children of penniless farmers could go get an education to better themselves if they can find the money to do so. Many wind up doing less tasteful jobs like enlisting as foot soldiers in wars, working on merchant ships, brothels, etc. The talented could become entertainers and/ or courtesans, but that still doesn't make them nobles.

The Middle or Merchant class is acquiring a lot of money, especially with the new routes established by the East India Trading Company, but they are still not seen as equal to nobility. They are "new rich" and suffer from a severe lack of class and good breeding.

I think that answers a lot of it. Note the tone above is what gate-keeping Noble society thoughts might be on these different groups of people, even in our Romancing Jan version of the world (not my personal feelings).

Hi folxs! Thank you for bearing with me. I found I had a lot to say on this so I made a blog post here: https://www.romancingjan.com/post/why-good-headphones-significantly-enhance-your-game

I will happily address specific mechanics questions here though. After you read the post :)

so, I have avoided commenting here because I’m a cis-gay white male and I am extremely privileged. acknowledging that and prefacing that I will take down my post and apologize if I err or offend is the best I can do.

I was raised by strong women. I am endlessly inspired by powerful women and am inspired by them in music, literature and popular media.

Barring the lore or GM Athena stating otherwise, I plan on modelling James as I do most if not all of the characters I have ever played. James sees women as being worthy equals. Indeed, like me, James is not quick to underestimate women. (He may quietly wonder if England put his cousin Marjorie on the front if the French wouldn’t flee in fear of her acerbic tongue).

Part of me wants it to be perfectly equal. But part of me hopes there’s still work to do. Selfishly, I would like to help fight those fights. I would like to learn to be a better and stronger ally.

So I had a long response to this that just dosappeared due to a log in :( I promise to respond after I get back from teaching today!

I think the game runners should clarify how much of this freedom is contingent on social status and money. For example, if marriage equality happened for the Duc d'Orléans in France, is it something that only the upper classes can still reliably enjoy? Did people routinely just run off to the continent and get married there? If so, how much did Napoleon screw that up for you? How much of entailment and inheritance still plays into the demand for hetero-normative relationships to produce children? If you are the heir of a title (gender irrelevant) is there still a lot of pressure for you to have biological children to preserve the feudal system?

Without this kind of guidance, the only star-crossed romances will be those between the poor and the rich, the geopolitical, or feuding dynasties. And perhaps that is enough. But it is good to have some options for conflict, if you choose to opt into them. It's central to a lot of what people like about the period (not the prejudice, but having an obstacle to overcome).

Or one of the other examples -- Gentleman Jack: both female leads are independently wealthy property owners. Without that freedom, or the support of a wealthy family, neither would be able to do what they please. There is a difference between "homosexuality is not a crime, you cannot be put to death for it" sometimes grudging acceptance and "being gay has 0 downsides in this society" fiction. And again, at a player level, I think there's a degree of choose-your-own-adventure inherent in that, to allow folx to decide their own level of narrative difficulty.

I am very white and very gay, so I am going to try to refrain from talking about colonialism or racial issues, as I don't think it's my place. But I am gonna continue to go off on socio-economic considerations that I don't really see reflected in the world lore.

If I am a poor farmer's daughter, like Charlotte Heywood in Sanditon, we have a whole other problem on our hands. To preserve the estate, and keep it at a size that still reliably produces an income, there cannot be an equal inheritance among all 11 siblings. Only 1 can have it, otherwise you end up with postage stamp size plots of land within 2 or 3 generations. So, is the eldest still the heir? Is it merit based? If the farm isn't entailed, I guess I can leave it to anyone -- including the weird cousins down the street.

But then again, if I am a poor farmer's daughter in a free and equal society, why can't I just get a job? Or an education? Clearly there is some motivation for wanting to be in a life of luxury, to have servants, and not to lose face by falling below the station you were born in. And as a result, there might be push-back from the upper classes who want to prevent others from climbing up. That all tracks. But what is the actual purpose of matrimony?

Some suggestions I have: retain a bias against bastards, keeping marriage as a key component of inheritance; remove hetero-normativity from romance, but allow folx to signal their starting narrative position in a relatable way -- ingenues, harlots, rakes, heirs, spares, villains, etc; a stronger focus on the dirtiness of trade, meaning anyone who does choose to do something other than try to get married and have servants has something at stake with regards to their reputation -- and an incentive to get on the marriage market; strong wartime narratives -- if Alt History Napoleon is determined to be winning, are the English gentry about to have to pick sides?

That all said, I am looking forward to this game a lot! With or without further setting clarifications, I'm in. It sounds fun. This has been your Wall of Text with Ray.