Mother %+10\nAmbition %+20\n\nYou cannot help rebelling against the limitations of your presumed future, even though it leads to arguments with your mother.\n\n Isn't there more to life for a woman than love and children? \n\nEven in Society, some unmarried ladies have become poets, or painters. Some breed and train horses. Some even advise the King and his ministers in their own right. Perhaps one day, unimaginable as it seems now, there will be a female minister.\n\nOf course, that does not necessarily mean forgoing love entirely. When you think or love, do you dream mostly of respectable [[marriage|man]], a supportive relationship with [[another woman|other women]], or are love and marriage alike [[of no interest|asexual]]?\n\n

You get a starting boost (%+20) with all guests by showing.\n\nGuests in attendance, as well as some old friends of your mother who can be disregarded:\n\n[[Marcus]]\nIf Bluestocking <50, %+20\nIf Bluestocking <30, %+40\nIf wearing a plain gown, %-30\n\nMarcus is a man of middle age, distinguished appearance and great wealth, a minor prince and cousin to the King, known for a rakish past and as a innessoir of beauty, but also known to be thinking of choosing a wife. He is a great match, and you instantly realise why your mother ensured Cinderella could not attend: she is hoping you will catch his eye and, you realise bitterly, a man like Marcus would never notice you with CInderella there.\n\n[[Conrad]]\nIf Bluestocking <50,, %+10\nIf Bluestocking <30, %+20\n\nA young man who Marcus has brought along as his guest. Extraordinarily good looking, with dark curls, an athletic build and striking bright blue eyes, but you know nothing about him, and your mother keeps giving him curious looks.\n\n[[Bertha]]\nIf wearing a plain gown, %+20\n\nLady Bertha, middle aged woman, handsome in a way that suggests she would be more comfortable in riding gear than in the (rather masculinely cut) velvet gown, who has never married. Rumours suggest she preferred the company of women in her youth, although since the wedding of a certain Lady Evangeline some years ago the scandal around her has faded.\n\nShe is a scholar and historian of some renown, and also supplements her limited fortune by breeding horses for the aristocracy and merchant classes alike. With some success, judging by the rubies glistening on her capacious bosom. If you intend to make a career for yourself, she could be a powerful ally.\n\n{If lesbian=true: or perhaps you have a more personal interest in her?}\n\n[[Karsten]]\n\nIf Romantic >50, %+20\n\nIf lesbian=true AND bisexual=false, Karsten will be female. Otherwise, he will be male.\n\nMinor nobility, the youngest son/daughter of a Viscount. A noted poet, with long spilling brown curls and melting dark eyes. Known for his/her charm and wit. \n\nS/he gives you an admiring, knowing smile as you enter the room, and your cheeks burn.\n\nWho will you speak to?\n\n

Cinderella forgives you and moves you into the palace.\n\nConditions:\n\ncruelty below a certain level. \n\nEloped false.\n\nPrince romance false.\n\nFInal ending dependent on qualifying PLUS choice.\n\n[[Career]]\nFlagged as having been offered a mentorship with Bertha.\n\n[[Good marriage]]\nPass affection test with Marcus.\n\n[[Marriage market]]\ncharm >50\n\n[[Palace life]]\nNo requirements.\n\n

Step

Mother %+20\nCinderella %-40\nCruel %+20\n\n"How dare you?" You seize Cinderella by the shoulders and shake her, consumed by fury at her for accusing your mother of something so terrible and for the insults to yourself.\n\nYour mother intervenes before you can do serious damage, reducing CInderella to the level of a [[servant]] as punishment. \n\nAfterwards, your mother takes you aside and thanks you for your loyalty and support. You embrace, but secretly, a certain amount of doubt remains in your heart. What do you really think?\n\nYour mother is innocent. She just does the best she can for you in a difficult life, as all loving mothers do, but she would not seriously harm anyone.\nMother %+10\nCruel %-10\n\nPerhaps your mother really did kill Cinderella's father. WHat of it? She is fighting for your survival and success in an unfair world.\nMother %+10\nCruel %+30\nAmbitious %+20\n\nYou have some doubts, and some guilt. You love your mother, but perhaps, in your secret heart, you don't trust her.\n\nMother %-10\n

Befriend Cinderella. \nCinderella %+20\nCruel %-20\n\nShe is surprised by your persistance, and ends up confessing her loneliness and fear. You embrace her and reassure her that your mother's temper won't last, and everything will be okay, and you will do everything you can to help her.\n\nShe is grateful and reassured by your friendship, although you are afraid of your mother's reaction.\n\nAfter all, you secretly think, your mother might have killed both your fathers.\n\nIf lesbian true, chance to kiss her and establish [[romance|kissCinderella]] with her.\n\nIf not, go back to bed and carry on until [[Courtship]]

It takes you a while to notice it, because you are being prepared at last for your debut at Court, but your parents are no longer seen walking arm in arm, in the garden, and speak to each other with cold politeness, if at all. \n\nHorses vanish one by one from the stables, and the grooms say they have been sold. There seem to be less grooms, too. One terrible morning, you find that even your own beloved hack is missing. \n\nWhen you go to your father in tears to demand where Charcoal is, your charming, light-hearted father snarls at you to hold your tongue and go play with your dolls.\n\nThere seem to be less servants around these days, and less courses at dinner.\n\nYour mother sends for dressmakers, and there is a scene, resulting in the dressmakers and their beautiful fabrics being sent away, your promised gowns unmade. Afterwards, your mother weeps on your shoulder, and will not tell you what has happened.\n\nThe servants whisper, and fall silent when you approach, but you do catch the general sense of apprehension, and the words "gambling debts."\n\nThere is no more talk of Court for you. Your mother's soft mouth gradually grows into a hard line.\n\nThen your father falls suddenly ill.\n\n[[Next|orphan]]

There are few doctors; your mother, you gather, simply cannot pay the bills. In any case, your father's malady is mysterious. He stops eating, coughs blood, and gradually dwindles away.\n\nYou stay by his bedisde, weeping, but he is beyond speech.\n\nOne day, your mother wakes you, and tells you she is a [[widow]] and you an orphan. Before you have recovered fro the shock, she tells you, in small bitten-off words, that your father has left you with nothing, and the house in the country, and all her jewels, must be sold off.\n\nSuddenly, she stops her speech, and snatches you into her arms.\n\n"It will be well, my precious girl", she says. "We will take rooms in the City. You will still have a glorious future."\n\nShe draws away, and looks into your tearful face with eyes that are dry, but burning with a strange intensity. "Everything I do, --name--, is for you, my only child. Weak woman that I am, I will fight for you to my last drop of blood. Always remember this."\n

Your new rooms are cramped and dingy, and you have a horror of pests. When you turn to your mother for sympathy, though, she merely smiles, and tells you to be patient. Such things, she says, will not last.\n\nShe has little time for you these days. She spends her hours writing letters, and disappearing for mysterious appointments, in the last good gowns she has left.\n\nOne day, she comes in, her face alight with triumph.\n\n"My dear, you are to have a new stepfather."\n\nYou recoil in [[horror]]. The grass has not yet grown on your father's grave!\n\nYou [[trust]] your mother to have made the right decision for you both.\n\n

At first, it seems as if your lovely new life is falling apat before your eyes. However, your mother, in black and dry-eyed once more, seizes your hand and takes you by carriage to a Magistrate, where a priest is waiting.\n\nYou stand back, confused, as your mother steps forward.\n\n"I swear by God and all the Saints," she says, her grey eyes glowing fervently, "that my husband, fearing for his life, was grieved at the thought of leaving myself and --name-- unprotected. He called for the good Father here, and we were married then and there, as he lay on his deathbed."\n\nShe turns to the priest. "Father, is that not true?"\n\nTeh old man steps forward, his voice weak and quavering. "Indeed. I married them under the eyes of God and the Law, and he named this good woman his only heir."\n\n"What of the daughter of his blood?" the Magistrate asks.\n\n"My lord, he commended Cordelia to my loving care. I will treat her with a mother's tenderness."\n\nThere is a commotion at the door, and then Cordelia pushes in, wild-eyed.\n\n"My lord! I have been warned by faithful servants of what is occurring! This she-demon has conspired with that priest to steal my fortune. She is no wife of my father's!" She breaks down into passionate tears, burying her face in her hands.\n\nThe judge looks stonily at her. "Wicked child, to accuse this good lady and a man of the cloth out of greed. But I forgive you. You have lost your father, and your wits are clearly disordered. My Lady, I hope you deal kindly with her."\n\nYour mother takes your hand. "My Lord, I shall deal with my new daughter as she deserves."\n\n[[Next|quarrel]]\n\n

Even a stepsister must have a name. What is yours?\n\n(text input)\n\nYour childhood was as happy as any girl could wish.\n\nYou were the adored pet of your dashing father, praised and cuddled and adored. Your beautiful mother, swallowing any feelings of failure she might have had at her only child being a girl, poured her hopes and dreams into you.\n\nYou were the centre of their world, and you knew it.\n\nThey made sure you had the best nurses, dancing tutors and governesses they could convince to come to your father's remote estate, well out of the City. The library was well stocked, your nursery full of wax dolls and cunning wooden toys, your clothes enchanting.\n\nYour favourite way to spend your free hours was:\n\nCurled up in a comfy chair in the [[library|study]] with a book, or several.\n\nAccompanying your nurse in visiting the [[poor|charity]] of the neighbouring village, with soup and warm blankets.\n\nEnjoying the excitement of the chase as you chased a fox on your favourite [[steed|hunting]], hounds bayaing around you.\n\nConsulting with your lady's maid about the exciting [[fashion]] in the capital and the most alluring way of arranging your hair.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Mother %-20\nCinderella %+20\n\n"Mama!" You reach foward and try and disengage your mother's grip. "Mama, please! She's just lost her father!"\n\nYour mother releases the girl and falls back in her seat, bosom heaving.\n\nCinderella, breathless and pale, turns to you in surprise, her big dark eyes round at this unexpected support. You are somewhat surprised with yourself, too. After all, this dreadful girl has just accused your beloved mother of being a murderess.\n\nRecovering herself, your mother rounds on you, and slaps you across the face. You have never had a hand laid on you in anger in your life.\n\nAs you clasp your stinging face, stunned, your mother seizes Cinderella's arm and says,\n\n"You ungrateful, lying brat. Do you not realise you only have a home by my charity? Your father left me everything. And yet you slander me to my daughter's face!\n\n"I will not tolerate it. When you prove yourself a useful member of the household, you can return to the family. Until then, you are no daughter of mine."\n\n"And you are no mother of mine!" Cordelia whispers, and bends her head.\n\nYou and your mother drive home in awkward silence, listening to Cordelia's bitter sobbing.\n\nYou soon discover what punihsment your mother has in [[mind|servant]].

You kill Cinderella.\n\nIf charm >75 + prince >50, he eventually marries you [[Ending 6]].\n\nIf not, her body is found, and you are executed. [[Ending 9]]

Th eprince kneels before Cinderella, in her plain clothes. \nIf smashed=false,\n\nShe smiles radiantly down at him, extends her foot, and he places it on her foot.\n\nThen she produces the shoe from her pocket, and a shimmering light descends on her, changing her work clothes into her ball gown. The prince stands, and takes her in his arms.\n\nYou turn away, with tears in your eyes. \n\nIf smashed=true, he needs no shoe to recognise her. a shimmering light descends on her, changing her work clothes into her ball gown. The prince stands, and takes her in his arms.\n\n\nDO you have any options left?\n\nDoes CInderella really love [[you|Cinderella ending]]? If your affection is high enough, you can make one last, public bid for her heart.\n\nELse, if Cruelty passes a REALLY high test,\n[[Ending 1]]\n\nIf your affection is high enough, you can send your [[silk rose]] to Karsten, or scrawl a note on the back of [[Bertha's card]].\n\nOtherwise:\n[[Ending 2]]\n\n\n

%+15 Mother\n%-20 Cinderella\n%+20 Cruelty\n\n[If she grabbed your necklace:You tell Cinderella to take her hands off you, calling her a violent slattern]\n\nYou tell Cinderella it's more than she deserves, given her beastly behaviour towards your mother, and order her from the room. \n\nShe hesitates, and goes.\n\nContinue on to the [[salon]] \n\n

You take a seat beside Cordelia and ask her if she rides.\n\nHer hostility seems to fade a little at the question. She even gives a slight smile.\n\n"Indeed I do. There is little I like better, when I have the chance. My father gave me a pony for my fifth birthday, a roly poly dappled thing called Daffodil."\n\n"Oh, I am so glad we have something in common!" You clap your hands. "We must go hunting together."\n\n"You hunt?" Cordelia's smile freezes a little, and you hasten to smooth over your lack of tact.\n\n"Oh, of course, you must not get much of a chance to hunt, here in the City."\n\n"I do not hunt." The smile is completely gone now. "Chasing innocent animals and watching them die in agony has never been a favourite pursuit of mine."\n\nYou sigh to yourself and, wisely abandoning the conversation, return to your mother. \n\n[[Next|father dies]]

Mother %+10\n\nYour mother takes your hands and explains the situation. She has become betrothed to an old business acquaintance of your father, a merchant of respectable but not noble blood, far below you in birth. He would not normally aspire to the hand of a lady like your mother, but he is a widower who has long admired her, and is only too pleased to rescue her from her present dire straits.\n\n"Hal has the means to give you the life you deserve, --name," your mother explains gently. "You are pretty enough, and of good birth, but men are shallow. Pretty dresses, jewels... These are what you need when you are presented to Court."\n\nShe embraces you tightly, and you almost miss the odd tone to her voice when she adds, "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. You are also gaining a [[new sister]]."\n

Queen with secret lesbian affairs.

You are to be living together, after all, and it is understandable that Cordelia resents a couple of strangers entering her house. You would not have been too keen to share your father's attention, either. Your grief stabs you at the thought.\n\nCalling on all your breeding and training, you politely attempt to engage Cordelia on the subject of:\n\n[[hunting2]]\n[[study2]]\n[[charity2]]\n[[clothes2]]\n\n(Only your top two stat options will be visible)

Ambitious %+40\n\nLove is of no interest to you, and you hve no real desire to marry for position or children born of your own body. You intend to forge your own destiny.\n\n[[new sister]]

At the ball, a beautiful stranger appears. If she [[loves|Cinderella love]] you, she will dance with you.\n\nIf not, she and [[dances with the prince.|ball3]]\n\n \n\n

At midnight, CInderella disappears, leaving a dropped [[shoe1]].\n\nIf she has been dancing with you, you pick it up, and concel it in the folds of your gown.\n\nOtherwise, the prince, chasing after her, picks it up.\n\nUnless, of course, you were quicker, and managed, undetected in the fuss, to kick it down the stairs and it is [[smashed]].\n\n\n

Mother %+40\nConrad %+30\n\nTest affection. If failed, Conrad will just tease you for falling for his plot. He will share a dance with you, but then abandon you to your own devices. [[ball2]]\n\nIf passed, he will be more complimentary, saying it was his only chance to meet a girl like you and get to know her without the pressures of the court. \n\nSay: I am glad, too, that I had the chance to get to know your true self. He will stammer and be uncertain, and stumble over explaining that the prince *is* his real self, the other just a pretence. Conrad %-10.\n\nSay: It was wrong to lie to me. He will be stunned, and then praise you for your directness and honesty, and say he hopes to become worthy of you. Conrad %+20.\n\nEither way, he will dance with you until Cinderella arrives. [[ball2]].

If first choice:\n\n\n%-20 Bluestocking\n%+15 Mother\n\nEven out in the country, your mother is always beautifully dressed. You love to spend time in her rooms, watching her hair being dressed, and listening to her chatter with her lady's maid about the current fashions in Court. You love the rich fabrics and sparkling jewels, and your mother is only too happy to teach you the skills of making yourself decorative.\n\nAfter all, she reminds you, one day you will be presented at Court, and for a woman, appearances are everything.\n\nYou cannot spend all your time primping, however. When you are not practising with your hair and various potions, you enjoy:\n\n\n[[hunting]]\n\n[[charity]]\n\nIf second choice:\n\n%+10 Bluestocking\n%+10 Mother\n\nEverything [[changes]] when your father dies.

You were a sporting young girl in every way. As soon as you were old enough, your father taught you to ride on your own little pony. As you grew older and more competent, you were finally permitted to join the hunt.\n\nThe powerful horse carrying you across fields and hedges, wind flaying your hair, the blowing of the horn, the final triumph as the fox is cornered and the baying hounds have their reward... \n\nTo you, there was no thrill quite like the excitement, danger and blood of the chase.\n\nif First choice\n\n%+20 cruel \n\nNo matter how exciting, you could not spend all your time following the hunt. When not on horseback, you liked to spend your more quiet time:\n\nLearning about the [[fashion]] of the big City, and the mysteries of beauty\n\n[[Studying|study]] in your father's library.\n\n\n\nif have picked two:\n\n%+10 cruel \n\nEverything [[changes]] when your father dies.

Mother %+10\n\nWithout having met Conrad, the prince will be charming with you, dance with you just the once, and then turn to the other girls.\n\nUntil, of course, Cinderella arrives [[ball2]]

Th eprince dances with the other pretty girls. Cinderella is busy.\n\nYou have a choice: [[run away with Cinderella|Ending 7]], accpet it is hopeless and go on with the plot [[ball3]] or betray your family and claim CInderella's inheritance [[Ending 8]]

Cinderella %+20\n\nCinderella is very beautiful, and sad, and sweet.\n\nYou kiss her. She is surprised for a moment, but then she kisses you back.\n\nAt the sound of a footfall you think is your mother's, you flee.\n\n\n\n[[Courtship]]

The prince is hunting for the missing stranger: your step-sister. He and his men are travelling from house to house, looking for Cinderella. You have only hours in which to act.\n\nIf you pass a cruelty test, you have the option to go to your mother for help to make sure CInderella is [[imprisoned]].\n\nIf you past an even stricter cruelty test, you can even [[murder]] her.\n\nIf not, or if you do the decent thing, await teh prince arriving with the [[shoe]].\n\n

Preparations for the wedding follow at great speed, as if your mother had decided that it is better to plunge straight into an icy lake than lower in a delicate toe.\n\nCordelia remains remote, all through the fittings of dresses and conversations about the flowers. When you complain to your mother, she dismisses Cordelia as uncouth and of little matter.\n\nAnd then Hal falls suddenly ill over dinner one night.\n\nBy the time dawn breaks, he is dead.\n\n[[Next]]

Choice to approach her about [[mentoring]] your career or, if lesbian=true, [[sapphic flirting]].

\nAmbitious %-15\n\nYou have always been brought up with the expectation of marrying a man. That is, after all, what eligible maidens are supposed to do. However, you can't see yourself responding to a man's kisses with passion. On the other hand when, in the deep of night, you imagine the kiss of another woman, your blood burns.\n\nYou don't tell anyone, let alone your mother, of this dream. Still... there are ladies at court who have eschewed marriage, and some are known for the deep devotion of the friendships they sustain.\n\nYou can't help but wonder if their hearts turn in the same direction as yours, and if it is a possible future for you.\n\n\n(lesbian=true)\n\nYour mother carries out her own duty by [[marrying|new sister]] a wealthy man of the merchant class, below you in social status, but with enough wealth to give you a fortune.

After a decorous courtship, you marry Marcus. After all, he is kind, distinguished, and wealthy. And you are an even better catch now, as the princess' stepsister.\n\nIf he has a long standing relationship or two with not quite respectable ladies, and perhaps a few children born on th wrong side of the blanket, he treats you affectionately and well there are compensations enough in your priveleged life. Marcus is minor royalty, and you are a princess now yourself. Isn't that what a happy ending is all about?\n\nIt's best not to compare yourself to Cinderella.\n\n

Cordelia %+10 \n\nTaking a seat behind Cordelia, you ateempt to break the ice by asking about her neighbours.\n\n"Your house is maginificent, I see," you say, your eyes taking in the lavish furnishings and the somewhat tastless abundance of gold thread, "but we passed many impoverished areas nearby. I feel there is a real chance to do good here, perhaps even more than at home."\n\nCinderella's huge dark eyes soften. "Indeed, there is much suffering here. The City landlords are not kind. There is much that can be done with a kind word and a little generosity--"\n\nAbruptly, the sweet smile that has been growing on her lips fades. "The City is not like the villages you have been used to. The people here are proud; they will not long endure you coming in and playing lady bountiful--with my father's money."\n\nFeeling you have lost most of the little ground you have gained, you decide to retreat to your mother's side. You will leave your prickly future stepsister alone for the time being.\n\n[[Next|father dies]]

Cinderella %-15\nMother %+10\n\nYou feel some satisfaction as your mother berates Cinderella and reduces her to the level of a [[servant]]. She clearly deserves it.\n\nYou see Cinderella glaring at you resentfully, and wonder if she has detected your feelings. What does it matter, anyway? She is beastly girl.

\nPossible Choicecode:\n*stat_chart\n text Name\n\n*stat_chart\n opposed_pair Cruel\n Charitable\n opposed_pair Ornamental\n Bluestocking\n opposed_pair Romantic\n Ambitious\n\n[b]Relationships[/b]\n*stat_chart\n percent Cordelia\n percent Conrad\n percent Karsten\n percent Bertha\n percent Marcus\n \n\nFixed, hidden, default to bisexual:\norientation: heterosexual lesbian bisexual asexual\n\nrelationships:\n\nMother - starting at 50\n\nStarting at 0\n\nCordelia\n(Prince) Conrad\nKarsten\nBertha\nMarcus\n\n

So many words are trying to flood to your lips that none of them will come. You press your hands to your throat, aching and stunned.\n\nYour mother... You look at her, so elegant, even with her face now flushed with rage. There is no way a true lady like her, virtuous and refined, would harm anyone, let alone your beloved father.\n\nCordelia must be acting out of anger and spite.\n\nOn the other hand, Cordelia has lost everything overnight, her father, her fortune. She must be nearly demented with grief and disbelief.\n\nBefore you decide how to act, your mother, with a loss of control you have never seen in her before, leans forward and shakes Cordelia like a rag doll.\n\n Do you [[protest]], or think Cinderella deserves some [[punishment]]?

Cinderella %+30\nMother %-30\nCruelty %-30\n\nYou can't go through with it. Hands trembling, blinded with tears, hating yourself for both your cruelty and your weakness, you flee to Cinderella's room, and unlock the door.\n\nShe looks up from the bed, where she has been industriously ripping her sheets into shreds to make a rope, in shock.\n\n"Go to your prince," you say. "Fairy tales were never for me."\n\nIff affection with CInderella is high enough, she will give you a fierce hug before running downstairs. If not, she will slip past you without a word.\n\nEither way, she tries on the [[shoe]].

Your mother is holding an informal "at home",and tells you to dress as beautifully as possible.\n\nCinderella storms in, demanding to know why her pretty dresses are missing. \n\nYour mother tells her that there are limits to charity, and she is to earn her keep, and doesn't need to dress like a lady. Her presence is not required.\n\nC: "Am I not allowed to see guests in my own home, while you dress {name} with my fortune?" \n\n[If Cinderella affection score >30, she turns on you and tries to tear a necklace from your neck.\n\nIf not, she appeals to you for justice]\n\nYou choose how to react: in [[anger]], in [[sympathy]], or refuse to wear your new gown out of [[solidarity]].\n\n\n

\nIf first choice:\n%-20 cruel\n\nYou were always brought up to be aware of your fortunate position and birth, in a world where so many have so little.\n\nYour nursemaid, a village woman with a heart as gentle as her voice was rough, frequently took you to visit her family, as well as those in the village in more desperate circumstances. She always brought food and a kind word, and you learned from her, bringing delicious supplies from the kitchen and smoothing ragged blankets.\n\nThese were all your father's tenants, you learned, and your nurse taught you that is your responsibility to show them charity and care. You take pleasure in bringing a little sunshine into their hard lives.\n\nYou also secretly liked the praise from the local priest, and being told by him that you are known as the angel of the big house. It's not like you had much competition. Your mother wasn't much for exposing her elegant self to smelly, damp cottages and smelly, damp peasants.\n\nA growing girl could not spend all her time in good works, When you were not bringing soup to the poor, you liked to spend your time:\n\nLearning about the [[fashion]] of the big City, and the mysteries of beauty\n\n[[Studying|study]] in your father's library.\n\nIf second choice:\n\n%-10 cruel\n\nEverything [[changes]] when your father dies.

Cinderella %-10\n\nYou have no intention of placating a young woman who, if you and your mother were not reduced to desperate straits, you would hardly recognise in the streets. Let her pout and scowl. She is beneath your notice.\n\nYou remain by your mother's side, making polite conversation with your intended stepfather, and failing to respond to his hints that it might be nice for you to get to know Cordelia and leave your mother to him.\n\nAt one point, you glance sideways under your lashes to see how the other girl is taking the snub. She does not appear cowed enraged in the slightest. There is a faint smile on her red lips, and she is watching you with a kind of contemptuous amusement, as if you are behaving precisely as she expected.\n\nInsolent girl.\n\n[[Next|father dies]]

Mother%-30\n\nChance to establish a flirtation with the romantic poet. Talj poetry for best chances if you are a bluestocking, and just look pretty and flirt if an ornament.\n\nFollowed by [[invitation]]

You take a sensible, or possibly calculating, approach to marriage. \n\nYour mother married well, for noble blood and wealth. This, after all, is what a true lady'ss role is, to trade her beauty, graces and childbearing ability for status and comfort.\n\nPerhaps you enjoy the thought. Perhaps you are secretly a little bitter. Either way, you have every intention of impressing the right man, and making an advantageous match.\n\nYour mother is rightly proud of your attitude.\n\nMother %+20\nAmbition %+10\nBluestocking %-10\n\nYour mother soon makes it clear what she is going to sacrifice for your [[sake]].

Mother %+30\n\nMarcus is older, quite good looking, and devilishly rakish. You set yourself to charm him.\n\nYour success with him is entirely dependent on your Ornament quality. %+30 if >60: he seems enchanted by your prattle and, more than anything, your beauty. If <40, he seems a little distant and bored. Otherwise, he seems amused enough by your presence, but you are not sure how fully you are engaging his attention.\n\nEither way, he will mention to your mother that he was hoping to meet her stepdaughter, a girl of renknowned beauty.\n\nYOur mother interrupts, saying Cinderella is indisposed.\n\nConrad expresses sympathy. You can offer to convey his good wishes for a minor boost in his affections %+10 or remain silent. Conrad expresses the hope that Cinderella realises how lucky she is to have a new family to support and love her. Agree piously for another %+10 boost.\n\nYou can also contradict your mother %-20 by saying that your mother and Cinderella had a terrible quarrel and that is why your step-sister is not there. \nConrad is surprised at your boldness, but murmurs sympathetically that family can be difficult, especially after a loss, and he hopes she will realise how lucky she is to have a new family to support and love her. Agree piously for a %+10 boost.\n\nfollowed by [[invitation]]\n

You go to the ball.\n\nIf you attended the salon, to your surpise... or not... the centre of attention is Conrad, who turns out to be Prince Kilian. You can approach him to charge him with his deception [[Conrad_ball]].\n\nOtherwise, you can take your chances along with the other girls. [[prince_ball]]\n\nIf your relationship with them is (decide through testing), you can instead choose to spend time with [[Bertha|Bertha_ball]], [[Marcus|Marcus_ball]], or [[Karsten|Karsten_ball]].\n\nOr you can just enjoy the party. HOw filled your card is depends on your ornamental score. Regardless, you progress to\n[[ball2]]

CInderella %+40\n\nSpend some time with CInderella, greatly increasing her affection.\n\nIf lesbian=true, there is the option to make this a romantic interlude.\n\nContinue straight to [[invitation]].

Mother %+30\nMarcus %+30\n\nMarcus is the easiest catch. Basic affection OR ornament test. You will dance together either way; if yo fail, he will be a little distracted by all the otehr pretty girls. If you pass, he will express his intention to call upon your mother and, hopefully, see you. You blush, and remain by his side until [[ball2]]

Cinderella %+70\nMother %-50\nConrad %-30\n\nCInderella rejects the prince, expressing her desire to stay with her fmaily... especially you.\n\nYour mother apologises, apparently still hoping to direct the prince to you, but touched by Cinderella's sacrifice, you reaffirm your etenal love and your intention to be with her together. Cinderella flings herself into your arms.\n\nThere is scandal and a moment of horror and terror, while you wait for punishment to fall on you... but teh prince laughs, and says he yields to two such lovely ladies.\n\nAnd, with royal acclamation, what can your mother do? Just in case, you take her aside, and say that if there is another death, you will make sure she suffers the consequences. And just in case she thinks of disposing of her troublesome daughter, you have given a sealed letter to the prince, to be opened only in the case of your death or dehabilitation...\n\nAnd you and Cinderella live happily ever after.

mother %-10\n\nYou cannot restrain your anger and grief.\n\n"Mama! Have you forgotten Papa already?"\n\nYour mother is too well-bred to scowl. She merely clasps her hands tightly.\n\n"Hal has the means to give you the life you deserve, --name," she says in a brittle tone. "You are pretty enough, and of good birth, but men are shallow. Pretty dresses, jewels... These are what you need when you are presented to Court."\n\nShe explains the situation tersely and honestly. She has become betrothed to an old business acquaintance of your father, a merchant of respectable but not noble blood, far below you in birth. He would not normally aspire to the hand of a lady like your mother, but he is a widower who has long admired her, and is only too pleased to rescue her from her present dire straits.\n\nShe turns to sweep out of the room, casting back over her shoulder: "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. You are also gaining a [[new sister]]."\n\n

You are welcomed to Court, and make a minor success of yourself under Cinderella's forgiving patronage. Eventually, you make a good marriage, with someone reasonably handsome and kind, and your mother is pleased for you.\n\nIt never was your fairytale, after all.

Ambition %-20\n\nYou know you are expected to marry for wealth and position. Secretly, however, you can't help dreaming of eyes that meet across a room, a touch that imflames, and a marriage based on passion and devotion rather than convenience.\n\nIf you are lucky, perhaps you will manage to make a match that pleases your mother and also your heart. Sometimes, though, you daydream of sacrificing everything for love, and counting the world well lost.\n\nYour mother carries out her own duty by [[marrying|new sister]] a wealthy man of the merchant class, below you in social status, but with enough wealth to give you a fortune.

Cordelia is beautifully dressed, in a soft white silk gown that accentuates her dark beauty and her youth, pearls hidden among the folds. And that little dip in her hair over one brow! Divine! You are certain the way to her heart is through her gowns.\n\nYou take your seat beside her and compliment her on her gown. She does not reply, her cheeks colouring a little, so you push forward regardless.\n\n"I am truly excited to be in the City now, and to have a chance to see the fashions for myself. It was a sadness to me, living in the country, that we were always behind the times. If you only knew how I waited for news of gowns and hair styles from Court! And now I am in the midst of it."\n\n"I am glad," Cordelia says smoothly, "that you have already decided what to do with my father's wealth. I should hate to think your mother had married him for nothing."\n\nYou are too well bred to respond in kind. You have no intention of lowering yourself to bicker with the daughter of a merchant. Instead, you rise and sweep over to your mother's side, deciding to waste no more time on this insolent girl.\n\n[[Next|father dies]]\n

Discuss mentoring with Brenda.\n\n\nFollowed by [[invitation]]

Karsten %+50\nMother %-50\n\nThat night, you bribe a footman to take a silk rose to KArsten.\n\nThat night, s/he is waiting below your window, as promised. You climb out and fall into his/her arms, to be greeted with a passionate kiss. Then you ride away into the night.\n\nPresumably CInderella marries her prince. Far away, in another kingdom, out of the reach of intrigues and princes, Karsten weaves a daisy chain to crown you his/her own queen. You silently wish Cinderella luck.\n\nYou have found your own fairytale.

Mother %-40\nCinderella %+20\nCruel %-10\n\nCinderella's words strike your heart with terrible anguish. Surely your mother isn't a killer... surely she hasn't robbed this girl... Surely, your own beloved father...\n\n"Mother! It's not true... is it?"\n\nThere is a terrible pause for a moment as your mother stares at you with wide, betrayed eyes. You can see the pain in them, and guilt strikes you sharply. \n\n"Get out!" She turns her back on you.\n\nCinderella is trembling and confused. She barely reacts when your mother reminds you that she lives on her charity and reduces her to the level of a [[servant]].

Cinderella %+10\n\nYou take a seat beside Cordelia.\n\n"I hear your father has a magnificent library," you say. "Do you enjoy reading?"\n\nCordelia's face lights up, making her look even more lovely. "Indeed, there is little I love better. There is so much in this world to learn about, I feel that I shall never get to the bottom of it!"\n\n"What about romances? Or is it all work and no play?"\n\n"Work?" Her smooth brow clouds a little. "What would you know of work? My father made his fortune--and earned his library--on his own wits. I worked beside him. What would you--" she scornfully glances at your white, perfumed hands--"know of work? All you need to do is marry a man to steal his wealth, like your mother."\n\nYou bite your lip with annoyance, the brief moment of connection with this impossible girl lost. Rather than quarrel with her, which no doubt she was angling at, you refuse to acknowledge her insolence. \n\nYou rise and join your mother, speaking to Cordelia no further.\n\n[[Next|father dies]] \n

Conrad %+30\n\nGet to know the mysterious stranger. \n\nIf compassion >50, you have the chance to talk about good works to impress him still further %+20.\n\nHe will ask about Cinderella, saying she is known for her good works, and he was interested to meet her. YOur mother interrupts, saying Cinderella is indisposed.\n\nYou can offer to convey the prince's good wishes for a minor boost in his affections %+10 or remain silent. The prince expresses the hope that Cinderella realises how lucky she is to have a new family to support and love her. Agree piously for another %+10 boost.\n\nYou can also contradict your mother %-20 by saying that your mother and Cinderella had a terrible quarrel and that is why your step-sister is not there. The prince is surprised at your boldness, but murmurs sympathetically that family can be difficult, especially after a loss, and he hopes she will realise how lucky she is to have a new family to support and love her. Agree piously for a %+10 boost.\n\nfollowed by [[invitation]]

Mother %+40\nConrad %+40\nCinderella %-70\n\nAll your dreams have come true. You wear silk glittering with diamonds and silver thread, pearls in your hair, a pigoen egg ruby gleaming at your throat, as you walk towards the handsome, charming prince, who is gazing at you with adoration.\n\nYour step sister is absent from the wedding, and has not appeared at Court. Sour grapes, some whisper. You know the truth: your mother has sent Cinderella away to her cousins in the next kingdom, and she will be confined to the grounds for the rest of her life.\n\nAfter all, she and her black magic were fools to stand in the way of your fairytale. True love always wins.

Cinderella %+30\nMother %-30\n\nYou deliberately choose your most plain gown, declaring to your mother that if Cinderella does not deserve fine clothes, then neither do you, as your sister.\n\nYour mother warns you through gritted teeth not to be a fool and strides out.\n\nCinderella is stunned, but manages to say thank you, as well as telling you it isn't necessary.\n\nYou have a choice: do you attend the [[salon]] in your plain gown, relent and attend the [[salon]] in a pretty dress anyway (this will restore %+15 Mother), or tell CInderella you would rather spend the time [[with her]]?

Even with a career, love, or at least marriage, might be pleasant or useful. \n\nDo you dream of makig a [[love match]] or of marrying for [[wealth and status|status]]?

You are discovered and executed.

You go to the prince, and confess everything.\n\nYour mother is executed. Cinderella's fortune is restored. You and she are together forever. And, after all, justice is served.\n\nBut you will have to live forever with being the cause of your mother's death, however evil she was.

You can attempt to concrete a business arrangement with her (test against Ambition and affection)\n\nYou can either offer it cas a chaste, friendly arrangement (test bluestocking for success; will offer to mentor you and lend you money. On failure, you will not refuse completely, but tell you to approach her again when you have studied the ways of business better, with )a deprecating remark about the limits of a young lady's conventional education.\n\nAlternatively, you can imply that you will be lovers and partners (test affection again, higher on success, she will agree meaningfully and ask you to dance, see below. On failure, she will flirt a little, but not seriously; revert to tests above.\n\nOtherwise, If lesbian=true and affection >test, she will invite you to dance... in front of teh entire court.\n\nIf you accept, Mother %-40, Bertha %+40. You aware aware that you are creating a scandal, but you are blushing and happy in Bertha's arms. She will ask you to consider coming to live with her. You protest that your mother won't let you; she presses into your hand her card, and says that any time you send a message to her on th back, she will come for you. She assures you that you will be protected and treated like a princess... only with far more freedom.\n\nProceed to [[ball2]]

Bertha %+50\nMother %-40\n\nBertha comes to your house the next day, openly, and takes your hand.\n\n"If you come with me," she says, "it will be forever. I will make you happy, my princess. I swear it. Always."\n\nYou look into her handsome face, with its clear blue eyes, and you say "Yes."\n\nShe pulls you past your stunned mother, past the servants, racing out into the clear sunshine, and you laugh for the sheer joy of it.\n\nBack in her home, you fnid the strength to laugh at scandal. You are gloriously, rapturously in love, and Bertha treats you as both a princess and an equal. Your house is a sanctuary for poets and scholars, and under your influence, and that of Cinderella's, perhaps, the kingdom becomes a more free and accpeting place. One day you take orphan twins into your home, to mother together.\n\nEventually, even you rmother forgives you. After all, Bertha is wealthy and influential. and you, her daughter, are very happy.\n\n

Cruelty %+30\nMother %+20\nCInderella %-20\n\nYou go to your mother with your suspicions. She is equally adamant that the ungrateful brat should not profit by her deceptions.\n\nTogether, you lock Cinderella in her room. Then you wait to face the prince.\n\nIf cruelty below (test), then you have a chance to repent and [[let her go|release]]\n\nTest Conrad's affection. If very high, he believes you when you say you had a step sister, but she was sent to stay with relatives in the country BEFORE the ball. \n\nThen:\n\n* COnfess you are hurt that he is chasing another girl. I know she was beautiful, and she was clearly chasing a prince... but I thought that my heart had met Conrad's.\n\nHe is chastened, repentant... agrees... and smashes the remaining shoe. Takes your hand, and asks your mother's permission to [[marry you.|princess]]\n\n* Ask him who he prefers, the mystery girl or you. Test affection again, a bit higher. If pass, as above.\n\n*If fail, the prince will hear CInderella calling out. Continue as below.\n\nFAIL: The prince is unconvinced, and as you argue, he hears CInderella calling out. He breaks down the door, and she rushes to his arms. \n\n[[shoe]]\n

Cinderella %+20\nMother %-20\n\nYou know CInderella is sufferig, and you ask your mother if she can attend--in vain. You mother is furious with you both, and orders CInderella from the room, and your ladies' maid to make you look your best.\n\nYou have no choice but to attend the [[salon]]

Cinderella hates you.\n\nThe birds peck out your eyes.\n\nConditions:\n\nCruelty over a certain level to Cinderella.\n\nEloped false.\n\nPrince romance false.

\nWhen she leavs you, still reeling from your losses, you try to make sense of your new position. \n\nYour mother's intentions for you are clear. But when you think of your future, what forms do your secret dreams take?\n\nYour mother is right. You intend to marry for riches and [[status]]. That, for a lady, is true success.\n\nYou have always cherished an unspoken dream of making a romantic [[love match]].\n\nTo tell the truth, in your very secret heart, your thoughts turn to [[other women]].\n\nYou have no intention of marrying, whatever your mother hopes. some ladies, these days, are making their ways in their own [[careers|career]]. Why not you?\n

You and Cinderella run away together.\n\nPerhaps you can establish a career. Or be servants. After all, Cinderella has practice...\n\nThe important thing is that you are together.

You keep your dark secret, and eventually you are queen.\n\nVariation: if lesbian true, [[Ending 6a]] secret affairs.

Cinderella is confined to the kitchens as punishment. Her beautiful clothes, when they don't fit you, are sold and replaced with plain work clothes. she is angry and bitter; she calls your mother a murderess and slave driver and you her puppet.\n\nYour mother deprives her of supper for a night.\n\nPassing her new room, in the kitchens, at night, you hear her sobbing.\n\nYou can go in to [[talk]] to her.\n\nAlternatively, you can choose not to become involved until your own chance at [[Courtship]]

You take out your anger on her as the possible obstacle to your new life, taunting her with her fall.\n\nCruelty %+20\n\n[[Courtship]]

Cordelia, weeping and shrieking as wildly as a cat, has to be forcibly confined to the carriage by a groom. Once the door is shut on her, however, she angrily casts the tears from her eyes.\n\n"I should have known you would have bribed the officials as well as that filthy priest."\n\nYour mother coldly lifts a chin. "It is not seemly to express your disappointment with lies and accusations."\n\n"You did it for --name--, I suppose. No one would marry her without a fortune to sweeten the deal. But all the jewels and velevets you can buy with my father's stolen wealth cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."\n\nYu colour with hurt and anger, and your mother slaps Cordelia, hard, living a livid red mark on her pale cheek.\n\n"You are lucky that I am kind-hearted and charitible, girl, and that I take my promise to your father seriously, or I would open this carriage door and fling you out on the streets where you belong. --name-- has a noblewoman's grace and breeding, things a coarse merchant's daughter will forever lack."\n\nCordelia laughs, a hysterical tinge to the sound. "I knew that's what you thought of him all along. But even on the streets, I would be worth more than your murderous hide. You know as well as I do that Papa would never marry you, not nonce I told him what happened to your first husband."\n\n"What do you mean?" You don't recognise your own voice in its blank smallness.\n\nCordleia ignores you, still raving at your mother. "So what did you do? Did you poison Papa too, before he could throw you off like the trash you are?"\n\n"Watch your mouth, girl."\n\n"Why? Or I will be the next to die? Just so you can dress your little doll in stolen silks?"\n\nThis is intolerable. Do you remain [[silent]] and stunned, react with [[fury]], or [[accuse]] your mother yourself?\n

You like your future stepfather well enough. Hal is fat, dark and surprisingly handsome, and he takes you in his arms with his eyes brimming over with emotion at your bereft state. In his comforting embrace, you almost believe him when he tells you he will love you as a daughter, and make up to you for all you have lost.\n\nHis eyes follow your lovely mother with something like worship.\n\nYour future stepsister is another matter entirely. Cordelia is about your age and fashionably dressed, with just the newest shape to her bodice.\n\nYour first thought is that she is as lovely as an angel; your second, the dismal realisation that no lacing in the world could make your waist as tiny as her unbound one, and you could never match her curves without padding. Her hair is as glossy and brown as a nut, her eyes large and black, fringed with lacy lashes, and her perfect mouth is set in a distinctly unfriendly pout.\n\nYour mother is looking at her, then at you, in a cold, speculative way. You are uncomfortably certain that she is comparing your relative charms, and that you are coming up short.\n\n"You girls get to know each other, now," Hal says happily, unaware of the tension. "I am so glad that Cordelia is to have a true family at last. It has been so hard on her, losing my wife so young. It is like a gift from God, that she now has such a beuatiful mother and charming sister."\n\nFrom Cordelia's stormy expression, she does not seem altogether to agree.\n\nDo you swallow your pride and try to [[befriend]] your new sister, or treat her with icy [[disdain]]?\n\n

Mother %-20, Karsten %+20\n\nTest affection:\n\nIf high enough, rather than dancing with you, Karsten will ask you to walk with him/her on the moonlight rose terrace. \n\nRefuse and have another chance to approach [[the prince|Conrad_ball]] (Mother %+15) or just go mingle with the other guests [[ball2]] (Mother %+10).\n\nIf you go, Karsten %+20.\n\nKarsten will tell you that s/he has been unable to forget you, that you haunt his/her dreams. Tells you about soul mates and Plato, insists you are opposite halves. You protest that your mother will never allow the match, and s/he proposes eloping and running away to his/her relations in the next kingdom.\n\nS/he tells you not to answer just yet, but gives you a present, a scented silk rose, and asks you to send it with a servant when you are ready; s/he will be waiting with a carriage below your window that night.\n\nProceed to [[ball2]]

The invitation is for all eligible ladies. Your mother argues that as Cinderella is not of noble blood, and has nothing to wear, she is not eligible to go to the [[ball]]. You sisters are, and it's your chance to find a wealthy husband.

Cruelty %+30\nsmashed=true\n\nFor now, the prince is delayed in finding the mysterious stranger. You only have a small\nIf not, you have to decide what to do to stop the prince finding Cinderella. She needs to be [[imprisoned]] with your mother's help or, if you pass a steep cruelty test, you could even [[murder]] her.\n\n\nIf not, eventually the prince will [[arrive]|shoe]] anyway.

Anonymous

Brenda %+30\nMother %-30\n\nDespite your mother shooting dagers at you, you decide to get to know Brenda, and determinedly seat yourself beside her. She is chivalrous, complimentary, and decorously flirtatious.\n\nDo you discuss:\n\nBooks and study? \n%+10 if bluestocking >50. You try to keep up and seem erudite, but her eyes twinkle with amusement, and you think she sees through you and is too charming, or charmed, to admit it.\n\n%+30 is bluestocking >50. You have enjoyed several of the same books, and you become so enthralled in teh conversation that you are surprised when your mother, sharply, recalls you to the other guests.\n\nHunting\n%+20 Bertha is more interested in hacks than foxes, and you soon become engaged in an intense conversation about horses. Her blue eyes light up when she discusses her steeds.\n\nCharity\n%+10\nBertha listens indulgently, and praises you for your sweet nature.\n\nFashion\n%-10 Bertha seems amused, but distat, and you are dismally aware that she has dismissed you as a frivolous young thig of little interest.\n\n\nFollowed by [[invitation]]

Your happy, indulged life could not last for ever. \n\nEventually, the most petted child grows up.\n\n[[changes2]]\n\n

\n\nIf first choice:\n\n%+20 Bluestocking \n\nAs a child, you loved the sun-dappled library, full of books. You could lose yourself in hours in them, whether lost in the excitement of a story and wondering if your own fairytale will ever come true, or eagerly learning about your kingdom, history, poetry and the natural world about you.\n\nYour mother was a little concerned that you are becoming a bluestocking, but she reassured you (and herself) that a well-informed, sparkling conversationalist makes an fascinating and attractive lady, as long as she is careful not to make a gentleman feel intellectually inferior.\n\nStill, she was strict about chasing you out of the library from time to time. \n\nWhen you left your books, did you like to head for the [[stables|hunting]], or to the village to carry out [[good works|charity]]?\n\nIf second choice:\n\n%+10 Bluestocking\n\n[[Next|changes]]\n

Cinderlla reacts to your presence with tearful anger. She hurls a teacup at you and tells you to get out.\n\nAre you [[cruel]] or [[sweet]] in response?

"Both our fates depend on you now, --name--. You arre well enough looking, and charming. I had hoped to keep you at home longer, but you have no fortune now. It is more important that ever that you [[marry]] early, and well.\n\n"After all, the true fortune of a woman lies in her charms. I will help you all I can, of course."\n\n\n