WC#1: Maharaja (The Taj)

edited in General
Hi ya'll :) So this is my entry for the Writing Challenge 1. So we had to pick one of the prototype games on our forum and write about it - so I picked @Fengol's game Maharaja, because I'm loving the game's concept and play.

I think I went a little overboard though :P The below is non-fiction fictionalised :P


Game:
Maharaja: The Taj
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Premise

You are Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, a brilliant architect of mysterious origins. You were placed in charge of the newly founded Imperial capital of Shahjahanabad by Shah Jahan the Mughal Emperor. His rule was known as the Golden Age of the Indian Empire, despite its myriad of problems.

We will see that Shah Jahan had brought Ustad from Iran because of a chance meeting in their youths during one of Shah’s visits to Iran, and Shah Jahan constantly tests Ustad’s friendship and tolerance with extremist Islam demands, and Shah tries to reconcile his friendship, his conscience and the needs of the city.

Suddenly, you are pulled from Shahjahanabad that you’ve built with blood and sweat, and assigned to Agra, Uttar Pradesh and ordered to construct the epic Taj Mahal for Shah Jahan’s wife who had just passed away. All the while juggling the needs of the new city, the problems still present throughout the empire, creating the massive workforce and resources needed for the incredible project, and an unknown affliction that is reviving the dead.

Meanwhile, the grieving Shah Jahan arrives in Agra with his children. Jahanara Begum, the eldest among them, reaches out to Ustad, beset with grief, which could only be a bad idea...


Setting

It is the 1600s, and the indian Empire was at its apex in prosperity - but its glory was under threat: The British: A new military and cultural force are coming in from the West. Civil unrest: The new emperor forced new policies that forced Muslim agendas upon a traditionally Hindi population, combined with new ways of thinking ushered in by the contact with the British. Mystical forces: An affliction which would later be stricken from history plagued the land as the dead became undead for reason unknown.


Characters

Ustad Ahmad Lahauri:
The protagonist - lauded as the most brilliant builder among Persians, Ustad had worked his way from poverty into the courts of Shah Jahan by as much perspiration as serendipity. Exposed to the many arts and cultures during his travels between Persia, India and colonial Britain, he was open minded - a trait often challenged by the traditions that surrounded him, especially in the courts of Ustad. He would eventually find himself challenged in favourable ways by the also open-minded Jahanara, eldest daughter of Shah Jahan.

Shah Jahan
The Fifth Mughal Emperor, whose rule was known as the Golden Age in Indian civilisation. Shah had learned ways of Islam and was very divergent from his grandfather, the Third Mughal Emperor. Ustad had saved Shah’s life in a conflict and had been friends by correspondence since their teenage years, and when Shah became emperor, he brought Ustad to the new royal seat of power to aid his rule.

Jahanara Begum
The eldest daughter of Shah Jahan, Jahanara was a fierce soul who had a love for travel and the people of the land. When her mother passed away when she was 17, she distributed gems to the poor in the hope of divine intervention. When she met Ustad, she was taken by the Persian in ways she could not explain, and could never let Ustad know, let alone her father Shah the emperor.


Script Sample

Shah: Ustad, old friend, Mahammad’s blessing upon you. How fares the plans for the glorious Taj Mahal?

Ustad: Shah, old friend! We were not expecting you for another moon, your emissary had said as much!

Shah: That is of little consequence. The talks with the White Wraiths went nowhere. They do not understand. I do not care. Tell me of my wife’s heart’s rest.

Ustad: It is coming along. We are sampling the materials now, and drafting team one through twenty five from the local builder’s guild. Jahanara has offered very good insights into the people’s-

Shah: Jahanara is but a child. MY child. I will not have her blood wield the hammer of my wife’s tomb’s construct. I have told her as much, surely you have more sense than that?

Ustad: -as you will. But she will not listen, I have told her as much as well. She believes that we do not have to draft from age fourty and up for the construction-

Sheh: She knows nothing. I will hear no more of this matter.



So a lot of research went into this, and I think I veered towards non-fiction a bit too much, and I should make it more story and less setting. Dunno, what do you think?

All input welcome! :D

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