18th Century RPG

Louis-François Duret — Manipulative lawyer, 45 years old

• Class: Upper bourgeoisie, active in royal courts. Appearance: Smooth face, controlled smile, always with an impeccable wig.
• Personality: Ambitious, rhetorical, believes that truth is a matter of style.
• Objective: To rise to the magistracy, even if it means destroying reputations. Note: He has defended the innocent with passion and the guilty with mastery — without moral distinction.

🧺 René “Le Muet” — Body washer, 31 years old Class: Marginalized, works in the back rooms of hospitals and convents. Appearance: Pale face, thin body, always smelling of soap and death. Personality: Quiet, introspective, believes that the dead speak through gestures.

• Objective: To create a personal farewell ritual, separate from the church and bureaucracy. Note: He writes poems in Latin about the bodies he washes, but never shows them.

🧒 Théo Dufour — Boy watchmaker, 12 years old

• Class: Apprentice, son of artisans Appearance: Small, with nimble hands and attentive eyes; dresses soberly.
• Personality: Curious, obsessive, believes that time is a living creature.
• Objective: To create a clock that works with the human wrist, without gears. Note: He once took apart a bishop's watch during mass, just to understand its secret. Marquis Henri de Villedieu — Noble misanthrope, 60 years old Class: Aristocracy, isolated on their rural estate. Appearance: Fat, with a long beard and old-fashioned clothes; lives surrounded by books and dogs.
• Personality: Bitter, erudite, despises the court and revolution with equal intensity.
• Objective: To write a treatise on human decadence, without publishing it. Note: She was once the lover of an Enlightenment philosopher, but vehemently denies it.

🪙 Étienne Roux — Illegal coin dealer, 52 years old

• Class: Lower, lives in the outskirts of Toulouse Appearance: Short, pot-bellied, with acid-stained hands and perpetually half-closed eyes.
• Personality: Cynical, methodical, believes that money is more powerful than faith.
• Objective: To create a parallel network for the circulation of money between farmers and smugglers. Note: He has previously counterfeited coins with the faces of fallen nobles as a form of satire. Monsieur Armand Bellier — Court perfumer, 29 years old
• Class: Upper class, protected by marchionesses and duchesses Appearance: Tall, slender, with flawless skin and clothes always perfumed with rare essences. Personality: Vain, seductive, but with a deep melancholy that he hides beneath aromas.
• Objective: To create a perfume that will immortalize your memory — even after the fall of the court. Note: She keeps bottles with the names of lovers and rivals, as if they were relics. Jean “Le Boeuf” Martel — Butcher and former soldier, 40 years old
• Class: Popular, respected among the workers of Paris Appearance: Strong, face marked by scars, always wearing an apron stained with blood.
• Personality: Brutal, direct, but with a strong sense of honor. Objective: Protect your street from corrupt debt collectors and soldiers, even if it means killing. Note: He has an illegitimate son whom he visits in secret, pretending to be an apprentice.

🧵 Benoît Lemoine — Blind tailor, 67 years old Class: Respected but impoverished artisan Appearance: Thin, with dull eyes and slender fingers that "see" better than many eyes. Personality: Calm, philosophical, speaks little and listens a lot.

• Objective: To teach their craft to orphans and create clothing that “tells stories through touch” Note: Secret symbols are sewn onto the hems as a form of silent resistance.

Élise de Montreuil — Discreet companion to wealthy widowers, 35 years old

• Class: Upper bourgeoisie, acts as a lady's companion and intimate advisor. Appearance: Discreet, always in neutral tones, with gloves and a veil; speaks little, listens a lot.
• Personality: Intelligent, melancholic, knows how to manipulate without seeming present.
• Objective: To inherit part of the fortunes of the men she accompanies, without ever getting married. Note: It has been mentioned in wills, but it always disappears before the official reading.

🪙 Manon “La Cendre” — Rural prostitute, 50 years old

• Class: Peasant, serves travelers and soldiers in exchange for food, shelter, or coins. Appearance: Sunburnt skin, disheveled hair, a toothless but sarcastic smile.
• Personality: Brutally honest, without illusions, but with a strong sense of justice.
• Objective: To raise the grandchildren of the deceased daughter, far from the road and from men. Note: He knows the secrets of the roads and the troops — he has already saved fugitives and turned in deserters.

🪡 Thérèse “La Brodeuse” — Former prostitute turned embroiderer, 60 years old

• Class: Respected artisan, but with a known past. Appearance: Steady hands, tired eyes, always wearing an embroidered scarf around her neck.
• Personality: Reserved but firm; teaches girls to embroider and defend themselves.
• Objective: To create a safety net for vulnerable young people, away from brothels. Note: She embroidered for queens and convicts alike—each stitch carries a story she never reveals.

👑 La Duchesse Sans Titre (Margaux Delorme) — Aristocratic courtesan, 42 years old Class: Upper society, lover of ministers and cardinals Appearance: Elegant, with gray hair dyed gold, she wears tailored dresses with hidden embroidery that tells her story.

• Personality: Cold, cultured, knowledgeable in philosophy and politics; treats affection as currency.
• Objective: To maintain influence in salons and councils, shaping decisions through favors and subtle blackmail. Note: There is a literary salon where young poets are tested both by the pen and by their skin.

🪞 Clara “La Miroir” — Urban brothel prostitute, 28 years old

• Class: Lower middle class, works in a regulated brothel in Marseille. Appearance: Face marked by heavy makeup and subtle dark circles under her eyes; dresses meticulously, but in inexpensive fabrics.
• Personality: Ironic, pragmatic, protective of newcomers, and negotiates with clients like someone playing chess.
• Goal: To save enough money to open my own business, with less cruel rules. Note: Keeps a notebook where he writes down the habits and weaknesses of his most powerful clients.

🧦 Josette “La Petite” — Exploited street girl, 13 years old

• Class: Marginalized, without legal or family protection. Appearance: Small, thin, with torn clothes and eyes that don't blink in the face of violence. Personality: Quiet, distrustful, observes everything before speaking.
• Objective: To survive. Sometimes he steals, sometimes he hides in churches, sometimes he accepts what is offered to him. Note: She was protected by a washerwoman who mysteriously disappeared—since then, she carries a medallion with a lock of her hair.

🪞 Baron Jules de Launay — Decadent nobleman, 46 years old Appearance: Always impeccable, but with eyes swollen from wine and sleepless nights. Wears extravagant wigs and perfume to mask the smell of debt.

• Personality: Sarcastic, manipulative, collects humiliations like trophies. Feigns generosity to maintain influence.
• Objective: To restore the family's prestige through forced marriages, blackmail, and alliances with revolutionaries they despise. Note: He keeps a diary where he writes alternative versions of the scandals he caused — as if he were the author of his own legend.

🧂 Geneviève “La Salée” Brissot — Court cook, 39 years old Appearance: Calloused hands and face marked by minor burns. Wears an apron embroidered with ironic biblical phrases.

• Personality: Bitter, witty, knows everything that goes on behind the scenes.
• Objective: To avenge himself on the nobles who destroyed his family, slowly poisoning reputations — and dishes. Note: She has saved lives with her broths, but she has also destroyed marriages with "revealing" desserts.

🪙 Lucien Favreau — Tax collector and informant, 33 years old Appearance: Thin, always wearing a gray coat and boots that are too clean for someone who walks in mud.

• Personality: Cold, calculating, believes that everything has a price — including loyalty.
• Objective: To rise socially by selling secrets among the bourgeoisie and nobility, while maintaining a facade of an exemplary public servant. Note: He has a revolutionary sister whom he anonymously denounces, but protects in silence.

Madame Léontine Vervain — Herbalist and midwife, 54 years old

• It lives on the outskirts of Lyon, amidst herbs and rumors. Known for "seeing through the skin"—it diagnoses through touch and sight.
• It guards secrets about illegitimate births and pacts between nobles and peasant women. She wears a necklace with wolf teeth, a gift from a lover who disappeared during the Revolution.

🧤 Maître Thibault Charrier — Royal Glovemaker, 38 years old

• Manufactures gloves for the court, each pair with a secret compartment. She has delicate hands and a sharp mind; she listens more than she speaks.
• Spying for three different factions, without any of them knowing about the others.
• Her studio is decorated with molds of the hands of historical figures — including Marie Antoinette.

🧸 Émile “Petit Roi” Dufresne — Street child, 9 years old Self-proclaimed king of the back alleys of Paris.

• She wears rags with pride and carries a scepter made from a broken spoon.
• He knows all the tunnels and secret passages between the neighborhoods.
• She dreams of founding a republic of children, where no one is in charge and everyone tells stories.

🎻 Mademoiselle Isabeau de la Tour — Courtesan violinist, 22 years old

• He plays for dukes and revolutionaries, adapting the repertoire according to the danger.
• He has a violin with carvings of snakes and flowers — a gift from an alchemist.
• Uses music to manipulate emotions and reveal hidden truths.
• It hides coded cards among the sheet music.

🪓 Gaspard Lemoine — Rural lumberjack and sculptor, 67 years old

• He lives in Auvergne, where he carves saints and demons out of wood.
• It is said that every tree has a soul and that some resist being cut down out of revenge.
• He has already refused orders from the church due to a "lack of symbolic sincerity". He has a mute granddaughter who communicates with him through gestures and sculptures.

18th-century French clothing included men's three-piece suits (coat, waistcoat, and breeches) in luxurious fabrics such as silk and velvet, and women's dresses characterized by the robe volante (with loose pleats at the back) and the robe à l'anglaise (more fitted), which were worn with paniers (frames to add volume). Fashion evolved throughout the century, with men's coats becoming more fitted and women's dresses becoming more practical and informal in the second half, culminating in a simpler silhouette at the end. Men's suit Structure: The basic suit was a three-piece outfit: jacket (casaque), waistcoat (vestia), and breeches (culottes). Coat: Initially looser, it became more fitted to the body and with curved front edges to reveal the embroidered vest. Vest: It was the most decorative piece, richly embroidered and worn open to show off the details. Shorts: They reached to the knee, were fastened with buttons, and worn with long silk or wool stockings, usually white. Accessories: High-heeled shoes with large buckles, jabots (lace around the neck), and powdered wigs were common. Women's outfit Robe à la française: A loose-fitting dress with loose pleats at the back (ruffles) that created a "floating" effect. It was worn with skirt frames called paniers. Robe à l'anglaise: A more practical style, fitted at the back, with fixed pleats that extended down the skirt. It was worn with smaller frames or padded bustles (scobs or bums). Other styles: Robe à la Polonaise: A dress with an open front and a skirt that is shortened and gathered at the back. Chemise à la reine: A simpler, informal style dress that influenced the style of the late 19th century. Accessories: These included stomachers (bottom parts of the skirt), corsets, aprons, hats, and adornments such as gloves and fans.

In the 18th century, France was marked by prominent figures of the French Revolution, such as King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette, and revolutionary leaders like Maximilien Robespierre, Georges Danton, and Jean-Paul Marat. The century was also the height of the Enlightenment, with thinkers like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu, who criticized the monarchy and inspired the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity that led to the revolution. Kings Louis XVI: The last king of France before the Revolution, he ruled from 1774 until his deposition in 1792 and execution in 1793. Marie Antoinette: Queen consort of Louis XVI, her life of luxury and Austrian origins made her a symbol of the monarchy and a target of the revolution. Leaders of the French Revolution Maximilien Robespierre: One of the leaders of the Committee of Public Safety, he was the central figure of the "Reign of Terror," characterized by mass executions. Georges Danton: One of the first leaders of the Committee of Public Safety and an important orator during the revolution. His opposition to Robespierre led to his own execution. Jean-Paul Marat: A radical journalist and politician who used his newspaper to promote the French Revolution and demonize its enemies. Enlightenment thinkers Voltaire: One of the most famous philosophers of the Enlightenment, he defended freedom of speech and the separation of Church and State. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: A philosopher whose work "The Social Contract" defended popular sovereignty and inspired revolutionaries. Montesquieu: A political philosopher who advocated for the separation of powers (executive, legislative, and judicial) as a way to prevent tyranny. Others Napoleon Bonaparte: Although he emerged at the end of the century and became emperor in the 19th century, he was born in 1769 and served as a general during the French Revolution.

The French Revolution (French: Révolution française) was a period of intense political and social upheaval in France between 1789 and 1799, which had a lasting impact on the history of the country and, more broadly, on the entire European continent. The absolutist monarchy that had ruled the nation for centuries collapsed in just three years. French society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic, and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained attack from radical political groups, the masses in the streets, and peasants in the country's rural areas.[1] Old ideals of tradition and hierarchy of monarchs, aristocrats, and the Catholic Church were abruptly overthrown by the new principles of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity). The royal houses of Europe were terrified by the revolution and initiated a counter-movement that, by 1814, had restored the old monarchy, but many important reforms became permanent. The same thing happened with the antagonisms between the supporters and enemies of the revolution, who fought politically throughout the next two centuries.

Social Inequality and Privileges: French society was divided into three orders or "Estates": First Estate: Clergy, with many privileges and tax exemption. Second Estate: The nobility, who also enjoyed privileges and tax exemptions, in addition to owning land and possessing feudal powers. Third Estate: The remainder of the population, including the bourgeoisie, peasants, and workers, who supported the country through taxes and tributes. Economic and Political Crisis: France was facing a severe financial crisis, exacerbated by war expenses (such as supporting the independence of the USA) and poor harvests. King Louis XVI was seen as incompetent, and the aristocracy as indifferent to the problems of the people. Influence of the Enlightenment: The ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity gained popularity, inspired by Enlightenment intellectuals who criticized absolutism and the privileges of the nobility. French Revolution (1789-1799): A social and political uprising occurred that brought an end to the Old Regime. Storming of the Bastille: It symbolized the beginning of the end of absolutism. Phases of the Revolution: These included the Constitutional Monarchy (1789-1792), the National Convention (1792-1795), and the Directory (1795-1799). The Reign of Terror: A period of violence and mass executions led by figures such as Robespierre. Proclamation of the Republic: The monarchy was abolished and King Louis XVI was executed in 1793. The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte: At the end of the revolution, General Napoleon Bonaparte emerged as a prominent figure, marking the end of the revolutionary period and the beginning of a new chapter in French history with the creation of the French Empire.

In Western history, the 18th century is also called the "Age of Enlightenment," due to the birth of the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment. [1] In this context, the 18th century is fundamental to understanding the modern world, as many of the political, social, economic, cultural, and intellectual events of those years have extended their influence to the present day. For several historians of Western historiography, it is the last of the centuries of the Modern Age and the first of the Contemporary Age, conventionally taking as the dividing moment between the two the years 1765 (steam engine), 1751 (L'Encyclopédie), 1776 (Independence of the United States) or, more commonly, 1789 (French Revolution). [4]

Following the political and military chaos of the 17th century, the 18th century, while not without conflict, witnessed a remarkable development in European arts and sciences thanks to the Enlightenment, a cultural movement characterized by the reaffirmation of the power of human reason over faith and superstition. The old social structures, based on feudalism and vassalage, were challenged and eventually collapsed, while, particularly in England, the Industrial Revolution and the economic takeoff of Europe began. During this century, Western European civilization consolidated its dominance in the world and extended its influence across the globe.