Conspiracy Line II

This dev log on the Conspiracy Line is largely a reorganizing of the same ideas I had in the previous one. I realized that it would be most effective to plot out what one key point I wanted the player to learn about the conspiracy each scene. The conspiracy is so complicated, and so are the motives of everyone involved, so I think it would be easier for students if they just learned one major idea towards the end of each level leading up to Level Five. 

As the game progresses, players will learn that the Medici family has made many enemies. It will become increasingly clear that, although they are currently in power due to their patronage networks, they are in a very fragile position because of the powerful people who get snubbed by this same network.

Below is a plot diagram showing the broad structure of the whole game. The Inciting Incident, where the player gets clued into the tension of Medici power, occurs at the very end of Level One when they meet the Pazzi family. The Climax of the whole game takes place in the middle of Level Five where the whole conspiracy plays out and is resolved. Most of the game, as with all stories, takes place in the Rising Action where the tension slowly grows. 

Below is a more detailed breakdown of what I want players to learn about the conspiracy in each level:

At the end of Level One: Key Characters, players will learn:

• Who the Pazzi family is and why the Pazzi are a major rival to the Medici
  • another very old aristocratic Florentine family who got rich off of banking
• Why the Pazzi dislike the Medici/their motives for joining the conspiracy
  • want more control in the government, want better business/investment deals and more banking business
  • when the Medici wouldn't give the Pope a loan of 40,000 ducats to buy Imola (a strategically important territory in northern Italy) for his nephew Girolamo Riario, the Pazzi provided the funds and gained the Riario family as powerful allies

At the end of Level Two: Patronage of the Arts, players will learn:

• Who is the Riario family and why are they important figures in Italy at this time?
  • The Pope is from the Riario family and his "nephews" (likely sons) benefit from his nepotism by getting good church positions, or in the case of Girolamo, rulership over large important tracts of land in the Papal States
• Why does the Riario family dislike the Medici?
  • Girolamo Riario
    • power in Romagna going unchallenged by Lorenzo's alliance with Milan
    • payback for Lorenzo meddling in family business, trying to prevent him from purchasing Imola
  • The Pope
    • no competition for his nepotism, esp in Tuscany; the Pope can award cardinals hats and archbishoprics to whoever he wants wherever he wants without Lorenzo challenging him to give those positions to his family or allies

At the end of Level Three: Patronage of Humanism, players will learn:

• Who is Archbishop Francesco Salviati?
  • blood ties to the Riario family, marriage ties to Pazzi and Medici
  • heavily benefits from the nepotism of the Pope and his Riario family 
  • Archbishop of Pisa - position granted by the Pope but in Medici-controlled Tuscany
• Why does he dislike the Medici?
  • Lorenzo tried to block him from getting the Archbishopric of Pisa and failed. When he was awarded the position, Lorenzo blocked him from entering Tuscany, so he spent several years in Rome away from his new post.
  • loyalty to his benefactor, the Pope/the Riario's

At the end of Level Four: Patronage of Elites, players will learn:

• In what ways are the Medici corrupt?
  • Run Florence from their dining table 
    • meeting with Florentine elites: everyone can be elected and the terms are really short for every office, so they meet with active politicians as well as elites that could become elected
    • meeting with international elites: ambassadors from different states and/or the Church, hosting important figures while they do business in Florence
  • Use Medici money to bail out Florence/fund state projects rather than using tax money
  • Never hold high offices, but stack the election lottery with loyalists and throw out unfavorable names from the "random" lottery to control the Signoria
• How do other elites respond to that?
  • Either they benefit from the network and are pro-Medici, or they feel snubbed and want a regime change that would better serve their own personal interests

The Conspiracy Line of the last level will be structured differently because the whole level is about the Pazzi Conspiracy. Here, players will learn:

• What do the conspirators want to replace the Medici?
  • same system of corruption and manipulation, just in different hands: Pazzi in charge of Florence and using their power to help out their international allies and promote Papal interests in Tuscany
• Why do they believe the Medici can successfully be ousted?
  • Lots of allies (international, condottieri, the Pope)
    • The Riario clan can hire the loyalty of Giovanni Battista da Montescco, who already commands an army paid by the Pope at this time
  • the people are fickle - when someone makes a power grab, the people will switch sides to support the victor
  • Money and resources that rival the Medici (banking, art, palazzo, churches, etc.)
• How do they plan to oust the Medici?
  • They will have a group of people kill Lorenzo and a separate group of people kill Giuliano at Sunday mass
  • Giovanni Battista da Montescco will wait outside the walls of Florence with his army to secure the city for the Pazzi
  • They will use papal resources and unofficial support to get away with it cleanly
• Are they successful?
  • No, they only kill Giuliano, so Lorenzo is able to consolidate power in Florence and create an even stricter pro-Medici regime
  • Nearly everyone associated with the conspiracy (or the conspirators) is killed or exiled