Your Royal Family with new pack?

My plan is to have two rivals vying for the throne of Ondarion. One of them is Callum Thebe (formerly Andreas Spellguard), part of the Spellguard royal family who ruled over Ondarion. He was the illegitimate son of the princess and a handmaid, and it was only because of his grandmother - the queen - demanded he stay. He was always an outcast amongst his family and strived for approval that never came. Once his grandmother died, his family cast him out. Cordelia Thebe's family helped him escape to Innisgreen and start a new life. When his family was wiped out, he came back to Ondarion and abdicated the throne to the Thebe family, as thanks for protecting him for years. Now, he's their ally and serves them.

My other sim is a spellcaster, Daryl Stellar. He happens to be part of two royal bloodlines. (One parent is the descendant of the Fairy King Oberon, the other is a descendant of the Vampire King Sanguine.) He attends a Royal Ball to spite the Dambale royals, after some of them insult him. He secretly uses magic to get ahead or pull pranks on the royals. Callum, having spent years in Innisgreen, is the only one to recognize the magic, and is determined to stop him from hurting the Thebes.

So my gameplay will be about their rivalry, where Callum tries to stop Daryl from getting near the Thebe family or advancing as a noble. Meanwhile, Daryl sees Callum's obstacles as a challenge to overcome. They continually get in each other's way.

Then it turns out that all the other royal families worked to bring down the Spellguards. Cordelia saving Callum was, in fact, one part of a grand scheme to take the throne. Daryl finds out, but Callum doesn't believe him. So the two will end up learning sword-fighting to have a duel on equal terms - the winner gaining rights to marry Cordelia Thebe's daughter and become the family's heir.

I know exactly how I'm gonna start. I'm gonna retcon the affair between Cordelia and Fia by having it be a setup by a spellcaster who used the infatuate spell. 

Here's a breakdown: 

Bellacorde invaded Verdemar years back, when Cordelia was a teenager. She and the other survivors fled to Henford-on-Bagley. Years later, they returned with revenge and took Verdemar back. 

Recently, after growing stronger and more cunning, Bellacorde hired a spellcaster to "infatuate" Cordelia and Fia, as well as planting the maid in the exact right spot to witness the two in the act. 

The affair wasn't fake in the sense that it never happened, but it was artificial; carefully curated to weaken Cordelia's power so they could rule instead.

Cordelia and Fia decide after the one-time affair that they're gonna figure out some way to prove they were somehow incapacitated. They end up finding a library in Bellacorde through a secret passageway (even they didn't know about it, but it also leads to Cordelia's cottage). They notice an out-of-place tome and read it. It mentions a spell to cause irresistible infatuation between two sims, even if they didn't already know each other. 

The margins mention snippets of the scheme, and they know they can't leave without it. So, they take it with them back to Verdemar, all of the way to Glimmerbrook, and through the portal to the Magic Realm (the tome mentioned the realm and had directions to it from Ondarion).

So, they talk to the magical sages, who tell them about a guy who randomly visited to learn "Infatuate" and then left when he was done. They don't know where he lives it what his purpose was, but they do know his name (TBD) and appearance, which Cordelia and Fia memorize quickly under the pressure. 

Then, they leave for a lab located along the path they'd taken from Verdemar to Glimmerbrook. There, they hand the tome to a scientist, who analyzes the fingerprints. Long story short, they catch the spellcaster, and Cordelia gets off scot-free... almost. 

There's one last detail: she and Fia did invade Bellacorde AND steal a tome from the library. Since they had to be held accountable, they got public censure. Basically, it's a strong disapproval and an official recognition of misconduct without losing any freedom or power. 

Since it was unlawful BUT also to prove the other party guilty and clear Cordelia's name, they let them both off easily. It's a one-time warning not to do it again, but it's not a full punishment. They of course had to return the tome to Bellacorde and publicly apologize to them, but it's so much better than it easily could've been.

You said Callum was Cordelia's son. If that's true, he can't marry her daughter. She's his sister!!

I'm just going to continue my current playthrough because they ARE a royal family from a neighbor game 😅

I'm just going to turn off aging for the time being, then once I've set up the royalty thing from the new pack the legacy can continue. Not sure if other towns can be monarch'd but I'm thinking Brindleton Bay and/or Tartosa. Maybe San Myshuno, even?

I'm getting several more ideas that I'll have to mull over. Waiting for the next gameplay trailer before I decide.

Cordelia isn't his mother. The Thebes helped him escape his original family, and he later takes Cordelia's side. He just took a new name when he integrated with the Thebe family.