A friend of mine, Troy Holaday, suggested I wait to see the ingredients, see if they inspire me.
...
What, really? Are you serious?!?
Fleur-de-lys? Look at my hat! I'm wearing one on my hat!!! The fleur-de-lys is an important Québecois symbol, one that defines our culture as being of French descent. There's four of them on our flag, see?
And the next one? Dividers? They might as well say Separatists, now, wouldn't they?
And the theme is intrigue. That fits quite nicely too. The Night of Long Knives, or the October Crisis, or the Patriot War, they all had a bit (or a lot) of intrigue.
Seabird and star don't fit, however. Not yet, anyway... And in any case, they don't really need to.
That's pretty heavy, political stuff. It's actual, and I identify with those issues. I'm quite passionate about them. That's a good and bad thing at the same time. I would have to be careful not to turn my game into a propaganda device, while at the same time not apologising for picking this subject, and for treating it from my perspective, my point of view.
One of the other awards gave me pause though, an idea for a much lighter game. There was a hockey team in Québec City called the Nordiques, they had quite a rivalry with the Montreal Habs, but they were moved to (Colorado, I think) in the 90s, changing their name to Avalanches. They won the Stanley Cup twice since then...
I don't know, nor care, much for hockey, but I recognize it as a fundamental part of the Québecois culture, and a game about it, not the hockey itself, but the rivalry (dividers) and shadow dealings (intrigue) could prove interesting.
I'll sleep on it.
