Rota Regna

Rota Regna, literally meaning Wheel [of] Reign, is a powerful item that bestows certain powerful creatures with an additional totally randomized dose of luck, uneffected by natural universe bias and far more powerful. It is a much weaker force than other Bureau artifacts, and, with hard work, its negative effects can be overcome (though they are forever present).

Administered by Vannah Fortuna- who, in official power, holds about as much sway as Mandy Mortis and Becky -this item is spun at random and ends at random. Its outcome effects a given head of state or other prominent figure.

It is part of the Narrator's branch of the corporate governance, therefore meaning that the Wheel, and Vannah, answer to Mayor McFlapp. Its power is also shared with the Board of Fiction, and is used when arguments appear on the destiny of a powerful character.

In addition, the Wheel can operate a check and balance to The Stampers Five. It can change a Stamper's stamp... -but only through total randomness.

The Wheel
Rota Regna is comprised, naturally, of a large wheel and a small pointer. When the wheel is grabbed and spun, whatever panel it stops on determines the fate of the designated sovereign.

Appearence
The wheel is bright and segmented. Each segment is a different color, with its own writing and result. It sits on a large platform, and it is grabbed and spun by Vannah from the red, blue, and yellow countertop behind it.

Each of its segments have their own purpose. Written both in Antican and English, the four segments are as follows, from top and going counter-clockwise. The first phrase is written horizontally on the panel, the second vertically (and it's smaller).


 * "I reign"/$5000
 * "I reigned"/LOSE A TURN
 * "My reign is finished"/BANKRUPT
 * "I shall reign"/FREE SPIN

Powers
Each segment also exhibits a power on its chosen victim. Whatever is set on the wheel will be effected by its spin. It can change the positions of the victim, making them rise or fall in total randomness, and no creature can effect the outcome without facing serious consequences.


 * Operation of the Wheel works as follows:


 * Vannah Fortuna recieves an order from her superiors to determine a victim's destiny.
 * The name of the victim given, Vannah conjures up a stuffed/plush replica of that creature and places it in the center of the Wheel.
 * Vannah grabs the Rota Regna and spins it with all her good-looking might.
 * The Wheel spins and stops on one of the four panels. Sound effects play, and other such things occur.
 * A printer nearby prints the results, where bureaucrats stand by to transport to other character-related bureaucrats.

Effects on luck

 * The I Reign/$5000 panel gives the victim extraordinarily good luck for life. His or her position(s) of power will more likely be permanent if untampered with by higher powers. This does not neccesarily mean they are good or bad, it just means that they're really lucky. It also does not effect how good they reign, just how long they reign without danger to their rule. It is hard to unseat a ruler favored by Rota Regna, but certainly not impossible.
 * A lucky character will be much harder to hit with snowballs, weapons, gunfire, and other things, and will miss many a snare by sheer coincidence, like picking up a coin or turning the other way. Lucky rulers are harder to coup, simply because the would-be Resistance can't take the ruler out or down.


 * The I Reigned/LOSE A TURN panel does nothing to effect the victim. In fact, it significantly diminishes all luck- good or bad -on said creature. The victim probably won't get a casino jackpot, but he or she will never find themselves missing the bus on a rainy day, splattered in mud on the very moment they need to be punctual. If they are in power, the other factors, in addition to their own merits and environment, will be what affects them. They could be as cemented as a favored character, or removable as a cursed one, all based on their work.
 * An unfavored character as this could be couped, but only if the Resistance sent to do it is extremely talented or if the ruler slips up and gets trapped. They are favored neither way and are solely taken out or saved by their merits and the merits of their enemies.


 * The My Reign is Finished/BANKRUPT panel curses the victim with bad luck. They will tend to be more accident prone, and things will tend to go against them. If in power, they are forced to work extra hard (or be sneaky, or both) to keep their position. They are the kind of poor creature that tends to get hurt, or fall down, or drop things. They also tend to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, and like all panels, this does not effect their personalities or their abilities. They can be easily unseated from any position they get, unless the work their butts off to stay there. If a cursed character is in power, he or she is truly a self-made creature.
 * Characters cursed by Rota Regna will experience bad luck a lot. Even weak/pathetic Resistances could knock the cursed character out of power if they get lucky, and skilled rebels find it a cakewalk. However, if the unlucky character works hard enough, they can retain their reign, even though the rebels are favored by the Wheel. It is always an upward struggle for a cursed character.


 * The I Shall Reign/FREE SPIN panel places the victim in an odd state of limbo. They will experience equal dosages of good and bad luck (like RL), and if they get in power, they can easily lose the job if they dare slip up. While all panels still allow luck to be slightly manipulated by superstition (e.g. four leaf clovers, horseshoes, ect.), those that land here will experience tremendous gains or losses depending on the item. In power, they are sometimes assisted like a favored character, and other times, their enemies are assisted like a cursed character. Or, like an untouched character, no favor happens.

Revocability
Contray to what it may look like, Rota Regna is actually far less powerful than it really is. The decision of the Rota Regna, while final and permanent, can be overcome in many ways.

Any character, regardless of other forms of bias and universe conspiring, can overcome much of their fate on the Wheel. The Wheel does not set anything about them, bias or not. Rota Regna gives them luck (or curses them with the opposite by giving their enemies luck). Luck, as a random factor that effects everday lives, can be overcome, if the victim is indeed inflicted with something.


 * For example, a character cursed by the Wheel with bad luck can still get into power, but he or she will have to work and strive with all their might to overcome their odds, as the Wheel has landed them in an uphill struggle. A cursed creature with lots of power despite the constant bad luck (falling, mirrors, robberies, etc. etc.) is a truly hard-working one, and tend to get admiration from those who can break the Fourth Wall.


 * On the flip side, powerful characters favored by the Wheel can slip up if they are that incompetent. In power or authority, zthey are favored in any situation, so if they screw up, it's pretty sad.

Correlation to Stamper bias
The Stampers Five set literal bias for or against a creature. This bias is a part of them and can not be altered. Rota Regna sets a creature's luck. These are entirely different from one-another and can contrast. A pure evil character can be blessed with good luck, but the nicest darn creature you ever did see could be forever doomed to misfortune. This is the randomness of the Wheel.

Reversing a Stamper
It is a common fact that The Stampers Five screw up a lot. A villain can get good bias, a hero bad. It is extremely hard to order a reverse (primarily because of all of the red tape to do it), but successful reversal forms can be reversed in two manners. One is by lengthy forms and many approvals, and the other is by Rota Regna. Each require paperwork, but Rota Regna calls for much less.

In the event of a Regna Revoke- as the re-bias is called -the character's file is brough to the Wheel, where the smaller, vertical writing comes to play.


 * The Wheel can do one of four things, depending on the panels discussed earlier. Here, the vertical writing takes over.


 * The I Reign/$5000 panel has the thing sent back to the Stampers, who cross out the old title with a special "Marker of Fate", and restamp it with a "GOOD" stamp.


 * The I Reigned/LOSE A TURN panel orders the stampers to replace the crossed out error and replace it with a "NEUTRAL" stamp.


 * The My Reign is Finished/BANKRUPT panel sends the file to be replaced with a "BAD" stamp


 * The I Shall Reign/FREE SPIN panel orders for Vannah to spin the wheel again until she gets one of the above three.

Vannah Fortuna
Vannah Fortuna is a tall, attractive penguin that operates the Rota Regna. She is a happy penguin with a fantastic smile and outgoing personality, but when off work, she is a compulsive gambler and an amazing choir singer (and Gregorian chanter if need be).

Hatchinga nd chickhood
Vannah hails from Las Puffles. Her father, always a traditionalist, had carried Vannah's egg on his foot for weeks. When he was in Las Puffles (yet again) playing the slots, Vannah hatched right there in the middle of a pull. Overjoyed, he exited the casino (totally unaware that he had hit the jackpot) and showed Vannah's mother her new chick.

She was also overjoyed, and not only because of her father's joy, but because this female chick was already as cute as a button. Also, and her father had ignored this, but she cried loudly when she was taken out of the casino pit to her mother, and while she stopped crying when standing next to her mother, she would cry elsewhere. All attempts to silence the little bird were futile. Vannah's father and mother were upset, so they decided to take their crying chick with them to the casino pit to play some games while keeping an eye on her. Perhaps the flashing lights and sounds would calm her down.

Indeed, they did. Little Vannah immediantly fell complacent when in the casino halls. She was awed at the machines and games and never made a peep when she was there. In fact, she laughed every time her father would play a slot machine (she thought pulling the lever was just the funniest thing ever).

Gambling and court
As she aged, from chickhood and on to adolesence, Vannah frequented Las Puffles, and she gambled her heart out. She became a master at the games there, nailing everyone in everything from Go Fish to Old Maid to chess to Blackjack to Poker, and she could even come out on top in "chance" games like slots and roulette. So great was her luck, that others thought she was rigging the machines and dealers. Casino pit bosses nabbed her and had her play a game under strict surveillance. Her pretty sleeveless dress was scanned with a scanning security wand/stick, and despite all checks, she came out completely clean. There was no way that she could be a cheater... perhaps she was just that lucky! Vannah's explanation for her winning in cards was on one reason: "Voices in my head tell me the answers and what to do in any card game."

The staff laughed, but her winning did not lie.

Vannah continued to rake in money from Las Puffles. She came close to draining the house several times, and even though the losers refilled their coffers, the casinos came too close to breaking even for comfort too many times. The City Council of Las Puffles agreed to ban her from entering the city limits and from stepping a webbed foot in any casino that borders the property.

She was heartbroken and her family was outraged that a casino banned her just because she won. They sued, and a local court overturned the ban, because she didn't cheat nor break a law... she was just lucky. The court opinion, once encoded into krytocratic law, was interpreted by future justices in saying that casinos could not kick any winner out unless they cheated, no matter how much their profits were hurt.

In Vannah's case, hearing voices was not cheating, as Vannah did not have control over them and did not summon them or ask them... they just came. They were not from some spy or assistant with a microphone, they were purely natural and within her mind. There was no way it was cheating if it just spoke to her like that.

Invitation
Still, Vannah was saddened that she won so much. It had many advantages, but it also had drawbacks. Vannah didn't always win, but losses were rare to the point that she rejoiced at a loss the same way a normal penguin would cheer for a win. The odds just seemed to be stacked in her favor indefinately, particularly in games of chance.

The Masters of the Universe noticed this, and decided that she would be perfect for their company. She was "invited" to "Ampersand Publishing" for a gambling-related job with a threefold multiplacation of her current salary as a casino dealer. How could she say no?

Involvement
Vannah's BOF job is the Rota Regna. She simply closes her eyes and spins the thing when she is told that she needs to do so. She was chosen, they claimed, because she was so lucky that it had to be Fourth Wall power, and they were right. Vannah agreed on this, mainly because she had long heard voices in her head (and those voices often told her the answers to card games). She settled into her new job and loved it immediantly. Though, being a big-hearted penguin, she felt immense remorse when the Wheel cursed a good creature. The BOF had to increase her salary and comfort her sobbing to compensate.

Vannah is a warm and cheerful presence in the BOF. She is certainly not stupid nor oblivious/naive, but she isn't a super-genius, either; she is simply adequete. She enjoys talking to other employees, and particularly to new ones, and she always seems to give the right advice for a sad penguin. Her smile can brighten a room, and she always dresses her best... even though her best is always a floor-length sleeveless dress. Still, employees love her. Even Benny has a bit of respect for Vannah, though this is mainly because she doesn't cross him and because she is pretty (the absolute main reason is that she is good at her job). Benny could care less about her being a good creature or possessing a warm personality.

To Benny, Vannah was good at her job, and so she stayed. However, like any creature in the universe, Vannah is disposable. A new creature could take her place if the plot demanded it and it was complacent with the universe's doctrine. Of course, that opinion is not different for any creature except Benny himself and his family, so Vannah should not fear that.

Vannah's trivia

 * Vannah is an obvious parody of Vanna White, the famous letter-turning hostess of Wheel of Fortune. The parodee of the Rota Regna is called "Rota Fortunae", or Wheel of Fortune, so the pun is irresistable.


 * Vannah, when not working, will always be playing some sort of game with her employees. In the BOF, her mega-luck is somehow neutralized, making her rely on skill alone (and she loves that). She wins a lot, anyways.


 * Vannah is a friend of Mandy Mortis and Becky. As the highest positions of the Bureau are all held by males, she holds the mutual feeling that "girls have to stick together". Mandy couldn't give a care and does not return the friendship, but Becky has certainly subscribed to Vannah's thinking, and the two enjoy each other's company.


 * She has suprisingly strong flippers. All of that heavy wheel spinning has helped her.


 * Vannah is an amzing singer, but she is best in a large, dramatic choir that sings in foreign languages. She attends choir every Tuesday when not on the job.


 * Vannah once beat Bugzy at Poker.

Trivia
Wheel of Fortune. There's a differnce: one is a Greek myth, the other a classic game show.
 * Rota Regna is a parody of the Wheel of Fortune and the


 * This was written on inspiration from the defunct "Wheel of History" and originated from a stream of links beginning at O Fortuna and ending at Rota Fortunae.

Internal Links

 * Vannah Fortuna
 * Department of Plot
 * The Stampers Five
 * Las Puffles
 * Communist Poker Face
 * Bugzy's Casino
 * Bureau of Fiction