I'm going to be playing 7th Sea soon for the first time and this seemed like the best place to get some help. I don't have a solid concept in my head right now but I know that what I want to do, primarily, is help the rest of the group. I hope that the more experienced players and GMs here can give me some advice on building a character and playing such a character (by which I mean 'what sort of things I should do to help'). Any help that you can offer is appreciated.

I'm in the process of building my first villains for 7th Sea and I was wondering if you spend influence at the beginning if you want your villain to start with a villain minion or start with a scheme in motion.

So, in a world of political intrigue, power plays, and greed; I imagine that this world would have multiple villains, but more importantly multiple villains in the same plot line.

I was wondering if any one had any guidance on what is a suitable challenge for a party of three new players, one duelist.

What sort of level of Brute Squads or Villains should they be facing? To be an easy, average or difficult challenge?