Awakening of the Stone Dragons <modern fantasy>

[Kagamine]

Here is an idea I have mostly fleshed out and am very eager to start, but I would like some suggestions on a few things.

Premise:

The idea behind this roleplay is that dragons did exist, once, but eventually all dragons were either slain or, as the RP focuses on, sealed away by the power of mages into stone figurines. These figurines, although they looked and felt just like ordinary stone, did indeed contain a dragon that looked like the figurine- each one completely dormant, practically dead, or at least as good as dead. At any rate, they remained dormant for thousands of years, leading up to the modern day. By then, of course, no one believes that dragons exist, or rather existed. The RP is basically set in the world as we know it. What happens is, the seal on the figurines begins to break, and the breaking seal is, for some reason, accelerated by the presence of a human. The RP premise is that the figurines will be found by human characters (still figuring out how) and the seal will begin to break while they are in possession of the figurines. Now, the seals break in stages- in the first stage, the dragon is conscious, and can communicate with the human through telepathy basically, but they're still just a stone figure that can't move. In the second stage, they gain a physical body, but they're still the size of the figurine. There's another stage or two of intermediate sizes, the exact number I have not yet determined, and then the seal is completely broken when the dragon is at full size and full strength. The RP is about the reactions the humans, and dragons (who will also be played by RPers) will have to the situation at hand as the seals continue to break. The humans have sort of stumbled across living, breathing dragons, and will need to figure out what the hell to do with them. The dragons will have to figure out what happened to them, adapt to thousands of years gone by without them, and focus on freeing themselves and pursuing their desires.

There's a lot of potential, I think, but I still have some holes to patch up. I should point out now that this RP is technically a remake, albeit it had a lot of design flaws in the original that caused it to fail, that I'm making sure to fix this time around, hence why I'm asking these questions. Here's what I'd like to have figured out before I start the OOC;

Questions:

1) What accelerates the breaking of the seal? I want to avoid a vague explanation, since, with the players and even myself not sure what to do, well, that's one of the reasons why the original didn't fare well. I want a clear explanation of what causes it, this time.

2) Number of stages for awakening? I gave a brief description of the 'stages' to the breaking seals in my short synopsis, but I did mention I wasn't sure on the exact amount. The original had the first two aforementioned stages, then an intermediate stage (about the size of a horse), then full awakening. Though, I was considering adding a stage between the 2nd and intermediate stages this time, which, in my head, I've been calling the "pet stage" since it's about the size of a dog or cat. Adding more stages would make transition seem more, I dunno, smoother? Since going from a few inches tall to horse-sized might seem a bit odd. But, I fear that adding too many stages will only make the RP slower. I'm leaving this up to you guys- which would you rather have?

3) Overarching plot/direction/goal/antagonist? Like I said, it was the vagueness and lack-of-direction behind the original that killed it. This time, I want some sort of direction or antagonist put in place, as opposed to just "now there are dragons coming to life that keep getting bigger, go crazy". I really don't know what I want in terms of a plot and/or antagonist, so for now, just toss out any suggestions.

4) How did these guys get their hands on the dragons? This isn't exactly completely necessary to the survival of the RP, just a big plothole that's bugging me. These little figurines, that used to be actual dragons... how did our human characters come across them? I'm really not sure. Kind of looking for an explanation that makes sense.

So yeah, kinda want the above terms (or at least the first three) sorted out before we start. Feel free to comment if you have any ideas, or even just any questions or suggestions about the RP in general- I like getting questions, especially when I'm still fleshing out the idea, myself. Questions help me think. And of course feel free to post even if this just looks interesting to you. Planning for a long-lasting RP this time.

[Kingdoml1]

I quite like the idea. The setting of this would be in the present time ?

[Kagamine]

I quite like the idea. The setting of this would be in the present time ?

Yes. Set in modern day, in, essentially, the world as we know it. (Which would also mean, no one really believes in dragons and things of that nature.)

[Kingdoml1]

Yes. Set in modern day, in, essentially, the world as we know it. (Which would also mean, no one really believes in dragons and things of that nature.)

Alrighty then I'm thinking of what makes the seal fade away or brake and what first came to mind was that the magic was wearing off due to pollution and such. In this instance it would mean that Magic came from the earth and it gets weaker as people destroy it. Now one could let it be at that, but as I see it, it would require a lot of time and it's hard to say when it has reached a certain point. Instead why not make it so that after the first seal or stage has been broken, the dragon is capable of gathering power to brake the next seal or stage. That way the players actions could affect the speed the dragon is going in stages.
Well that's what came to my mind atleast.

On the second point I like the idea of having a dog stage of the dragon. This way the character would have to get used to hiding a small dragon from people and now it doesn't quite fit in your pocket xD

Third one is a bit harder depending on what you want. I mean there is the classic " Uncle sam want's your dragon! " or just some " evil " organisation like Team Rocket.

The fourth point ... Why not let everyone tell how they got their hands on them?

[Drakel]

You have held my interest.

[Kingdoml1]

You have held my interest.

I just knew you would show up at some point ^^

[Drakel]

I just knew you would show up at some point ^^

Actually, I wasn't fully interested at first. I'm not really into the Dragon RPs, however when I saw that it was in Modern times more then fantasy I couldn't resist. It has been some time since I've played a Modern RP.

That, and since it is modern and that we only know stories of them in the past I could also be of assistance. I might even have my Dragon be a far weaker version of the Quetzalcoatl, a Dragon who was deemed as god by the Aztecs after he helped them and one day, without warning disappeared because they refused to cease war.

[Kingdoml1]

Well I'm glad you got intrested in this as you do have a remarkable knowledge of Dragons

[Drakel]

Well I'm glad you got intrested in this as you do have a remarkable knowledge of Dragons

Thanks for the compliment. Though, I mostly have it down to a minor science with some understanding of the mythology. The rest is just theory and idle talk.

[Kagamine]

Alrighty then I'm thinking of what makes the seal fade away or brake and what first came to mind was that the magic was wearing off due to pollution and such. In this instance it would mean that Magic came from the earth and it gets weaker as people destroy it. Now one could let it be at that, but as I see it, it would require a lot of time and it's hard to say when it has reached a certain point. Instead why not make it so that after the first seal or stage has been broken, the dragon is capable of gathering power to brake the next seal or stage. That way the players actions could affect the speed the dragon is going in stages.
Well that's what came to my mind atleast.

I really like the idea of pollution being the thing that caused it, however I was hoping that something to do with the humans would accelerate it in some way. After all, what I originally had in mind was that the awakening would reach stage 1 after the dragon came in contact with a specific human, and then they would awaken at slightly different speeds based on... some variable. This is the part that needs work.

But the pollution thing was smart, I'll probably use it.

Third one is a bit harder depending on what you want. I mean there is the classic " Uncle sam want's your dragon! " or just some " evil " organisation like Team Rocket.

Experience has proven to me that throwing a Team Rocket-esque organization into an otherwise direction-less RP tends to give it a lasting plot that lets it last for a long time. However, the problem with doing that here would be why such an organization wants to get its hands on the dragons. ...Plus I'm just kind of "meh" to the idea in general simply because I've done it before, even if it was successful. XD I'll wait to see if anyone has a better idea, but this is a good fallback.

The fourth point ... Why not let everyone tell how they got their hands on them?

Well yeah, I kind of figured they would. What that question was trying to get at, more accurately, is how did all these figurines resurface in the first place, especially so close together (since we want our human-dragon pairs to be able to find each other).

That, and since it is modern and that we only know stories of them in the past I could also be of assistance. I might even have my Dragon be a far weaker version of the Quetzalcoatl, a Dragon who was deemed as god by the Aztecs after he helped them and one day, without warning disappeared because they refused to cease war.

I was planning on coming up with my own description of what dragons were like 'back then', which I already have the basis for, but since I know you have a greater knowledge of dragon mythos than me, I'd love it if you could help me flesh it out.