Stories were told of a monster so great, so powerful, that it had led to downfall of the largest city of the dwarves in the Spine. Some say that it was a lich who had been sleeping in his tomb under the Spine, waiting for the right moment to strikes. Others believe it to be an ancient red dragon who came for the gold stored inside the city. The story tellers always incite would-be-adventurers to set off on a journey to find a way into this city so that they may find the riches that lay within the gildled walls. Yet, no adventurer has ever succesfully found the ancient city nor do any dwarves survive from that time who lived there. Those who are still living have passed on the story of how to gain access to the hold of in the Spine.

In recent years, the Arcazia Empire has fallen into a depression. People are looking for ways to make a living and a flame has been lit by the story tellers, a flame so great that it might just consume the lives of those caught in it. Farmers have sold their lands and seeds so that they may go and search for the treasure in the mountains. Groups form on a dialy basis of former city guards and hunters who are looking for a way to make a name for themselves. Few of these people are likely to ever find the treasure except for a group of people who were to gather in the small village of Toruka. They had seen the message on the boards of this mystery man who claimed to know a way into the ancient dwarven city. If what the man said was true, then all involved would live their lives as kings or die in the ancient city. But that was often the possibilties of adventures.


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So, this roleplay seems like your basic adventure to earn fame and fortune. But, I have no intention of it being just that. I have plans for the future which will turn this from a simple adventure. I won't spoil anything yet so I will leave the rest to your imagination. Now, let's get down to basics. You will be one of the few(I am limiting the roster to ten characters) to respond to the mystery man's call to action. Your characters can be of a variety of fantasty races ranging from a dwarf to a dark elf. Magic does exist but only a select few can use it. The characters aren't likely to be all that powerful at the beginning of the story. After all, it wasn't until recently that large groups of people started looking for the treasure beneath the Spine. The earlier adventurers were often drunkards or young men and women who were looking for fame.

I will, of course, explain more in the OOC. Not everything is set in stone for this roleplay as I intend the plot to be ever evolving. Somewhere along the line we might lose players so I will put in chances for new players to be introduced. I will get to work on the OOC once we have four people who are interested in this. Mean while enjoy this.

Well, color me interested! Also, that song is beautiful.

Very interested!

I'm very interested as well! I would like to know a bit more about how magic works in this setting, though.

This looks pretty cool, I'm interested

Interested

I'm interested as well.

Very interested. Count me in!

Well, that is more people then I thought would be interested. Anyway, I will start work on the OOC. You can expect it later today or early tomorrow. Now to explain magic.

All magic comes from a singular source of magic known as Prime. Many speculations have been made as to what Prime actually is but it is generally accepted that it is not naturally found in the world at large. Researchers into Prime believe that magic users are basically tears in their world from which Prime trickles in. In recent years, mages have been sent to academies for training. At these academies, the young apprentices are taught that they are dangerous and should never be trusted. Many accounts of abuse have been heard, leaking from the academies, but it is rare for the city guard to do anything to help the apprentices.

Now to move to the kinds of Prime magic. There are three branches of Prime magic, each with a different power level and abilities from the other. The first and most powerful of the branches is Primal Magic. This magic is of a more innate nature to its users, which come from all races. Primal magic is divided into three branches; elemental, shape shifting, and conjuration. Primal magic is very powerful but it consumes a lot of the users Prime magic. The second branch of Prime magic is Rune Magic. Rune magic has the capability of being as powerful as Primal magic if the proper runes are used. Often times, rune magic is used in time consuming rituals and focus almost primarily on creation magic. Despite this, there is a less accepted form of rune magic where the mage would have the runes tattooed onto his or her body. This form of rune magic is often used in correlation with magic ranging from elemental to abjuration magic. The users of Rune magic are from any race except for elvish races.

The third and final form of magic is known as Focus magic. Focus magic doesn't have as much potential power as it brothers but requires less Prime in order to be used. Many users of focus magic use abjuration or evocation. Focus magic, despite its lack of strength, is the only magic known to produce necromancers and demonologists. Many races are capable of using focus magic except for dwarves. Focus magic and Rune magic are the two magic branches taught in academies(which discourage the use of Primal magic). I will be limiting the number of mages in the part to only three. Note that one does not have to go to an academy to learn Focus magic or Rune magic.

I am very interested. Would I be able to reserve a rune Mage slot?

Possibly interested. I would like to be a magic user but if a lot of people are then I'll opt for a good 'ol barbarian.

I'm interested. Love an ever-evolving RP

MonkeyBusiness said
I am very interested. Would I be able to reserve a rune Mage slot?

Sure. Now there are only two slots open for magic users. And, the interest of everybody else above puts us at a total of ten characters.

And thus I bring unto the world the OOC of What Lies Below!

Shame. I found this quite interesting. A lot of potential for lovecraftian horrors in the idea of the lost Spine.