The Elder Scrolls: Vengeance of the Deep
A Dervish and O|NoSoul Production
RP is full! Check back later.
NOTICE: This thread's formatting is pending updates to the editing functions.
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For thousands of years, we reigned supreme, the masters of logic and progress, the builders of the mightiest civilization Nirn has ever seen. We were mighty! We challenged the gods, our advancement growing so great as to threaten them. Our metal was indestructible; our constructs designed to function for eternity. We have travelled realms outside of Mundus. There was nothing that could stand in our way, and even the arrogant aedra and daedra had grown to fear us.
Nothing terrifies a so-called god more than knowing that their time is finite; that mere mortals will one day cause them to bow at the knee or be crushed under the progress of their superiors, mortals they have for too long looked down upon as insects. But it was not them who had punished us for our audacity; it was ourselves and the treachery of the lesser races we shared the world with. The whimpering, pathetic falmer who crawled to us because they were weak, the crude barbarian Nords who adhere to abhorrent superstitions and achieved their aims by savagery, and the hated chimer alike all challenged our authority and claim to the world. And for centuries, neigh! For millennia, we proved to them our superiority. It is sickening for the three and a half thousand years of our absence, they have inherited the world we had shaped and laid their filthy hands on the masterful cities and defile them!
We were so concerned with securing our dominance over the mortal races of Tamriel and building ourselves to surpass the gods that we forgot to keep our own arrogance in check. Our drive and ambition was limitless, we never stopped to ask ourselves if our own ingenuity could ever be our bane. Our audacity and recklessness into the void of discovery has banished us from Mundus, leaving our once mighty legacy in the hands of those whose minds are too feeble to grasp the very concepts of our accomplishments or begin to understand who we were.
For three and a half thousand years, we have been imprisoned in a realm of our own design. Our weapon to rid the world of the Nords once and for all backfired, instead banishing us from Tamriel when the Red Mountain erupted, due to the treachery of one of our own, Kagrnak, who promised our people enlightenment when he sympathized with the humans and betrayed his own kind. If not for him, all of Tamriel would have been under our rule centuries ago and we would have surpassed the gods. That was our destiny, and it is one we shall reclaim.
Fate has finally dealt us a hand we can, and shall, play right. No longer are we restricted to this world of our own creation. The time has come to reclaim what is ours, and to have our voices heard in Tamriel once more!
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Welcome to The Elder Scrolls: Vengeance of the Deep, the successor to The Elder Scrolls: Voice of the Sky. This RP takes place approximately two years after the previous one and will feature a returning cast of characters as well as many new faces. Knowledge of previous events isn’t necessary, but it helps, especially since new characters likely would have had a couple months being enthralled by the spell that was the focal point of the last game.
The TL;DR synopsis of the backstory below was that in the previous RP, the new Emperor had activated a spell of a very large magnitude and power that had enthralled more or less the entire continent of Tamriel, causing almost everyone who witnessed it to begin having their minds altered so that the Empire was seen as a great uniting force and the Emperor was to be the next Tiber Septim.
Those immune to the effects of the spell were hunted down and because of their unique genetic and spiritual make up, were used to power the spell via very magic-intensive sacrifice. The group of player characters the last time around joined together and made their way from Skyrim to Cyrodiil to an epic showdown that resulted in the assassination of the current Emperor, ending the spell (and thus, freeing everyone), and tipping the balance of power to the Emperor's young son, Tactus Mede. These characters are considered heroes and Champions, regardless of their past, and are enjoying something of a celebrity status and prestige akin to the Champion of Cyrodiil during Oblivion, the Dovahkiin in Skyrim, and the Nerevarine in Morrowind.
During one of their side quests into a previously unknown dwemer ruin of such size and scale that it crossed under the Jerall Mountains from Helgen to Bruma, the player characters had accidentally tripped a device while obtaining the Elder Scroll and lexicon needed to disrupt the Emperor’s spell by blocking the auroras. This device was a part of the networked devices that crossed across Tamriel from Hammerfell to Morrowind that resulted in the entirety of the dwemer population to vanish during the battle of the Red Mountain, thousands of years ago. This accidental tripping of the network has had an unforeseen and arguably terrible consequence of allowing the dwemer after three and a half thousand year absence to return from a realm of their own creation.
For those of you who don’t know anything about the dwemer, they’re basically among the biggest assholes who ever existed in Tamriel. They were technologically advanced beyond any other race (the fact that thousands of years after they vanished, their automata are still functioning as is much of the machinery found in dwemer ruins) and they were very conquest hungry and cruel. They had enslaved the falmer (snow elves) and twisted them into the blind degenerate horrors they are today. They also sought to drive out or destroy any of the other races that shared the regions they called home. Given time, they very likely could have. Before their disappearance, it was documented that the dwemer had obtained the ability to enter other realms separate from Mundus (the name of the physical realm Nirn (the name of the planet Tamriel is a part of) inhabits. It isn’t entirely unreasonable to assume that it was one of these realms the dwemer had all vanished to literally overnight, and given enough time, could have freely entered various realms of Oblivion.
And so that brings us to the current RP’s timeline, where Emperor Tactus Mede is hosting an event in the honour of the Champions in Imperial City and it will have been the first time many had seen each other in two years, having parted ways after stopping Felix Mede and ending the spell. New characters will be in Imperial City for one reason or another; I leave that up to players. This simply provides a common starting area for everyone to have a chance for characters to bump into each other or branch out from there.
When the RP starts, there will have been reports of something going on in the North, but nobody really has any solid information. Before long, characters will find themselves fleeing the emergent dwemer war machine, outfitted with technology and weaponry that has never existed on Tamriel as well as some old familiar designs. From there, it will be a matter of a player’s actions. Do you follow rumours of a resistance? Do you try and find out where the dwemer are coming from and put a stop to it? Or for those with a certain ambition, do you take part in one of the main factions and sue for power? Whatever your personal goal, there’s a good chance you can pursue it. You will not be bound to a single group for this RP and will be able to go as you please, although I highly recommend at least partnering up with a few people and keeping tabs on other groups. If you do go off away from GM player characters, you will be expected to be largely self-sufficient and capable of forging much of your own personal story. GMs will likely give these characters major NPCs to interact with, along with player created NPCs of little importance.
Things to Note:
- This takes place 7 years after the events of Skyrim
- The Empire had won the Civil War, Ulfric Stormcloak and his rebellion were crushed
- The College of Winterhold is flourishing and possesses the Eye of Magnus.
- The Mage’s Guild in Cyrodiil was abolished after the Oblivion Crisis and hasn’t existed for some time.
- The Dark Brotherhood has been entirely eliminated; the Night Mother has been captured and destroyed by the Praetorians prior to the events of the previous RP. No Night Mother means no Listener means no Speaker means no contracts. As well, many of the Brotherhood’s sanctuaries had been raided and all members discovered killed.
- The Dovahkiin was killed at the climax of the previous RP, there is no Dragonborn and all thu’um speakers are now exclusively in High Hrothgar.
- The Companions of Jorrvaskr are largely intact and still operating out of Whiterun. However, due to events of the previous RP, all of the members were committed to the Inner Circle and are now werewolves due to desperation. They’ve since expanded their membership a bit and anyone recruited in the past two years is not a part of the Inner Circle, although rumours of their true nature may be more readily known.
- The Fighters Guild is still flourishing in Cyrodiil.
- Morag Tong is enjoying a resurgence of power after the destruction of the Dark Brotherhood, being the only professional assassin organization of its size in Tamriel. However, it still operates almost exclusively in Morrowind with the very seldom involvement outside of that province’s borders.
- The Thieves Guild is alive and well in all parts of Tamriel, some chapters are doing better than others.
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RULES
1. No Godmodding or power gaming of any kind. We're telling a story, not having a competition to see who is the biggest badass. Not to say you can't do awesome things when it comes around time for combat, but know your limitations. This includes self-insert characters, backstories that are designed to give the character access to abilities, skills, and equipment that would be considered an unfair or overpowered advantage, autokilling NPCs during fights with virtually no effort put into it, taking on a room full of people single handedly, meta gaming, trying to have everyone treat your character like they’re something unique and special, your character knowing things they shouldn’t, et cetera. The goal here is believable characters.
2. The writing standard is high-casual. Read what you wrote over before you post, and ensure you have acceptable spelling and grammar. That said, I'm not a perfectionist, and mistakes are made by everyone. Just make an honest effort and we'll get along just fine. Posting expectations are at least 2 detailed paragraphs per post, probably more. If you think short paragraphs and single lines are the best thing in the world, than I direct you to the free section.
3. No speed posting. This means give other people a chance to post before you do. There won't be a strict posting order, but if I notice the same two people posting back and forward in a short time span without giving others involved in that group or conversation or whatever a chance to reply, I will not be happy. That said, if you have two characters conversing with each other, feel free to reply steadily back and forward if things are going slow. Just keep in mind posting expectations and if serious actions are taken during those posting, others will have to be taken into consideration.
4. If you are going to be absent for any length of time, please let me know. I’m not going to kill of your character or kick you to the curb because stuff came up. Real life comes first, but that said, do try to be fairly active. Your character will be controlled by a GM until you return. If you vanish without word for an unreasonable amount of time with no notification, there is a strong possibility your character will be killed off. If you’re going to join this RP, be somewhat active. The GMs are putting a lot of effort into making this enjoyable for the players, so please be committed and be in this for the long haul.
5. If you disagree with contents of someone's posts, don't turn the OOC into some horrible flame fest. We're all hopefully mature enough to settle disagreements through logical discourse. If things start to go into flame war territory, I will warn the players. Failure to STFU will lead to your banishment from this RP with nothing more than an angri faec to accompany you and your character being killed off brutally. Probably after through ogre rape.
6. If you want to do something, and you aren't sure, ask in the OOC so it can be discussed. Or, if you want it to be a surprise, PM the GMs. If it's a good idea, we'll work it into the plot. I like to encourage creativity and think that all good RPs involve ideas from all their players. Sometimes this leads to amazing subplots and character development.
7. If you have questions or ideas for events, PM the GMs. Your input will help keep you not only invested, but it’ll give the GMs more fuel to work with for upcoming encounters and plotlines in the RP.
8. As heavy and serious business as this may all seem, the point is to have fun and build a good comradary with your fellow role players. There will be inappropriate screwing around in the OOC, and people will be off topic quite a bit. This is normal. This is fun. It's also a great place to shoot around ideas and discuss how things are going. Keep invested in this and I promise it'll stick in your memories as one of the best damn things you've done on this webpage.
9. If you feel the need to start a romance between characters, that's cool. This isn't exactly a rated role play, and it’s bound to happen. I personally like to graphically describe violence and swear quite a bit, but if you feel the need to indulge in smut, please take that stuff to PM. 4 pages of graphic sex isn't going to save the world; it'll just cause everyone else to feel really awkward and need a cold shower afterwards. It is known.
10. Gary and Mary Sues will have a Morag Tong contract put on them that they will never, ever escape from. Probably because their legs will be eaten by ice wraiths and their body horribly maimed by hordes of angry hornets before the assassin gets to you. He's a local, and his name is Joe. He will ruin your day, Mr. or Miss. I Have No Flaws and Everyone Loves Me.The GMs will be doing background checks to find out if you’re reliable and generally write at an acceptable quality, so beware that even if your character sheet is outstanding, if either Soul or myself discover you’re argumentative, write at an unacceptable level, go AWOL frequently, power game, and so on, there’s a good chance you WILL NOT be accepted.
Game Related Rules
1. Equipment limitations are as follows:
-Iron, steel, and leather: Very common and easy to come by and easy to afford. If your character possesses anything under these categories, you don’t need to justify having it.
-Elvish and Orcish: these are somewhat easy to come by, and both have their unique advantages. They both happen to be fairly expensive and aren’t nearly as common as the previous category. Elvish weapons tend to hold an edge better than steel and are very sharp, as well as being much lighter and more flexible than most metals. Orcish material is very hard, very durable, and very heavy. It’s more difficult to work with and shape, but once it will never fail and requires virtually no upkeep while not being quite as sharp or flexible as elvish works. Please explain how your character came to obtain these items somewhere in their backstory due to their uncommon nature.
-Dwemmer, or dwarven: This is relatively common in Skyrim, Morrowind, or Hammerfell if your character has been in the ruins. Most of their machines and defenses are still working, so chances are, your character is brave and tenacious if they got their hands on this stuff. Stores would sell limited stocks at pretty marked up prices considering how hard it is to obtain it. However, given the recent return of the dwemer crafty individuals will be able to obtain improved weaponry from the invading forces, including some technology never seen in Tamriel before. It will, however, not be easy and the new inventory will only be obtained sometime during the actual game.
-Ancient Nord: Really old weapons that somehow hold up over the years, they're crude and quite common in ancient nord temples, tombs, and ruins. The only problem is you usually have to deal with the drauger. And obviously, they're not nice zombie people. Stores wouldn't sell this stuff (it would be like going to a gun store and asking for a Brown Bess when there's the newest Remington rifle on sale).
-Solstheim Nordic Steel: Weapons made by the Skaal of Solstheim, it’s excellently crafted steel weaponry and armour of the highest caliber, but is quite rare to find outside of Solstheim, given its association with the Skaal.
-Stalhrim: A special, magic ice-crafted set of equipment that can only be forged by the greatest masters using techniques only known by the Skaal. Changes are, your character will have neither access to stalhrim, the equipment to mine it, or the knowledge to do anything with it. It is exceedingly rare stuff.
-Aleyid/Akavari: Similar to the ancient Nord weapons and gear, a long gone elvish civilization left behind a lot of Cyrodiilic ruins and the invaders from across the sea to the East in Akavar. However, no armour examples are known to exist and what little katanas they had left behind are extremely rare to come across. Please don’t write up a whole backstory of how your character obtained these because ‘lol, Japan is the best’. However, what examples remain are expertly crafted swords that have held up well over the years.
-Falmer and Forsworn: Both sets of weapons are crude but effective, and Falmer gear usually has poison chambers due to being constructed from Charrus chitin and other parts. Forsworn stuff is built out of raw materials from nature, much like how a native American would. You'd only ever obtain either by killing a Falmer or Forsworn, and even then, would you really want it?
-Glass and Ebony: Both of these are high-end, expensive, and extremely well made weapons and armour that you'd be lucky to ever find. Ebony gear originates in Morrowind, so it would be found among the rich and powerful there, and likewise, Glass gear comes from the Aldmari Dominion and is usually only found on their elite soldiers. While some examples find their way into Skyrim and Cyrodiil, it's very uncommon and you are a very attractive target for having them. Would you walk around with a rapper's amount of gold chains around your neck at night in a dark alley? Kind of the same thing. However, their quality is absolutely top-notch and while both weapons require a fair deal more upkeep than other materials (both incorporate types of glass in the construction in addition to metal), they are very desirable and dangerous. If your character possesses anything in this category, I would like a background justified and believable explanation for having it. I will not approve every CS that has glass and ebony in it because people think of it in video game statistic terms and therefore it will give them a competitive edge.
-Dragon: Dragons are all but extinct, and whatever remains are enslaved or in hiding. As such dragon scales and bone are extremely hard to come by. You can only find this in Skyrim, but as such, much of it has been confiscated by the Empire for archiving, equipping their own elite soldiers, or as museum pieces. It is extremely hard to work with dragon scales and bones, so even if someone obtained them, they'd have to be among the best to do anything with it. You very likely will never possess dragon materials.
-Daedric: The Oblivion crisis ended over 200 years ago, and as such, the presence of the daedra in Tamriel is so rare they may as well be myths to most people, and the few that do manage to cross dimensions certainly aren't going to hand it over. Even harder to obtain than dragon materials, a master smith would be hard pressed to find a daedra heart, and likely wouldn't know the process to create daedric metals and shape it into armour and weapons. You very much won't have possession of these, at all.
Any enchantments: Possible, but you'll need to find the soul gems to charge them. Also, they're expensive as hell if you're trying to buy them, and only talented mages know how to soul trap. Best become friends with an enchanter if you're poor. If your character is an enchanter, it looks like you may be popular. Keep your enchantments limited to the level of skill your character has in the skill section.
-Daedric artifacts: No. Just no.
2. You can only carry so much on your person at a time. Think of real life, are you going to be carrying a bow, a claymore, 3 daggers, a staff, 400 arrows, steel plate armour, just as many potions and scrolls, and every book out of the public library? Keep it reasonable, keep it realistic. Collecting loot should never be your goal. You should also specify how your character is carrying around most of their inventory.
3. No matter how strong, talented, and experienced your character is, you're still only mortal. If you're running into 15 bandits, your odds don't look good. A troll is going to be the fight of your life. Herd of mammoths? Run like hell. You sustain injuries; you may die if you encounter a situation that is suicidal. (I'm lenient; I'm not going to kill your character off without your permission, unless you break one of the cardinal rules above or put your character in a situation with no chance of survival).
4. Potions take time to work in most cases, so you're not going to get gutted by an axe and then look brand new by chugging Tamriel Energy Drink. It'll help your body mesh the wounds and heal you, and it takes time for it to eliminate poisons and disease. In short, be careful. On that note, chugging potion after potion isn't going to happen unless you happen to be a whale with the body mass to do so.
5. Scrolls take time to read, so if you're reading one in combat to cast something, make sure you have someone watching your ass and there isn't a group of Falmer looking to rip your arm off ten feet away.
6. Damage is realistic(ish), if you're hit by an ice spike or an arrow; you're going to need some serious medical attention if it hits something vital. But since this is Elder Scrolls, and potions work in ways that a platypus would say, "that's fucked up." People also aren’t going to die of an infection from a blade wound after three days of sickness or something. Point is, your character is mortal and will be taking wounds in combat.
7. Keep in mind that whatever weapons and armour you do have does not reflect how well your character is going to do in a fight or survive, so don’t doctor a CS around trying to make sure that they’re the best equipped person in the game so you have a combat advantage. There’s going to be badass bandits out there running around in fur armour and iron weapons who’ve killed more people than your character has ever met who will not care if your character is decked out in full ebony armour, a shield, and a long sword. He’s light and fast, you’re low and heavy, and experience trumps expensive weapons and armour almost every time. Try to give your character equipment that makes sense for who they are and what they’ve been through.
8. Weapons do not necessarily have to be what you find in the games, but follow it as a template. As such, things like spears, throwing knives, throwing axes, glaives, halberds, javelins, and flails are fair game, even if most of that didn’t appear in any of the Elder Scrolls games. However, that isn’t free reign to try to put something that is high-fantasy or just ridiculous into the game. Do try to keep things lore appropriate where possible, as well.
9. Keep in mind religious symbolism is limited to aedra and daedra. Please leave real-life stuff like crosses out of it. I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’ve seen it happen. As such, lore established divines and other deities are the only things that will be acknowledged.
10. Vampire and werewolf characters are a potential possibility, but this is similar to the weapon rules where it’s going to be based more around role playing than stats. People aren’t going to react well to finding out their companion could turn into a flesh hungry monster at any minute, and many of the religious, paranoid, or sensible types will likely try to kill them for it on the spot. If you do decide to go this route, your application will face higher levels of scrutiny than others because I need to make sure that you can actually properly role play somebody who is struggling to control their disease and accept that if it’s discovered, they face a very difficult road ahead.
11. Keep in mind the age or your character in relation to their physical ability and skill as well as personal experience. Older characters may not be as strong or have the vitality of younger characters, but they have experienced much and had much longer to master skills, as well as they will generally be much more mature and rational, but will take longer to recover from physically demanding situations, wounds, and may be very set in their ways. Younger characters have the raw strength and vitality that comes with being at the peak of your physical prime, and chances are, they are rasher and less disciplined than other characters as well as being susceptible to new ideas and will be generally inexperienced with the world. Basically, just think of how people are in real life. I do not want to see an entire roster of late teenagers to mid-twenty somethings who are master mages, swordsmen, and thieves. If your character is excellent at something at a young age, there better be a damn good reason for it.
11. Please avoid cliché and tried backstories and personalities and go for something a bit more diverse. This is a major reason I will be doing background checks. If you basically make the same story over and over, you’re not getting a pass. Do something interesting and don’t go with some tragedy staple for cheap drama in an attempt to make your character look deeper than they are. This doesn’t mean you can’t go for the dead parent/ orphaned/ mentor figure/ village burned down/ badass loner/ insert something you’ve seen in every RP thread ever, this one not being an exception. It just means I want to see a solid backstory where something like that isn’t used as a weak justification for your character setting out for exploring and never mentioned again or pulled up whenever you feel like your character needs to have an angsty/sad moment. If you actually feel it serves a purpose and makes sense for your character’s development and history, than by all means. Just make sure it’s understandable and a relatively believable subplot.
12. If you are trying to omit something in your character sheet saying that it will ‘be revealed later in the RP’, I expect to be private messaged about it for approval, but chances are something like that will set off a red flag unless there’s a good reason for it. Since nobody’s meta gaming, I expect everything in the backstory section of the character sheet to be revealed there. Most of the time, this comes across as lazy and that you can’t be bothered to write something half-decent.
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Approved Characters
Zaveed, khajiit privateer - Dervish
Gorzath the Wanderer, orc scout –Rtron
Elayna “Ellie” Ferris, Breton alchemist - Fallout
Sevari Sev’Ahmet, khajiit Rawlith’Kharj monk – O|NoSoul
Qara’Sion, khajiit College of Winterhold student – Cairomaru
Melancholius Arturo, Breton thief - Captain Jenno
Marassa, khajiit warrior - Dervish
Wets-His-Blade, Argonian Gladiador - Voltair
Zainat Ashurnasaddas, Dunmer Wanderer - The Dripper
Thyra the Snow-Hawk, Nord Vegabond - Nyxela
Cub, Orc Pariah - WittyReferrence
Reigenleif, Nord Archiologist - Sundered Echo
Hralvar Fire-Blade, Nord Court Mage - Psyker Landshark
Rena, Imperial Insurgent - Vanquished
Useful stuff!
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Calendar > We will be using this calender to show the date and passage in time, as well as differences between groups.
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Hey everyone, welcome back!
Something silly like the guild dying won't stop this train.
Insane amounts of formatting to come, also, please give Tick a HUGE thanks for recovering a lot of this info!
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Ok-jGo0oiE4J:roleplayerguild.com/showthread.php%3F195222-The-Elder-Scrolls-Vengeance-of-the-Deep-%28IC%29/page40+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LFAtBoLPauUJ:roleplayerguild.com/showthread.php%3F195222-The-Elder-Scrolls-Vengeance-of-the-Deep-%28IC%29/page41+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
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TEH GAMING INFORMATIONS
Xbot Templars:
Dervish: Stormwulfe - GMT -7 (Gears of War 1-3, Judgement; Halo 3, Reach, 4, ODST; Red Dead Redemption; Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Black Flag; Transformers War for Cybertron, Fall of Cybertron; Rainbow Six Vegas 2; Mortal Kombat; Fable III; Left 4 Dead 1-2; Borderlands 1-2; Mass Effect 3)
Souliolios: DuddyD671 Pacific Time Zone (UTC-08:00). Game time is 4pm-10pm. (Black Ops 2; Ghosts, if I can find it; GTA:V, keep in mind, I'm a low-level Hipster; Halo 4, SWAT motherfucker, do you play it?)
Witty: DiabeticMeerkat (Eastern / UTC -5) Game time: Available 6ish-10ish so 4p-8p your time. (Borderlands 2: The ReBricking; Blops II: Big Trouble in Little Nuketown; GTA V: Ave Caesar; AC Brotherhood: Back in da 'hood; Mass Effect 3: I didn't like the first one and never played the others; War 4 Cybertron: Electric Boogaloo; BF4: Why is everything blue?; RDR: Grand Theft Equestrian)
Voltaire Mountain time. UTC- 7:00
Xbot Game Schedule!
GAME:
DATE:
TIME:
PainStation Assassins:
Cairo: YamanakaIno (soul calibur, gtav, dynasty warriors strikeforce, tekken6, anarchy reigns)
Nyxella: Ladyhawk187 - NZDT: New Zealand DanceDanceRevolution Time (UTC/GMT +13 hours)
(GTA:V, AC3, NYXIE PLAYS Brink LET'S ALL MAKE FUN, Dynasty Warriors 7, Tekken 6)
Fallout: ViscountDusk
PainStation Game Schedule
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DATE:
TIME:
A Dervish and O|NoSoul Production
RP is full! Check back later.
NOTICE: This thread's formatting is pending updates to the editing functions.
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For thousands of years, we reigned supreme, the masters of logic and progress, the builders of the mightiest civilization Nirn has ever seen. We were mighty! We challenged the gods, our advancement growing so great as to threaten them. Our metal was indestructible; our constructs designed to function for eternity. We have travelled realms outside of Mundus. There was nothing that could stand in our way, and even the arrogant aedra and daedra had grown to fear us.
Nothing terrifies a so-called god more than knowing that their time is finite; that mere mortals will one day cause them to bow at the knee or be crushed under the progress of their superiors, mortals they have for too long looked down upon as insects. But it was not them who had punished us for our audacity; it was ourselves and the treachery of the lesser races we shared the world with. The whimpering, pathetic falmer who crawled to us because they were weak, the crude barbarian Nords who adhere to abhorrent superstitions and achieved their aims by savagery, and the hated chimer alike all challenged our authority and claim to the world. And for centuries, neigh! For millennia, we proved to them our superiority. It is sickening for the three and a half thousand years of our absence, they have inherited the world we had shaped and laid their filthy hands on the masterful cities and defile them!
We were so concerned with securing our dominance over the mortal races of Tamriel and building ourselves to surpass the gods that we forgot to keep our own arrogance in check. Our drive and ambition was limitless, we never stopped to ask ourselves if our own ingenuity could ever be our bane. Our audacity and recklessness into the void of discovery has banished us from Mundus, leaving our once mighty legacy in the hands of those whose minds are too feeble to grasp the very concepts of our accomplishments or begin to understand who we were.
For three and a half thousand years, we have been imprisoned in a realm of our own design. Our weapon to rid the world of the Nords once and for all backfired, instead banishing us from Tamriel when the Red Mountain erupted, due to the treachery of one of our own, Kagrnak, who promised our people enlightenment when he sympathized with the humans and betrayed his own kind. If not for him, all of Tamriel would have been under our rule centuries ago and we would have surpassed the gods. That was our destiny, and it is one we shall reclaim.
Fate has finally dealt us a hand we can, and shall, play right. No longer are we restricted to this world of our own creation. The time has come to reclaim what is ours, and to have our voices heard in Tamriel once more!
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Welcome to The Elder Scrolls: Vengeance of the Deep, the successor to The Elder Scrolls: Voice of the Sky. This RP takes place approximately two years after the previous one and will feature a returning cast of characters as well as many new faces. Knowledge of previous events isn’t necessary, but it helps, especially since new characters likely would have had a couple months being enthralled by the spell that was the focal point of the last game.
The TL;DR synopsis of the backstory below was that in the previous RP, the new Emperor had activated a spell of a very large magnitude and power that had enthralled more or less the entire continent of Tamriel, causing almost everyone who witnessed it to begin having their minds altered so that the Empire was seen as a great uniting force and the Emperor was to be the next Tiber Septim.
Those immune to the effects of the spell were hunted down and because of their unique genetic and spiritual make up, were used to power the spell via very magic-intensive sacrifice. The group of player characters the last time around joined together and made their way from Skyrim to Cyrodiil to an epic showdown that resulted in the assassination of the current Emperor, ending the spell (and thus, freeing everyone), and tipping the balance of power to the Emperor's young son, Tactus Mede. These characters are considered heroes and Champions, regardless of their past, and are enjoying something of a celebrity status and prestige akin to the Champion of Cyrodiil during Oblivion, the Dovahkiin in Skyrim, and the Nerevarine in Morrowind.
During one of their side quests into a previously unknown dwemer ruin of such size and scale that it crossed under the Jerall Mountains from Helgen to Bruma, the player characters had accidentally tripped a device while obtaining the Elder Scroll and lexicon needed to disrupt the Emperor’s spell by blocking the auroras. This device was a part of the networked devices that crossed across Tamriel from Hammerfell to Morrowind that resulted in the entirety of the dwemer population to vanish during the battle of the Red Mountain, thousands of years ago. This accidental tripping of the network has had an unforeseen and arguably terrible consequence of allowing the dwemer after three and a half thousand year absence to return from a realm of their own creation.
For those of you who don’t know anything about the dwemer, they’re basically among the biggest assholes who ever existed in Tamriel. They were technologically advanced beyond any other race (the fact that thousands of years after they vanished, their automata are still functioning as is much of the machinery found in dwemer ruins) and they were very conquest hungry and cruel. They had enslaved the falmer (snow elves) and twisted them into the blind degenerate horrors they are today. They also sought to drive out or destroy any of the other races that shared the regions they called home. Given time, they very likely could have. Before their disappearance, it was documented that the dwemer had obtained the ability to enter other realms separate from Mundus (the name of the physical realm Nirn (the name of the planet Tamriel is a part of) inhabits. It isn’t entirely unreasonable to assume that it was one of these realms the dwemer had all vanished to literally overnight, and given enough time, could have freely entered various realms of Oblivion.
And so that brings us to the current RP’s timeline, where Emperor Tactus Mede is hosting an event in the honour of the Champions in Imperial City and it will have been the first time many had seen each other in two years, having parted ways after stopping Felix Mede and ending the spell. New characters will be in Imperial City for one reason or another; I leave that up to players. This simply provides a common starting area for everyone to have a chance for characters to bump into each other or branch out from there.
When the RP starts, there will have been reports of something going on in the North, but nobody really has any solid information. Before long, characters will find themselves fleeing the emergent dwemer war machine, outfitted with technology and weaponry that has never existed on Tamriel as well as some old familiar designs. From there, it will be a matter of a player’s actions. Do you follow rumours of a resistance? Do you try and find out where the dwemer are coming from and put a stop to it? Or for those with a certain ambition, do you take part in one of the main factions and sue for power? Whatever your personal goal, there’s a good chance you can pursue it. You will not be bound to a single group for this RP and will be able to go as you please, although I highly recommend at least partnering up with a few people and keeping tabs on other groups. If you do go off away from GM player characters, you will be expected to be largely self-sufficient and capable of forging much of your own personal story. GMs will likely give these characters major NPCs to interact with, along with player created NPCs of little importance.
Things to Note:
- This takes place 7 years after the events of Skyrim
- The Empire had won the Civil War, Ulfric Stormcloak and his rebellion were crushed
- The College of Winterhold is flourishing and possesses the Eye of Magnus.
- The Mage’s Guild in Cyrodiil was abolished after the Oblivion Crisis and hasn’t existed for some time.
- The Dark Brotherhood has been entirely eliminated; the Night Mother has been captured and destroyed by the Praetorians prior to the events of the previous RP. No Night Mother means no Listener means no Speaker means no contracts. As well, many of the Brotherhood’s sanctuaries had been raided and all members discovered killed.
- The Dovahkiin was killed at the climax of the previous RP, there is no Dragonborn and all thu’um speakers are now exclusively in High Hrothgar.
- The Companions of Jorrvaskr are largely intact and still operating out of Whiterun. However, due to events of the previous RP, all of the members were committed to the Inner Circle and are now werewolves due to desperation. They’ve since expanded their membership a bit and anyone recruited in the past two years is not a part of the Inner Circle, although rumours of their true nature may be more readily known.
- The Fighters Guild is still flourishing in Cyrodiil.
- Morag Tong is enjoying a resurgence of power after the destruction of the Dark Brotherhood, being the only professional assassin organization of its size in Tamriel. However, it still operates almost exclusively in Morrowind with the very seldom involvement outside of that province’s borders.
- The Thieves Guild is alive and well in all parts of Tamriel, some chapters are doing better than others.
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RULES
1. No Godmodding or power gaming of any kind. We're telling a story, not having a competition to see who is the biggest badass. Not to say you can't do awesome things when it comes around time for combat, but know your limitations. This includes self-insert characters, backstories that are designed to give the character access to abilities, skills, and equipment that would be considered an unfair or overpowered advantage, autokilling NPCs during fights with virtually no effort put into it, taking on a room full of people single handedly, meta gaming, trying to have everyone treat your character like they’re something unique and special, your character knowing things they shouldn’t, et cetera. The goal here is believable characters.
2. The writing standard is high-casual. Read what you wrote over before you post, and ensure you have acceptable spelling and grammar. That said, I'm not a perfectionist, and mistakes are made by everyone. Just make an honest effort and we'll get along just fine. Posting expectations are at least 2 detailed paragraphs per post, probably more. If you think short paragraphs and single lines are the best thing in the world, than I direct you to the free section.
3. No speed posting. This means give other people a chance to post before you do. There won't be a strict posting order, but if I notice the same two people posting back and forward in a short time span without giving others involved in that group or conversation or whatever a chance to reply, I will not be happy. That said, if you have two characters conversing with each other, feel free to reply steadily back and forward if things are going slow. Just keep in mind posting expectations and if serious actions are taken during those posting, others will have to be taken into consideration.
4. If you are going to be absent for any length of time, please let me know. I’m not going to kill of your character or kick you to the curb because stuff came up. Real life comes first, but that said, do try to be fairly active. Your character will be controlled by a GM until you return. If you vanish without word for an unreasonable amount of time with no notification, there is a strong possibility your character will be killed off. If you’re going to join this RP, be somewhat active. The GMs are putting a lot of effort into making this enjoyable for the players, so please be committed and be in this for the long haul.
5. If you disagree with contents of someone's posts, don't turn the OOC into some horrible flame fest. We're all hopefully mature enough to settle disagreements through logical discourse. If things start to go into flame war territory, I will warn the players. Failure to STFU will lead to your banishment from this RP with nothing more than an angri faec to accompany you and your character being killed off brutally. Probably after through ogre rape.
6. If you want to do something, and you aren't sure, ask in the OOC so it can be discussed. Or, if you want it to be a surprise, PM the GMs. If it's a good idea, we'll work it into the plot. I like to encourage creativity and think that all good RPs involve ideas from all their players. Sometimes this leads to amazing subplots and character development.
7. If you have questions or ideas for events, PM the GMs. Your input will help keep you not only invested, but it’ll give the GMs more fuel to work with for upcoming encounters and plotlines in the RP.
8. As heavy and serious business as this may all seem, the point is to have fun and build a good comradary with your fellow role players. There will be inappropriate screwing around in the OOC, and people will be off topic quite a bit. This is normal. This is fun. It's also a great place to shoot around ideas and discuss how things are going. Keep invested in this and I promise it'll stick in your memories as one of the best damn things you've done on this webpage.
9. If you feel the need to start a romance between characters, that's cool. This isn't exactly a rated role play, and it’s bound to happen. I personally like to graphically describe violence and swear quite a bit, but if you feel the need to indulge in smut, please take that stuff to PM. 4 pages of graphic sex isn't going to save the world; it'll just cause everyone else to feel really awkward and need a cold shower afterwards. It is known.
10. Gary and Mary Sues will have a Morag Tong contract put on them that they will never, ever escape from. Probably because their legs will be eaten by ice wraiths and their body horribly maimed by hordes of angry hornets before the assassin gets to you. He's a local, and his name is Joe. He will ruin your day, Mr. or Miss. I Have No Flaws and Everyone Loves Me.The GMs will be doing background checks to find out if you’re reliable and generally write at an acceptable quality, so beware that even if your character sheet is outstanding, if either Soul or myself discover you’re argumentative, write at an unacceptable level, go AWOL frequently, power game, and so on, there’s a good chance you WILL NOT be accepted.
Game Related Rules
1. Equipment limitations are as follows:
-Iron, steel, and leather: Very common and easy to come by and easy to afford. If your character possesses anything under these categories, you don’t need to justify having it.
-Elvish and Orcish: these are somewhat easy to come by, and both have their unique advantages. They both happen to be fairly expensive and aren’t nearly as common as the previous category. Elvish weapons tend to hold an edge better than steel and are very sharp, as well as being much lighter and more flexible than most metals. Orcish material is very hard, very durable, and very heavy. It’s more difficult to work with and shape, but once it will never fail and requires virtually no upkeep while not being quite as sharp or flexible as elvish works. Please explain how your character came to obtain these items somewhere in their backstory due to their uncommon nature.
-Dwemmer, or dwarven: This is relatively common in Skyrim, Morrowind, or Hammerfell if your character has been in the ruins. Most of their machines and defenses are still working, so chances are, your character is brave and tenacious if they got their hands on this stuff. Stores would sell limited stocks at pretty marked up prices considering how hard it is to obtain it. However, given the recent return of the dwemer crafty individuals will be able to obtain improved weaponry from the invading forces, including some technology never seen in Tamriel before. It will, however, not be easy and the new inventory will only be obtained sometime during the actual game.
-Ancient Nord: Really old weapons that somehow hold up over the years, they're crude and quite common in ancient nord temples, tombs, and ruins. The only problem is you usually have to deal with the drauger. And obviously, they're not nice zombie people. Stores wouldn't sell this stuff (it would be like going to a gun store and asking for a Brown Bess when there's the newest Remington rifle on sale).
-Solstheim Nordic Steel: Weapons made by the Skaal of Solstheim, it’s excellently crafted steel weaponry and armour of the highest caliber, but is quite rare to find outside of Solstheim, given its association with the Skaal.
-Stalhrim: A special, magic ice-crafted set of equipment that can only be forged by the greatest masters using techniques only known by the Skaal. Changes are, your character will have neither access to stalhrim, the equipment to mine it, or the knowledge to do anything with it. It is exceedingly rare stuff.
-Aleyid/Akavari: Similar to the ancient Nord weapons and gear, a long gone elvish civilization left behind a lot of Cyrodiilic ruins and the invaders from across the sea to the East in Akavar. However, no armour examples are known to exist and what little katanas they had left behind are extremely rare to come across. Please don’t write up a whole backstory of how your character obtained these because ‘lol, Japan is the best’. However, what examples remain are expertly crafted swords that have held up well over the years.
-Falmer and Forsworn: Both sets of weapons are crude but effective, and Falmer gear usually has poison chambers due to being constructed from Charrus chitin and other parts. Forsworn stuff is built out of raw materials from nature, much like how a native American would. You'd only ever obtain either by killing a Falmer or Forsworn, and even then, would you really want it?
-Glass and Ebony: Both of these are high-end, expensive, and extremely well made weapons and armour that you'd be lucky to ever find. Ebony gear originates in Morrowind, so it would be found among the rich and powerful there, and likewise, Glass gear comes from the Aldmari Dominion and is usually only found on their elite soldiers. While some examples find their way into Skyrim and Cyrodiil, it's very uncommon and you are a very attractive target for having them. Would you walk around with a rapper's amount of gold chains around your neck at night in a dark alley? Kind of the same thing. However, their quality is absolutely top-notch and while both weapons require a fair deal more upkeep than other materials (both incorporate types of glass in the construction in addition to metal), they are very desirable and dangerous. If your character possesses anything in this category, I would like a background justified and believable explanation for having it. I will not approve every CS that has glass and ebony in it because people think of it in video game statistic terms and therefore it will give them a competitive edge.
-Dragon: Dragons are all but extinct, and whatever remains are enslaved or in hiding. As such dragon scales and bone are extremely hard to come by. You can only find this in Skyrim, but as such, much of it has been confiscated by the Empire for archiving, equipping their own elite soldiers, or as museum pieces. It is extremely hard to work with dragon scales and bones, so even if someone obtained them, they'd have to be among the best to do anything with it. You very likely will never possess dragon materials.
-Daedric: The Oblivion crisis ended over 200 years ago, and as such, the presence of the daedra in Tamriel is so rare they may as well be myths to most people, and the few that do manage to cross dimensions certainly aren't going to hand it over. Even harder to obtain than dragon materials, a master smith would be hard pressed to find a daedra heart, and likely wouldn't know the process to create daedric metals and shape it into armour and weapons. You very much won't have possession of these, at all.
Any enchantments: Possible, but you'll need to find the soul gems to charge them. Also, they're expensive as hell if you're trying to buy them, and only talented mages know how to soul trap. Best become friends with an enchanter if you're poor. If your character is an enchanter, it looks like you may be popular. Keep your enchantments limited to the level of skill your character has in the skill section.
-Daedric artifacts: No. Just no.
2. You can only carry so much on your person at a time. Think of real life, are you going to be carrying a bow, a claymore, 3 daggers, a staff, 400 arrows, steel plate armour, just as many potions and scrolls, and every book out of the public library? Keep it reasonable, keep it realistic. Collecting loot should never be your goal. You should also specify how your character is carrying around most of their inventory.
3. No matter how strong, talented, and experienced your character is, you're still only mortal. If you're running into 15 bandits, your odds don't look good. A troll is going to be the fight of your life. Herd of mammoths? Run like hell. You sustain injuries; you may die if you encounter a situation that is suicidal. (I'm lenient; I'm not going to kill your character off without your permission, unless you break one of the cardinal rules above or put your character in a situation with no chance of survival).
4. Potions take time to work in most cases, so you're not going to get gutted by an axe and then look brand new by chugging Tamriel Energy Drink. It'll help your body mesh the wounds and heal you, and it takes time for it to eliminate poisons and disease. In short, be careful. On that note, chugging potion after potion isn't going to happen unless you happen to be a whale with the body mass to do so.
5. Scrolls take time to read, so if you're reading one in combat to cast something, make sure you have someone watching your ass and there isn't a group of Falmer looking to rip your arm off ten feet away.
6. Damage is realistic(ish), if you're hit by an ice spike or an arrow; you're going to need some serious medical attention if it hits something vital. But since this is Elder Scrolls, and potions work in ways that a platypus would say, "that's fucked up." People also aren’t going to die of an infection from a blade wound after three days of sickness or something. Point is, your character is mortal and will be taking wounds in combat.
7. Keep in mind that whatever weapons and armour you do have does not reflect how well your character is going to do in a fight or survive, so don’t doctor a CS around trying to make sure that they’re the best equipped person in the game so you have a combat advantage. There’s going to be badass bandits out there running around in fur armour and iron weapons who’ve killed more people than your character has ever met who will not care if your character is decked out in full ebony armour, a shield, and a long sword. He’s light and fast, you’re low and heavy, and experience trumps expensive weapons and armour almost every time. Try to give your character equipment that makes sense for who they are and what they’ve been through.
8. Weapons do not necessarily have to be what you find in the games, but follow it as a template. As such, things like spears, throwing knives, throwing axes, glaives, halberds, javelins, and flails are fair game, even if most of that didn’t appear in any of the Elder Scrolls games. However, that isn’t free reign to try to put something that is high-fantasy or just ridiculous into the game. Do try to keep things lore appropriate where possible, as well.
9. Keep in mind religious symbolism is limited to aedra and daedra. Please leave real-life stuff like crosses out of it. I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’ve seen it happen. As such, lore established divines and other deities are the only things that will be acknowledged.
10. Vampire and werewolf characters are a potential possibility, but this is similar to the weapon rules where it’s going to be based more around role playing than stats. People aren’t going to react well to finding out their companion could turn into a flesh hungry monster at any minute, and many of the religious, paranoid, or sensible types will likely try to kill them for it on the spot. If you do decide to go this route, your application will face higher levels of scrutiny than others because I need to make sure that you can actually properly role play somebody who is struggling to control their disease and accept that if it’s discovered, they face a very difficult road ahead.
11. Keep in mind the age or your character in relation to their physical ability and skill as well as personal experience. Older characters may not be as strong or have the vitality of younger characters, but they have experienced much and had much longer to master skills, as well as they will generally be much more mature and rational, but will take longer to recover from physically demanding situations, wounds, and may be very set in their ways. Younger characters have the raw strength and vitality that comes with being at the peak of your physical prime, and chances are, they are rasher and less disciplined than other characters as well as being susceptible to new ideas and will be generally inexperienced with the world. Basically, just think of how people are in real life. I do not want to see an entire roster of late teenagers to mid-twenty somethings who are master mages, swordsmen, and thieves. If your character is excellent at something at a young age, there better be a damn good reason for it.
11. Please avoid cliché and tried backstories and personalities and go for something a bit more diverse. This is a major reason I will be doing background checks. If you basically make the same story over and over, you’re not getting a pass. Do something interesting and don’t go with some tragedy staple for cheap drama in an attempt to make your character look deeper than they are. This doesn’t mean you can’t go for the dead parent/ orphaned/ mentor figure/ village burned down/ badass loner/ insert something you’ve seen in every RP thread ever, this one not being an exception. It just means I want to see a solid backstory where something like that isn’t used as a weak justification for your character setting out for exploring and never mentioned again or pulled up whenever you feel like your character needs to have an angsty/sad moment. If you actually feel it serves a purpose and makes sense for your character’s development and history, than by all means. Just make sure it’s understandable and a relatively believable subplot.
12. If you are trying to omit something in your character sheet saying that it will ‘be revealed later in the RP’, I expect to be private messaged about it for approval, but chances are something like that will set off a red flag unless there’s a good reason for it. Since nobody’s meta gaming, I expect everything in the backstory section of the character sheet to be revealed there. Most of the time, this comes across as lazy and that you can’t be bothered to write something half-decent.
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Approved Characters
Zaveed, khajiit privateer - Dervish
Gorzath the Wanderer, orc scout –Rtron
Elayna “Ellie” Ferris, Breton alchemist - Fallout
Sevari Sev’Ahmet, khajiit Rawlith’Kharj monk – O|NoSoul
Qara’Sion, khajiit College of Winterhold student – Cairomaru
Melancholius Arturo, Breton thief - Captain Jenno
Marassa, khajiit warrior - Dervish
Wets-His-Blade, Argonian Gladiador - Voltair
Zainat Ashurnasaddas, Dunmer Wanderer - The Dripper
Thyra the Snow-Hawk, Nord Vegabond - Nyxela
Cub, Orc Pariah - WittyReferrence
Reigenleif, Nord Archiologist - Sundered Echo
Hralvar Fire-Blade, Nord Court Mage - Psyker Landshark
Rena, Imperial Insurgent - Vanquished
Useful stuff!
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Calendar > We will be using this calender to show the date and passage in time, as well as differences between groups.
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Hey everyone, welcome back!
Something silly like the guild dying won't stop this train.
Insane amounts of formatting to come, also, please give Tick a HUGE thanks for recovering a lot of this info!
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Ok-jGo0oiE4J:roleplayerguild.com/showthread.php%3F195222-The-Elder-Scrolls-Vengeance-of-the-Deep-%28IC%29/page40+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LFAtBoLPauUJ:roleplayerguild.com/showthread.php%3F195222-The-Elder-Scrolls-Vengeance-of-the-Deep-%28IC%29/page41+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
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TEH GAMING INFORMATIONS
Xbot Templars:
Dervish: Stormwulfe - GMT -7 (Gears of War 1-3, Judgement; Halo 3, Reach, 4, ODST; Red Dead Redemption; Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Black Flag; Transformers War for Cybertron, Fall of Cybertron; Rainbow Six Vegas 2; Mortal Kombat; Fable III; Left 4 Dead 1-2; Borderlands 1-2; Mass Effect 3)
Souliolios: DuddyD671 Pacific Time Zone (UTC-08:00). Game time is 4pm-10pm. (Black Ops 2; Ghosts, if I can find it; GTA:V, keep in mind, I'm a low-level Hipster; Halo 4, SWAT motherfucker, do you play it?)
Witty: DiabeticMeerkat (Eastern / UTC -5) Game time: Available 6ish-10ish so 4p-8p your time. (Borderlands 2: The ReBricking; Blops II: Big Trouble in Little Nuketown; GTA V: Ave Caesar; AC Brotherhood: Back in da 'hood; Mass Effect 3: I didn't like the first one and never played the others; War 4 Cybertron: Electric Boogaloo; BF4: Why is everything blue?; RDR: Grand Theft Equestrian)
Voltaire Mountain time. UTC- 7:00
Xbot Game Schedule!
GAME:
DATE:
TIME:
PainStation Assassins:
Cairo: YamanakaIno (soul calibur, gtav, dynasty warriors strikeforce, tekken6, anarchy reigns)
Nyxella: Ladyhawk187 - NZDT: New Zealand DanceDanceRevolution Time (UTC/GMT +13 hours)
(GTA:V, AC3, NYXIE PLAYS Brink LET'S ALL MAKE FUN, Dynasty Warriors 7, Tekken 6)
Fallout: ViscountDusk
PainStation Game Schedule
GAME:
DATE:
TIME:
