Setting and Plot:
In an alternate timeline, France strikes up a rare metal somewhere deep in the Pacific Ocean that was immune to the rusting effects of salt-water. Naming the metal Eaulium, the French mined the metal and used it to construct better ships, ships that would be used to guard and protect the normal made ships from things like pirates or tidal waves. They were called Navirezes.

During the Age of Enlightenment, the Navirezes were refined and recreated by a French inventor lost to the folds of time. A mechanical frame was attached to the Navirezes, which allowed them to fold out their ship-like shell and assume a bipedal robotic form sizing up to around twenty-to-thirty feet. Despite this improvement, these robotic appearances never saw use on the ocean for a long time…

Until the French Revolution happened. Money was low, people were desperate, and they needed hope. Hope came in the form of a man who was able to control fire, for the Clergymen stated that it was the beginning of an ancient blessing uttered by Joan of Arc before she was burned at the stake. Her blessing enabled certain men and women to control and master the elements, so that they may continue the battle in her stead. They believed that, instead of activating during the Hundred Year War, it chose to wait until a more dire time approached, and that the Revolution is said dire time.

Encouraged by the people, this young man, Jacques -François Menou, led an army of angry men to raid the Bastille with his newfound powers in tow. Among the raid, Menou reinvented himself and declared himself the leader of this new group, naming himself simply Jacques. After the destruction of the Bastille, Jacques raided the docks and stole a Navirez from it. With the help of his group, the Jacobins, he forced the Navirez into its robot form and removed the transformation shell, along with chunks of armor to create a new form of Mecha: The Ramirez, after an angel of God who could melt mountains with its lightning.

He had founded other people with elemental control, named them Revolutionaries, and gave them their own Ramirezes to pilot. For a while after, during events like the Women’s March and the Declaration of the Rights of Men, various groups, Jacobins included, vouched together for a stronger, better France. However, things changed when King Louis XVI was caught in Tuileries by the Jacobins and then publicly murdered by Jacques in his Ramirez.

This split France apart into three different ideals. The first were Jacobins, who would stop at nothing to revolutionize France, even if it meant executing everyone associated with anything that went wrong with old France. The second was formed by a Jacobin named Jacques- Pierre Brissot who was horrified by what Jacques did. He vowed for a better France, but not through terrorizing it through executions, and thus made the Girondins to secure this future. The third and final mindset was a group of people who wanted France to keep its Monarchy, for better or for worse. These people included the Clergymen and Nobles who ranked above the social status ladder, though there were several citizens who vouched for it as well.

Because of the Terror enacted by Jacques and his army, the latter two banded together. Clergymen began to find stray Revolutionaries that Jacques had not picked up, Commoners began to create Navirezes for the inevitable clash against the Jacobins, and the Nobles began to draft suitable people to pilot those Navirezes.

The Era of Enlightenment was now over. Only the Reign of Terror remains, and you are one of many who must end it before all of France is destroyed.

The Three Sacred Rules

1. I simply cannot allow arguing if it heavily disrupts the game. Friendly arguments are okay, so long as it doesn’t go so far off the deep end and f-words are dropped. If you have a problem with an argument, PM me and I’ll deal with it.


2. No sexual situations. It’s not a smut RPG, and I don’t think anyone’s interested in doing one. If there’s to be a sex scene, I’ll allow it so long as it fits under the following criteria: it’s consensual, both parties are 18 or over, and it must have a fade to black.


3. No Godmodding or Powerplaying.

The Four Sacred Notes

1. No Character Limit. Play as many as you like.


2. Despite this being a Mecha RP, PCs aren’t going to drop like flies. If you wish to kill off a player character, you must have permission from the character’s player.


3. You’re either someone fighting to save France’s monarchy or a Girondin. I’m not allowing Jacobins to be a playable faction.


4. I have decided to allow fictional characters and non-fictional characters to join the RPG along with original characters, provided they fit in the era of the Revolution. For example, Charles Darnay and Napoleon are examples of characters that’d fit. Jean Valjean and Teddy Roosevelt, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t fit, even with the former being French. Might give a bit of leeway though.

The One Sacred Tone:
Figured I’d address this now. While the title and setting imply that this will be a somewhat serious story, it’s not dark. Sure, you had a guy murder a king by setting him on fire, a power he was blessed with by a woman who was also set on fire, but this is also an RPG where people are struggling to find peace in this chaos and are willing to work together to thwart the Reign of Terror. While it has its dark moments, the overall idea is that it doesn’t get too dark. The heroes have a chance of winning.

If I were to point to mecha related examples to get my point across, this would be more of a Super Robot-style story rather than a Real Robot-style story. Think more Gurren Lagann or Rayearth (Movie or show, take your pick) instead of Gundam or Evangelion… Except for maybe G-Gundam. In that case, include that with the former two as well.

Due to the nature of the Reign of Terror, I’ll allow a certain degree of dark backstories, but nothing that involves rape or makes the whole character’s life pretty bleak. I guess I’ll do a case-by-case basis on this, since it would be hard to describe how dark a backstory can get without it getting too dark. I’ll allow the cliché backstories like the dead parents, again provided they don’t get too dark.

Regarding Backgrounds
Okay, this is to note stuff regarding the setting that you might need to see when writing up a backstory. Basically they’re public knowledge that everyone knows, either through experience or rumors.

• Story takes place a week after the murder of Louis XVI. Marie Antoinette went into hiding after his murder, with rumours going around that she was killed not soon after.


• Revolutionaries are a recently new thing, dating back to a week prior to the Bastille raid. In short, people have known about Revolutionaries for about a year, though common people just know that they have magic. Nobles know that they really control the elements, and Clergymen know that they got their powers from Joan's blessing. For the most part, Revolutionaries were treated with respect from clergymen due to their ties to Joan of Arc, and they still are nice to them despite one of them downright killing their king and gunning for the rest of the nobles and clergymen… with few having the ulterior motive of preventing them from joining the Jacobins out of the idea of “well maybe we were tired of being pushed around”. Civilians tend to also be nice to Revolutionaries’ due them leading the French to a newer, better France, but it’s only recently that they’ve begun to do so out of fear of being killed.

Regarding History
As you might notice, this RPG is going to take broad strokes from the French Revolution. This is mainly because the timeline has shifted heavily, allowing for France to craft mechanical ships that turn into robots during the Age of Enlightenment, not to mention that whole . Historical Events can still happen, but in different manners than their historical counterpart. Because of it, not all of history is set in stone. Napoleon might not be the Emperor by the end of it, Marie might make it out alive, or even France might get to keep their old Monarchy without executing all of the nobles they can behead.

Think of this like the Sengoku Basara of the French Revolution.
Forbidden Powers
This is a banlist of powers in case you decide to be a Revolutionary. The list is small, though, only containing five kinds of powers.

• Space and Time (from an in-universe explanation, they’re God’s domain, and Joan’s blessing doesn’t allow people to usurp God in that regard)


• Metal and Magnetism (Reason is pretty obvious. It’d be like sending Magneto against Wolverine. I’ll probably allow Metal if it isn’t played up like metalbending from Avatar. An example would be like creating swords out of metals or whatever.)


• Any power relating to mental abilities like Mind Control. (In-universe reason: the blessing allows to control the elements, not the human psyche. Out-of-universe reason: broken as hell and violates a few rules)

And now, the moment you all have been waiting for:

The Signup Sheet!

• Name: (Obvious)


• Age: (Obvious)


• Gender: (Obvious)


• Appearance: (Description or picture.)


• What Am I Fighting For?: (You’re fighting to save France, yes, but to what end? To Save Its New Future or To Save Its Old Past? If you want, you can enter other things like 'Because it's fun!' or 'Only in it for the money, kid'.)


• Revolutionary?: (I’m allowing players the option to play either a Revolutionary or a normal human. Select either yes or no.)


• Revolutionary Power: (What element can you create and control? Only applicable if you’re a Revolutionary.)


• Mecha?: (Does your character pilot a mecha? And if so, what kind is it, the heavier Navirez that is able to transform into a ship and has powerful weaponry or the lighter Ramirez that can allow Revolutionaries to use their full power and even create weapons based off their element?)


• Name of Mecha: (Usually it’ll be a French word for something that relates to the Mecha in question, or a portmanteau of two words. It's possible to have two French words for the name.)


• Mecha’s Appearance: (Use whatever, description or picture. Good rule of thumb regarding the robot's height: Navirezes are usually around 20-30 feet, while the Ramirezes are around 10-20 feet)


• Weapons: (What weapons would the Mecha have that make it a force to be reckon with? Most Navirezes come with some form of cannon located either on their arm or in their chest and at least one melee weapon, while Ramirezes have a cannon that can fire the Revolutionary’s chosen element and sometimes a weapon made from their element.)


• Personality: (What does your character act like and how it lines up to what they fight for.)


• Backstory: (Basically how your character came to be and what motivates them to what they fight for.)

Cast List
So far none.

How come the mecha are only 12 feet tall when some of the smallest ships of the period were around 30 feet long to carry all those cannons and people and whatnot, where does the rest of that bulk go? Also, ships were manned by large crews that do the things the captain yells instead of a guy doing all the control work to get stuff done, what happens to them on the transformation, since we talked about Navirezes being handled by motion mechanisms?

Zero Hex said
How come the mecha are only 12 feet tall when some of the smallest ships of the period were around 30 feet long to carry all those cannons and people and whatnot, where does the rest of that bulk go? Also, ships were manned by large crews that do the things the captain yells instead of a guy doing all the control work to get stuff done, what happens to them on the transformation, since we talked about Navirezes being handled by motion mechanisms?

The ships aren't exactly big vessels compared to the actual ships, since they're manned by only one person and their function is to essentially act as bodyguard. I can see what you mean, the ships needing to be big to have the cannons.

The Ramirezes are around 12 feet tall because of their lack of an ability to become a ship. I may not have a sense of scale, but I do know what adds to bulk and what doesn't. Navirezes are a little more closer to your ideal size, though the largest is 35 feet. Though this is in robot size. Ship size would roughly be a foot longer than their robot counterpart.

Though I suppose if the Navirez was big enough and had crew on it, that transformation is handled like this.

I'm gonna warn you all now: realism isn't really a major factor in this. Like I said, it has more to do with Super Robot genres than Real Robot genres, what with the whole religiously enhanced superhumans that can set people on fire or spew water from cannons when inside a giant robot.

Psyga315 said
A mechanical frame was attached to the Navirezes, which allowed them to fold out their ship-like shell and assume a bipedal robotic form sizing up to around twelve feet.

This more or less stated that all the ships/robots are about 12 feet long/tall, but alright, I can work with them being special smaller ships, except I guess it's only ramirezes that are 12 feet and navirezes aren't?

Yeah. It's a bit of a goof on my part.

Name: Jean-Baptiste Bertrand

Age: 30

Gender: Male

Appearance: A gaunt, pale-skinned, clean shaven man with cold blue eyes and blonde hair cropped short in a military manner. Can always be seen dressed in a plain white and blue military uniform with golden epaulettes, thinking the clothes give him a more authoritative, military air. He also tends to wear a pair of glasses made out of smoky quartz imported from China to hide his eyes, perpetually surrounded by dark circles.

What Am I Fighting For?: To teach the peasants a lesson in respect, to protect my position and my wealth.

Personality: Bertrand is not a likeable man. Arrogant, lazy and self-centered, he is sure of his own superiority by virtue of his noble birth and oversells his (admittedly respectable) skills in combat to try and further his own greed and ambitions of living large beyond the scope of what his family’s funds can provide. He is also paranoid and, should one prod for a while longer, at least somewhat approaching psychopathy, though he takes good care to try and hide these traits with an exterior of some intelligence and cunning. While not squeamish, Bertrand is at heart something of a coward who dislikes finding himself in the heat of battle, especially when the odds aren't stacked in his favor.

Revolutionary?: nope

Background: The firstborn son of a rather minor noble family, Jean-Baptiste has lived a life of vice and violence, a regular in disreputable places best known for the vast number of duels he engages in and his swiftness and lethality with the several pistols he always makes sure to carry primed and ready. Although he’s a perfect example of the kind of nobleman that the revolutionaries despise the most, his skill with firearms and willingness to head into battle to “swat down the dirty flies”, as he put it, earned him and his family a somewhat enhanced social standing, culminating in the creation of his personal Navirez, the Implacable. Although originally a model designed as an invasion machine, to be used in scorching enemy lands, the desperate situation of the nobility and the Bertrands’ own urgings finally cleared the incendiary monstruosity for production and use against the encroaching vermin.

Mecha?: Navirez

Name of Mecha: Implacable

Mecha’s Appearance: This bastard stands at a good 35 feet

Features:
-Heavy armor: The Implacable is heavily armored even for a Navirez of its size, capable of receiving gross amounts of punishment before succumbing to enemy attacks and being particularly resistant to extremely high temperatures. The pair of shields mounted on its forearms are especially tough and can be used to effectively fend off melee attacks and cannon barrages without fear of damaging the unit at all. The tradeoff for this increased survivability is a general slowness of movement. Though it can maneuver into position to aim its guns quite easily, this Navirez will not be giving chase or outrunning enemy units, though as a much, much smaller craft it can still chase down large warships in the water.

-Piledriver shields: The shields on the Implacable’s forearms are mounted on mechanical sub-arms that can piston them into targets with incredible force, making for practical close range weapons that can put the hurt on navirezes and structures alike but are primarily used to push enemies away into more comfortable firing range for the main weapons to come into play.

-Dromon guns: The Implacable’s most outstanding weapons are a pair of large cannons mounted on the forearm shields that fire hollow round shells loaded with a highly incendiary substance. On impact, the shells break open and cause something resembling greek fire to pour out, which instantly ignites and burns hot enough to consume even other navirezes. Though the substance is not the original byzantine formula, a closely-guarded state secret lost to the ages, it remains a deadly weapon that continues to burn even on water, requiring the fuel be covered with sand or dirt in order to be extinguished. The weapon’s secrets are closely guarded and nothing short of capturing the Implacable and wholly disassembling it for study will yield results on replicating it.

Alright, before I make any judgement on the profile, I forgot to add the two most crucial details to the profile: personality and background. If you can add those to the profile, I'll give it a proper viewing.

You could tell me if the mech is any good now so I don't have to add stuff then change more stuff

edit: well, whatever, edited the stuff in

Name: Frank LaFromboise

Age: 29

Gender: Male

Appearance: Frank is tall and slim man, not too much packed with muscles but doesn't really lack them either, he looks like someone who has done his fair share of lifting in his days without overdoing it.

He has brown hair and green eyes that never loose their determined look, not even if he doesn't feel too good about himself nor the current situation. His face holds a single scar that goes from his right cheek to left one across his nose, creating small arc's shape.
His traditional outfit contains white yet slightly dirty shirt, brown pants and boots, brown headband to keep his hair off his eyes and leather suspenders to keep his slightly too large pants from falling down. He finishes up his worker look with pair of leather gloves.

What Am I Fighting For?: "Well, you know one day you're just sitting on your traditional table at tavern you know? Then some guys burst in and seek out people to pilot one of those large mech things? But no, not to help the carry things around or anything like that, you get to use them to crush and bash the hell outta others you know? That's pretty good right? And I wanted to do that!"

Revolutionary?: Nay

Mecha?: Navirez

Name of Mecha: Ècrabouiller le révolution

Mecha’s Appearance: 23 feet, let's just make all of it tad bit more brown.

Arsenal:
Blast armor: Ècrabouiller is fitted with heavy armor, fitted on heavy armor on top of heavy armor, plate after plate. This makes the mech really resistant to damage, explosive or other kind, from the front. Due to it's heavy weight the mech had to be left with only light plating from the behind, capable to keep small artillery fire and bullets at bay, but nothing heavier, otherwise the mech would not be able to move at all.
Power claw: An arm piece fitted to the mech's left hand, it can be used for grabbing, crushing, bashing and breaking. The claw part can also be shot good 40 feet away and reeled back in, along with anything it might've grabbed during it's flight.

Arm cannon: It's nothing too spectacular. 75mm cannon fitted to the mech's arm, fires high explosive cannon balls to long range with above average accuracy. The firerate is pretty slow and in close quarter combat it is more or less useless.

Mortars: Ècrabouiller has also been equipped with shoulder mounted mortars. They can fire volleys of cannonballs to wide area far away with low accuracy, due to their weight and need of ammo however, Ècrabouiller's ability to morph into a ship had to be removed from it's weight, lack of space and convenience.

Personality: Frank is quite eager to fight and/or have a good time. He does not really care who wins and loses, he just wants to bash things, blow them up and cause havoc, to others than his friends and family that is.

He can also calm down every now and then, like when drinking, sleeping or surprisingly enough, reading.

Backstory: Frank was a dockworker, carried heavy and light objects around. He was nearly famous of his good eyesight, and more than once he had been earning few extra coins by shooting bottles, birds or prettymuch any objects from afar and placing bets on whether or not he could hit that. One of his drinking buddies happened to be an artillery commander i n the army, and when they needed someone to take a control of experimental Artillery Mech, he recommended Frank for the role. When Frank heard that he'd get to blow things up and crush them, he was already accepting the role.

Zero Hex said
You could tell me if the mech is any good now so I don't have to add stuff then change more stuff.

No worry, it's good. Your character works out. Accepted.

As is your character, FinDrake. Accepted.

Name: Ermenegilde Larue De La Fontaine

Age: 41

Gender: Male

Appearance: Ermenegilde is a rather dapper, short, and corpulent individual who has a pronounced limp in his left leg, which is much scrawnier than his right leg. Due to this he is commonly seen with a thick oak cane, which he uses as his walking stick. He has a pair of reading glasses with a thin frame that is usually on-top of his thin hooked nose. Perfectly covering his bloated belly is a dark black waistcoat that was embroidered with several flashing and sparkly golden threads. In the upper right breast-pocket of the waist coat is a silver pocket-watch, and a red handkerchief with his initials embroidered on it. Over that was a white coat, which contrasted quite nicely with the under-piece. His breeches were also dark black and made of a fine silk, and he wears black dress shoes. His dark brown hair is balding, and he is combing over a large bald-spot on the top of his head from the right. However he has a rather thick and luxurious mustache.

What Am I Fighting For?: The Aristocracy is a noble institution which must be preserved! If it falls apart, who will buy the slaves I sell!? It would be an absolute tragedy, a most horrid and distasteful event! It shall not fall while I, Ermenegilde Larue De La Fontaine, continue to live and breath!

Revolutionary?: No

Revolutionary Power: N/a

Personality: Ermenegilde is a self-styled dandy and dapper gentleman. He always keeps a calm and polite manner, and he rarely loses patience. Sometimes he will lose patience when he is dealing with a disobedient slave and will not hesitate to smack the merchandise with his cane, to get the beast to back down. However he tends to be non-confrontational, easily backing down when someone tries to fight him in some regard, and most often acts as a yes-man, unless business and his property is threatened. He is a teetotaler and despises the ‘Devil’s Nectar’, and other forms of drugs, and he vows to live a clean life, free from harlots and drugs. He finds books to be the most wonderful of entertainment, far superior than dancing, or singing, or any performance, preferring the power of imagination that is inspired by the fictional book, and the non-fictional books to be the most informative work. However, while he is free from harlots and drugs, he finds himself unable to resist the temptations of a good home-cooked meal, well several really. Ermenegilde is also rather sensitive about his leg.

Backstory: Ermenegilde was born, not in the upper echelons of society as he would dream of, but in a relatively lower class lot, to a butcher and alewife. He was the disappointment of his parents due to the fact he was born with a limp leg, and would receive much harshness from the both of them. The disdain was more prevalent, and far more violent when they were drinking. He kept quiet, kept his head down, and found solitude in the written word, especially the tales of great sailors. This was all the more exciting when sailors would visit a shady bar just a few paces away from his lodgings, and if there was one thing they were, they were rowdy. One day, he found the courage within him, and sneaked out from his house, and to the bar, where he amused a Captain who decided to take him on as a Cabin-boy, despite the boy’s deformity of the leg. The Captain, was a Slave Trader, and this, is where he knew how he could climb the ladder. He took detailed notes of what would be useful, and studied for many years, and plotted to get many resources for the business. And that he did, becoming a known Slave Trader, good at getting stock and offering fair prices for good slaves. Then King died, and France is tearing at the seams, with instability threatening many businesses. Ermenegilde is not ready to give up his business just yet, and with an old slave-trading ship that was outfit into a Navirez, he plans to restore order for the sake of the aristocracy. Business is business after all.

Mecha?: Navirez

Name of Mecha: Maître des Maures

Mecha’s Appearance: It stands at 21 feet

Weapons:
Left Arm Cannon: Relatively standard device, shoots heavier than usual rounds, but that’s about as special as the canon arm is.

Smoke Vents: The Maitre produces a lot of smoke when in action, which can be directed at will, which makes a rather dense and thick smoke-cloud, making it an annoyance to gain accuracy.

Claw: The Maitre’s claw is incredible mobile, able to spin 360 degrees and the metal pincers are quite capable of gripping through the armor of its opponents, and keeping that part of the opponent it gripped at whatever location they want.

Heh, great.

@Wyvern: Sorry for the delay. Everything seems to check out, so accepted.

Oh I fully understand. And cool.

Alright, since no one else is signing up, I'll go ahead and start writing the IC. People can feel free to still signup though, just be warned that if there's a combat scene going on, you'll have to wait until it stops before you join.

Suits me

And with that, the RPG begins.

Sorry I took so long, been kind of in a "no fucks given" daze afer a few weeks of rushing about doing finals n whatnot.

Zero Hex said
Sorry I took so long, been kind of in a "no fucks given" daze afer a few weeks of rushing about doing finals n whatnot.

That's okay. I'll work on the next post soon.