A Bid for Power

(This is a rough OOC, but I will update it later to clean it up)

Welcome to "A Bid for Power". This is set in a fantasy world that is torn apart by war, and your characters are major players in that war. The roleplay opens up in a peace conference on neutral ground in an effort to ease the bloodshed and restore order. There is a political side to things, but you'll be dealing with war and adventure as well.

Story


At the moment, Ilaria is divided into dozens of small kingdoms. Some are fighting for glory, others for greed, some for ideals. Whatever the case, the Elves and Dwarves have been drug into it and it is devastating the land. Fortunately, House Kalzar (a neutral kingdom that has evaded war) is hosting a peace conference and is inviting the belligerents in order to discuss a proper truce.

Your character is an important part of this war, and you've come here to this conference. You may be a King or Queen, or even a Knight. Perhaps you're the leader of some Guild or Mercenary Band. You can be whatever you want to be, but you need to be crucial to the war somehow and you need to have reason to be at the peace conference. This does not mean your character is here to participate in the conference, but you're here for some reason. Any questions, just ask.

Characters
A basic bio for your character is adequate, just include some details/info about your kingdom/guild/group and their place int he war (why they're fighting, general location/headquarters, etc). Also, include who is coming with you (the leader, any advisers, the family, other officials, etc).

Name:
Age/Race/Gender: Humans, Elves, and Dwarves are perfectly fine; custom races allowed, btu ask first.
Appearance:
Armor/Clothing:
Weapon(s):
Skills: Any special skills or talents you know (physical/mental skills).
Abilities: Any magical spells you can use.
Personality:
History:
Faction Name: Remember, you don't have to be a kingdom; mercenaries, guilds, cults, groups, and clans are all part of the war.
Faction Rank: What ranking do you hold in your faction?
Faction Description: Brief history/description of your faction, and there role in the war.
Faction Members: Anyone special coming to the meeting. Leaders, advisers, officers, even family.

Ben Kalzar - Patriarch of House Kalzar. Ben is a 'good man', well-respected, generous, and honorable. He has managed to keep his small kingdom neutral during the war, so it is no surprise everyone agreed to meet within his castle. Ben is the one who invited the others to the conference.
Laila Kalzar - Matriarch of House Kalzar, wife to Ben Kalzar. Well-respected.
Jon Kalzar - Oldest son (25) of Ben Kalzar, excellent swordsman and commander.
Mikel Kalzar - Younger son (20) of Ben Kalzar. Nowhere near as good as Jon, but his intellect more than makes up for it.
Lily Kalzar - The wild daughter (11) of Ben Kalzar. Shows intelligence and strong will, but her childish ways often distract you from that.
Garren Jasic - High-ranking knight within House Kalzar. Personal bodyguard to the Noble's house.

Groups
House Kalzar - Neutral kingdom, ruled by the Kalzar's, hosting peace conference. Well-respected, so they were never threatened with war.
Lucian Imperium - Remnants of the old Imperium. Mostly neutral.
Sultanate - Solid empire in the west; not involved in war.

(Just reposting it here.)
So, to review, it's:

Three Many groups of people, most who hate each other and one playing as mediator

Okay, so it's more like lots of small kingdoms warring with one another which has brought in the elves and dwarves who are the ones devastating the land while there's a neutral kingdom who's like, "Wait, no. Guys, peace! Come, let us have peace or whatever. It's totes gonna be rad bro. No more blood and death. Not cool, you're ruining the land with all this murder."

Our characters are going to be involved with one of the factions (which we will create I'm assuming)

The peace conference that introduces all of our characters is simply the prologue where the factions hash out the peace treatise

The actual RP is set in a fictional land and we don't know the time period/technological advances/supernatural presences/other questions yet to be asked yet

After the peace conference (that will most likely not result in death and will probably steer this RP in the direction it will take) ends, the real RP begins where all three factions have a (tenuous) peace and there is a mutual enemy they all must face

That probably results in teamwork and friendship and hopefully fun character interactions and development

Have I covered most of it?

That's pretty much it, yes.

Imagine WWII. Now all of those nations come together to a peace conference. They're all forced to ally nonetheless to face a bigger threat... like aliens attacking, for example.

Lucky you chose WWII. If you chose to use WWI as the analogy, I would have came up with a convoluted (but very interesting) alliance system because I love the domino effect. Oh well.
In regards to the answer you gave me in the interest check, which I will post here for organizational purposes, our characters are going to be either humans, elves, or dwarves within different subgroups, correct?

TJByrum said 1. Ilaria is divided between Men, Elves, and Dwarves. Dwarves would probably fight for glory, greed, or to keep their territory, or maybe in retaliation (they could be in a civil war beneath Dragon-Pike Mountains); they're not actively trying to expand their kingdom into the human lands. Elves are probably fighting to keep humans out of their southern forests, some more radical groups may be fighting to take back their land from long ago, while others may be in it for retaliation. The Humans are fighting over land, glory, retaliation, ideals, etc - all sorts of things. But it's not just them; a Religious group may be fighting another religious group, some Knights may be fighting some Mages, some mercenaries may be exploiting the war and taking land, an adventurers guild may be trying to help the commonfolk, a thieves guild may be trying to mend some things, etc. Ben Kalzar is trying to stop this war... but why now? That's a question you should ask; what exactly caused Ben to call a truce?

Yes, you're involved with one of the factions. Not necessarily a leader or a high-ranking member, but you're involved. And yes, feel free to completely detail your group (whether a kingdom, tribe, guild, or group).

The Peace conference is indeed the prologue where you discuss the treaty, or are suppose to.

The factions will have 'peace' but it leads to another war. Your character will not die in the prologue, they will play a major role in the coming conflict.

I intend for a lot of character interaction, yes. You guys have been at war with one another for a few years and now you're about to work together - but you gotta work together or you will fall.

I'm just asking all of this to make sure, sorry if it's irritating.

So, in other words, each race is fragmented into different factions, all of which have different goals based on their standing in the world, their history, their identity, and their beliefs, and the factions come together to negotiate peace. But the attempt at peace talks is going to inevitably fail, for as well as divisions between groups internationally, there are further divisions between groups within the factions themselves.

I think I have one of the nations for the elves to the south.

If you want to create a separate race, we can work things out. Otherwise, yes, Men, Elves, and Dwarves.

@Raven: Yeah, everyone is pretty much divided. Religion, ideals, beliefs, greed, glory, vengeance... all of that factors into these conflicts. The peace talks will not necessarily 'fail'; it succeeds in getting everyone to form an alliance. All you need to determine is: why is your elven group fighting? Did a human kingdom attack you? Are you trying to reclaim lost land? Are you simply terrorizing those people? I'll use these 'reasons' to build the world (NPC nations/groups).

And remember guys, if you want to be the leader of some Templar Order, go ahead; these factions may be varied.

I'll upload my CS a little later then. I've got an idea going for a group of elves or humans at the moment and I can't decide which one I like more yet.

Name: Darthor Andoran
Age: 20 - Race: Elf - Gender: Male

Appearance:

Armor/Clothing:

Weapon(s): Anything's a weapon if you use it right. Darthor is aware of this, but even then, he only carries obvious weapons when caution or protection is necesary. You'll find on his person a bow, and sometimes a staff which amplifies spell control.

Skills:

Abilities:

Personality: Honest, dependable, humble, quiet, unassuming, sometimes gullible, usually intelligent (of course), submissive to allies, stubborn to enemies, sentimental, and sometimes childish and anxious.

History:

Faction Name: Democratic Nation of Athera

Faction Rank:

Faction Description:

Faction Members:
(Indented for readability.)

See Raven, in your case I will concoct a human kingdom who has been trying to encroach on the Atheran lands.

Also, I need to know who your character is. I should probably put up a bio form, but maybe later. It is good you have me the representatives as required, but I also need to know your personal character.

TJByrum said See Raven, in your case I will concoct a human kingdom who has been trying to encroach on the Atheran lands.

Also, I need to know who your character is. I should probably put up a bio form, but maybe later. It is good you have me the representatives as required, but I also need to know your personal character.

That's what I wanted and expected from someone else.

Yeah, I'll totally flesh him out more, I just didn't know what you wanted from it. What information is required for our personal characters?

All of this will obviously be expanded upon if this RP ever gets rolling.

The Kishuan Dynasty – Pronounced /Kishwen/, the dynasty is a small and resilient group made up mostly of humans and wanderers who decided to integrate with the relaxed society. Originally a nomadic group of like-minded people who weren't too fond of rigid class structures and society-imposed rules, the Kishuan settled down in a small region away from others. The region they settled in is at the mouth of a river leading from the sea into the land because of this, they have an abundant amount of resources and have no problem of scarcity many of them experienced back in their former factions. The Kishuan Dynasty's main source of income is their exports as their item of specialty is a variety of seafood, wine, and (more importantly) minerals and gemstones. The Kishuans are open and welcoming to all who venture into their land as long as they are not associated closely with a government. Resulting from this exclusion, the traders coming to the dynasty are never official merchants with close faction affiliation. The traders are welcomed into the walls with mandatory celebration and drunken feasting. The Kishuan were never fond of formalities back when they were only a beginning faction and even now when they are a dynasty. The Kishuans are ruled very loosely by a council made up of elected Kishuans advising the emperor and empress in fixing problems and bringing in new ideas. The emperor focuses primarily on trade of either raw or processed resources and the internal affairs of the dynasty while the empress focuses on external affairs and the manufacturing of resources. The emperor, empress, and council do not have all authority as they cannot maintain all of their land closely. Thus, making a group of "knights" called the People's Paladins to help with the lives of the people. The Kishuan Dynasty were originally not involved in the war as they mostly kept to themselves in drunken revelry and improved their society until a faction of dwarves attempted an invasion of the dynasty's mining regions. This unsettled the Kishuans and they began patrolling their borders as well as fortifying the walls. It was when a human faction attacked later that all the Kishuans called for involvement. The paladins recruited all of age to their ranks in a surprisingly ordered fashion and began formulating plans to attack any and all known factions. The Kishuan Dynasty is mostly focused on defending their territory and protecting the people, though a small, vocal number of Kishuans are arguing for expanding their land. Half of the paladins with the support of both the empress and a quarter of the council have begun conquering the nearby land in fact. The Kishuan Dynasty is at the peace conference to either gain more or lose nothing and possibly gain alliances even though they don't like most of the governments, nobles, officials that will be attending.

Kalia Emorally - Empress of the Kishuan Dynasty. She is intent on not giving an inch at the peace conference. Kalia is also not as interested in forming amiable relations with the other factions. Accompanied by only her chief adviser and commander, her goal is to show the other factions that the Kishuan Dynasty are not merely drunken revelers and socially-inept criminals. She is twenty-eight years old, ambitious, malicious at times, sarcastic, cynical, and not much of a fan of celebrations to the surprise of her people. Kalia, armed with more than two decades of learning in politics and at least five daggers on her person, is ready to show everybody who the drunk criminals are.

Lochlyn Darose - Chief Adviser of Kishuan Dynasty. He was not one of the council members who wanted to expand and conquer; Lochlyn would rather enjoy being left alone thankyouverymuch. He is held in high esteem even though he is not the oldest council member because of the advances he has made in trading and manufacturing goods with the merchants. Going to the peace conference, Lochlyn would like to establish at least one alliance and general peace between the Kishuan Dynasty and the other factions. At thirty-four years old, he's known to host the best feasts and parties, loves to help the people, sociable, but he is rather inclusive by nature. Lochlyn is hopeful the peace conference will get the dynasty allies even if none of them will ever be admitted into their borders.

Terrin Baridian - Commander of the People's Paladins. She was a neutral party in the decision of expanding the dynasty and does not care much except to get everyone to calm down. Terrin would prefer things to stay the way they were before where the faction officials didn't bother the Kishuan Dynasty and the Kishuan Dynasty didn't bother them. Rising through the ranks as the most innovative paladin, she has much say in the going ons inside the dynasty. To her, the peace conference is a way to calm everybody down and get things the way they were before everything got hectic. Twenty-five years old, Terrin is calm, relaxed and informal, almost stoic, prefers the quiet of the library over the feasts, and is somehow seen by the people as a therapist or grief counselor. Taking no chances, she is going to go to the peace conference in full armor and battle regalia; it will be the one time she looks like she's going to a high-level function which she never bothered to go to before.

@Everyone: I've added a bio.

@Raven: If someone is up for it, they may fulfill that role.

@Aspidochelone: I will review your info at a later date.

I've corrected my previous entry using the new bio format. Anything else I need to work on?

Update: Due to obligations elsewhere, I must look at this either tomorrow or the day after. Sorry for my absence; work stuff.

When do we plan on starting? Do we need more people?