The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you'll never have.
-Søren Kierkegaard
TL;DR
- OOC
- Alternate Contemporary Reality, year 2020.
- Your soul is reincarnated into a new body and identity. You retain the memories of your previous life, but no one in your previous life will recognize you.
- Your new life is given to you by a mysterious being who calls himself Thanatos. Thanatos provides you with missions as plot points to guide the story.
- Your character will be referred to as a reborn regardless of their gender, race, or species. You are brandished by an outer black circle around your pupils that can only be seen by the supernatural. The art of your rebirth is near flawless, as your new body is immortal. Necromancers tend to see you as a possible source of knowledge, as no one has ever been capable of reincarnating an individual as Thanatos has.
- You learn of the existence of supernatural entities. They have no specific alignment. Some are good, some are neutral, some are bad. Perhaps your new body is of a supernatural species.
- There exists a group that only call themselves "The Core" that Thanatos himself despises. Whether The Core is your character's antagonist or Thanatos is your antagonist is up to you to decide. More will be divulged as the plot progresses.
- Rules are fairly casual, allowing you to come and go as you please. The only prerequisite for leaving is making sure you finish the mission or plot line you started. In other words, tie loose ends before taking leave unless it is absolutely urgent. You are more than welcome to come back with the same character(s) or a new one(s).
Plot
In a contemporary alternate reality in the city of Aldred, you have died on February 18. It is now one week after your death, February 25th, and you awaken in a hotel with a completely new identity. Your memories are intact, but your name, your physical appearance and attributes have all changed. You even have newfound knowledge in certain fields that you did not have in your previous life. On the bedside table is a wallet with your new identity along with a cellphone and a set of keys for your hotel and vehicle (if your character is of age to drive). Upon waking, a message is waiting on your cellphone from an unknown number that simply says "Welcome back from the dead".
A man who simply refers to himself as Thanatos explains to you that you have been resurrected to do his bidding. He may command you to steal, to save, or to kill. If you do not, your physical body experiences stigmata and you die with the exact same wounds and symptoms as your first death, and your soul is sent to oblivion. He also opens your eyes to the darker side of the world where creatures of lore lurk and hide in shadows, masquerading as humans. Not much is known about his true plans or his history other than what he divulges.
This RP seeks to dive into the topic of how one would face life after their death. Every character has spent a majority of their lives in Aldred, and because they are technically reborn as a new person, they have the chance to interact with those they knew in their previous life. This also presents you with the opportunity to answer the question "what would it be like going to my own funeral?"
Setting
The entire setting will be in Aldred and the subcommunities and districts are still a work in progress. Technology is slightly more advanced, with greater achievements in prosthetics, mechanics, and computer engineering.
- Aldred: An umbrella term for the massive metroplex surrounding the city of Aldred. Aldred itself is a burgeoning urban city that, over the years, has grown despite the economic recession. I give you free rein on creating your own places for your characters to go to, but there are some established neighborhoods.
- Hotel Lazarus: The main setting and where you will meet up and find your missions. To the public, it is a simple hotel among many, but in truth, it is a place for the supernatural to reside.
- Makers District: To the public, it's an esoteric part of town where one can find just about anything. However, it is also where most of the supernatural reside. One can find just about any sort of supernatural trinket here if they know the right door to go through.
Character Info and Sheet
The characters are essentially superhuman immortals that are at the whim of a mysterious man with even more cryptic plans. They each have a unique soul relic that draws its power from the user's soul. Greater use of the power can endanger the character's life and may deem them incapacitated. The use of magic is limited to what kind of items the character has, or what their soul relic allows for them. The current CS will look like this.
Former Name:
Current Name:
Former Age:
Current Age: Well, this ties more in with appearance, but since you're immortal, it's a bit irrelevant.
Former Appearance: (Photos Encouraged)
Current Appearance: (Photos Encouraged)
History: I don't mind how long this is, as long as it describes how the character died. You can be brief, or you can go into great detail.
Personality: I want you to consider the key points of your character rather than make a general description of what they are like, because their personality is bound to change throughout the plot. I originally didn't have a personality section because of how much I can see a character's personality changing in the story, but it might be helpful in keeping a foundation for your character.
Unique Skillset(s): I said before that your character gains new knowledge with their new body. Perhaps they were a cancer patient in their previous life and was a shitty painter, but now they're great at it! Be creative.
Soul Relic and Ability: The relic can be anything from a ring that lets them transform to a gun that shoots antimatter. Have fun with it! Only one soul relic per character.
Flow
The story will be set according to how you want it. Thanatos offers several missions at a time, allowing you to create your very own self contained story or collaborate with others to make the plot. The decisions you make are what guide the plot. Each mission has a set length and expiration date, which limits the number of missions you can do. Do not worry, though. There is much to do in this world, and limiting your missions will further guide the plot to where it should go.
NPCs will be at your disposal once I start putting the story in writing. Places will revolve mostly around the people inhabiting them, so the structure of the physical setting can evolve.
Theme and Motif
This RP is meant to explore a supernatural world in a city while dealing with (or not dealing with) the aftermath of your character's death to the people they once knew. Thanatos will post several missions at a time, and I highly encourage people to collaborate on these missions. Subplots are allowed, as long as these subplots are self contained and do not involve the plot (aka Thanatos).
I've decided to move this to Advanced because of the requirement for character development. The first part by itself requires more than just an acknowledgement of your character's death. It requires a closer look on how one might go about living as an entirely new being, knowing full well that their former life is still there. Does your character try to reconnect to their past? Do they move on despite the risk of seeing vestiges of their former life? What if someone in their former life is entangled in the supernatural underground of this world?
The plot development is also very expansive and requires greater attention to detail since I'm leaving the details entirely up to you. The outcome of each mission relies heavily on how you approach it and what results you get, thereby greatly influencing the plot. All I give are the missions required and a few tools to help guide you along the way. How you go about it is up to you.
Rules
- You can come and go as you please so long as you finish your character's plotline. I don't necessarily mean that they have to ride through an entire main plot. Real life issues can get in the way of things, and I want you to have the freedom to take a leave if necessary.
- You are more than welcome to create more than one character as long as you can commit to fleshing them out and giving them a plotline
- I highly encourage collaboration, but you are always more than welcome to go along with your own plot. I will come up with enough missions that any number of players can join in.
