The cycle has begun once again. New faces, new places, new names, new colors. None of this matters. It will all end the same. Light and dark rise and fall as gracefully and reliably as two ballroom dancers completing a rehearsed dance for the crowd. This story, in its grand scheme, will start and end as it always has: a weak yet courageous flame pops up within the darkness, bringing hope and joy, ushering in humanity. Sometimes more as well.
Soon after its peak, when the ruler of light gets tiresome of diligently overseeing his pupils, he steps back to take a break. At that precise moment, darkness seeps in and declares itself in the form of doubt and fear. The high and mighty God-rulers will see it as nothing more than human nature, but humans have a funny way of turning that darkness into a weapon of its own regard. Soon, the humans these rulers used to protect turn on them, ushering in darkness and death. They will pay with their souls and minds to take down the false idols who have forsaken them. The strongest from the darkness will make it all the way to the eye of the flame, only to be burnt, be it at the moment to elongate the sight of the future or after having waited in the throne room of the hero. Time will forget his name, but the actions will live on.
Light will finally make its final sputter as humans revel in their victory. Until the darkness they hold within themselves finally reveal itself and slowly strangle the humanity out of them all. This is the fate of the cycles. This is how it always has been, always is, and always will be. Many have tried to break the cycle, but have done nothing but delayed the inevitable or rushed into another phase of the cycle.

You enter the house you have been told of. One with a shield crested with a dragon's claw hanging above the door, and a chimney still puffing out smoke. Upon entering, a hunched over man by the fireplace greets you without moving his head. "Welcome, weary traveller. You must be new to these parts. I can barely see anymore, though I can smell and hear well enough to make up for it. I have collected a plethora of weapons and armour for this day. I have had many visitors, but I can smell which ones deserve armament, for you see, it has been said before that through the darkness comes the trials that lead to the light. The light, like my eyesight, is fading to nothing. This is when light, in the past, has fought its hardest: to assert its dominance over darkness again. I don't believe that light or dark is supposed to be better than the other; however, since they need the other to have proof that each exists, it's fair to say that each needs to fight when the other is at its height to prove that it is not impenetrable. So take whatever you may need from me and please do take only what you need. I may be blind, but I'm no fool. Take care, friend. For you will need it."

After the old man's speech, you pick out the gear that fits you best, or just leave with nothing but the clothes you arrived in, and leave. Is he crazy? Is darkness reaching its peak? What is darkness? The human race is thriving. Sure there's a plague going on that's affecting those who were once immortals in human bodies; the branded who held the power of the 'darksign'. You shudder, remembering the countless heroes and warriors whose foreheads burst with blood blackened by their curse. The ones who sold their very essence to protect the ones they loved. With them gone, it was up to the new generation, born in a world where direct daylight wasn't much more than an hour on good days. The sun was too lazy to rise when the number of souls on the planet was half of the number of living creatures walking it.
Those who were once cursed that survived the initial curse-clensing soon went mad. The more powerful the hero, the more likely he was to survive, and the quicker he went mad. There currently sits a king whose soul and humanity left him long ago. He sits upon a giant's throne, having grown massive with greed and fury. His sword is permanently a scarlet red from all the people it has slain in vain attempts at restoring its master's mind. Maybe there's a way to rid the mad warriors of this affliction. Maybe slaying this mad king will end it. Maybe it's best to just survive whilst someone wittier or stronger takes the helm of this problem as you simply try to not die. Unlike the now-maddened warriors, you only have one chance. No bonfire will revive you.

Character Sheet (beta):

Name:
Gender:
Equipment chosen: (at most, 1 of each armor and two out of the weapons and shield pile. If you choose any sorcery, miracles, or pyromancy, you automatically, it's assumed you have a way to cast it)

Relative stats (Rank them 1-8, 1 being your highest stat and 8 being the least of these)
HP: (how many more hits can they take?)
Strength: (how hard do they hit?)
Dexterity: (how precicely do they hit?)
Defense: (How much damage can they resist?)
Agility: (How fast can they run? This also includes dodging attacks)
Endurance: (how much can they carry while still remaining mobile?)
Intelligence: (how good are they at sorcerires?)
Faith: (how good are they at miracles?)

References (please don't use any that say to "trade a Soul of _____" or their only instance is a "gift"):
Weapons
Shields
Armor (you don't have to have one entire set, you can pick-and-choose. Effects won't be accounted for unless they boost a combat-related thing)
Sorceries
Miracles
Hexes
Pyromancies

Are hexes alowed?

Yes, I just didn't think about them when I typed it up (actually, my first build was a sorcerer who turned into a hexer)

Is it only the starting equipement that we're allowed? or can we choose from the wide variety there is out there?

Anything that can be bought by a regular merchant for souls or dropped by non-boss (and non-mini-boss) enemies

Defense: (how precisely do they hit?)

Is this a typo?

Either way, I'm interested.

@Micia Whoops. I meant to put Dexterity there. Thanks for pointing it out so I can fix it

Added references for weapons, armors, and spells (all of which count for your Equipment to choose)

Hmm, I would be intrested

Can I be a Giant Dad wielding the Chaos Zweihander +5?

Giant dad? And none of the items are enhanced, so the Zweihander would just be that, no upgrade to it

THE LEGEND NEVER DIES

@shivershiver Can't use Mask of the Father: boss item.

THE LEGEND NEVER DIES

What rings you got?


Anyways, I guess I'll throw my interest in being the big Souls fan I am though I'm curious if this is an entirely different universe or following the events of Dark Souls 2 or somewhere in between Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2? If it's after Dark Souls 2 then we can safely say the ending selected would of been the one where the Bearer of the Curse sits upon the Throne of Want thus ultimately deciding that the cycle will continue no matter the path gone down, and not the ending that was added with the Scholar of the First Sin update to which we finally unshackle ourselves from the cursed cycle.

Anyways, I guess I'll throw my interest in being the big Souls fan I am though I'm curious if this is an entirely different universe or following the events of Dark Souls 2 or somewhere in between Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2? If it's after Dark Souls 2 then we can safely say the ending selected would of been the one where the Bearer of the Curse sits upon the Throne of Want thus ultimately deciding that the cycle will continue no matter the path gone down, and not the ending that was added with the Scholar of the First Sin update to which we finally unshackle ourselves from the cursed cycle.

Well, having watched dozens of hours worth of DS 1 and 2 lore videos, the underlying concept is that someone will always restart the cycle. The "walk away" endings for both games are just prolonging the rekindling until someone "chooses the other ending". Names, buildings, and continent shapes may change, but in the end, the cycle will restart because someone either starts the fire/light or extinguishes it. I'm still not sure on what point in time, but I'm just thinking of this as another, different cycle. (i.e. someone prolonged the light long enough for civilization to move on a few stages before the darkness took its turn to reign)

The Scholar of the First Sin ending is not that though, the Throne of Want represents both endings that Dark Souls endings that we could choose but the Scholar of the First Sin ending has us reject the curse entirely neither trying to embrace it with darkness or keep it at bay with light.

It does not matter the choice thus why we only had the Throne of Want of Dark Souls 2 at the start. To show the truth that no matter the choice of the first game it all comes back to the cycle. That choice was an illusion. Aldia though sought another choice similar to Vendrick, he looked for a means of the end of the curse. Vendrick failed but Aldia discovered something else. He discovered that there was indeed another path. We either inherit the choice of the first game, two choices that are one of the same, the order of the world which the Throne of Want represents, both the linking of the flame and/or the dark lord, the false choice. The second choice, the one added in the Scholar of the First Sin, is that we reject this order of the world, to end this cycle. This is what the new ending is, we reject the false choice that we had from the first game, which is represented by the Throne of Want in Dark souls 2. We ignore the fate of the undead and finally break it. A choice that leads us to an uncertain future, a future that has never existed before. Basically this lore video explains what I'm talking about:



In anycase for this RP it ultimately won't matter since the cycle seems to restart which to me means ultimately if this is after Dark Souls 2, means the Throne of Want was choosen, whether or not they decided to lead it into light or dark does not matter since it's one and the same. I just like talking about the lore of the games.

Since I can't play a Giant Dad, I no longer have any reason to live in this world.

I'll be leaving, then.

Have fun.

@Argetlam350 I haven't seen that lore video til now, but let's go under the assumption that no undead has chosen to not take the Throne of Want. Just another mundane cycle of Lordran/Drangleic land mass. Unless I can come up with solid stuff, there will be in-game world creation. I have a semi-solid idea for the place everyone will start, though

@Tatsua Aiisen pretty sure he just meant that you can't start with the mask of the father but you can get it later.

@Eklispe yep. That might be OP. Plus, there wouldn't be anyone to troll with that build