Welcome to the great human Kingdom, Mortis, also called the Star of the West or the Kingdom of Gold. It is the oldest Kingdom in the land, and scholars have estimated that it may have even been around during the Age of Magic, pointing towards the land's various ancient ruins and massive, unnatural scars as evidence.

Indeed, the terrain in Mortis is among the strangest of the Nine Kingdoms, with massive, perilous Ravines that almost seem to tear the mountains themselves asunder. These great chasms are thought to be the source of Mortis's extraordinary wealth, as huge masses of precious metals were revealed through scaling the great ravine walls. Hence why it is sometimes called, the "Kingdom of Gold".

Despite its wealth, and the great territory it holds, Mortis is strangely not the greatest in terms of trading influence. Its Royal Family is known for hording great amounts of wealth, under the guise of "Saving it for times of need". The Gold of Mortis is a common subject of legend, and some outlying scholars even claim that something similar may have been mentioned in the ancient texts.

The more rural areas of Mortis are often headed by old, well-established noble families, with each town usually being named after something relating to that family. Closer to the capital, larger cities may possess several noble families existing at the same time. In places such as this, a Mayor is elected in order to represent the people and make political decisions.

The Capital itself is a great, bustling city, containing the Royal Palace and a great number of fantastic architectural creations, which one could only believe if they saw it for themselves. They stand, larger than life, as testaments to the unbounded wealth of the Kingdom.

The College of Arcanatras, also sometimes just called "The College", is a great university located a few miles from the Capital of Mortis. It is known as being a great center of knowledge, and is revered throughout the world. It's a very influential organization, and its agenda has frequently been scrutinized by the Kingdom's agents.

The Church of Red is the key religion in Mortis, and much of the population follows its teachings, even if they do not honour its god. Its main Cathedral is not located in the Capital, and instead sits in a surprisingly small city off near the coast, called Maidenfall. It isn't uncommon for religious folk to go on pilgrimage here.

Despite its popularity, little is known about the Church of Red's secretive inner workings. Their God is illusive, and not particularly well known to those outside of its dogma. All that is known, to those who seek but do not commit, is that it is closely associated with the colour Red.

About the other Nine Kingdoms, well, they are the Nine human kingdoms of the world, spanning the entirety of the known world. Out of these, three are located on the same continent as Mortis, called the Sleeping Isles, or the Continent of Somnus. The neighbouring Kingdoms are Mirithvale and Ashfall, which possess forest and volcanic geographies respectively.

Mirithvale, while populous, is quite poor, and is a great cultural center in this part of the world. Its focus on fulfilling the people's wishes has left the Royal Family in quite good standing with its people, but as a result, they have little influence on the other countries. Their military is said to be the weakest on Somnus.

Ashfall, to the southeast, is commonly spoken of a derisive manner by the denizens of Mortis, described as being "Barbaric" and "Uncultured". They are, however, some of the greatest warriors in the land, and their people are commonly hailed as being very effective mercenaries. Known for their grey hued skin.

As a whole, out of the three on Somnus, Mortis is undoubtedly the most powerful of the nations, and holds a great deal of influence in this sector of the world. While it cares little for extensive trade, it is in good relations with one foreign nation, a land across the Golden Sea, called "Barron". But of course, their customs and nature are quite unknown to the denizens of Mortis, as their kind are rarely seen in these parts.

For your characters, you will have been contacted by a mysterious individual, or given a mysterious notice and a bag of silvers, hired by that person to go resolve a problem in a rural village in your home Kingdom of Mortis.

You probably have a particular skillset, something that might catch the notice of somebody looking for those who are not widely known, but capable enough for the job. You might be a soldier, a doctor from some rural town, a studious scholar from the College, a charismatic village figure with people skills. All sorts will be found and brought together, all under mysterious purposes, and to solve a mysterious problem.

I will not accept foreign characters, by the way. I have my reasons for this.

By the way, any knowledge of Magic needs to be included in the skills section. Magic hasn't been around since ancient days, so what knowledge you have would be tales from recent years now that magic has begun to reappear. Don't expect to have a lot of this, only an occult specialist would know half of what there is to know, and even that is but a measly hundredth of what one could know.

Magic is kind of a lost art, bro.

CHARACTER SHEET
-Image here-
Name: (What are you called? There should be something here. If I don't like a name, I will ask you to change it.)
Title(s): (Leave blank if no official titles are possessed.)
Gender: (Male, Female, Apache Helicopter, .ect)
Age: (Must be above 15. No upper age limit, but try to be realistic, we're not immortal.)
Skills: (Try to be all-inclusive. Can your character read, write, fight with a sword, live off the land, build a house, and what? You can even include useless things, if you want.)
Equipment: (What do you have? Include EVERYTHING. If it's not in your bio, you don't have it.)

You'll notice I didn't include any formatting beyond the hider (which you can move or adjust, or even remove, as you please). Well, I expect you to at least make your sheet readable, but feel free to not go overboard with the formatting. Feel free to go overboard, too, if you want. I like nice things.

Wow, that ended up being a little larger than I expected! If you have any more questions for me, please ask me (privately or publicly), and I'll be happy to explain to or go over things with you.

Here are some important things you'll probably need to know. You might call them, "Rules".

1. I will not accept utterly unrealistic characters. If you want to make a teenage sword expert who can easily best a grown man with a blade, despite only being a farmer's child, this will not happen the way you expect. There is a certain logic to my world that has to be obeyed, and while this logic can be flexible from time to time, this does not mean it can be broken nonchalantly.
2. Despite this, Do not think that you have to make only gritty, professional characters. You can be silly, or useless, or even have your character be a parody of some popular fantasy character trope. This does not mean you can contradict the above rule, but please don't try to be too serious about things.
3. No... Foreigners, Magic-users, Religious or Political leaders, non-Humans, or Real-Life Characters.
4. Yes... Nobles, Alchemists, Scholars, Soldiers, Agents, Priests, Farmers, pretty much anything else.
5. Is this enough rules? Oh, and fun is mandatory. There shall be no butt-waggling or dingy-shoving in this thread. If I think you're being a jerk, I might be tempted to punt you into the nether realm, just to see what happens.
6. No Lewd Allowed.

Wow Tatsua, you might ask. This sure does look like a neato roleplay, and now that I've made a character and read the rules, what should I do now?

Well, good question my imaginary friend~! So, to start things off, I'll give you a little pointer:

POST.

Name: Cayl

Gender: male

Age: ~30

Personality: Dim-witted and naive, Cayl is honest to the bone and expects the same in return. Or rather, he doesn't know anything else to expect. He is not easily angered. Even in the face of injustice or wrongdoings, he responds with a clueless "why" in order to make sense of the twisted human mind. He is prone to dozing off in the middle of conversations, mostly to enjoy a particularly enjoyable breeze or the smell of wild flowers. He is lively and respectful. Quite often his views on life don't mesh well with those of humans, but as a follower of "balance above all things", he tries to be mindful of everything and consider everyone around him.

Short bio: "Legends say a great beast - both human and canine - prowls the lands around Millford ever since the days of old, some say even before The Happening. This town, now no more than a row of shacks, was once a bustling city of trade and knowledge. It's ruins still litter the surrounding plains, filled with unimaginable wealth and power, available to those who dare to face the terrible monster that is said to guard the ancient corridors beneath the crumbled walls. Is there an adventurer brave enough to enter the Millford Valley during a full moon night?"

What kind of a fairy tale the local folk used to lure tourists into Millford before he came into this world, Cayl didn't know. Living in a one room hut with an old lady, half a day's walk from town, had left him quite distant from the civilized world. Instead he spent his days ranging the wilderness and dancing with the wolves. The occasional trip to town to purchase supplies was the only time he met another human. Once a round was done and the woman had what she needed, Cayl was free to disappear into the forest for days, sometimes even weeks.

After one such voyage, Cayl returned to an empty house. Death had taken what was hers. Only a lifeless body sat in the corner, still holding a halfway woven basket in its hands. When the proper rituals had been made - as she would have wanted - Cayl knew there was nothing holding him to this place anymore. He had never been very close to her, but out of respect and gratitude had stuck with her until she had needed it. Weeks turned into months before Cayl returned to the run-down shack only to leave again. After a while, all what was left was a little clearing in the woods where the hut once stood.

Skills:
Knowledge Roll: 5 - He can speak, read and do basic math. He only has rudimentary education in the latter two, mostly taught to him by the old lady for the occasional visits to town so as not to get scammed by the local farmers. Reading a book of fiction? No. Understanding a simple note or letter? Yes.

Denizen of Nature - Anything to do with the non-living side of nature, it's order, laws, cycles, dangers... This includes navigating via stars, predicting weather, finding water, etc.

Horse Whisperer - living among all manner of beasts has taught him to understand the behaviour of animals to the slightest of detail

Shoot to Kill - Cayl is an expert hunter, skilled in the use of bow, spear and knife, as well as setting up traps

Run, Forrest, run - Cayl is fast and silent. He can jump, climb, swim and run like an athlete.

Fields of Green - plants can be useful for a wide variety of uses - from making poultices and poisons to seasoning the freshly skinned rabbit

I Smell a Rat - although all his senses are highly developed, Cayl's sense of smell in particular has reached near inhuman levels

Knowledge of magic? All he knows is things aren't how they used to be. The odd signs here and there hint towards creatures Cayl has never seen before. And the smell, definitely the smell - a very slight otherworldly scent could be felt in parts all over Mortis.

Equipment:
small backpack

hunting/skinning knife

larger general utility/bowie knife

bow and arrows (9 in total. Proper arrows can be hard to come by and fashioning them out of branches without proper equipment isn't easy. Thus he makes sure to retrieve them whenever possible.)

simple leather clothing

cloak

slightly better linen clothing for trips to towns (kept in bag)

flint

waterskin - filled and then refilled whenever possible. He mostly doesn't use it, preferring to drink from any bodies of water he comes by.

small pouch for herbs - while most plants can be used fresh, he does keep some emergency backups in this pouch. These include: a strong anti-toxin powder, a cleansing wound salve and a cooling poultice for burns.

small pouch for emergency food - dried meat and veggies. With careful rationing lasts for about 3 days.

leather blanket (rolled up)

7 silver coins

Name: Violetta Garnier

Title(s): N/A

Gender: Female

Age: 20? 23? Violetta can’t quite remember how old she is. It’s somewhere in the early 20’s.

Descriptive Appearance: Violetta is 170 pounds with a slightly higher than average muscle mass, gained from her long hours of manual labor. She stands at a modest 5 feet 9 inches. Her skin has been dyed a light brown shade from the sun, and a heavy flurry of freckles cover her face, that are similar dark colored brown as her eyes. Violetta’s hair has been messily done up in a “french braid” style, the thick black locks reaching down to her lower back. She has wide hips “Made for birthing grandchildren” as her father would tell her.

Personality: Violetta tends to be more sheltered that the average citizen of Mortis due to her spending so much of her time separated from the world on the ranch. She isn’t very bright either, having received no formal education up to this point. This doesn’t make her a violent brute though; she’s very apathetic to others and has a good sense of morality. The girl works hard and always sees a job to its end.

History: Violetta Garnier was raised on the family farm and ranch on the outskirts of a town named Lakevale. Bruno Garnier, the girl’s father, had spent many years building up a modest reputation for having some of the best livestock in the region. In fact, Bruno was so concerned with keeping this standing, that he had little time for his daughter and son, Emile. With their mother swept away on the coattails of adventure, the two young ones were left to be raised by one of the farmhands. In time Bruno would work himself to a decrepit state, leaving the labor to his offspring and hired help. This would be Violetta’s life, wake up early, work the day away, sleep, repeat. While the young woman put in satisfactory work, her elder brother by a year was somewhat of a slacker and was more focused on what went on inside his mind than his work. Eventually Emile ran off to join the military, having fallen for the romanticized stories that he’d heard as a youth.

With Emile gone, Violetta was to be the heir of the estate, and so her father felt it was time for her to find a strapping young man to continue the family legacy. While she didn’t really want to elope, Violetta didn’t have much choice in the matter, and it was arranged that she’d wed with a young farmhand named Joseph Kell. From here on the girl found her life to be different; instead of the long hours in the fields, Violetta would be shut up inside the family home just like her father. Life grew fairly dull like this, and so she was delighted when a letter came in from Emile, asking Violetta to visit the fort that he had been stationed at.

With family approval, Violetta would set out to Titan’s Grave, with the one man entourage of Wesley, the farmhand who brought up both her and Emile. Upon arrival, the young soldier was surprised to see both of them, but wondered why they would visit so suddenly. Violetta was quick to bring up his letter, only to be even more confused than he, because Emile never learned how to write. The three would rush home to find The Garnier Farm and Ranch burned to the ground. Upon further inspection there were no bodies to bury, not even a single animal carcass. It was almost as if the place had been evacuated before the tragedy, but nobody in Lakevale had seen anyone from the ranch.

Feeling for his kin, Emile offered Violetta the option of enlistment, and with nowhere else to turn she accepted. They would both return to Titan’s Grave, and even though Violetta would be a hard working recruit, she gained little altitude in her stature. Eventually she received strange orders to head out to a rural village…

Skills: Farming, animal handling, horse riding, fishing, woodworking, sword-fighting and axe-fighting.

Equipment: Lightly reinforced leather armor, a simple set of clothing, war axe, a leather pack, dried rations, water, bedroll, flint and steel, map of Mortis, fishing rod.