Fatal Souls
“In truth, it was all but a matter of time. Even the most cynical of ours surely did not expect what was to come upon us all as our realm fell into disarray and madness whilst greed, ambition, hunger, and pride would lead us all into the darkest hell.”
"Advanced roleplaying should focus on developing interesting and complex characters that become part of plot-lines which catch the imagination and inspire the writer behind them to exercise creativity. It is mature, humorous, imaginative, tragic, terrifying, passionate, and rife with descriptive language and characters with real personality and relatable cares. Quality posting is far better than needless novels, yet one should never neglect detail when one feels the need. However, while word and paragraph requirements ought to be unnecessary, single paragraphs cannot contain enough detail to suffice."
You might recognize this from two months ago as it was an attempt to generate interest, however it ran into some speed bumps as interested parties had other responsibilities as well as the fact it launched “mostly finished” during a hectic college schedule for many of the players. I feel like I understand where it all went wrong and if people can trust me I can show you a fulfilling world that I would like you to be a part of. If it feels too extensive, I will try to minimize it more, but a lot of things are founded. However, unlike last attempt I will be more on point with helping players creating their house and make sure we have a decent launch schedule.
Anyway, on to the summary:
Much like @TJByrum, @Sini, and @GreivousKhan have developed in the past this is a RP of a medieval scale. I want to thank them for their role-plays in the past and the inspiration as well as acknowledge their vision. – this is a role-play built from the backbone of dynasty role-playing inspired by George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, and video games such as Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Unviersalis. In a way it is a “nation” role-play but not in the sense of playing medieval RISK but rather focusing on characterization, politics, intrigue, and conflict over nation game mechanics. Players will take control of a House from the Continent of Orlandis such as the ruling house of Terijas, Euritia, Gradiar, Caelia, Reinoa, Stormtir, and Erayis. As a player of that house you decide the subtleties of their membership, vassals, custom specialties, house words, and recent history.
Great Houses are not the only playable options, of course; understandably minor houses serving under a great house will need for a great house player to be there. From there people can also play mercenaries, former pirates, lowborn, etc. if they so desire.
Here’s a bit from an old pre-alpha interest check for more information on direction:
So, was sitting down thinking back to a few of the threads from before the guild had its downtime in December and being pretty inspired but intimidated by the role-plays inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire that seemed to be high in quantity at the time. I had only read so much of the series and seen only two seasons of the series at the time and felt pretty intimidated to even try my hand at it. “I can’t do this canon setting justice at all” I thought so I recalled something ages ago from the depths of my role-playing experiences from around 2003. That’s where I recalled a light fantasy called Fatal Souls which I had some lore built up on an old hard drive, so I dug that out and got to work rebuilding it. It didn’t come to me until hours and hours later that it would’ve probably been exceptionally easier if I just went to a Game of Thrones wiki and absorbed information rather than world-building from scratch. But what was done was done.
As a sandbox role-play, this can mean stories of a sailing hiresword, a corrupt prince, a flamboyant merchant, or an exiled knight for rough examples. As GM my role outside of telling my own stories, will be helping guide the setting with events from non-playable actions as I doubt we need to have a writer for each individual country. I love multiple perspectives and throwing something out there. What you write may affect others and what I write likely will as well. This isn’t an authoritarian show, everybody can create a possible outcome that affects things around them. Of course player-on-player interaction is encouraged as it is a cooperative effort.
I believe that gets my foot out the door, but I will provide any information I have on hand about anything regarding the setting if needed. Feel free to ask questions!
Have interest!
Q&A
What exactly are ancestral weapons?
Dynastic Weapons. For example in the Northlands they tend to have ancient runesteel weapons that were acquired centuries prior whilst in other parts of Orlandis mythrite is more of the standard.
What makes a great house different from a minor house? Will there be separate sheets for each?
A Great House is a Kingdom, or Imperium. A Minor House is a Duchy, County, Barony, or Knightdom. The House sheet works for both.
What is a house specialty?
A good question, for example House Hafrek's specialty yields Hafrstaka Calvary which are Mounted Calvary that uses Dire Goats. Whilst this doesn't have to be military in capacity, it can be economic or what have you.
Must individual characters serve an existing house?
Not necessarily no, there can be characters that are self-serving such as pirates and sellswords. Though collaborating with other house players will probably be useful in more than one way.
How do we establish house relations before the IC starts?
Discussion between members and of course the GM's are here to help you with that if needed, as well.
Oh, and by the way, do minor houses have vassals?
A minor house can have vassals, yes. Because a Duke has Barons, Knights, and Counts under him. The only nobility that really wouldn't have vassals would probably be knighthood.
Sir or Ser?
Ser!
I don't like the canon House Name or words, can I change them?
Unless they are Antar or Thralon, you could probably do so. Yes.
Can I ride a Dragon?
No.