Backstory
A long long time ago the world was a peaceful and serene place, life was good and wars or plagues never cursed the land. Until it was plunged in darkness when the Goddess of Strife overthrew the other members of the Heavenly Host, the sons and daughters of the Creator. It is said that she used the power of her songs, being the most beautiful singer between all the gods, she used her music to summon terrible beasts known today as Dissonances and slay the other gods before unleashing her own children upon the world of mortals.
In an attempt to preserve their own creation, the gods reunited their last remnants of life force and imparted some mortals with the power of summoning legendary creatures of themselves through the power of music, known today as Spirits, to fight back the Dissonances.
After a long and arduous war, the forces of Goddess of Strife finally were defeated and she was sealed away to never be seen again. Even so, the Goddess' power is so great that the land is still plagued by Dissonances even today, to fight back this threat and defend the land special schools were created to train the next generations of Song Knights, the only ones that can wield the power to summon Spirits and bind them to their service.
Plot
The story will begin during the 243rd Liberation Festival on Arpeggio, the capital of the Bach Empire. The festival is a week long series of holidays when people celebrate the defeat of the Goddess of Strife with religious, military and artistic events. All player characters will be students of one of the Song Knight academies of the world, who congregate annually for the Battle Royale, a tournament to choose the best Song Knights in the land.
Setting
The story is set on the land of Da Capo, an insular continent roughly the size of Europe where three countries control about 80% of the usable lands (about half of the mainland area), the rest being divided between numerous city states and non-claimed territory. The rest of the continent is taken by vicious mountain ranges, deep forests and overran by amok Dissonances, being completely unsuitable for occupation by human, however members of the Elven people make their homes at such places.
• Bach Empire: Controls most of the colder and heavily forested lands of the north of the continent, having about 50% of the usable land under their banner. They value order and are a very militarist people, with a penchant for xenophobia, heavily distrusting the Elves. Primary colors: Black and Purple. Academy: Imperial Song Knights' Academy of Cadenza.
• Wolfgang Alliance: A coalition of several states united under the same banner for military and economic interests. They are a flimsy union that has many different views of life and are led by a Council of Representatives of each of the minor states that form the Alliance. They hold control over the Southwestern lands, an area dotted of large plains and marshland, corresponding to roughly 20 % of the usable lands. Primary Colors: Green and White. Academy: United Academy of Song Knights' of Crescendo.
• Chopin Republic: The smallest of the major states, they control the remaining 10% of the usable lands, having most of their territory at the East taken by craggy rocky terrain rich in unexplored mineral resources. They have the most open minded culture, valuing individual liberty and rights and the most advanced education in the land. While officially a republic, their Head of State is a member of the former ruling Royal Family, while the government is headed by a Prime Minister, the chief of an elected Parliament. Primary Colors: Blue and Yellow. Academy: Grand Academy of Song Knights' of Capella.
Characters
Your characters will be students at any of the three before mentioned Song Knight academies. Since their initiation is complete everyone will already have control of their specific Spirits, life long companions and servants that share a bond, formed by music, with an specific Song Knight. Song Knights are also capable of employing magic based on songs, either by voice or any other instrument, though said magic is limited to effects linked to the elements upon which their Spirit is aligned.
Furthermore, all song knights are trained in some form of combat, either armed with swords, bows, guns, spears, etc, or not. Many of them also have complimentary skills, based from their walks of life before joining an academy, academic knowledge, athletic skill, survival lore, or even something as simple as cooking or cards games.
Spirits
Mysterious beings that are summoned the Aether upon reality by the power of a Song Knight's Summoning Aria and are bound to their summoner by their own free will. Other than this fact all Spirits are as different as the Knights they serve, varying in size, shape, intelligence, disposition and elemental affinity. These parameters are used to classify a Spirit within a scale of Ranks, from E to A, the closer a Spirit is to A rank, the more powerful they are. There's also rumors of Spirits that go beyond this scale and are classified as EX Rank, but the means to summon such a powerful creature are unknown.
• Elemental Affinity: A Spirit is aligned to one, or two of the following elements, being immune to the same elements as they are composed and weak against opposing elements. For this reason, a Spirit can't be aligned to two opposing elements (e.g.: Fire and Water).
Fire x Water
Air x Earth
Water x Fire
Earth x Air
Light x Dark
Dark x Light
Air x Earth
Water x Fire
Earth x Air
Light x Dark
Dark x Light
