[center][hr][h1][color=firebrick]Knights of Melarus[/color][/h1][hr][/center] [hider=Knights of Cydonia by Muse][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjXWtEqs8I4[/youtube][/hider] King Victor of Draco stood at the balcony of his castle in Maceron and looked down at the mob below. The city stretched out around him in every direction, nearly as far as they eye could see. . From high up above, the people looked like insects far below. They scurried through cracks in the city’s stone facade, bustling from building to building, visiting market squares, watching street performers swindle them out of good coin. Draco found the acts of poorer folk to be so peculiar. They walked around like clockwork toys, moving in the same circles every day. Occasionally, they’d move from circle to circle, and would do something at least a bit unique. As King Draco stared down upon the city, he noticed a strange trend near the northern gate. Standing in a mob was a group of men in rags. They moved forwards slowly. Their heads were all fixed in the same direction. People screamed as they appeared and ran inside. Some stood in the alleyways and watched. Merchants hid under their benches. City guards stepped forward or followed them from behind. There must’ve been thousands of them. King Draco shrugged and turned to the left. Another mob of men walked in from the western gate. King Draco picked up a gold spyglass from a table next to him on the balcony. He extended the spyglass and looked down at the hordes walking in. He gasped and dropped the spyglass. They were not men, but monsters. They were skeletons, devoid of flesh and clothed in tattered rags. Their unmoving eye sockets were fixed on the castle gates. Their jaws bobbed up and down as if they were trying to speak. They lurched forwards passively in no particular rhythm. Some held twisted branches between their fingers. Others held cleavers or swords. Their bleach-white skulls glowed in the cloudy sun. King Draco heard a noise from behind him. He jumped. “Milord,” a deep voice said behind him, “We have a bit of a problem.” It was Othur, the captain of the guard. He was a grey, hardened man with a very large, grey beard. A great sword was sheathed on his back. “Sir Othur,” King Draco said. “Why is it that your guards are allowing an army of skeletal beasts into my kingdom?” Othur frowned, stretching the deep white scar on his left cheek. “We are not, milord,” Othur replied. “We-” “Then why can I see them walking through the city gates?” Draco interrupted. “That is what I’m trying to tell you, milord,” Othur said. “They’re-” “Gods be damned! How are your men this incompetent!? I knew I should’ve disposed of you years ago!” Draco kicked the spyglass off of the balcony. A few seconds later, it shattered below. “They’re walking through the walls, milord!” Othur fell to his knees. Draco looked over at the north wall, the nearest one to where he was. His jaw dropped. The wrought-iron gates were down. The heavy wooden siege doors were shut. The skeletons were walking [i]through[/i] the gates. He stood there a moment, staring out in shock. His massive walls were powerless to the horde of undead. But yet, they were nonviolent. They simply walked straight, ignoring all other creatures near them. Some of the guards began to strike out at the monsters. Their spears pierced the skeletons’ rags. The skeletons fell over, rolled their skulls to the side, and then reformed. Then they kept walking. King Draco leaned his palms on the railing around the balcony. Othur rose to his feet. He stepped forward gently. Then he reached out towards Draco’s shoulder. Draco wheeled around, swatted his hand, and walked back inside, his long gold cape flowing behind him. He walked into a large circular room. A man in blue and gold armor stood at attention near the door. A great helm with golden ram’s horns affixed to it was under his left arm. “Sir Palmouth,” Draco said. “Scramble the Knights! I want every Knight of the Ram in this city in three days’ time!” “YESSIR!” the knight shouted. He pounded his chest with his right hand. Then he turned towards the door and marched out. Draco walked to an ornate wooden chair in the leftmost spot of the room. He collapsed into the chair. Four guards entered the room to replace the knight. Othur timidly approached King Draco. “W-what are your orders, milord?” Othur asked. He bent down on one knee and lowered his head. King Draco sighed. “Of course this would happen to me,” Draco muttered. “Gods be damned, gods damn them all. Why is it that his cruelest of world would refuse to grant me mercy? What have I done wrong to deserve such spite?” He drew his sword. Othur fell backwards with fright. He dove out of the way of Draco. Draco held the sword high above his head with two hands. He shouted like a barbarian. Then he drove the sword towards the marble floor. It struck with a deafening “Clang!” The sword twirled on its tip and then clattered to the floor. [hr] [center][h1]Overview[/h1][/center] [hr] Across the world of Tithe, the dead have been rising from their graves. Normally harmless, rare undead creatures, wights, skeletal creatures created from the bodies of those who died without being buried, have been appearing in alarming amounts all over Tithe. They travel in packs, going through cities and farmland, following the roads to Talbor. They have congregated in Maceron, the capitol of the kingdom of Talbor. They have yet to show any sense of aggression. They simply walk around the streets in groups, wandering aimlessly. It has become a tourist attraction, as people around Talbor have travelled there to see the Skeletal March. Many predict that the wights could soon break their streak of peace. As time has gone on, they have become more aggressive, occasionally lashing out at people nearby. You play a character from somewhere in the fantasy world of Tithe. One way or another, they have ended up in Maceron, through following a trade route, carrying out an assassination mission, or traveling on a whim. Some way, they have ended up here, just as the wights are beginning to congregate in their greatest numbers. Perhaps you are all here for a reason. Perhaps you are about to embark on a quest to save Tithe from the clutches of the undead. [b]Recruitment Status:[/b] [color=red]Currently Closed[/color] [b]Genre:[/b] High-Fantasy, Adventure, highly character-driven, interaction heavy [b]Number of Players:[/b] 6 [b]Co-GMs:[/b] SepticGentleman, Spoopy Scary [b]NOTE: We will no longer be accepting any more Knight of the Ram characters.[/b] [hr] [h1]Rules and Notes[/h1] [hr] [hider=A Quick Note About Organization] So Tithe is a world that I use in a lot of my fantasy writing. I have cultivated it for years and it is incredibly detailed. I have pages and pages of lore which I have created for this world, and I wish to share it as much as I can with you so that you can feel as if you’re part of the world too. RPG has character limits, however, and not everyone wants to see walls of text describing every kingdom. So, I am going to do this; when you get to the setting section of the OP, there will be a brief description of each kingdom and region. I’ll try to make it under a paragraph. There will also be a link which says “click here for more information.” Clicking this link will take you to a Google Doc containing long-form lore for each place. That way, people can read the lore that they want and the website doesn’t explode. You are NOT required to read all of the lore, but I suggest you read the lore for the kingdom that you want your character to be from. If you ever have a question about a place in Tithe, whether the answer is in the lore or not, PM me and I’ll answer it. Enjoy. [/hider] [hider=A Note About the Rules] Rules are important for an RP. They make sure that people don’t do things that are unfair to others and ensure that all characters are balanced. However, I understand that writers like having freedom to do as they please sometimes. What that means is this; if you pm me with a very good reason, I will allow you to break any rule on this list. [/hider] [hider=OOC Rules] [list] [*]This shouldn’t be necessary. You all know how you are supposed to act on a forum. Follow the forum rules, don’t flame or start fights. [*] Try to stay on-track with the RP so we don’t get derailed, but don’t feel as if you have to only talk about the RP. It’s okay to have side-conversations. They make the RP feel more alive. [*] Me and my co-gms have the final say in all issues. [*] I tend to have very high standards for characters. Because of that, I can be very critical of sheets at times. Do not be offended by this. I am not telling you that you are a bad writer or that you suck. I am just making sure that our RP has certain standards that are met.[/list] [/hider] [hider=IC rules] [list][*] Don’t mix your OOC with your IC. Keep OOC remarks in the OOC section and in-character stuff in the IC. [*] This is an advanced roleplay, so there are post standards. Two sentences isn’t going to cut it. However, I believe in the philosophy of diarrhea of thought, constipation of words. Say what it is that you need to say in a post and don’t add unnecessary filler. [*] I highly suggest that, if you want your character to have a very long conversation with a character that you do not own, you write a collab post with the owner of that character. Basically, this means that both people write the post together, on a site like piratepad or Google Drive. [*] The Mookacide Rule: This is a common sense thing more than a rule. If I say “seven faceless mooks appeared out of the darkness and attack”, that does not mean that your assassin character can just one-shot all of them in a single post. [*] All of our characters are on the same side (at least for now), so not a whole lot of fighting will be present, but if there is fighting, no autokilling or autohitting. Plan fights out with the writer of the character you character is engaged in combat with. Also, don’t fight someone in the IC because they pissed you off in the OOC. We’re not in middle school anymore. [*] We’re all semi-mature here. Cursing is fine, violence is fine, romance is fine. But, if you turn my roleplay into literotica, I will find you and make you pay. [/list][/hider] [hider=Character Creation Guidelines] [list][*] Character sheets must be detailed, but don’t overwrite. By this, I mean don’t take two paragraphs worth of history and extend it into two pages because you feel as if your sheet needs to be longer. Write what needs to be written. [*] Use common sense. If your character has seven giant longswords, I’m not going to accept them. Do what seems feasible. [*] Your characters are allowed to have mounts like horses or other various fantasy creatures. Don’t make me regret allowing this. Don’t have your character ride a gigantic turtle the size of a city or an invincible magic derp wolf. [*] I want creativity above all. Don’t copy something straight out of a video game. I don’t want your Skyrim avatar. I want your own creation. [*] I am setting a character limit of two per-writer. I would prefer that people not go over that limit unless it is completely necessary. [*] Stick to the races listed please (see rule below for more). [*] My RP seems like it has a lot of restrictions, I know. This is because this world is one that I hold dear. I’ve cultivated Tithe in my head since middle school, and so I can get a little touchy when someone wants to modify it. However, I realize that this is a roleplay, not a web novel. This isn’t [i]my[/i] story, this is [i]our[/i] story. Because of that, I will be very lenient with sheets. If you have an idea for a character that isn’t exactly by the books or is a different race, PM me about it. If I believe that the character fits in the lore, is balanced, and is up to sheet standards, I will accept it.[/list][/hider] [hider=Weapons Guidelines] So this RP will have a lot of combat in it. This means that your characters need to be armed. However, I have been in enough rps to know that if there aren’t weapons guidelines, everyone will run around with dual buster swords. So, keep this in mind for weapons. You can have whatever weapons you want, so long as they fit in the time period (early renaissance). In order to balance magic with weaponry, weapons and armor can be blessed in order to give them magic resistance. However, don’t carry a stupid amount of weaponry. Think of what would be realistic for a person to actually carry. Dual buster swords are cool, but how would you carry them and how would you wield them? As far as armor goes, be realistic as well. A quick, agile character isn’t going to wear full plate armor, and a slow character covered in armor isn’t going to be doing backflips. Just keep in mind what would work in the real world. [/hider] [hider=The Sheet] There may or may not be an error in my BBcode. Ten drunes for the first person who finds it! [code][hider=Character Name Here] [b]Name:[/b] [b]Age: [/b] [b]Gender: [/b] [b]Species: [/b] [u][b]Background [/b][/u] [b]Kingdom of Origin: [/b] [b]Parents: [/b] [b]Backstory:[/b] (Be as detailed as you’d like. The more complicated the character gets, the more of a backstory I suggest you build in. Remember that if you ever need any lore information, just ask). [u][b]Physical Appearance: [/b][/u] [b]Height: [/b] [b]Weight: [/b] [b]Appearance:[/b] (You can use pictures, but no face claims unless you drew them yourself. Also, if you use a picture explain what you’re showing.) [b]Attire: [/b] [u][b]Personality: [/b][/u] [b]Personality: [/b] [b]Hobbies: [/b] [b]Skills: [/b] [u][b]Abilities/Combat: [/b][/u] [b]Abilities:[/b] (Both magical and non. Include any form of training in magic/combat/etc here) [b]Weaponry: [/b](Don’t be ridiculous. Your characters are adventurers, not walking knife collections) [b]Weaknesses: [/b](Because this isn’t superpower-based, this means basically things that your character is not skilled in defending against or a fighting style that they aren’t used to dealing with). [b]Mount: [/b](optional. Limit of one.). [b]Other: [/b] [/hider] [/code] [/hider] Following this will be information on the world, an explanation of the magic system, a list of all important NPCs, and a list of all characters. There might also be a list of what’s happened in the RP so far incase anyone goes on hiatus.