”I had a dream. A dream in which a great darkness from the East spread across the continent. This darkness was angry and hurt; its lust for vengeance was so great that soaking the entirety of Askor in blood could do little but whet its appetite. It is coming. I have seen it. But fear not, for I have seen how to stop it.”
It was these words that the Prophetess spoke to the lords and ladies of the continent of Askor when she had a vision of the future. At first she was ignored, but when her prophecies proved correct time and time again a sense of dread began to creep into them. They couldn’t help but suspect that she could indeed foresee the future. Perhaps more terrifying for these lords was the fact that their peasantry had come to believe in the divinity of the Prophetess and were demanding that she be aided in her quest to stop the Darkness.
Heroes and champions from across the continent answered the Prophetess’ call. Soon the Prophetess had a legion of these heroes and champions and they became known as the Silver Legion. The Prophetess and Silver Legion departed for the East, ready to fight the threat she had foreseen. The fight was a harsh one; ten years later the Silver Legion returned, two thirds of its men having passed away.
The continent of Askor had been subjected to droughts, famine, and terrible plagues during those ten years. Some of the people welcomed the Prophetess back as a true hero, their savior. Most viewed her as a terrible demon, the cause of all their pain and suffering over the past decade. The lords of Askor took advantage of this sentiment. They attacked the Silver Legion, killing it to a man, and captured the Prophetess. It is said that the Prophetess had one final prophecy as she was burned at the stake.
“Three hundred years will pass before you realize the terrible mistake you have made. Askor shall suffer through two decades of war before the East brings an even greater conflict. I pray that the heroes that rise in that distant future to save the continent are not subjected to the same terrible treatment as I.”
Background
Written history began in the ‘Era of Legends’. It was a time when the primordials and their close kin still walked amongst the mortals of the world. They were living gods, blessing their children with magic. When they disappeared in Year 2115 of the Era of Legends the mortals of the land turned to their offspring for guidance. For a time these beings were powerful enough to control the entirety of Askor, but by Year 2998 of the Era of Legends their power had waned, thus ending the Era of Legends.
It is now Year 521 of the Era of Heroes, a time in which a handful of individuals of great strength and skill can still change the fate of Empires, but not as common as in the past. The continent has been wracked with disaster after disaster. The rise of the Prophetess in Year 221 followed by a series of droughts. And then a series of major conflicts, famines, and other disasters from Year 500 to Year 521. Many have forgotten the Prophetesses warning, or threat as some would say, but some still remember, and they look to the near future with a sense of dread.
OOC
This world, in the event that you haven’t caught on yet, is a high fantasy one complete with magic, non-human races, and heroes who can change the courses of entire wars. It has been three hundred years since the passing of the Prophetess and her Silver Legion. The continent has seen its fair share of strife and peace since then, however the past twenty years has seen the entire continent embroiled in war, with all countries partaking in the conflicts. This has been, in large part, due to unknown entities influencing countries to wage war on each other. While this era of war seems to be coming to an end a new threat has arrived on the horizon: the Einherjar. As of the beginning of the RP they are an unknown entity: the countries of the continent do not know they exist and largely do not believe that there is a threat to the east.
Given the high fantasy setting technology will be that of the high middle ages (13th and 14th centuries), except more centralized governments will be allowed. In the interest of preserving the fantasy setting there will be absolutely no guns or gunpowder based weaponry. Magic will be a moderately common sight in the RP. In terms of combat strength the average magician is on par with several high quality warriors; the average mage can kill one or two foes per spell, but don’t expect your run of the mill mage to kill scores of troops with a single fireball.
Rules
1) Don’t be a child. Seriously, if you can’t act like a reasonable human being then this simply isn’t the RP for.
2) You are expected to post 1-2 times every 7 days. Any more and you are liable to burn yourself, and others, out and any less and the RP will move along too slowly. If you do not make a post within 14 days with no prior warning you will be dropped from the RP.
3) This is an advanced RP. I expect you have to correct grammar and spelling in your posts, at the very least. One or two mistakes per post is fine, and expected, but if I see ten “teh”s in your post we will have a problem.
4) Please don’t join if you are going to disappear after one or two posts. You know who you are.
5) Just in case you missed it in the above section: guns and gunpowder based weaponry are not allowed.
Notes on Magic
The ability to use magic is a trait that was passed down to the children and descendants of the Primordials. While still around the Primordials would commonly shapeshift and have offspring with the mortals of the world. Most commonly they would have children with humans and other intelligent races, but at times they would have offspring with non-intelligent creatures such as horses or lizards.
There are three factors that determine how able a being is at using magic: 1) The amount of primordial blood they posses, 2) the amount of mana throughput they have, and 3) their talent.
The amount of primordial blood determines how much mana they have access to. So the child of a Primordial and human would have about half the available mana as a full Primordial. Given that it has been several thousand years since the Primordials have disappeared the amount of Primordial blood has been thinned by quite a bit.
Mana throughput is how much mana a being can use at once. This is something that has to be trained and is done so simply by using a lot of mana.
Magical talent, or technique, is the actual processes of using mana to accomplish a task. This is the only three factors of magic that has actually improved since the Primordials disappeared.
Items can be enchanted by incorporating Primordial blood, or the blood of a Primordial’s descendant, into its construction. It is important to note that, unlike a living being, an enchanted item does not regain mana it has used and thus must be ‘recharged’ be someone with Primordial blood.
There are legends of magical weapons and armor from the ‘Era of Legends’ that would regenerate mana overtime. These items were believed to actually be alive. The methods to create items such as these have long been lost.
Necromancy does exist but is not available to players. Spoiler alert: only the Einherjar and those who align with them can use necromancy.
Notes on Technology
In general the technology of the continent is that of 13th and 14th century Europe
Armor such as plated mail, chainmail, lamellar, or simply leather armor are the most common forms of armor. It is also not uncommon to see soldiers using components of plate armor for protection, especially of the chest.
Full plate armor is actually around and was in use even during the time that the Prophetess was alive. It is important to note that full plate armor is very expensive, thus should be reserved heroes and a country’s more elite troops.
Guns, and blackpowder, do not exist in this universe.
The three-field rotation system for planting crops has already been developed (I doubt that’ll ever come up ICly but you never know!).
Notes on the Prophetess
No one knows what her name was. All documents written at the time she was alive refer to her simply as the Prophetess.
She is the only being known to ever possess precognitive powers.
There is lot of disagreement about what country she originated from. People also disagree on what race she was. For some reason most people believe she was of their race and came from their country. These disagreements seem to defy logic as beings of distinctly different races believe she was of their race.
While nobility tend to push the belief that the Prophetess was an aristocrat, there is no evidence to support that belief. Many, in fact, believe that she was an orphan.
Other Notes and Considerations
Aligning with the Einherjar IS a legitimate strategy and may be worth considering.
Do not expect to be able to hide on an island or the western-most corner of the map. You have been warned.
Players who interact with the Einherjar, be that by talking with them or trying to stab them, are more likely to receive boons ICly. On the flipside those who I feel are trying to ignore the Einherjar are liable to get hit with some nasty events.
At times I may use my own country, the Argentum Knights, to move the plot along or provide some kind of boon. While doing this I will make it clear that this is a GM event OOCly.
There are two calendar systems in use: the Era calendar and the Sibytte calendar.
The Era calendar uses epochs as its base and currently has two epochs, the Era of Legends and the Era of Heroes (the Era of Gods is an unofficial pre-history epoch). The Era of Legends was 2998 years long and the current Era of Heroes is in Year 521.
The Sibytte calendar uses the death of the Prophetess as its base with 1 AP (After Prophetess) as being the year of her death. The current year is 301 AP.
The city of Levine, were the Prophetess was burned at the stake, is considered a holy site to the people who believe she was of a divine nature. It has been under the control of the Argentum Knights since her death.
