On January 1st, 2300 AD, a portal opened in the sky above the planet Charon. Billions of spirit-beings poured forth from the void beyond and infested everything in their path. Microorganisms, plants, animals, and living things of all kinds fell prey to them, mutating and evolving in a matter of hours into hideous monstrosities. At the time, the humans living on Charon were ill-prepared to face a whole world's worth of enemies, and soon humanity was driven to the brink of extinction. Just as all hope seemed lost, twelve humongous beasts called Guardians rose up from the earth to drive back the invaders. With their impossible strength and earth-shattering magic powers, they drove the void-spawn back through the portal (or into hiding) and closed it. Only four of the twelve survived the war.

The war inflicted irreparable scars upon the land. The crumbling world of the Void collided with the world of Charon, leaving great swaths of darkness in its wake. Lands that were once teeming with joy and life were now covered in ashes and obsidian glass. The formerly docile creatures of Charon would occasionally and without warning transform into vicious, cunning monsters.

The Guardians sought to tip the balance of power back into more rational hands. They genetically modified some of the humans into several branch-species including elves, dwarves, and orcs, each with their own unique strengths. To all species they gifted Undying Strength, wherein no person would weaken or exhibit signs of age until the last ten or twenty years of their lives.

But humans are an ungrateful lot. The very first colonist of Charon, an immortal demi-godlike human named Vanaerys, realized that if the Guardians were slain, their powers would scatter and give the power of magic to the world. With eight of them already down, there was just enough magic to threaten the others. He rallied the survivors of the conflict and helped them kill three of the four remaining Guardians. The last one, a fire dragon named Caradras, fled and went into hiding, swearing revenge on the humans who betrayed him.

Years passed. Stories of the Void War, and the subsequent hunt for the Guardians, passed into legend. The various races began to spread across Charon once more, filling it with life despite the everlasting scars of war. But Caradras did not forget, nor would he soon forgive the humans' betrayal.
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If you wish to join this RP, there are a few rules I'd like everyone to follow.

* Be active. Each player character will be assigned a vital role in the story; thus, anyone who drops the RP may ruin it for everyone. Do NOT join if you have known life events coming up that will hamper your ability to participate. I expect at least 1 IC post per week; please notify me if you need another week. If there are 2 weeks of inactivity for any reason, or if you consistently take longer than a week to post, I will begin working on a plot solution that minimizes your character's involvement. If a month of this behavior slips by, you'll be dropped from the RP. I don't mean to sound all tyrannical about this, but nearly every RP I've participated in has died due to shenanigans like this. Please try to understand.

* Participate. As protagonists in your own story, your characters will be expected to take action of their own accord. Don't expect me to put in all the work just so you can react to it. To facilitate participation, players will be allowed to create NPCs, towns, obstacles, events, and even MacGuffins and minor antagonists (the latter two with my consent first). Please make use of this freedom. Also please do not abuse this freedom.

* All narration must occur in third person past tense. No exceptions.

* Do NOT post Character Sheets in the OOC thread. I will not review or accept them in any thread except the Characters thread.

* Don't ask me to bend my own rules. The story is designed around them, and while I confess to being a walking carpet when it comes to bending or breaking rules, in the end, it'll hamper my ability to properly GM this story to a conclusion. Don't take advantage of me, please. :P

* The themes of this RP are intended to be upbeat and hopeful, with anime-themed character art styles. I may post epic music and background pictures to enhance the experience. If you're looking for grimdark and gore in the story...well, you'll probably get it, if I'm being honest with myself, but that wasn't my intention! xD

* Romance and relationships are encouraged. If characters engage in more explicit activities, however, take it to PM and fade it to black in the thread.

* Speaking of maturity, deeper themes like racism, ethics, love, and family will probably be explored in this RP. Adults only, please.
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The IC opening post will be created once the Crown Princess player character is submitted.

Remember, while our ultimate goal is to stop the dragon Caradras from destroying humanity (and the world of Charon), we will have multiple sub-goals along the way. For the more active members of this RP, here's a rough roadmap of where we're going:
* The princess player character ascends the throne on her 20th birthday. Her generals (portrayed by me) provide her with a report on the war and will suggest some strategies. Depending on her choice, the player characters will be summoned and issued their respective orders.
* The human cities that surrendered are enslaved. Freeing them from enemy control will provide immense strategic advantages.
* Valuable assets, such as brilliant commanders or spies with intel, may be found in dangerous and hard-to-reach places. Retrieving them should be a priority.
* Humanitarian missions can bolster our popularity among both humans and non-humans. Propaganda and culture can be just as potent weapons as swords and bows.
* Caradras is the cornerstone of the enemy's forces. Kill him, and opposition will eventually crumble. Not immediately, mind you, because he chooses his commanders well, but without his guidance and sheer power, they won't last long.

@AcetheKidd@sassy1085@Flightless_Soul@Stuzzie@pandapolio@ALonelyParrot@Aqutanama
Tagging everyone who previously expressed interest in the Interest Check. Anyone else who sees this post isn't excluded, of course! Feel free to join up.

Sorry, sorry!

Memory matrix, regeneration boost, limited copy, DNA development, come again? Your magic system is flying over my head with all this terminology.

Memory matrix, regeneration boost, limited copy, DNA development, come again? Your magic system is flying over my head with all this terminology.

That's partially deliberate. Magic is often said to require Intelligence, and this detailed system puts some teeth into that. Honestly, though, the main reason it sounds complex is because it's highly thought-out.

I'll try to explain the system a little better.

The concept is this: in order to do something with magic, you must be able to fully comprehend what you want it to do. If you want to hurl a fireball, you can't just picture it in your head and snap your fingers. I mean, technically you could, but the effects would be extremely unpredictable.

For a simple fireball, you must define what's causing the fire, how long you want it to burn, how you're making it ball-shaped, the size of the ball, its position in space, how fast it will travel, and what it will do when it gets there. Calculating everything and keeping all of that in your head simultaneously is a royal pain in the neck.

This is where the "memory matrix" comes in. It's a magic spell that can "remember" all the stuff you want your spell to do, without you having to keep everything in your head simultaneously. You can specify parameters piecemeal. This is a core component of most custom spellcasting.

Healing is an even more complicated beast because human bodies are complicated. The simplest healing spell, and the one we're most familiar with, heals wound faster than normal. This is called a "regeneration booster spell," or booster for short. In real life, though, if you sever a limb and let it heal naturally, the limb doesn't grow back. It just closes. To make the limb grow back, you need to develop it according to the person's genetic profile.

Your spell doesn't know how to do that. You must tell it how to do that. So you must "copy" the person's DNA and write it into the magic spell so your regeneration boost will regrow the missing flesh, not just close it up. But you don't want to copy the exact piece of flesh you're templating from; that would be disastrous. You just want to copy the DNA. So it's a "limited copy."

Most of this spellcasting work can be handwaved away, so you don't really need to know most of this stuff if you don't want to. This is just how it works behind the scenes. That's why I stuck it in a hider. :P

@Thinslayer
I'm here

@sassy1085
Sweet! Make a character sheet? :D

@Thinslayer Sorry, I'm already doing another RP right now. Though, thank you for the invite.

@Thinslayer
i'll make it soon

You restarted the RP?

You restarted the RP?

Nope. TFL:R has different themes going on behind the curtains. TFL:PoH is more upbeat and optimistic, while TFL:R is about to get a lot darker and more twisted. The "Resurrection" bit is there because we're going to fail and die more than usual.

Hello, I'm here but need to sleep so yey!
Still interested.

Dang, like, everyone's been begging for a fantasy RP like this, but when I start one, nobody makes any character sheets. Did everyone move on or something? Not that I blame them, considering the long wait, but still, it'd be nice to know what happened.

I was thinking of being the prince or possibly his knight/body guard.
Not sure what restrictions there are.
Also keep in mind that it is the holiday season.
Some people have family that like to hang out.
Weird huh?
I'm mostly just tired.

WIP
* Name: Princess Catharine Aonani
* Pic/Image:
* Physical Appearance:
* Personality & Biography:
* Powers, Abilities, & Equips:
* Story Role: Captured Princess

@Thinslayer
sorry it took a while, I was just busy with something

Euphemia Li Britannia, or "Euphy" for short, is a great choice of picture! ^_^

I dig it. ;)

I'm interested in joining, but I have a question. What would being the antagonist for the princess entail, and would it be possible to make a character who takes that role but is actually just a really nice person?

@Rabidporcupine The "antagonist for the princess" is a character who interacts with the princess during her time in captivity. Ideally, this character would be her foil, someone who opposes her worldview, which would make them an antagonist. They can be a nice person in their own way, certainly.

Think I may play the exiled prince. If it is still available.