The Adamant World
(A Guild-based RP)
Boreas is a world ruled by Highprinces without armies, their arsenals restricted to venomous words, blades in the dark and contracted guilds. Forbidden from recruiting soldiers by the powerful, if isolated, island nation of Miram to the East, the Highprinces hire guilds of Powder Mages to steal, raid and guard against their neighbours and rivals all under the guise of civility towards one another so as not to bring Miram's unstoppable armies down upon them once again.
Powder Mages, uncommon but not rare, are those who posses a Flare; an ability unique to each individual which can only be born into existence by the consumption of Adamant. This is a powder distributed to registered guilds from Miram Fields to the East. With no other way to gain this empowering substance many would-be Powder Mages join a guild for this express purpose while others do so to earn a wage, the gaining of power a mere happenstance on the way to a reliable income and possible celebrity.
Over the two centuries since an enduring, but uneasy, peace was forced upon Boreas, guilds have proliferated exponentially until they number in the hundreds, varying in size from a a small band to several hundred members. Each have gained a character and reputation based on the jobs they are willing to carry out, their Masters having to tread the path between keeping the contracts coming without earning the ire of the wrong Highprince. Many consider themselves righteous, only accepting contracts of a just, or at the very least a legal, nature. Others are openly known to indulge in orgies of violence and destruction at their employer’s request but must do so in as clandestine and deniable a manner as possible lest Miram cut off their supply of all important Adamant and leave them powerless or, worse, bring down the Smith enforces upon themselves.
Vale Craft Guild makes it home nestled into the rocky cliffs overlooking the port city of Dilei and the emerald sea beyond. Peculiarly, they have no interest in Powder Mages of repute, either good or bad, and are only interested in new blood. Known to be neutral in nature, declining the most bloodstained of jobs but otherwise happy to enter into most any other contract, they are a growing guild training up some skilled Mages and have easy access to Adamant through the port whereas many guilds must risk importing it inland. Most sensible guilds and bandits would avoid robbing a shipment of Adamant but some unregistered Powder Mages become desperate enough to do anything that will keep their Flare alive.
The Master is often absent, engaging in politics known only to her and leaving the running of the guild to a couple of trusted lieutenants who seem both entirely competent and totally harassed by the demands of their position. A new haul of recruits is due to be enrolled, keen to have the guild’s black feather emblem tattooed onto their body to proudly display.
Rumours of a new, more direct, era of conflict between the Highprinces is spreading and how Vale Craft steers itself through these tumultuous seas will dictate whether it survives and thrives or is cast down into the forgotten annals of history, destroyed down to the last mage.
Powder Mages, uncommon but not rare, are those who posses a Flare; an ability unique to each individual which can only be born into existence by the consumption of Adamant. This is a powder distributed to registered guilds from Miram Fields to the East. With no other way to gain this empowering substance many would-be Powder Mages join a guild for this express purpose while others do so to earn a wage, the gaining of power a mere happenstance on the way to a reliable income and possible celebrity.
Over the two centuries since an enduring, but uneasy, peace was forced upon Boreas, guilds have proliferated exponentially until they number in the hundreds, varying in size from a a small band to several hundred members. Each have gained a character and reputation based on the jobs they are willing to carry out, their Masters having to tread the path between keeping the contracts coming without earning the ire of the wrong Highprince. Many consider themselves righteous, only accepting contracts of a just, or at the very least a legal, nature. Others are openly known to indulge in orgies of violence and destruction at their employer’s request but must do so in as clandestine and deniable a manner as possible lest Miram cut off their supply of all important Adamant and leave them powerless or, worse, bring down the Smith enforces upon themselves.
Vale Craft Guild makes it home nestled into the rocky cliffs overlooking the port city of Dilei and the emerald sea beyond. Peculiarly, they have no interest in Powder Mages of repute, either good or bad, and are only interested in new blood. Known to be neutral in nature, declining the most bloodstained of jobs but otherwise happy to enter into most any other contract, they are a growing guild training up some skilled Mages and have easy access to Adamant through the port whereas many guilds must risk importing it inland. Most sensible guilds and bandits would avoid robbing a shipment of Adamant but some unregistered Powder Mages become desperate enough to do anything that will keep their Flare alive.
The Master is often absent, engaging in politics known only to her and leaving the running of the guild to a couple of trusted lieutenants who seem both entirely competent and totally harassed by the demands of their position. A new haul of recruits is due to be enrolled, keen to have the guild’s black feather emblem tattooed onto their body to proudly display.
Rumours of a new, more direct, era of conflict between the Highprinces is spreading and how Vale Craft steers itself through these tumultuous seas will dictate whether it survives and thrives or is cast down into the forgotten annals of history, destroyed down to the last mage.
Greetings and welcome to this interest check! If the above has interested you but you're looking for more information then please peruse the hiders below (they are in my note format, rather than full prose, so bear that in mind).
Hopefully the above gives you a clear idea of the format (at least, the beginning format) - your characters will be new entrants to the guild and will be placed into a group under the oversight of a more experienced Powder Mage to carry out contracts, there may be two groups based on how many join (groups are usually three or four). What those jobs are will be down a great deal to you, with some guidance from me (my idea is to have a 'jobs board' and we will roleplay the job choice out but this is very much up for thoughtful contributions). There is an over-arching plot but we will get into that gradually.
A lot of the world of Boreas is flexible and organic - I have some ideas and some structure in place but I want to collaborate with everyone to create a living and breathing world, allowing everyone to write as they wish. There will be some off-limits places/NPCs, of course, for future plot purpose and some of the geographical/historical features are ones I would like to keep in place but I'd be most interested in thoughts as we progress through the RP.
Rules... I hope I don't need to go into them as they're largely uniform across the roleplaying sites and I expect people to be mature and sensible (read: this is not synonymous with boring). Any queries, please give me a shout below.
Oh, and activity wise I'm understanding of situations. I'd like a post a week (this is aiming for Advanced, after all) but the key for me is keeping in contact and letting myself and others know what the situation is; there's nothing worse than someone simply vanishing (we might do a Discord chat or something to aid communication).
Below are some of my notes on the world and some wider explanations. Much of this is up for creative input and is not in full prose but it should be clear enough if you wanted to read further.
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