Once upon a time, in a far away land, there was a village. It was small, unassuming, and unimportant. One day, the earth split with a loud crack, and out of the chasm sprang forth mystic energy, which they dubbed "mana." This mana could be controlled by will of thought, easily at that (or so they thought), lending them great prosperity. But the chasm did not stop releasing energy, and in a few years time, the whole world became enveloped in mana.

Thus magic was born into the world.

You, the players, are at the forefront of research into this phenomenon. Armed with little more than a sword and your wits, you set off from your respective tribes on a pilgrimage to where it all began. Naturally, you are not alone, and your journey crosses the agendas of entities high and low. Some may aid you, some may hinder you; watch therefore, and guard your life and knowledge from those who would use it for evil.

The journey is long and arduous, but great power lies at the end of it. Will you persevere to the end?
__________

Gameplay will be a lot like lorebuilding, except it's all IC. Your characters will be expected to experiment and create new spells, documenting them in a tome. The strength and quality of the spells you can create/cast increases as you approach the Chasm. Additionally, there is another sentient force in the world using magic to create and genetically modify life. This phenomenon should be investigated, and terminated if need be.

Some tribes are more technologically advanced than others; some have developed in different technological pathways. Feel free to come up with creative new tribes to encounter. The highest known tech level is Renaissance, with guns, germ theory, and rudimentary electricity. The lowest tech level is early-Medieval.

Very interesting, I like the idea of a setting where magic is something just beginning to be discovered and harnessed.

Added more info to the OP.
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Gameplay will be a lot like lorebuilding, except it's all IC. Your characters will be expected to experiment and create new spells, documenting them in a tome. The strength and quality of the spells you can create/cast increases as you approach the Chasm. Additionally, there is another sentient force in the world using magic to create and genetically modify life. This phenomenon should be investigated, and terminated if need be.

Some tribes are more technologically advanced than others; some have developed in different technological pathways. Feel free to come up with creative new tribes to encounter. The highest known tech level is Renaissance, with guns, germ theory, and rudimentary electricity. The lowest tech level is early-Medieval.

@Thinslayer I am extremely interested as well. A point of clarification I thus seek. You reference Renaissance technology, are such measures reached through exploitation of "Mana." That is to say, are these firearms you speak of magic induced or do they exploit typical black powder concoctions in the form of blunderbuss' and matchlocks? Would this reasoning also be applied to electricity? Or are we speaking of these technologies with are colloquial understandings? Information is appreciated.

Subsequently, I will be looking forward to seeing the IC and the character sheet requirements.

@The Revenant
Up to this point, all technology was reached by conventional innovation, research, and development. Much of it was spurred on at the Immortal's suggestion, since she came from a considerably more advanced civilization. For example, Midhaven's waste-burning disposal plant functions as power source for the nearby forge and mill. Since she doesn't know exactly how electricity is made, the system is an entirely mechanical one.

To cite a few more examples, ice tribes up north worked out how to generate electricity through chemical means (i.e. batteries), but they use it in metalworking processes to make aluminum and never thought to use it for modern functions. One of the forest tribes learned how to make airships a while back, and now live almost exclusively as sky-nomads.

@Thinslayer Is there an official IC/OOC thread up for this yet?

Not yet, but with 2 people interested, there might be enough to get things started. I'll boot up the RP soon.

@Thinslayer

A sufficient answer. I shall await information regarding the topic.

hmmm...I am intrigued. I shall certainly be watching for further developments.

Establishing races now.
* Human (playable): Far and away the most common race here. Aging is a little slower on Aion, so while people still die at roughly the same age as always (<120 years), it takes them longer to show signs of it. Additionally, for reasons too complicated to explain in one sentence, the majority of humans on this world are dark-skinned asian-looking types.

* Immortal (non-playable): Distinguished by their pointed ears, Immortals are otherwise no different from ordinary humans except for their inability to die of old age. Only one is known to live on Aion, though there are rumors of a second, less-benevolent one roaming the world.

* Orc (playable): The product of some very nasty experiments on an (now-dead) Immortal, orcs are designed to maintain their peak physical capacity from adulthood to death. Aging doesn't slow them down, and their muscles never atrophy, allowing them to reach heights of strength only dreamed of by ordinary people. This means, however, that they also have increased energy consumption, and in fact one orc regularly eats enough for about two or three humans. Thus, orcs rarely have developed civilizations and are more commonly found either as nomads or mercenaries for the wealthy. If an adequate food source could be found, orcs would reproduce like rabbits and overpower everyone else. This fact is not lost on certain ambitious wizards...

Voidspawn (playable): Sentient mana-spirits that appeared from the Chasm. Since they are incapable of affecting the world without a physical form, they prey on creatures that are on the brink of death, pushing out a native soul to take its place. The resultant being, if it survives, can be identified by its purple irises, and often possesses immense magical talent. Being non-native to their bodies, however, their lives are rather fragile and can, at times, be destroyed by mundane things like stress.

Sounds intriguing. I’ll throw my lot into this as well.

Tentative List of Interesting Crearures
* Sprites, cute ball-shaped mana-forms with the genetic composition of plants. Whoever designed them used a vegetation template.
* Wargs, wolves grown with magic to twice their normal size. Their intelligence appears to have grown with them.
* Aery, a type of mana spirit inhabiting dispersed particulates, rather than a singular object. The Voidspawn most often take this form before they can locate a body.
* Goblin, a small and ugly creature genetically related to monkeys, and with similar thieving habits. Surprisingly unintelligent for a mammalian biped.
* Reptiliforms, a category of creatures including dragons, drakes, wyrms, wyverns, and such like. Dinosaurs appear to have been the genetic design template. These creatures wield great conventional and magical power, making them dangerous foes if crossed.
* Venus Mantrap, a larger and enhanced Venus Flytrap equipped with tentacles to actively capture its prey. Contrary to how hentai portrays them, they are not interested in lewd activities. They slowly digest their food over several months, and while some try to tear apart their meals before eating them, a few species have worked out how to keep their prey alive during digestion. Very nasty plants. Easily identified by their lovely aroma.

@Thinslayer

Very interesting. Could I bother you for a question? I’m curious to know a bit more about the orcs, like how long they’ve existed and such. I was hoping to write up a tribe who have founded a coastal town rife with internal struggles between the different castes, as well as the problems they face from external threats and their own physiology.

That is an excellent question. I've been torn between linking them to magic or giving them their societal place, and since I've established in other lore elsewhere that they once had their own civilization, I lean toward them being nearly as old as humans (~1000 years on Aion).

So I support your endeavor! The orc tribe is a go. ;)

Cool. I'll do a write up and PM you about it so we can work it into your world. I know we all get to contribute to the world building but tis simply due process to make sure the GM gets the final say, nya?

Aye! And worldbuilding is sometimes the most fun part of roleplaying, and I love seeing other people's ideas. Ooh, speaking of which, I've been developing a set of antagonists for our story. No pics of them yet.

* The Seventh Immortal: There are seven Immortals who hold sway in the universe, and while most of them are benevolent leaders, one of them seeks to undermine everything the others have built. Enigmatic, elusive, and bearing the wisdom of centuries, he is the most dangerous opponent that the Immortal Council has ever faced. He appears to have set his sights on Aion, much to the resident Immortal governor's dismay.

* The Headhunter: A beautiful and powerful female bounty hunter enslaved to the Seventh Immortal. She was promised her freedom in exchange for capturing the Protagonists.

* The Void Queen: A human woman who once served as a combat medic for the ancient empire, she was captured by Voidspawn and brought to their lair. Upon witnessing the fragility of their lives, instead of hunting them like many of her kin, she sought to help them. She remains the only living creature in existence to retain her soul while serving the Void.

* Faren Rodswiler: A snarky, arrogant, and wealthy son-of-a-gun who joins our party of heroes to steal their secrets. Stealth is not his forte; he's quite blatant about it, brazenly trying to copy and steal everyone else's work. The only reason anyone puts up with him is because he's also quite charming. He'll turn his back on you in an instant, but it's hard not to forgive him when he calls you beautiful and gives you Free!* presents.

Working on the opening post of the OOC/IC. Nailing the intro scene is important to set the tone, theme, and pacing of the RP, so it'll take me a little while to sort it out. I'll tag everyone and link it here when it's created. Feel free to create more lore in the meantime.

The RP thread has been created, but 2 out of 3 players have vanished, leaving us a bit dry. If anyone's interested in joining, I'll happily rewrite the RP to include you. Who wants to play?

Hmm. I suppose I could join. I'm thinking of making a young female knight who hasn't really been allowed to actually go out and do anything knightly, so she'll try to learn magic just to escape courtly life and have an adventure.

Ooh, that sounds interesting! Send me an pic and an app, and we'll see if we can get you started. :)