Burokun City plays host to two equally unwelcome groups:
The Oni, who are eternally hungry, and violent. Known to take over entire neighborhoods, demanding tribute at the threat eating the citizens and their children.
And the Ronin. Roving street thugs whose only redeeming quality is that they kill the Oni when possible. Local opinion is far more mixed on the Ronin. On the one hand, they terrorize the streets and demand unconditional respect and fealty. On the other, they're human, and rarely actually kill the citizens.
The entire situation is made worse by the reality TV show, Street Samurai, which follows the Ronin and their fights and lives for views and ad revenue. The show is very popular outside of the city, and particularly in America, but is basically taboo to those who live in Burokun. The producers of Street Samurai act as middle men between the Ronin(who for obvious reasons tend to keep anonymity) and sponsors, who seek to capitalize on the Ronin, who will gladly wear their logos in exchange for a nice sword, or fancy gadget. It's the cheapest advertising available, all things considered, and hits a fairly wide audience.
The Oni are ubiquitous in the world in general, but Ronin are largely specific to Burokun. They definitely started to show up as a direct response to the Oni moving in, but until relatively recently they were basically a human version of the Oni presence. Which is to say, they were gangs that set up shop in various neighborhoods. They even used to expect their own kind of tribute and respect.
This started to change when a brave crew of journalists filmed a comprehensive documentary about them(as they were a fairly unique phenomenon). The Ronin featured in the documentary gained a kind of internet fame, and several of them started filming their exploits(particularly themselves fighting Oni) and posting them online. The ones that did started to make some money off of their youtube views, which inspired almost all of them to follow suit.
As always happens, a big company wanted to monopolize on this revenue stream, and so an American production company hired the original documentarian who made the film, and set her up as the director of a new TV show by the same name: Street Samurai.
As the show has gone on, the Ronin have become less violent toward the citizens, but if anything even more agressive with the Oni and with each other. And as sponsors have come into the mix, they've started to get daring and reckless, trying to get fans and online following, to attract benefactors.
Most Ronin are young, as it's a dangerous "job" and you either die doing it, or get out while you still can.
The reason they're considered more akin to samurai than to other kinds of street gangs is that, among them, guns are taboo. They all wield some kind of archaic weapon. This started out because most of them simply couldn't get their hands on guns, but has become a strongly held tradition.
Most are anonymous, and wear masks or hoods to hide their identity, going by pseudonyms.
What are they?
I guess I would say they're akin to devils, but also to like ogres or goblins. They're selfish, predatory and dominating.
Where did they come from?
A hell dimension, or one of many. They don't necessarily all come from the same place, but their worlds are similar to each other. It's not important to the story that we get into more specifics about the hells they come from. They can come and go through hidden portals. They hide their portals jealously, but they can be found by humans on occasion. Humans cannot survive in the hell dimensions, and so crossing the portals is a death sentence.
Generally humanoid, but they don't necessarily have the same proportions or number of limbs. They're red, blue or black skinned, and have masks instead of faces. If you pried one of their masks off, it would reveal a ravenous, endless maw, teeth all the way down the throat.
The Oni didn't appear suddenly or anything. In this world, they've basically always been around. They have only been in Burokun in large numbers for about a decade. Burokun is a poorer city, which is where Oni usually congregate.
Are they capable of emotion?
Definitely. Their emotions are tied mainly around themselves, though. They don't care about anything or anyone very easily. They can feel affection, and if they decide they do like someone, they are intensely and unreasoningly loyal to them. That's not terribly common, though.
Oni cannot die. Conversely, however, they also don't heal the way humans do. Or possibly at all, it's not clear to human observers.
Oni will patch themselves up when possible, even to the point of sewing their own head back on. If they are too damaged to continue living among and terrorizing humanity, they will retreat to their Hell of origin, and usually aren't seen again within any human's lifetime. It is known, however, that Oni can and do return, thanks to comprehensive records taken over the centuries.
An Oni who loses their mask will rampage until rendered unable to move. It is other Oni who dispose of them, taking them from humans by agreement or by force. It is generally supposed that they are sent back to one of the hells.
So, on magic and science.
As I said, I don't want to restrict this too much as far as what is possible. Mainly I just want to make sure everything is cohesive.
For tech, think of this as a near future sci-fi. The Marvel movies would be a good place to look when thinking about what is possible.
This is a world where people can have extraordinary abilities. You can be born with powers, or you can acquire them from the Oni.
An Oni can "bless" someone, and give them powers. This leaves a physical mark on the bearer, and can be taken away at the whim of the granting Oni. Obviously, this is the kind used by people who work for or with the Oni, and most citizens hate anyone with an Oni mark.
Power can be taken from an Oni too, however. An Oni's mask can grant a human powers, even without the Oni's consent. Taking an Oni's mask is both difficult and dangerous. It won't come off except with great force, and only if the Oni is too weak to resist.
Mask bearers have a certain level of prestige among Ronin.
So aside from this framework for the story, basically anything goes for this game. Bring me your Mary Sues and self inserts. This here is just for everyone to have some fun free of judgements and restrictions.
The only real rule is to be nice to each other, and as explained below, there is a system in place to make sure the outcome of pvp fights is fair.
Name: Alias: Appearance: Alegiances: this can be blank for now, as these will probably appear during the course of the roleplay. Style: Fast, Strong or Tough. Explained below. Weapon(s): Special Abilities:
Because characters will likely clash, I have a simple system to make sure that deciding the winner is fair. There will be a rock-paper-scissors style stat. Fast beats strong, strong beats tough and tough beats fast.
Unless the two players mutually decide who will win in a fight, the two will have a die rolled to represent them, and the higher roll will win. If one of them wins the rock paper scissors stat thing, they will have advantage, in which their die will be rolled twice, and the higher value will be used.
So if a fast fights a strong, the fast will get the advantage. If a fast fights a fast, they will just roll normally.
Once a winner is decided(either by mutual agreement, or with a roll of the dice) you just RP the encounter as you normally would.
Lemme know what people think, and feel free to voice any concerns.
The Neon Nights
Known simply by their colors, the Neon Nights are as mysterious as they come. Baggy jackets and voice changing helmets obscure not just identity, but even gender and all other identifiers.
Yellow
Green
Pink Daisho
An exclusively female gang, with an extensive online following. They make a minimum effort to hide their faces, aiming for aesthetic more than anonymity.
Split
Cyber
Buck
Spirits
A duo. While there are lone Ronin, it's uncommon to see them in groups smaller than three. Wolf
Fox
Original Ronin of Burokun
Usually called Orob for short. Their name is literal, as they are headed up by the first man to be called Ronin in the city. Ronin tend not to get very old, and most of them over 25 are a part of Orob.
Could you explain the oni further? What are they? Where did they come from? What do they look like? Backstory? Are they capable of emotion? Why do they take over neighborhoods instead of just eating everybody? Sorry to bombard you with questions
I guess I would say they're akin to devils, but also to like ogres or goblins. They're selfish, predatory and dominating.
Where did they come from?
A hell dimension, or one of many. They don't necessarily all come from the same place, but their worlds are similar to each other. It's not important to the story that we get into more specifics about the hells they come from.
What do they look like?
Generally humanoid, but they don't necessarily have the same proportions or number of limbs. They're red, blue or black skinned, and have masks instead of faces. If you pried one of their masks off, it would reveal a ravenous, endless maw, teeth all the way down the throat.
Backstory?
The Oni didn't appear suddenly or anything. In this world, they've basically always been around. They have only been in Burokun in large numbers for about a decade. The Ronin have only been around for about five years, but the show is only in its second season.
Are they capable of emotion?
Definitely. Their emotions are tied mainly around themselves, though. They don't care about anything or anyone very easily. They can feel affection, and if they decide they do like someone, they are intensely and unreasoningly loyal to them. That's not terribly common, though.
Why do they take over neighborhoods instead of just eating everybody?
Put simply, it's easier. They did, once, but this current arrangement has been working for them pretty well for a long time.
The Oni are ubiquitous in the world in general, but Ronin are largely specific to Burokun. They definitely started to show up as a direct response to the Oni moving in, but until relatively recently they were basically a human version of the Oni presence. Which is to say, they were gangs that set up shop in various neighborhoods. They even used to expect their own kind of tribute and respect.
This started to change when a brave crew of journalists filmed a comprehensive documentary about them(as they were a fairly unique phenomenon). The Ronin featured in the documentary gained a kind of internet fame, and several of them started filming their exploits(particularly themselves fighting Oni) and posting them online. The ones that did started to make some money off of their youtube views, which inspired almost all of them to follow suit.
As always happens, a big company wanted to monopolize on this revenue stream, and so an American production company hired the original documentarian who made the film, and set her up as the director of a new TV show by the same name: Street Samurai.
As the show has gone on, the Ronin have become less violent toward the citizens, but if anything even more agressive with the Oni and with each other. And as sponsors have come into the mix, they've started to get daring and reckless, trying to get fans and online following, to attract benefactors.
As I said, I don't want to restrict this too much as far as what is possible. Mainly I just want to make sure everything is cohesive.
For tech, think of this as a near future sci-fi. The Marvel movies would be a good place to look when thinking about what is possible.
This is a world where people can have extraordinary abilities. You can be born with powers, or you can acquire them from the Oni.
An Oni can "bless" someone, and give them powers. This leaves a physical mark on the bearer, and can be taken away at the whim of the granting Oni. Obviously, this is the kind used by people who work for or with the Oni, and most citizens hate anyone with an Oni mark.
Power can be taken from an Oni too, however. An Oni's mask can grant a human powers, even without the Oni's consent. Taking an Oni's mask is both difficult and dangerous. It won't come off except with great force, and only if the Oni is too weak to resist.
Mask bearers have a certain level of prestige among Ronin.
Extra notes on Oni, too:
Oni cannot die. Conversely, however, they also don't heal the way humans do. Or possibly at all, it's not clear to human observers.
Oni will patch themselves up when possible, even to the point of sewing their own head back on. If they are too damaged to continue living among and terrorizing humanity, they will retreat to their Hell of origin, and usually aren't seen again within any human's lifetime. It is known, however, that Oni can and do return, thanks to comprehensive records taken over the centuries.
An Oni who loses their mask will rampage until rendered unable to move. It is other Oni who dispose of them, taking them from humans by agreement or by force. It is generally supposed that they are sent back to one of the halls.
Name: Unknown Alias: Mute Appearance: Same in picture except both eyes are normal. The LED device can change it's images and colour, which usually help convey Mute's emotions or messages to people and his audience. Allegiances: N/A (for now) Style: Fast Weapon(s): Mute uses 3 tonfas but doesn't always use them all at the same time. He also has a drone that follows him around that live-streams for him, but it has no combat capabilities. Special Abilities: He can summon a neon arm from his left shoulder blade. It can wield different weapons and Mute has full control. The arm is only as strong as Mute is (which isn't a lot, he has a fairly lithe body) and can only grasp physical objects. It cannot create it's own.
@DC The DragonYeah what robbie said. I think it's just a roundabout way for saying "Offence" and "Defence". Like boxing. You got sluggers, swarmers and out-boxers.
Sluggers- Big strong punches and heavy swings. Swarmers- Pepper them with a bunch of quick shots and stay mobile. Out-Boxers- Keep your distance, pick your shots and keep your guard.
