The year is 1974. A pleasant time to be an American. The nation has watched the president flash some peace signs and fly off in a helicopter less than a week ago, Evel Knievel has unveiled plans to launch himself over a five hundred foot canyon in a rocket, and Blazing Saddles has worn out the reels of movie theaters nearly non-stop for the past five months. In Southern California, things are especially pleasant. This is where the longhairs, skaters, hippies, and hare krishnas of the country have condensed into a population large enough to vote. The few souls that didn't return home for a shower and a haircut after the Summer of Love, baking in the unforgiving heat and weaving flower chains by the side of the road. One such collection of flower-weaving loons is the Church of the Consuming Fire, a sect of Christian hippies known throughout the greater Los Angeles region as the source of the "Golden Tickets"; eye-catching yellow pamphlets that began circulating three years ago with the release of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Anybody who's anybody has seen at least a dozen golden tickets, be they tucked into the bus stop bench seats, wheat-pasted to the bathroom walls of any dive bar on Sunset Boulevard, or tacked onto the corkboards of every skate shop and grocery store this side of the San Bernandino mountains.
Aside from the tickets, the only thing a layperson could tell you about the Church of the Consuming Fire -- or CCF as they like to go these days -- is that they're involved with a lot of standard church charity and are unfailingly nice. They can be seen on Hollywood Boulevard seven days a week, handing out sandwiches, lemonade, toiletries, and pamphlets to the homeless. They offer a free hourly bus to their property twelve hours a day, every day, ferrying the residents of the nearby town of Rosamond to Hollywood for work in the morning and shepherding curious tourists and passers-by, as well as LA's destitute beggars looking for help back to their compound, a walled-off oasis thirty miles from two nowhere-towns, two hours from Hollywood, and firmly in the middle of the Mojave. That's why your job is so hard. You're the private investigator -- or at least, a private investigator -- hired to find one Darnetta Dietz, a sixteen year old girl last seen talking to a group of Consuming Fire enthusiasts on Hollywood Boulevard. The police have been on the case for three weeks with no leads, leaving the girl's father to your investigations company. With that I'll drop the GM voice. I'm seeking players interested in either playing private investigators or CCF members. Have at it.
As all prospective players are charged with the immense task of understanding a setting built from the ground up, this section is here to make that job easier. I will use analogues as a good way to help you visualize, as well as make sure you know naming conventions, geographical prevalence of ideas, and other such meta-information that you would need to know to write a character that fits in with the setting. Accordingly, this first post will be written in the GM voice, where I (Moth) am talking to you in plain and OOC terms so that all the information isn't Olde English postulation prefaced by "some say" or "long ago", which lend themselves to uncertainty and confusion.
Bastards
Bastards are given the surname “Black” due to the stain on their family’s honor and prestige that brings from siring them. Bastards of any station are entitled to plain black arms to distinguish themselves from the completely lowborn, though in the case of their knighthood, typically adopt a red or black bend on their arms to distinguish themselves from the truly highborn. Instances of bastards being granted lands and starting houses of their own exist in each kingdom, though it has always been the case that bastard-borne houses keep "Black" in their surname, as either a prefix or suffix.
Calender & Currency
The current year is 530AE, and the first month of spring is here.
The Ardacian calendar uses twelve months of seven day weeks, with each of the months being named after the twelve wandering stars. Only four of the wandering stars were known before Ardall's Conquest, and similarly, only four season-long months were recognized previous to his arrival. The days of months do not have names, and are only distinguished numerically, giving precedence to numerical dates rather than lunar dates. The calendar is based on Ardall's landing, using the Ardacian Era (AE) with everything recorded previously being referred to in a vague sense of historical notation as the Historic Era (HE).
Currency in Orlandis is settled into the categories of bronze, iron, gold, and platinum. They are equivalently named "crowns". An example would be: "It took my entire coinpurse, about seventeen gold crowns."
Cultural Analogues
This is a southeastern cultural group in game (Voltaani) so we can draw from Game of Thrones in the form of the Dornish. As a real world example naming conventions are generally Spanish, Portuguese, and Basque. Example of character names include— Amaya Antar, Amando Artez, Anxo Iniigo, Dario Valari, and Cornelio Txausi.
This is a southeastern cultural group in game (Caelia) so we can draw from Game of Thrones in the form of the Lorath and other free cities. As a real world example naming conventions are generally French, Frankish, Dutch, and Basque. Example of character names include— Amelie Caine, Anouk Dumais, Gaizka Bonheur, Merogais Duguay, and Clovis Guerin.
This is for the western cultural group in game (Reinoa, Stormtir/Stormbroken) so we can compare these guys to those of the Trident and the Iron Islands in Game of Thrones as a reference. As a real world example naming conventions are Pictish, Irish, Welsh, and so forth; basically the celtic cultural group. Example of character names include— Cathaoir Marlowe, Cadeyrn Crowe, Anwen Kathaim, Cadfael Duearth, and Eirian Glyndwr.
This is the general cultural group in game (Veronia, Terijas, Euritia, Erayis, Gradiar) so we can draw from Game of Thrones in the form of those people from The Vale, The Westerlands, The Reach, The Stormlands, The Crownlands, etc. As a real world example naming conventions are generally early English, Anglo-Saxon, and German. Example of character names include— Emilia Valian, Dierk Thralon, Leonard Edrid, Julia Vayle, Godfrey Kentham, and William Barton.
This is the far northern cultural group in game (Skavia, Perhyr) and as such can be compared to the people of the north in Game of Thrones for one example. As a real world point naming conventions are Norse, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish; though this is only in for first names. Examples of character names include— Jorvik Volkar, Davok Ulaar, Otho Skagelv, and Igor Hafrek.
National/Regional Information
Caelia
Lands Stepped between a wall of desert from her enemies and gold-enriched cliffs and hills, the Expanse is named for the sands that you must cross to get to the “meat” of the northern peninsula. For all of the resources in Orlandis, the small territories within the Expanse hold the largest supply of gold on the continent making the nobles who own the lands quite rich and politically viable. In the southern lands of the Expanse you will notice flowing rivers and rolling fields that owes itself to great agriculture development: river mills, farmland, timberhouses, fisheries, and trade guilds are aplenty. The most densely populated areas are within the southern borders and the northeastern coasts. Within the Expanse’s influence is also the Isle of Anderis which is where not only gold is aplenty but decent installments of jewels and ore.
People The People of the Expanse take a lot after their southern neighbors that they have had favorable discussions with for centuries thus making many people passionate, enduring, fairly diplomatic, yet due to the close borders to Veronia and Terijas find themselves fairly cautious and concerning despite no force being able to penetrate them by land or sea. However, instead of being paranoid they choose to use guile to make sure they are not desirable enough to invade as they make plenty of trade and marriage ties to make sure they are seen as a more useful ally rather than enemy. Though they are most certainly walking on thin lines considering they hold different values, religion, and ideals than the rest of Orlandis.
The men and women of the Expanse are a blend of practical and extravagant dress, though they do not tend to import much foreign fashion preferring to use their Exlandic roots of their culture instead, though sometimes fashion from The Verge sneaks into court.
Military Due to the desert and mountain ranges, military culture based on population is limited and like their allies in The Verge, people in the Expanse tend to focus on using their wealth to buff their limited military ranks thus making hiresword companies very well-formed in the Expanse. However, even with the mercenary compliments it is clear that the military beyond that is competent enough as it was their desert guard and defensive naval line that held off the Conqueror of Etlasia from successfully breaching their territory centuries earlier.
Voltaani
Lands The southernmost region of Orlandis, The Verge is aptly named for the renown it has for being the highway to the rest of the known world including the various merchant republics. The Verge is nestled in-between ore-drenched mountains that contain ample gold, silver, iron, tin, and precious gems; and soft lowlands that descend into the rocky shorelines. The various houses that take hold in the Verge descend from their ancestors that crossed the Atularis Ocean seeking refuge. Settlements can be found through the farming communities in the north end of the Verge and densely populated cities and towns in the south as well as fishing villages on each of the adjacent islands. As it is the furthest south, it is the warmest of all of the regions of Orlandis.
People The people of The Verge are a passionate, resolute, and diplomatic sort; knowing when to use politics over brawn as well as knowing how to play their hand to benefit themselves. With that said, the people themselves are not selfish but rather neurotic as they worry that history will repeat itself if they don’t assert their role in the world in this way. Historically, the people of The Verge are from Voltaan or at least a good majority of their ancestors were as the ruling house of Voltaan, House Antar, has ruled The Verge as long as there have been kingdoms in Orlandis. The exodus marked in their history speaks of treachery from trusted neighbors and it speaks volumes that as a culture there are only a handful of remaining pieces of it including the Forlandic merchant republics. This is something few people on the continent have experienced and thus creates a kinship that even rivals men from the Northlands. In addition to such political aptitude therein also lies a sense of pride and liberty, which all of The Verge tries to play a role in.
The men and women of the Verge are as expected a mix of practical and extravagant dress as they import the latest fashion from the merchant republics as well as Sabobalia, and Fedos Plur. The nobility announces themselves even more than the merchant caste of which plays a huge role in the region as the merchant guild is almost as old as the Voltaani landing on the shores of The Verge several hundred years ago.
Military Military culture in the southeastern peninsula of the Expanse & Verge is one dating back to their initial landing in Orlandis. Whilst rich military traditions existed back in Atularis the men and women found themselves at odds with the native population of their new homeland thus making a reliance of outside elements nessecary to preserve their culture. Gathering a large force of hireswords from Atularis they would systematically create the Verge’s mercenary culture as conflict after conflict plagued them. Even when the realm was secure ideas of paranoia and fear allowed this mercenary culture to flourish as they come to rely on them over their own landed military.
Outside of this preserved mercenary culture Voltaani also maintains some of the most ancient metalworking and battlefield tactics in the world. They are plentiful with skilled spearmen, cavalry archers, and endosi-style swordsmen.
Erayis
Lands The lands of Erayis are plentiful with timber as well as large depths of mountains, hills, and valleys. Neighboring the Northlands the weather is also a bit colder than those south of the river that bridges them between the Stormbroken and part of the Kingdom of Reinoa. Within these mountains including the mountain range known as The Mythril Mountains, there exists superfluous minerals that include steady amounts of mythrite and even gold—though the latter does not equal to even half of the yield of the Expanse & Verge. The vast rolling hills are also well-known for massive capacities of animal herding (ranging from sheep, ram, cattle, and fowl), hunting (deer, bear, duck, and wolf), and general farming; though the winter seasons are harsher than that in the south of Orlandis so harvest seasons are much more regarded.
People Rigid, but never faltering—the people of Erayis embody the culture of their ancestors unlike those in the neighboring Euritia thus continuing a cultural heritage that has persevered over the ages. In history the people of Erayis have known to defy foreign kings, and customs that are not their own out of a fear of their culture dying out since most of their religious customs have been forgotten since they have stopped being practice for about five centuries. Perhaps this is why the people of the region are somewhat xenophobic—latching on to a fear of change and lost pride.
Military The military of the region is mostly devised between infantry and ram-based cavalry—archers are well regarded given altitude and hunting culture, but are not as esteemed as those in Reinoa or Veronia. With that said, the region has a staunch history for infantry combat; ranging from swordsmen skilled in the greatsword to skilled pikemen to counteract southern and northern cavalry that they are so accustomed to dealing with.
Euritia
Lands The peninsula of The Arm is not as rocky or rough as the western fringes of The Highlands; though it has strong riverbeds and flowing hills alongside slight existences of steel mountain ranges and waterside cliffs. The minerals are rich in these selective mountain ranges with mythrite, iron, tin, gold, silver, and copper; but the true abundance of the lands is likely the rolling hills that are perfect for agricultural development, plentiful fish and fauna, vast arrays of northern herbs, the forests ample for timberhouses, and the tactical basis of the landmass.
People A true synthesis of two cultures—the people of what is known as The Arm are the cultural amalgamation of the people from the Midlands who occupied the land under imperial decree, and the native people of the Highlands who were initially abrasive of said occupation. However, unlike the western Highlands the locals took well to their foreign lords, perhaps due to the kindheartedness of the descendants of Torvic Thralon or other cultural factors; whatever the case may be the people of Euritian recognize both cultural roots as many can trace their lineage back to both the Midlands immigrants and the natives of the Highlands.
Military Much like Terijas, Euritia is skilled in the art of war ranging from siege, archery, infantry, and cavalry—however northern horses are fewer in number than those in their ancestral lands, so the nobles of Euritia are stuck with a dilemma: import them, or adapt to a new sense of fighting. The latter was the choice one of the older Kings of Euritia decided upon as he switched from offensive cavalry to defensive troops in general to protect the peninsula of the Highlands they occupied—The Arm. Favoring strong walls and ranged units such as the Euritian crossbowman (a recent development), they have kept any more Highlander aggression invade the peninsula granted by Dierk ‘the Conqueror’ that had since become their livelihood.
Reinoa
Lands Collectively known as “the Ironbasket” throughout Orlandis, the Hinterlands are known for an extensive supply of iron and other minerals within the rugged hills and mountains that they owe their namesake towards. Given Reinoa has held the majority of The Hinterlands (The Stormbroken only occupy a small portion of the region), there is also ample room for agricultural development.
The birth of resources is slim but is very well regarded for its supply of strong timber, iron, tin, and copper. In terms of non-minerals however there does exist extensive herbs and fruit born for the colder climate of northern Orlandis.
People Stuck between their unreformed cousins, The Stormbroken, and the prestigious nobles of Terijas and Erayis—it seems that, socially, the reformed hinterlanders would always remain fearful of their neighbors no matter what. However, this does not make the people of Reinoa craven cowards but rather strong and cautious. They know playing politics is essential to survival and they know a good detail of the continental economy relies on their support thus they have always strived to be prepared for anything and anyone. The degree of coin that the Kingdom earns allows the people some degree of financial abundance and there are many who use it to introduce new fashion and invention to the world.
The larger population is concerned with mineral mining, agricultural development, and timber mills.
Military Perhaps due to their height advantage with the Hinterlands rough but sprawling hills and their plentiful timber due to vast forests it comes as no surprise that the people of Reinoa are excellent archers, some touting them as the best in all of the known world. This can be asserted by the origin of the Reinoaian Longbow made from dense woods like pine and birch. – With this in mind, the longbowman is an integral part of the military and is a great defense against the charging raiders of The Stormbroken behind sturdy walls on a well-placed elevation.
Stormtir
Lands Much like most of northern Orlandis, the lands of Stormtir are known for a populous stretch of woodlands and rocky mountains as well as jagged cliffs. What sets Stormtir apart from the rest of the Hinterlands or even the neighboring region known as The Highlands is perhaps the close cluster of steep inclines and lowlands—there is not a lot of room though it does allow it a type of defensibility that has granted the Stormbroken from not being purged or converted by foreign threats for centuries.
The birth of resources is slim but is very well regarded for its supply of strong timber, iron, tin, and copper. In terms of non-minerals however there does exist extensive herbs and fruit born for the colder climate of northern Orlandis.
People The people of Stormtir are famously abrasive, yet some say if they had not their barbaric practices of human sacrifice and raiding culture they would perhaps be the most forward thinking people in all of Orlandis. This is of course based on the fact that females are not second class citizens under the laws of the dominion—it is said that “all are equal under the will of the gods.”
Whilst their “heretical” cousins in Reinoa are fearful and cautious, the Stormbroken are the opposite being brave and careless. The concept of fear is fairly lost to them given either a sense of apathy or belief that if one dies then “they die”. Similar to their more northern neighbors they also don’t regard espionage and intrigue very favorably and likely don’t practice it at all. If somebody wants something, they take it—a common saying in Stormtir.
Military The military specialty of the Stormbroken is a type of sailing frigate that announces itself with great defensibility without sacrificing maneuverability thus the soldiers and sailors tend to refuse to rely on heavier vessels instead focusing on higher population of their lighter vessels. This lends to a society bred upon naval aptitude and with large numbers makes them a particular danger on the battlefield. It has been once said that—“The Stormbroken are the best naval society on the western coast of Orlandis, and perhaps all of the continent.”
Outside of their naval presence, the Stormbroken pride themselves on their light-foot infantry that has an arsenal of experience with short spears, axes, and crude swords including a great sword of some renown. Tactically, most of these infantry are free-willed independents following little leadership direction—though even with a lack of organization they are as strong as they are quick, something of a hinterlander staple.
Veronia
Lands Known for the stretch of rolling hills, long fields, and fields of rivers surrounded by the mountainous nature of the Midlands, the Lowlands is plentiful in pretty much everything. It is no surprise that it is one of the ruling giants of the continent of Orlandis and rightly so. The mountains the Lowlands have access to are plentiful in iron, copper, silver, and gems which compliments the massive supply of agriculture it needs to defend thus with every farming barony lies a fortress to defend it from raids by tribal nomads and the seaborn people to the islands to the north. Settlements can be found all over the Lowlands—cities and towns can be densely populated and several hamlets exist to the eastern part of the region.
People -
Military -
Gradiar
Lands Home to a large riverbed and various mountains as well as rough terrain that occupies many forests, the southern Midlands (or northern Lowlands, depending on who you ask) are an abrasive residence but just like those in harsher environments further north, it is suffered. Gradiar is home to plentiful silver, tin, copper, and small amounts of platinum. Wildlife ranging from horses, cattle, deer, and fish are well known of.
People The people are much like those in the northern half of the Midlands, fringing on honor and deceit. Historically, the Kingdom of Gradiar had been sworn allies to Terijas; having several marriages throughout the year’s in-between the royal lines. The people outside of nobility are hardy, simple, and determined as they make their living on rough hillsides hunting dangerous creatures alongside the mundane. It is said the dangerous “webwood” exists near the northwestern mountains for one said example—but it is one to take note as dire spiders are far from easy to coexist with or hunt down.
Military The military traditions of Gradiar are not different than those of Terijas or Veronia, lying somewhere between its two neighbors. In history, the military of Gradiar was known to be “second look” to their neighbors in non-mounted archery and mounted infantry—but were quite well-regarded as a sort of middle ground of the two as they found skill in the hunters of their rough and ragged hillsides within mountain hamlets centuries ago who used Gradian horses (a sub-breed of horse native to Orlandis) that was hardy and tough for the mountainous environment. Thus Gradiar became the first to put archers on horseback and not lose their sense of accuracy or skill. This tradition continues today with the unit known as the Pferdjager.
Terijas
Lands The northern midlands is the perfect balance of soft rolling hills and jagged mountain ranges, thus sort of existing as a middle ground between the neighboring lowlands and the rocky Hinterlands/Highlands. Given so, the opportunity is aplenty for agriculture development as well as for mining valuable gems and minerals ranging from gold, silver, iron, mythrite, and tin. In addition to the “wealth” of the region there also exists various defensible approaches from the southern and northwestern edge thus creating several choke points for invading neighbors—something Terijas had taken full advantage of.
People The people of the Midlands are as they come in the Lowands; some honorable, some deceitful, and others in-between either. However, unlike their neighbors in the Lowlands—the people favor intrigue and politics over honor and duty making them the natural antithesis of the people of the Lowlands. Instilled as well in people is a sense of pride and greed as history had proven that they were the smartest and the strongest of the three major kingdoms of the past and were the only ones to forge an empirical kingdom that dwarfed six regions and had them all under their foot. It is with this sense of entitlement that people of the Midlands are naturally hostile or full of themselves which causes much conflict. Despite such arrogance there is a sense of order that the Midlands people strive for—mostly due to the major religion of the day, the Word of Aavaar, was founded in the Midlands itself thus making the religious identity of these people greatly defined.
Military Those in Terijas are skilled in matters of siege, archery, and infantry—but most importantly, cavalry units called Companions. This aforementioned cavalry unit is one utilizing the southern horse population of Orlandis alongside long swords—deadly, swift, and smart on their feet; the companion cavalry are known as the most perilous units within the military of not only Terijas, but Euritia as well given the traditions are similar.
Royal Councils
Orlandic councils are held by six individuals.
Serves as court ambassador, royal regent, and reigning leader in times of assassination or hiding. These individuals tend to be close friends or allies with the King/Queen so to not create a conflict of interest.
Serves as the court advisor for matters of religious importance; tends to be head of a monastic order, but not always.
Serves as the court commander of military and naval forces, and the adviser on matters of military nature.
Serves as the court advisor responsible for the matters of wisdom, history, medicine, and in some cases architecture. Requested by a lord to the order known as "Brothers of Weisheit". Lowborn, Nobles, Merchants; all walks of life can join the Disciples as long as they are male.
Serves as the commander of a group of champions (Skavia/Perhyr), cavaliers (Voltaani/Caelia), or knights (Aavaar) to be the shield of the royal family.
Serves as the court advisor responsible for foreign and domestic intelligence, espionage, and intrigue.
Serves as the court advisor responsible for the realm's economy, and trade policies.
Magic
I haven't written out a whole description for magic yet, but I can tell you with confidence these are the highest forms of magic in actuality (mythlore likes to doll up feats anyway):
Arcane Sorcery - Practiced overseas in the royal court of the Imperium iz Olbiaen, arcane sorcery is limited here in that there are no complicated grandiose spells you would see in the like of Dungeons & Dragons and other conventional fantasy settings; it's more within the realm of using arcane magic as a "subtle" means of expanding human energy from the blessing they owe themselves to. Basically to describe it in two words: force mages. The highest caliber of spells one individual can do is no more than a handful of enemies. Spells include throw, levitate object, pull, and jumping greater distances.
The Blessing of the Light - Practiced overseas albeit rarely as to be given a "blessing" (or for nature to be this random) in Fedos Plur, it is the basis of clerical warding and healing. Simple spells such as cure disease, heal minor wounds, and ward of protection. I guess in Fatal Souls this is a less coked out version of the God of Fire, R'hllor.
Druidic Magic - Practiced overseas in the mysterious "ocean" of trees known as the Viridian Sea, basically light druidism/shamanism. Interaction with the elements, natural healing, animal affinities, and so on. I guess it'd be similar to the Children of the Forest? Analogies are hard.
The Curse of Obdis - Antithesis of the one given to those who follow the Light. Practiced overseas in the Athraki region, some weird synthesis of voodoo and witchcraft. I haven't developed it much, but I figure there'd be nothing grand. I was thinking of having an expert assassin's guild practice this.
That's about it for ideas on magic. Magic in Orlandis would likely be exposed and quickly lynched by a witch-hunting mob, lol.
Technology
Despite taking place in the 10th Century of Orlandis, the technology level is near the equivalent of the High Middle Ages. Any scientific modifications should be discussed and such.
Religion
In Orlandis, there are four main religions. The Word of Aavaar that the majority follow, Diosaea which the people of Voltaani and Caelia practice, the Stormbroken Religion of the people of the Hinterlands, and Southern Kaardism of the Northlands.
The Word of Aavaar is a monotheistic religion based on the historical text written supposedly by Aaroun ‘the Prophet’ as recorded in The Silver Parchment. The faith is obscure outside of the continent of Orlandis as in contrast to world religions that date back hundreds of centuries, Aavaar has only been practiced for around eight centuries thus making it a relatively “new” organized religion. Most orthodox believers accept that the text presented in the scriptures are objective and literal rather than metaphorical and allegorical. The head of the organized religion is The Oracle, who is elected and serves his sentence at The Silver Temple in the Kingdom of Terijas.
The defining doctrines of the religion are ones to lead man through moralistic virtue and away from hedonistic sin. It is described that “salvation lies from within” and perhaps it is with this celestial concept of an afterlife that people feel compelled to follow or perhaps it is alternatively the fear of judgement for ill deeds. Such virtues include peace, humility, kindness, diligence, charity, temperance, and chastity; whereas the sins of man include wrath, pride, envy, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. For those who commit sin they must confess to god in the sanctity of a temple.
General worship is focused on temple proceedings, academic lectures, and devout symbolism. Said symbolism can be reflected with the symbol of the faith, a silver cross. A necklace bearing a silver cross shows desire to be devoted to god, and perhaps in some minds a reminder to steer them away from vile temptations. In temples as well as lordship chapels there exist small fountains of water blessed by priests of the faith to allow individuals to, when confessing, “wash” their sins away as they have their private moment with god—sometimes silver coins anointed with prayers are tossed within these same fountains. Worship extends to hymns, traditional ballads, and readings of the scripture.
Eventually several minor schisms came to be and thus heresies within the religion came to be such as:
Erudites – A faction who believe the scripture should not be taken literally, also believe that iconology such as silver should not be banned from non-religious use.
Over the years, however it became an issue when the new faith of Aavaar collided with the old faith practiced in central Orlandis that put much belief into constellations and spiritual intervention. It was here that the old beliefs were merged into Aavaar to prevent a schism of ideals—an amendment that only encouraged well-being of human virtue. These old beliefs of spiritual constellations that were merged include:
The Bee / Biendor – Represents wealth, believed to grant abundance of harvest. The Hare / Hasen – Represents luck, believed to bring good fortune. The Hound / Hundif – Represents protection, believed to ward off dark omens. The Lion / Loweal – Represents strength, believed to watch over warriors who prepare for war. The Owl / Eulosa – Represents wisdom, believed to grant knowledge to those in need of guidance. The Raven / Raber – Represents death, believed to watch over the dead and prevent sickness. The Swan / Schwana – Represents love, believed to aide in problems of conception.
Diosaea is a nontheistic religion based on the teachings taught by the ancient philosopher known as Saint Jovita del Voltaani which were written and recorded in the Santo'libro. The faith is one with great historical and cultural significance to the people who fled the crumbling empire to Orlandis as well as the merchant republics in their homeland that survived the fallout of such an exodus. The head of the organized religion are separated into two people to serve two continents (Orlandis and Atularis) is Paragon of the West and the East, who is elected and serves his or her sentence at the grand cathedral known as Templo del Refugio in Voltaani or Templo del Santo in Ortan.
Originally coined as “The Path of Enlightenment” by Jovita’s smitten royal supporters in the imperial congress, Diosaea was not intended to be a ‘religion’ but a scholarly approach to morality to make humanity understand to appreciate their brothers and sisters. As a philosophy-oriented belief system there are no gods or deities, though this did not stop people from worshiping Saint Jovita as if she was one as history faded and the truth became clouded. The rules of Diosaea are based around universal humanism and about doing good by your fellow man not because there is an afterlife or damnation but because there isn’t one and that in the end all man are bound by their species so they should not seek destruction of them. In a way it is comparable to the Way of Aavaar in that it promotes virtue above all, but that is where the comparison ends.
The symbol that represents Diosaea is that of a circular infiniteness (infinity symbol) to represent the cycle of man. This goes into a completely different belief that Saint Jovita had during her journeys throughout the empire she was born into—of how life is so full of karmic coincidence and reoccurrence that life is most certainly a cycle. As such she believed souls (or people, it’s hard to say as the bit written is inconsistent) lived on after physical death thus entering new mortal coils and continuing.
Today, Diosaea has become a religion centered on the “saintly” figure of Jovita, with her rules of living turning into scripture law.
Kaard av Nyr (or Southern Kaardism, New Kaardism) refers to the religious traditions of the Vyntic people who sailed across the Sea of Echoes thousands of years ago as recorded in The Guolog. The head of the organized religion is known as The Prestrskati who is the head of the religious order known as the Brothers of Kaard.
As a religion based around strength and honor, Kaard av Nyr believes not in strength through conquest but strength through life. It is here that credence’s of honesty, diligence, patience, honor, and family are defined whilst the price of blood is demanded through any one who defiles Kaard’s law such as murder of a child or an attack that is seen dishonorable (such as striking a defenseless man or raping a man’s daughter or wife).
The faith is strictly worshipped in the Northlands region of Orlandis and has been a resilient force in refusing attempts to change their religious identity through The Word of Aavaar which is proven through the historical accounts of Kristof ‘the Zealot’ – the King of Orlandis who executed the royal dynasty of Skavia and rallied the entire force of the Northlands against him, even with his zealous brutality he did not see the North bend the knee to his religion or his sword.
The Stormbroken Faith (or Followers of the Storm) refers to the religious traditions of the Hinterlandic people who lived historically on the western coast of northern Orlandis. The head of the religion is a small council of druids called The Synod. There is no written text.
A religion based on elemental druidism, The Stormbroken Faith is one of archaic simplicities and is historically the cultural beliefs of all people who descend from the Hinterland. The religious hierarchy is separated into four domains: earth, wind, fire, and water. It is commonly believed by the people that every natural occurrence is an act of spiritual unrest or will—thus the eruption of the volcano called “Stormbreaker” was seen as a defining moment especially considering this was during the time when most of the people of the Hinterlands were being converted by missionaries who worshiped the god Aavaar. Considering this, appeasing the gods is done through sacrifice from appropriate materials to the price of blood.
Human sacrifices are a commonplace action by druids who follow the religion, believing that the highest form of honoring the gods is by appropriate ritual sacrifice of heretics and thralls. Depending on the season, ritual, and other mitigating factors the chosen element is decided in a sacrifice and the prisoners killed are done so by that elements domain—if it is earth they would be buried alive, if it is water they would be drowned, and so forth.
I. The most important thing is to respect and follow the rules of our host site, which is no question. The themes are undoubtedly mature but we need to understand what we can and cannot write blatantly. Prose has many techniques referential and subtle where we can show the idea without outright being overtly over the line. If there’s sexual content there is always “fade to black”, if it is a particularly dark and questionable scene it can be referenced or hinted at instead of shown.
II. Respect fellow role-players. This is a collaborative project in nature so we shan’t dismiss or patronize those we should be working together with—lighthearted humor is fine but remember not to insult outright or start flame-wars; generally you know the drill so don’t be a dick and things should be kosher.
III. No meta-gaming—in Game of Thrones Robb Stark wasn’t prepared for the Red Wedding, so by good logic you shouldn’t be as well. The characters can’t know things outside of their timeframe, knowledge, and so on.
IV. Characters can and will die in this role-play. This means if five armed swords surround an unarmed individual there will be certainly a terrible end. Although, this is not to say GM’s or other players can kill others outright and without consultation—the characters in your house sheet are your de facto legacy characters and you have a say in plot progression but do remember this is a game of collaboration.
V. This is a role-play of interaction, character development, story progression—not one that fits the sub-forums of arena or nation RP. While yes, as rulers we have militaries and soldiers we should remember the sole purpose is not to do so. Interaction should be diverse and dick-measuring contest should be absent or at least kept to a minimum.
VI. Post length should fit the scene progression; also defer to the quote at the top of the page regarding “advanced role-playing standards”.
VII. You accept the responsibility that you can post every ten to fifteen days once. If you are taking a leave of absence you will be required to inform the GM’s.
VIII. This last one is more of a suggestion—both GM’s have skype accounts, and as such it would be highly useful if you are available to join the Fatal Souls group on skype. Skype is more active and eye-grabbing than any chatzy or mibbit and are more immediate for concerns and world-building.
Application
Character Name The name of your individual, if you aren’t planning on POVing a noble house.
Age Age of your character, pretty simple.
Appearance The general appearance of your character, again straightforward.
Personality Psychology and Attitude of your character, simplified or in detail.
Talents Skills, abilities, and talents the character utilizes ranging from martial to poetry to intrigue.
Friends & Rivals Typically the individuals of specified relations of the character.
Background A rough or detailed idea of the character’s life.
Other Information Theme Songs, Notes, and so forth.
House Name The name of your house, which is rather self-explanatory.
Sigil An image or description of a heraldry, typically a shield with etched symbolism and banners upon it.
House Words Typically one sentence as a motto or phrase that defines the house which can range from mantras such as “We Shield the Weak” to “Quake with Fear”. These are generally seen as defining of a House, for to go against your house words is seen is dishonorable.
House Specialty Text
Ancestral Weapon The ancestral weapon of the house should defer to the cultural implications of what is logical.
Important Members Typically the daughters, sons, and close relatives of your current reigning lord.
Courtiers & Retainers The advisors, knights, and other such members useful to your house.
Vassals The lords who serve under your house.
Realm The region or province of which you hail, for example House Hafrek would be titled: “Kingdom of Skavia, The Northlands of Orlandis”.
Primary Holding Feel free to be as brief or descriptive as possible with your primary holding, though to reasonable form.
Vassal Holdings Feel free to be as brief or descriptive as possible with your vassal holding(s), though to reasonable form.
Influence & Relations A summarized list of relations/influence with neighbors or vassals.
Exports & Imports A summarized list of product yield that are traded in or out.
Recent History Text
Other Information Theme Songs, Notes, and so forth.
Can you see me? Can you read these words? Don't react. They might see you. Just keep reading.
The year is 1983. Ronald Reagan is President of the United States of America, The Return of The Jedi has dominated movie screens for over half a year, and the Orioles have recently defeated the Phillies to win the World Series. In the face of a recession and a war on drugs, America has marched onward through the Cold War. It is a time of scientific innovation and academic progress. It is a time of technological wonder and social justice, bravely taking bold steps towards the future while abandoning a discolored, dysfunctional past. With the rise of toys like Atari, SNES, and The Cabbage Patch Kids, it is a good time to be an American, but an even better time to be an American child. Fortunately for you, you happen to be both.
It is the year 11,985. Mankind has proved itself too easily placated to resist subjugation. They are distracted with patterned music, electronic lights, and pre-prepared food.
You live in the sleepy mountain suburb of Wiscasset, Colorado. It isn't as fancy as the city folk have in Denver -- Old Man McRobert resets the pins instead of a high-tech robot at the bowling alley, there are two radio stations able to penetrate the Rocky Mountains, and the nearest shopping mall is a town over -- but it is far safer than the streets of Denver. In fact, Wiscasset is statistically the safest town in Colorado, a feature pointed out on its highway entrance sign. It's the kind of town you would move to after a difficult city upbringing to raise children to settle down in, and equally the type of quiet, sheltered town those children would grow up despising. It generally sees tourists twice a year, when its forested summerhouses are reopened, and once more when there are pumpkins to be picked and cider to be sold. As it just so happens, it is the middle of October, the prime time for both.
Don't read from it out loud. Don't let anyone know you have it. They'll kill you. They'll kill your family. They don't care that you're children. Keep it secret, whatever you do.
Our story begins with the Emerson Middle School's Book Club. They are a small group of Coloradans between the ages of eleven and thirteen, who belong to the club either out of a fondness for literature, a desire to be in extra yearbook pictures, or a need for English credit offered by spending every Wednesday afternoon with a roomful of bookworms. Your character's motivations will be left up to you, but where they are is on a field trip to the Colorado State Library. It is here they find, like groups of plucky protagonists often do, an unspeakable power not meant for them. Not meant for anyone. Whether they attempt to harness this power for their own gain or try to return their world to normalcy is in your hands.
I have to go. They found me. Don't let anyone know about the book, not even your family. Visit his bio. Stay sharp. I'll see you soon.
Welcome to The Book Club. I hope you've read this far because you're interested, so let me drop the GM mask and explain what I've got in mind with less cagey wording. The Book Club is strongly inspired by Stranger Things, and is meant to fill the coming-of-age-horror shaped void left in my heart by completing the second season. Thematic sources also include Gravity Falls, Welcome to Night Vale, and Hocus Pocus. I've always been fascinated with the occult, conspiracy theories, and modern fantasy settings, so naturally, this RP will heavily feature all three. Following that theme, I should point out that this RP will encourage investigation, reading between the lines, and real-world puzzle-solving.
If you can find the page where I've hidden a secret message, you may apply, but please know that this is the most ambitious RP project I've undertaken, and thereby the most competitive in terms of how harshly I'm judging your sheet. The main group of kids will be no more than five, and ideally, I'm aiming for four. I'm playing one, so there are three to four slots, and as of writing this, six people have managed to find the sheet. There will still be less-harshly-judged available openings for side characters after the main cast is filled -- bumbling cops, investigative teachers, parents, siblings, and local teenagers -- but they will not take the center stage, or only briefly become aware that there is a stage before a horrorterror eats their face. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or threats, now would be the time to voice them.
Welcome to The Redwatch, a story about mice with swords, the things that try to kill them, and how they refuse to die. It is essentially Redwall played by the rules of A Song of Ice and Fire, bolstering the world with cozy settings and loving descriptions of food and festivals, while still delving into the details of vicious animals killing mice while even more vicious politicking does essentially the same thing. The setting of The Redwatch is what you might call “low fantasy.” There is no magic, few if any traditional fantasy elements, and the world operates according to well-understood natural laws. The exception, of course, is that there are sapient mice, and they've established what amounts to a medieval society in the middle of a forest known as The Kingdoms of Gnaw.
The mice of Gnaw have created a quasi-military force -- the titular Redwatch -- to elevate themselves from their place at the bottom of the food chain and overcome the forces of nature. The Watch exists in an ambiguous social area somewhere between knights, Tolkien-esque rangers, and FEMA agents. They are thankless heroes who exist outside of mouse society to better serve it. When something has gone seriously wrong in the kingdoms and time is of the essence, members of the Watch are dispatched to put it right -- even at the cost of their lives.
Despite their technology and fledgling civilization, they're still mice: when you're three inches tall, a snake is a creeping horror out of Lovecraft, hawks are terrifying dragon-like predators, a swollen stream is a deadly impassable torrent, and a good storm can annihilate farms and wreak havoc on your communities. One of the core features of a world of mice is the sense of scale this should impart. You are playing small creatures in a huge and hostile world, but highly motivated ones. With swords.
The founding of Gnaw is one of the world's oldest mysteries, contested by sages, historians, and scholars throughout its domain, from Glendale's foggy ports to the furthest hillside keeps of Westercroft. Its earliest days are lost to history, as most mice do not think to ask of them. To the average mouse, Gnaw simply always has been, and that is all of an answer there need be. Regional monarchies insist their personal ancestral line raised the first castles, the pious preach that the kingdoms were made green and plentiful for mousekind by the Forest Spirit, and according to the accounts of rats and weasels, the Gnawer's Kingdom was once the Gnasher's Kingdom and was theirs by right. There are many accounts of Gnaw's founding by many different groups, with each of which coincidentally believe it to be theirs. The most well-read of the mice, such as those at the Sage's Lodge of Fogmount or Council of the Glen, all unanimously agree that the early vestiges of what would become the Kingdoms of Gnaw started as a far-scattered collection of burrows, gradually coming together to form hidden-away villages. This, of course, was in the Time before Times, when great black giants walked the lands and scattered stars in the sky, and flying snakes supposedly lived in castles in the clouds. Some say that the Time before Times has always existed, as a myth old mice tell their grandchildren to keep them by the fireside and out of the snow, and that the oldest tales of lore are simply myths. Some would argue that they were all literal, and that colossal mice truly did scatter the stars, spill the seas, and plant the stones in the beginning.
In the beginning, the true beginning, in the time long ago, mice were not yet mice. They were known as "Gnawers" by the creatures of the forest. Mice were prey. They were solitary creatures at the mercy of the elements and the seasons, holding meager territory only so long as something larger and less friendly didn't happen along, and could gather only enough food that it would not make them targets of other hungrier mice. They were timorous and jealous, shivering through rainy nights instead of giving away their location to the world with campfires, crafting slipshod escape tunnels to keep themselves safe instead of homes. Eventually, a group of mice came to the realization that their instinctive drives to flee from danger, steal their neighbor's food, and ensure their self-preservation at all costs would not allow their species, as a whole, to progress. Banding together, they carved out a hidden, defensible settlement into the face of a crimson rock wall and began bringing in mice who heard of their success, building a subterranean city within the red stone. Surrounded by impenetrable walls, garrisoned by a volunteer militia, and supplied by underground streams and deep granaries, the small mining settlement slowly grew into the most well-built fortress city of its time. They called it Redfort.
Over time, the mice of Redfort discovered that they were not the only mice to scratch out a civilization. Other communities had sprung up throughout the forests. Some called their collective lands "The Kingdom of Gnawers", while others preferred "The Kingdoms of Gnaw". Some simply assume "Gnaw" was the name of the lands because it was where Gnawers lived and left it at that. The villages and fortresses within the kingdom were smaller and less defensible than Redfort, but fiercely independent; They would never willingly incorporate into Redfort or abandon the expansive, if disconnected and weak kingdoms they had built. By their nature, mice are both clannish and skittish, which has been their biggest obstacle as a peoples -- Few speak up to build coalitions when their natures are telling them to hoard their resources, travel short and infrequent journeys, and live life with their head kept low. Accordingly, while Redfort grew into the stone, lesser strongholds were dispatched one by one. To some, this meant withering away after a year of famine, or entire populations scattering after war befell their town. To others, it was as simple as a particularly lucky snake finding a village and devouring the men, women, and children in a night. Eventually, only three major fortresses remained -- Redfort of Redfield, The Tall Tower of Westercroft, and Shellhold of Glendale. Within the scarlet halls of Redfort, this sparked a debate as to whether to leave the outsiders to their fates or bring them under Redfort's control by force for their own good. Eventually, they settled on using the strength of the city's militia to protect the kingdoms of Gnaw.
This militia blazed trails, patrolled the roads, delivered mail and supplies, fought off predators, and handled the backbone of creating the early infrastructure of Gnaw. They built stone outposts in every kingdom, which slowly became surrounded by mice eager to live near the strongholds of the militia without having to risk their lives by joining. Gradually, these keeps became castles, and the number of mice living near them became entire villages. However, more important than the villages they founded or the snakes they had butchered was the Spoorwall. the Redfort militia was responsible for its creation -- an invisible border around the kingdoms made of strong pheromones, repoured and reapplied every five years -- which has successfully kept snakes, wolves, foxes, and badgers from reentering the kingdoms ever since. Over time, mice far from the borders began to forget that foxes and wolves were not created by storytellers, or that mice had ever lived in anything but the warm, safe cottages their families had held for generations. Gnaw had become a thriving land, able to concern itself with frivolous matters such as the lineage of its rulers and upholding societal traditions instead of the apocalyptic threats they had once faced. Over time, the local militia of Redfort, which had built Gnaw from the ground up became The Redwatch -- a politically neutral group dedicated to continuing the work of Redfort's first militia; Protecting the denizens of Gnaw, keeping peace and order, and watching over mousekind.
Named for the prevalence of dried leaves through its perpetually autumnal weather, Redfield's safety, wealth, and abundance of farmland has made it the most populous of the three kingdoms. As a result, its mice are typically the happiest, who may focus their attention on festivals, courting, and pursuing hobbies in addition to their lifelong trades. For this reason, Redfield is known for its many gardens, countryside markets, and cultured history. Its capital is Redfort, an ancient subterranean city which houses the Redwatch, a military order devoted to the protection of Gnaw. Redfield and the Redwatch are both ruled by a monarch chosen by their predecessor, as opposed to the traditional succession by lineage used by lords, barons, and other lower rulers. As a result, mice in other kingdoms, particularly during times of political tension, are less grateful for the presence of the Redwatch than those in Redfield.
Westercroft, named for being the westernmost kingdom, is both the largest and least populous of the Kingdoms of Gnaw. Cold and dry all year round, Westercroft is known for its many mountain ranges, and the progressively furrier, sturdier, and less mouselike their denizens become as you move west. They are a hearty people known for their hardworking, humorless natures, as well as their practice of sparrow husbandry. Their westernmost border is the only part of Gnaw not contained within the Spoorwall, known as "The Valley of Bones". Because they hold the line between Gnaw and snarling behemoths unaware of it, Redwatch's valley stronghold houses some of the watch's strongest warriors. Westercroft's capital is the Tall Tower, a hilltop keep that allows their king an all-encompassing view of his kingdom.
Glendale, also simply known as The Glen, is a kingdom situated in the southeast, where it is warmer and wetter as the year goes on. The mice of the Glen are svelte and oily, typically viewed as a crude and unking people for having grown up in the swamps, or simply farther between, less informed, and less educated than the mice of their neighboring kingdoms. The Glen is ruled by a group of ten elders called The Council of The Glen, which are elected by virtue of their intellect. They rule from Shellhold, a short, squat castle built on the back of a gigantic tortoise, which doubles as a moving capital. The mice of the Glen are typically fishermice, toadherds, or reed farmers. Because much of their soil is too muddy to build castles, they typically live in villages built into the many trees of Glendale.
I will protect Gnaw and its denizens with my life. I will uphold the honored duties of the mice whose steps I walk in. I will destroy the enemies of Gnaw, and defend her allies. I will follow the order of the Redwatch into the very jaws of death.
Above all, I will watch.
The Redwatch is the largest order within Gnaw, whose duties are described with their oath -- to protect, uphold, destroy, follow, and most importantly, to watch. It is overseen by a monarch who doubles as governor of the Redfort and ruler of Redfield. As the head of the only serious military force in Gnaw, Redfield's ruler -- currently Queen Gothlun -- something like the Secretary of Defense for the loose confederation of mouse city-states. By treaty, the Watch is the final authority in the wilderness between cities, and more like an order of patrolling knights within Redfield, but they have no more authority in Westercroft and Glendale than any other mouse, a fact they routinely ignore. The kingdoms are also supposed to help The Redfort supply the Watch, which has grown larger than any one city can support, though they aren't obligated.
The duties of the Watch mostly consist of traveling the wilderness while maintaining trails, keeping the roads safe, delivering mail, scouting for natural dangers like predators or dangerous weather and less natural dangers like incursions from rats. Since the Redwatch is ostensibly neutral, watchmice are also expected to act as mediators in disputes between kingdoms, villages and sometimes between individual mice. Finally, the Watch maintains the Spoorwall, a miracle of mouse science which keeps most large predators like wolves and foxes out of Gnaw.
The final tenet of their oath, to watch, is a major theme within the Redwatch and the story. Watchers are meant to watch. This usually correlates to scouting missions, in that mice who do not closely observe their surroundings and situations they enter can easily be killed. Additionally, the Watchers cannot act in many situations, such as the mediation of disputes in kingdoms where they do not hold authority. They are resigned to non-interventionist policies in Westercroft and The Glen. Finally, the need for Watchers to watch is reflected in their thankless protection of Gnaw. They do not protect Gnaw within its societies, but on their edges, watching over the kingdoms.
Mice The smartest, most advanced sentient species. Their greatest achievements are glasswork, iron, sewer systems, chemistry, the loom, and a mastery of fire. Mice typically live to be 60, shorter if they are lowborn and longer if they are highborn.
Shrews The most common non-mouse species in Gnaw, Shrews are second-class citizens who can only rent homes for work, which they mostly find cooking, cleaning, or performing construction alongside mice. Many cut off their furry tails to claim to be mice, leading to a stigma of suspicion against tailless mice. Many subvert Gnaw's immigration laws by living year-round in Gnaw's forests in impermanent gatherings such as tents and caravans.
Voles Little is known about voles, due to their language barrier and unintelligible accents. Born with names like Glyndŵr and Gruffudd, Voles typically keep to themselves when they pass through Gnaw. Their settlements are scattered subterranean villages past Westercroft's Spoorwall, which are routinely flooded or dug up by predators. Many Voles work in Glendale as sailors-for-hire.
Moles A cousin of the Vole, Moles are a bronze-age civilization far past the edge of Westercroft, where they claim to live in cities deep beneath the Earth to avoid predators. They are known for being a mathematically gifted people, especially concerning their economics -- Moles are an extraordinarily mercantile people, going as far as to bid on the bodies of their loved ones at funerals to pay for funeral rights, paying hundreds of tiny "fees" at businesses such as the use of cups and napkins, and having holidays based on fiscal quarters.
Rats A stone age peoples with a brutal, primal society, who live short, savage lives. Their afterlife being supposedly reserved for warriors who die the most gruesome deaths, many rats ingest Bloodspore before battle, a mushroom that grants them a minute-long fit of blind rage and strength before their brains begin to hemorrhage. Their only art form is the playing of a vuvuzela-like instrument used in long-term raids and sieges to deny opponents sleep, and their only alphabet is a crude form of hieroglyphics used to denote property and insult one another at a distance. They typically eat mice, though they are not above to enslaving them for a source of food, labor, or leather.
Weasels A believed cousin of the Rat, who wield bronze weapons and armor, and fight with forethought and tactics. They ride opossums, wield spears and swords at a short range and javelins at a long rage, and frequently employ poisons and decoys. Aside from eating and enslaving mice, Weasels typically attack the northeastern tip of Westercroft, far from the Valley of Bones, where they have slowly pushed the borders of Gnaw back over centuries.
Squirrels It is unknown whether squirrels create goods, or simply take them from mice, rats, and weasels. They are typically solitary and wield no weapons, using their lightning-quick speed and daggerlike claws to effortlessly rend mice to pieces. When they band together, it is typically to raid entire storehouses, where they then divide their spoils and go their separate ways. Many Squirrels claim to have a connection to the trees not shared with the Gnashers, though this is believed to be a superstition by Mice.
Hamsters Hamsters come from a desert kingdom thousands of miles away they call the Caliphate of Ham, and come to Gnaw once every few years during their travels to trade. They bring goods such as incense, exotic woods, teas and spices, elaborate puzzles and jewelry, tropical fruits, and poppies. They claim their society is kept safe from predators with mile-high walls, though they are the frequent subject of raids during their travel, which they mitigate with a martial tradition of archery.
Guinea Pigs A cousin of the Hamster and second class citizen within the Caliphate of Ham, Guinea Pigs are typically trading partners with Hamsters, carrying goods and hamsters on their back during travels in exchange for a percentage of sales. They are a slow, simple people, who many claim would devolve into a non-sentient species were it not for the Hamster.
Turtles Beasts of burden used by Mice, who typically pull their carts, plow their fields, and assist the uprooting and processing of their crops. When they die, their shells are used to make some of the sturdiest rooftops and boats used in Gnaw.
Lizards A predator species, typically preying on domestic insect colonies and young mice. Some mice, particularly the foolhardy swamp-mice who live alongside the reptiles, have taken to riding them. Those who accomplish this do so in order to ride them up trees, along walls, and across ceilings.
Toads A beast of burden used primarily in Glendale, either as a cheap mount, source of meat or leather, or to keep away insects. Frogs breed toads for violence, and use them to hunt or for battle.
Frogs A sentient species argued to be less intelligent than rats, who speak a pidgin mix of Commontongue and their own guttural, croaking language. They hunt with wooden spears, axes carved from shells and stones, and their teeth. They do not capture or enslave mice, though their constant hunger compels them to eat mice and their children. Many wield stolen mice weapons.
Beavers Arguably non-sentient, nonverbal creatures. They live in the part of south Glendale that meets Redfield. One Watch journal describes being caught stealing from a beaver dam by a beaver, who noticed the Watchmouse but didn't seem to care, or particularly understand. They live in crude wooden forts, and have no material goods but hats fashioned from grass.
Otters Sentient non-verbal quadrupeds that have tools and inventions, though all center around fishing. They live in mud huts, kill one another frequently, and seem to be unaware of the Kingdom of Gnaw surrounding them, as they have been slowly sectioned off to a sole lake in Glendale without complaint.
Do mice wear clothes? Mice wear clothes depending on their needs, particularly the needs of their occupation. Bakers, butchers, and blacksmiths all wear aprons to keep their trade's respective gunk off of their fur. Kings wear crowns to let people know they're king. Farming mice wear long-brimmed hats to keep their ears from being burnt by the sun. You get the idea. Aside from their compulsory red armband, members of the watch buy and wear armor depending on their needs. Most don't because it's heavy. The closest thing mice have to a concept of nakedness is being hairless.
Can other animals talk? Yes, but they do not speak the same language and have varying degrees of sentience. Shrews, voles, hedgehogs, and moles can generally speak the Mouse tongue, while some even temporarily live within the Gnawer's Kingdom as merchants, ambassadors, or translators. Rats, weasels, and squirrels generally do not speak the mouse tongue, and are culturally analogous to either vikings or mongolians in that they are feared for their raids as they are unaffected by the Spoorwall.
What do the mice eat? Medieval food, but pescatarian variants. They're big into pasties, pies, potatoes, berries, vegetables, that sort of thing. They brew ales, ferment wine, and get cheese from pasteurized milkweed sap. Don't question it. Some mice eat meat, but it's viewed similarly to if you saw a dude chowing down on some bugs, because the only meat mice hunt or farm is bugs. Glendale has frogs and lizards, but they're kind of chewy.
How advanced is mice civilization? How about other civilizations? Gnawers (Mice, voles, moles, hedgehogs, and shrews) are essentially medieval. They have metal because they mine, fabric made on looms, and cottages and castles instead of burrows. The poorest mice are serfs, the richest are kings, and so on. Aside from the existence of class divisions, there are vague social divisions -- Black mice are superstitiously seen as unlucky, red or white mice are seen as attractive, while the common brown and grey mice make up the bulk of the population. Predators (Wolves, foxes, wolverines, badgers, etc.) are wild animals, whereas Gnashers (Weasels, Rats, Squirrels) are bronze-age savages who typically use stolen mouse tools.
Is the Redwatch good or bad? I like to focus on social questions in RPs, and this RPs question is "Do we need the Redwatch?" which I'm sure civilians all across the kingdoms ask too. The Redwatch is a fundamental part of Gnaw's early history, which definitely has -- or at least started with -- noble intentions, but consider the following; Kingdoms have rulers, laws, and are self-governing. The Redwatch, while technically being a politically neutral group, is strongly tied to the government of one kingdom, while maintaining outposts in other kingdoms. Additionally, the Redwatch has full clearance to act as judge, jury, and executioner while on missions, and is frequently used by the monarch of Redfield for political means. Are we members of a noble guild of rangers, or the soldiers of a kingdom occupying foreign lands? Ultimately, I'm not here to answer those questions, I just want to ask them. I'd like you, and the story you help write, answer that question in your own way.
What the fuck is the Spoorwall? How do you repour a border? What? In short -- The mice developed a cologne that smells like an impossibly large, scary predator. Everything with a predator drive (larger critters) is deeply afraid of the smell and avoids the borders of the kingdoms at all times. The mice basically repaint it on the ground and on trees along their kingdom's border every five years. It gives mice anxiety to even smell, and is definitely toxic to drink.
Humans? No.
This half of the character sheet will serve as an application so I can see if I want to write with you for months on end. It sounds harsher than it is. Anyway, you know how to write an application, so have at it. No pictures because it's unlikely we'll find matching styles. Also, feel free to play with the formatting, but don't add too much.
[center][color=Textcolorhere]"This is where your "Belief" goes. Beliefs need to be clear, powerful statements with a potential for conflict. “The Watch is good” is a bad belief, but “The mice of Gnaw must know that the Watch is good and must be supported” is pretty hot. Beliefs tell the other players (And me, the GM) what you're interested in and want to explore in the game. Someone who writes the belief “A Watcher thinks with their head and acts with their heart” wants situations in which they can be clever and compassionate, and possibly ones in which cleverness and compassion are set at odds with one another.[/color][/center]
Name: Mice names are either Anglo-Saxon, such as Archibald, Cecil, or Patton, or derived from nature, such as Rowan, Jasper, or Dawn. Instead of surnames, Mice generally go with "Of Hometownhere", unless there is something immediately outstanding about them (Physical deformities, infamous deeds, important ancestry, etc.) Feel free to go with locations already mentioned or create a new one, just try to follow the naming conventions I'm using.
Rank: Your rank within the Redwatch. The first rank is [i]Greenband[/i], which are recruits who wouldn't be trusted to tie their own boots if mice wore boots. They wear green armbands and generally only go on missions to act as squires for Watchers, cleaning armor, carrying weapons, and cooking meals. The second rank is [i]Watcher[/i], which make up the vast majority of the Redwatch. They vary in skill, but are all competent warriors. The third rank is [i]Watchguard[/i], a rank given to mice who wield a level of authority over members of the Redwatch. They typically lead parties. The fourth is [i]Watch Captain[/i], of which there are only a few dozen. They get the most important missions, and you are not one.
Appearance: Mice don't accessorize a whole lot, but the Redwatch wear colored cloaks chosen by the mentor who taught them, presented when they graduated from Greenband to Watcher. The mentor picks the color to represent some aspect of their student.
Ever since man has been capable of hitting other man with a rock, the world has been divided with power, between those who have it and those who do not. On this world, perhaps even more than ours, this division is more important than any other. Some secure power with the right mechanical gadgets and the years of study necessary to build them. Others seek out power at the bottom of a chemical vat, with the handshake of some otherworldly evil, or in the bite of a genetically unstable exotic pet. A few with enough money or federal funding simply strap six tons of bulletproof power over their chest and call it a day. All of these people, designated by their power, are known as Supers. Some are heroes. Some are villains. Universally, they're all pretty dramatic. The powers that be reigning in these powerful persons are known as the United States Department of Hero Regulation and the Villain's International League of Evildoing -- they are the respective equivalents of a high-ranking government agency and an international labor union working in tandem to ensure the other side follows roughly the same rules. The fleshbound VILE Codex of Cruelty, for instance, shares no less than 500 identical pages to the official DHR Federal Mandates & Regulations Handbook, and this is no strange coincidence. Both sides have inscrutable teams of lawyers and investigative sub-agencies, and both sides are just about as scary as the IRS when you're on their bad side. Every ten years, they hold a summit to review and revise the rules, and the 2020 summit is to be held only seven days from our story's inception. Supers!, which I am already regretting stylizing with an exclamation point, is to be a semi-sandbox story -- that means I am giving you a fair amount of freedom with your individual stories and themes -- with two overarching subplots going on for Heroes and Villains. I expect probably two people to apply to this, so accordingly, there are a bunch of rules (not in the annoying "i'm the GM i reserve the right to shit down your chimney" way) in order to ensure that these two people have sheets that demonstrate an understanding of this difficult-to-understand world. With that, I'll drop my GM voice and get down to it.
The Department of Hero Regulation is a government agency for the management of heroes, founded in 1944 after the infamous Mighty Man Incident, wherein Sam J. Reynolds, the aforementioned Mighty Man, was found guilty of Destruction of Property in the form of a damaged barn when Mighty Man collided into it during an altercation with Brainfreeze. After breaking the handcuffs he was placed in, Mighty Man incinerated the courthouse with his heat-vision and flew to Nicaragua, where he remains in hiding to this day. The proceeding national outcry lead to the DHR's establishment, and federal funding for devices and training to handle Supers. Due to the passive role heroes take defending themselves from villains, the DHR has significantly fewer rules than their counterpart organization, though this is not to say that the rules are not as strictly enforced as the League's. Most of the DHR’S rules focus on acceptable levels of force and permitted scenarios for the escalation of conflict -- As an organization, the DHR is more focused on capturing unregistered heroes and villains and threats to global safety. They typically only involve themselves in the affairs of higher level villains, such as those capable of purchasing nuclear weapons or summoning world-devouring creatures. They are also in charge of assigning appropriate “Units”, which are essentially sets of pre-approved dynamics such as “Lone Hero”, “Hero Family” or “Hero/Sidekick”. When a single man in a cave applies for a young, spandex-wrapped male sidekick, it is the DHR's screenings they have to pass. When Super families routinely risk their child's safety crawling into tombs to press secret buttons, it is the DHR who investigates. When a hero breaks the rules, it is the DHR who hunts them down.
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The Villain's International League of Evildoing
The Villain's International League of Evildoing, more commonly abbreviated to VILE, was founded in 1953 as The Brotherhood of Evildoing, though this was changed to "The League of Evildoing" in 1967 in the infamous "Electricia v. Brotherhood of Evildoing" case, and once more to the current name in 1981 as part of a rebranding effort. It is essentially a global union for villains, serving as the authority over every facet of supervillainy, be it dealing with a villain’s legal recourse, supplying henchmen, screening offensive alter-egos and gimmicks, creating suitable nemesis pairings for heroes, and so on.
VILE’s rulebook is bound in human flesh, and is extensive, strict, and notoriously bulletproof -- There are no loopholes to be exploited, or any matter it does not cover in great detail. VILE’s legal team is one of the best in the world, and when matters can no longer be settled in courtrooms, they rely on their equally-skilled assassins. VILE is lead by its aging founder, one Frederick Verhullen, the villain known as Black Mask. He has been bedbound for the last four years, and is hanging on to his mortal coil by the grace of God and a skilled team of doctors who provide him round-the-clock care. With elections for the new chairman to proceed almost immediately after Black Mask's eventual death, would-be leaders of villainy are prematurely beginning to throw their hats in the ring.
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Finding its start in Salem, Massachusetts in 1933 as the Society for Paranormal Inquiry, the Magicians' Order (formally renamed in 1948) is the single largest collective of arcane academics and their ilk in the world. Overseen by the current Archmagician, Dr. Abra Cadaver, the Order is something of an enigma to all those outside of it -- both heroes and villains fill the Order's membership, and they maintain working relations, if cool, with both the VILE and the DHR. Ostensibly, the Order serves as a neutral ground where Magicians can come together to share and discuss their supernatural findings amongst their peers, though only those within their hallowed halls know just how the Order goes about its business.
The most notable experiment conducted by the Order was the Abraxus Ritual of 1947, a djinn-summoning ceremony combined with tomes of stolen Nazi research into the paranormal. This resulted in the discovery of the Veil, the very force returned to the world by Trent Hark nearly twenty years prior which connects the Earth to countless planes of existence. The two planes accessible by mankind are the Seelie Court, a realm of pure magical energy and the home of the faeries, and the Phantom Wastes, a grey and expansive world home to eldritch horrors who seek to end all life throughout the plans of existence -- There are hundreds, if not thousands of planes past the Phantom Wastes and Seelie Court, though they are outside of the material realm and inconceivable to the minds of men. These matters, and many even more complicated and Tolkienesque, are the Order's bread and butter.
Both the victor and the vanquished are but drops of dew, but bolts of lightning, thus should we view the world. - The death poem of Ôuchi Yoshitaka
The Plot
The Grand Empire has ruled Tsukishima for thousands of years, maintaining the Bakuhatsu dynasty for generations immemorial. Their current ruler, Emperor Kaoru Bakuhatsu, has brought the empire to new heights by being the first Tsukihito to accept the trade agreements of a foreigner, focusing newfound imperial funds on developing technology such as the steam drill, gatling gun, and hot air balloon. Though the empire has grown richer, more technologically advanced, and is furthering science to heights previously unknown, this is believed by the pious to have extended man's domain and power further than it had been intended to be by the gods, which has caused a recent supernatural insurrection. Entire villages are found slaughtered overnight, shadowy beings are said to kill travellers, spastic children are born with red eyes and skin like cracked riverbeds, and men tending to their paddies suddenly drop their tools, speak in tongues, and murder their families in minutes. Roadside temples are being found desecrated more and more, and from Mount Kaji, a deep rumbling grows. More and more, villagers have turned to their once-forgotten temples and shrines, affixing holy symbols to their doors and keeping their doors tightly shut at night.
Though this uprising of demons has been denied by local shoguns and government officials, the Grand Imperial Military has been stationed in many villages for seemingly no reason but "guarding foreign cargo shipments", though many suspect Emperor Kaoru has begun to take notice of the supernatural occurrences. Although areas occupied by the Grand Imperial Military are kept safe from demons and spirits, the soldiers and samurai employed by the government are essentially immune to the Empire's laws, and are known for their wanton cruelty to the serfs they protect. This lack of transparency on the empire's part and anger towards the occupying army has caused a rift in Tsukishima's society, with more and more citizens fed up with the empire and turning to bandit groups and travelling ronin to protect them. However, as the bandit groups usually require extortion payments and are oftentimes as cruel as the occupying soldiers, between the demons and what protects the villagers from them, life has never been harsher to the common man. It is a time that calls for heroes.
The World
Our story takes place in Tsukishima, a crescent-shaped continent about half the size of Europe, ruled by The Grand Empire, which is as authoritarian and fascist as their name sounds. As is the case with many anime settings, the country is ambiguously Japanese without actually being set in Japan -- Characters and locations have Japanese names, spirituality is divided by strongly Buddhist and Shinto seeming religions, and concepts like honor and filial piety have a place in everyday life. The setting will be split between rural and urban villages, with smaller villages having hand-pumped water and traditional Japanese architecture (Rice paper walls, tatami mats, squat toilets) while more urban villages have steam, plumbing, and western-style beds. As you move closer to the country's western coast, villages become cities, sandals become slippers, and the swords of town guards are replaced by jitte and clubs. Our stories start as far from the west as possible.
Though one of the themes of the RP is the world's rapid industrialization, keep in mind that there aren't any crazy cyberpunk neon cities. At most, the level of the tech in our world is the same as that of the Naruto universe; In the most urban areas, Electricity, factories, gunpowder, and steam-powered machinery are not commonplace, but they are becoming increasingly so. Gatling guns and cannons exist, though only the highest order of the Grand Imperial Army, the Imperial Guard, have access to them. In terms of realism, try to consider our world low fantasy -- Onis, Kappas, Yokai, and all other mythical creatures are still mythical, and dragons are only ever seen in papery forms at parades. Only recently -- to the tune of a year, more or less -- have supernatural occurrences started happening, and that's limited to demons and other vengeful spirits like that. Magic is performed by the highest-ranking priests and monks, and is usually limited to healing wounds, ki strikes, and that cool levitating meditation trick. Otherwise, if you want to kill somebody, you're going to use a sword and not a magic missile.
Our world will be about as dark as the average 90's anime, and will borrow from a few (Most notably, Ninja Scroll). Graphic, if unrealistic violence will be the norm, whereas other dark themes will mostly take the side stage, or be balanced out to make the world less of a complete crapsack. If we meet a homeless alcoholic, he'll crack jokes. If an NPC is tryna rape somebody, it's because another character is about to be introduced as a trustworthy, honorable character by killing them. If the group encounters a drug-addicted prostitute, she will turn out to be a man in drag with a deep voice. I want to tell a compelling story with compelling villains, but I'm not tonedeaf to my own edginess.
Additionally, though the RP will have realistic occurrences and consequences, I'll admit that if you survive the solo stage and end up in the main group, your character will don plot armor from then on. Feel free to be a bit more brave or outspoken in your actions, as I guarantee you won't die -- If you pass the first month or two of this RP without dropping out. That seems like a good segue to the next section.
The Rules
1. Every time I've run this RP, I've had to deal with butthurt people in my PMs when I reject their samurai, or the anguish of well-written characters arriving too late to be accepted. Given that I am only accepting one writer -- at the most, two -- and already have more applicants than I am willing to accept, I fully encourage those of you who do not get accepted for one reason or another to take this idea and run with it. You have my full permission to rip the entire OOC and post it elsewhere to run a game of demon-fighting samurai with your pals. I intended this initially to be a 1x1, which then became a 1x1x1. If you get rejected, it's more likely me than you, given the characters are already on a discord you have no way of seeing. Anyway. No hard feelings.
2. Every character should be different -- They should look different, act different, approach the same problem in different ways, and have different fighting styles. They should have different themes, different backstories, and different goals. If you see a character who's big and red, make a guy who's short and blue. The only thing that shouldn't be different is their weaponry -- Everyone is a martial artist using a melee weapon. No archers or riflemen, sorry. Makes balanced combat difficult when one character can competently kill dudes from fifty feet. I'd prefer a bunch of very different styles of swordsmanship to a party where everyone uses an arbitrarily different exotic weapon, but I'm certainly open to non-sword users within reason. Think Samurai Champloo or Afro Samurai before Inuyasha.
3. This RP is about character development as much as it is plot development, so bring your A-Game. I've got an overarching plot in mind to bring all the villain NPCs you introduce during your solo tenure, so bring good villains. Bring a good backstory to build on personal change with while you're at it, too. As characters develop and there are more demons and samurai to fight, players who have been here since the beginning will scale up in power -- I don't want to do kamahamehas and power tier transformations as much as I want to see named attacks, wire-fu, and punches that leave little craters in the wall. Hopefully, we won't need a reference point for the level of fantasy used because it'll be enforced by all the posts.
4. Don't intentionally be a contrarian dick. Aside from any "Respect da GM" rule, if you have a problem with something I've written or something someone else has written, just try to bring it up in a respectful manner. There are too many roleplays ruined by petty disagreements, insistence on being right, and general toe-stepping that could be avoided by thinking "Would I say this to someone's face?" I reserve the right as GM to outright reject players or ideas, but I'm not gonna do that unless suggesting a dozen alternatives if I think a suggestion isn't right, because I am not an intentionally contrarian dick. So follow that rule as best as I do, I guess.
5. Last but not least, have fun! I didn't want a rule list with four rules, are you kidding me? No for real, the last rule is to PM me your sheet instead of posting it on the thread. If you're accepted, I'll PM you. I already have myself and two writers, so I will be accepting one to two more. Probably one.
The Setting
Most countries date their founding on the arrival of foreign invaders -- Not Tsukishima. For thousands upon thousands of years, the Tsukihito have met every invading force with the same swords that they pass down through generations. The island nation has had their ruling family, the Bakuhatsu family, for as long as they have recorded their history through paintings and the written word -- which they had developed sooner than other cultures -- and most likely longer than even that. In the same vein, Tsukishima has only ever had two religions, which have both simply been called The Sacred Path and The Holy Path for as long as anyone remembers. The Sacred Path is originally from Seung Yua, and follows the teachings of The Enlightened One, whereas The Holy Path is a polytheistic animist religion native to Tsukishima, centered around gods known as The Kami in lieu of one enlightened mortal.
Tsukishima is effectively owned by the oldest male of Clan Bakuhatsu, more frequently called "The Emperor" than by his birth name, which becomes nearly obsolete after his coronation. Below the emperor are the four shogun, each controlling a quarter of the continent as kings, whose word is second only to the emperor's. The shogunate clans and their branches are known as "high samurai", distinguished from peasantry, merchants, lords, and daimyō by being permitted by the emperor to own and ride horses, as well as each of their male members being permitted to become samurai. Below the shogun are the 64 daimyō. It is said of the daimyō that few rule ports, some rule mines, most rule rice paddies, and all rule the small folk. The richest and most well-connected to the shogunate are typically in the east or west, whereas the less impressive daimyō live in the south -- known as the rice paddy kingdom -- and the frozen north, which was only annexed by the empire three hundred years ago. Daimyō are permitted to raise their eldest sons to be samurai and essentially act as mayors, lords, and petty kings of the continent. Below the daimyō are the landed samurai -- retired samurai who have purchased lands and have started a branch house of their clan -- and the samurai, Tsukishima's most ancient and honored caste. Below the samurai are the merchants, artisans, and peasantry, and below them, the burakumin; butchers, gravediggers, and tanners, who are considered untouchable.
Tsukishima has two neighboring countries -- Goristan and Seung Yua. Goristan is the larger of the two, spanning further than Tsukishima's fleet has sailed and taking up all of the west, as far north and south as the west seems to go. Goristan has a generally cold relationship with Tsukishima -- they have no trade or immigration with Tsukishima, having a mountainous coast, though there are very rare immigrants who are mostly fleeing persecution for various crimes. They are called Goristani, and have a more Eurasian look than Tsukihito, with round eyes and hair ranging from black to dark brown that grows on their face as thick as on their head. The Goristani have tried to invade Tsukishima three times, being repelled by Tsukishima's combined forces the first two times and washed away by typhoons the third. They possess steam power, rudimentary electricity, and gunpowder, though very little is known about these three wonders in Tsukishima until very recently. The Goristani fight with slightly-European looking Jiangs and muskets, and are thought to be loud, rude, and greedy. They cultivate cows for beef, milk, and cheese, leading to the word for Goristani in Tsukihito translating literally to "cow mouth people". It is the setting's equivalent to China and Eurasia.
Seung Yua is a small island nation near Tsukishima's southeastern archipelago, known as the Tokukokko Islands. It is largely comprised of its own ethnic group, the Seungyo, though its western coast has a thriving population of immigrants from Tsukishima and the Tokukokko islands. It is a poor country, and its people are generally seen as dirty, smelly, unintelligent, and clearly inferior to Tsukishima. Though it carries a great number of negative stereotypes, it is also seen as mystical, exotic, and spiritual, due to it being the birthplace of The Sacred Path and its predecessor, the Divine Path -- Buddhism and Hinduism, respectively -- It is believed that the founder of The Sacred Path was born in Seung Yua and came by way of raft as an infant. The Seungyo fight with curved swords, chakram, and a multitude of bizarre and foreign weapons. It is the setting's equivalent to India, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
The Themes
Modern Industry vs Traditional Naturalism
The largest theme in Hagakure is lifted from a lot of anime, because it has been a prevalent theme in Japanese society for the past century. It is implied that belief in the Sacred Path and Holy Path had been on a decline throughout previous years, and outright stated that demons had not shown up until Tsukishima abandoned tradition in favor of industry. Additionally, demons are repelled by items granted reverence in the Sacred Path -- heirlooms, weapons, and structures that have lasted one hundred generations and have been given a soul by the kami. The Grand Empire has an array of steampunk villains aided by technology, which are to be foiled by our cast of heroes who all have humble origins in traditional fighting styles.
Honorable Idealism vs Brutal Reality
Hagakure is about swordsmen, and swordsmanship in feudal Japan was about discipline and honor. Swords are being replaced by guns -- a tool that lacks a tradition, a need for training, or any semblance of honor. Much in the same way that tradition is being brushed aside for industry's sake, the world should have many examples of unpleasant realities trumping ideals. Travelling samurai are very rarely warriors in shining armor, the army is not as loyal, organized, and transparent as they say, and the very ruling government of the country has taken steps to inadvertently make their traditions, social classes, and way of life obsolete.
In the beginning, there was Terra. Certainly, its inhabitants may have called it something else; perhaps their word for "Blue" after the sky, or perhaps their word for "home", or simply "place". All the same, just as it is now, there was Terra. According to its wisest scholars and historians, Terra has seen three ages, each divided by Terra's slumbering for a hundred-hundred years. Though our oldest history is lost to time, modern advancements made in the field of archaeology tell us much about Terra's past cycles -- Denizens of the first age were each extraordinary builders and architects, constructing great stone homes and fortresses, while their descendants of the second age were skilled scientists who engineered the ancestors of today's races. The races of the Third Age.
Ours has been an age of peace. There are Kings, but not so many that they have yet fought over lands. There are warriors, but no armies yet to join. There are demons, but none so foolhardy to wake them. Terra, for all its forgotten ruins and ancient mystics, is a relatively new world. The radiation of yesteryear has long since settled to the dark corners of the world, and life has flourished in its absence. Pockets of civilization exist, but they are few, far-between, and rightly fearful of the world outside their high walls. Terra is a land where ancient horrors dwell in the glowing seas, where fearsome giants pillage small villages with impunity, and where the weak are picked off by harpies if they cannot protect themselves with a sufficient fort, sword, or spell.
Humans
Despite being the rarest peoples, humans are actually believed to have been the first race on Terra. Humans are extremely sensitive to radiation and are the weakest, shortest-lived, and least magically-inclined of Terra's four great races, but they are the most intelligent and the most dextrous. Humans possess opposable, multi-jointed digits on either end of their arms, capable of using delicate machinery, playing a variety of instruments, and manually cleaning the insides of their ears and noses. Using these digits, humans have invented a variety of tools and devices to assist them in these and other labors.
◈ Rot-touched humans are a subspecies of human, who are not born mutants, but have had their genes mutated through direct exposure to very high amounts of radiation very quickly. They are ageless, require no water, and despite a popular myth that states otherwise, can be killed through conventional means. They resemble living corpses and are slowly deteriorated by direct sunlight, leading many to seek shelter underground.
◈ Halfbeasts are the unholy spawn of humans and beastfolk. They usually resemble humans with scant animal features, such as tails, ears, or wings. Some see them and find them attractive, others see them and picture their sinful parents copulating. Whatever the case may be, they are rarer than humans and are frequently performers in circuses and exotic clubs. The only colony of halfbeasts are the mermaids, who are pretty absent in the affairs of non-mermaids.
Beastfolk
The beastfolk are the most diverse, and perhaps most loosely organized of the four great races. Whether or not the beastfolk are the oldest race in Terra is largely a one-sided debate between the beastfolk, who submit the notion that the beastfolk are Terra's oldest race, and the rest of the world, who favor the tangible, much older records of humanity in the debate. In spite of this, the beastfolk are generally a proud, bull-headed people, depending on their exact species. To be fair, the most bull-headed of them are the bullmen.
◈ Plantfolk, while not "beasts", exist all the same. They have a lot of in-fighting and rivalries only they are able to remember and differentiate, such as a bitter, long-standing racial hatred between leekfolk and radishfolk. Because of their integral bond with nature, many live in harsh, isolated regions.
◈ The fishfolk, also colloquially called The Awful Fishfolk, are the most widely-hated subspecies on Terra. There is no one reason, but a slew of factors that go into this -- They reek, no matter the breed of fish, speak in a language only they can speak, and they steal things. They steal like it is going out of fashion, right in front of you if they have to. They also cannibalize their dead almost immediately.
Greens
The Greens -- Orcs, Ogres, Trolls, Hobgoblins, Goblins, Ghouls, and all manner of nefarious hoopajoops -- are a universally tusked, pointy-eared, viridescent peoples. Some are small and quick, such as those in the goblin families, whereas others, such as the ogres and orcs, are large and muscled. Because their appearances are so widely varying, many members of other races, such as mutant humans and particularly stout lizardfolk, are often mistaken for Greens and discriminated as such. The Greens evolved from humans who have adapted to high levels of radiation.
◈ Sky goblins, despite their name, are not goblins and cannot fly. Their short tails make them imps, and while they cannot fly in the true sense, they can jump the same distances, proportionately, as a flea. Their wide, padded feet help them glide as they fall downward and kick at prey with their powerful legs. They eat mostly birds, young harpies, and other sky goblins.
◈ While commonly believed to be members of the extinct Dwarf race, tappers are the most common subspecies of troll. They can be distinguished from dwarves and trolls alike by their dark green skin and gray beards. Many signal to one another when they sense cave-ins by tapping their single, long index finger on the cave walls, which gives them their name.
Elves
Where the beastfolk were made brash and dim-witted by the radiation, and the greens made hideous and deformed, the Elves were given what they call "Elfspeak" -- The ability to communicate ideas to other living beings psychically. Because of the use of telepathy and psychic empathy is so widespread in their cultures, they generally almost never speak. <Elves sound like this> While powerful wizards and other elves can shut off their minds to Elfspeech, humans, beastfolk, and greens cannot. <As you can imagine, this does not help their popularity>
◈ Forest elves are the elves most attuned to Elfspeech, and are said to have invented it. They lack mouths, instead communicating entirely with their minds, photosynthesizing in order to give themselves nutrients when necessary. Some say they can use Elfspeech to communicate with trees, though they aren't keen about discussing the matter with non forest elves.
◈ High elves, as their name would suggest, are the tallest of the elves. They are known for their impressive fortresses and a lesser known facet of Elfspeech known as Elflistening, where they are made privy to the thoughts and emotions of others. Most use this for political scheming and other underhanded means.
There is very little empirical data recorded about Terra's history, so historical knowledge varies very strongly from place to place. Some universities have tomes that chronicle each age in detail, some villages think the planet is about a hundred years old. Most people don't know very much about ancient history, and they don't really care. There are pterodactyls trying to eat them, and giant mushrooms they can use to bounce across chasms. The fun parts of the world -- the parts we're writing in -- don't know about world history, and neither should your character.
The First Age
The First Age, or, The Yester-yesteryears, are the most ancient and mysterious of Terra's ages. It is the time when the most ancient creatures laid their eggs miles beneath the planet, when the mightiest of the talking trees were little more than high-pitched acorns, and when the ancient structures around Terra were first raised. Denizens of the first age currently living -- the most decrepit and ancient of the Rot-Touched, Treefolk, and similar very long-lived beings -- all have twinkling, murky memories of this time, if any. Life for the First Agers was a utopia aided largely by machines and architecturally ingenious structures that protected them from a world that lacked radiation, magic, or nonhumans. The few remaining records of First Agers depict an unintimidating, fleshy people with a proclivity for unfashionable hats.
The Second Age
The Second Age, or The Yesteryears, was the shortest period of Terra's history, occurring after the First Fire. The second age is responsible for the first generation of Rot-Touched, the creation of the Greens, Elves, and Dwarves, as well as the Machinefolk. The oldest dynasties were also founded during this time, such as the Great Pack, the Elven Dream-Council, and the Celestial Republic. The Second Age was ended by the Final Fire, an event as equally mysterious as its predecessor.
The Third Age
The Third Age is Terra's current age. It was marked by the extinction of the Dwarves, as well as the emergence of Beastfolk. Machines, while not extinct, have become extraordinarily rare, while magic has become more and more common. The world is loosely divided into territories, though it has not been so fully explored as to have an accurate map.
As you have seen, there are a lot of terms being thrown around here -- Rot, Radiation, First Fire, Magic, etc. The prevalence of magic has been the biggest question, so I'm here to answer it straight: This setting employs magic through radiation. Think of the two as equally volatile and uncommon to see being used in day-to-day settings. If someone pulled out a magical orb from their backpack, you would respond as if they pulled a glowing hunk of uranium -- You'd be distrustful, and probably run in the opposite direction. Magic used by the players is of a low level. Magic used by some NPCs might show the higher scale of magic, but the golden rule here is always that magic is really misinterpreted science. That being said, if your magic cannot be explained with a pseudo-scientific explanation, it is too powerful. This strikes the creation of matter off of the list, as well as things like teleportation or flight. Think Tolkien magic.
Magic - An unnatural force found throughout the world that allows practitioners to break or bend natural laws. It has a strong correlation to radiation and nuclear waste, leading many foolhardy hopefuls to willingly expose themselves to it. Nearly all develop illnesses, but some develop incredible gifts, keeping fascination and fear of magic a widespread phenomenon.
The First Fire - A worldwide fire that ended the First Age.
The Final Fire - A worldwide fire that ended the Second Age.
Demons - Dormant creatures, thought to either be descendants of Rot-Touched or Dwarves, with strong affinities for magic and unspeakable evil. Fortunately, none are currently awake.
Elfspeech - A telepathic communication elves can use between each other, or at non-elves. Non-elves receive Elfspeech if it is the elf's intention, but they cannot speak with it.
Rot - Those exposed to the First and Final fires received a type of radiation that is no longer found, known as Rot. Those who are "Rot-Touched" cease aging, but appear corpselike and cannot be exposed to sunlight.
Charactername, The Race/Subrace
Profile
Tell me your character's name, gender, species, approximate age relative to their lifespan, and basic appearance without writing these details in a listed format.
Biography
Tell me your character's personality, history, motivations, strengths, weaknesses, and skills without writing these details in a listed format.
Relationships
Relationship type - Loosest possible requirements for another PC to be this role. Example as follows.
Rival - A beastfolk who crossed paths with Firstname many years ago, who stole the coveted Plotdevice Crystal Firstname has been looking for.
