Disclaimer: This topic is a proof-of-concept OoC post for a work-in-progress RP, so keep that in mind as you read and/or develop any character ideas. It's probably absurdly long for an interest check and you're definitely expected to skim through the lore dump and combat mechanics in particular to find whatever you need to know or are interested in. Expect small things to change here and there, especially if I get a lot of "I'd be interested if" feedback, or the PvP mechanics end up getting broken (I'm not placing any bets that the first draft will hold up under the scrutiny of clever players).

1. Post length is whatever you need to make your character come alive. For some, this may only be a single spoken sentence and a short paragraph, or two. Others may write walls of text, and that's fine. Just don't respond to everything non-combat related with one-liners and zero depth or introspection, and you're good. If you're going to have a long-form, in-person conversation with another character, consider writing your posts together, just so your rapid-fire back-and-forth doesn't take over the thread.

2. Presentation is pretty casual. Feel free to open your posts with fancy fonts and a poetic tagline for your character, or don't. If you want to embed background music for those special character-defining moments, then go for it. If you'd rather post an image than painstakingly describe every aspect of something, it's fine. As long as we can understand what is going on in your post, typos are excusable, but do try to use proper grammar.

3. The setting is a fictionalized earth where demons undeniably exist, and as with any other fictional world where demons exist, there will be some religious themes. If you have any concerns about this, feel free to ask me. However, like other fictional works such as Edmund McMillen's The Binding of Isaac, religion is a medium through which the story is being told, and not the "message," if the story must have one. If you're going to be offended in spite of that (or because of it), steer clear.

4. The story's events will revolve around a "home base" named Agartha, where characters will stay until they deploy for missions. This structure will allow characters to return to base during periods of low user activity, and, either individually or as a group, re-deploy at any time—like a drop-in, drop-out co-op mode. This will also allow new players and characters to join the squad at almost any time. What this means for you is that periods of inactivity or discovering this RP after it's already underway will not be punished so severely that it becomes impossible to pick it up again, or at all. What it also means is that player-directed side quests can exist, and multiple small groups can tackle different missions at the same time, or PvP in training simulations until the story moves forward.

5. Combat mechanics and rules are there to keep things fair for other players during PvP if that's your wheelhouse. If it's not, don't be paralyzed by all the nuances. The mechanics are there to give you a general idea of how this world's physics will work when two attacks meet, when spells of different elements and tiers clash, and so on. The "rules" are there to be consulted if someone is doing something unfair. If you have questions, you can ask me. If your PvP partner is fine with whatever, then you can do whatever, as long as you're not destroying the world and everything inside. We're here to have fun.

6. Welcome to Unrealville, Fictionland, where complete immolation leaves a character fully clothed with only some minor burns to show for it, and losing an arm is only a flesh wound. Even though the setting is earth, we won't be adhering strictly to realism, despite the darker themes involved. Mediums especially are basically superheroes, so they should be able to shrug off things that would turn you and me into paste, like the term Cartoon Violence™ shrugs off the looming threat of parental supervision.

7. Character couples are great, but don't lewd in public. (That means no sex scenes in the thread, per RPGuild official rules. There are other places where your characters can escalate their "relations," if you must.) If your character must be nude for a scene, I humbly request that you keep your word choices classy and your descriptions PG-13. If you're not confident in your ability to do this, you can "fade to black" as they say.

8. Discord comes highly recommended for this RP, as there will be several fun integrations with it, most of which I don't want to spoil. Server link: discord.gg/ur9RW6XXcK

1. Your character's wish doesn't have to be a noble one, like "I want to defeat the Demon Mother" or "I want to free humanity from the demons." Most characters will be young, have been living in a cave and (for the most part) treated like nobility their whole lives just for being Mediums. Some will be eager to escape responsibility rather than embrace it, desire to see the wonders of the surface world more than dealing with the demon menace, and other such things. Also, the more specific your character's wish is, the easier it will be for someone to come up with a curse. You should make your wish in-character and include some kind of information about why your character is making this particular wish above any other (so it can be used against them, naturally).

2. Your character can wish for anything, but that doesn't mean that your Jinn will give it to you. If it's something that is beyond their power to grant, they will give you a kind of power that should, theoretically, help your character achieve their wish. Even if it seems like a hopeless wish, they will offer you at least the impression of a step in that direction. They're crafty little buggers.

3. Complete invincibility, unrestricted revival from death, time travel, and other "god tier" abilities are banned. Other abilities include global time stop/extreme time distortion, or any other skill (such as an EX-Mode, Adrenaline Rush, whatever) that would achieve the same effect, as well as any kind of 360° omniscient sixth sense, or free-reign teleportation, or infinite shadow clones, or any other kind of nonsense that would make your character impossible to reliably track down or hit. What this all means functionally for the game mechanics is that your skills can't guarantee a dodge, or raise your chances of dodging past the maximum 10 star (83.3%) rate, nor can you break the normal flow of combat by raising or lowering a character's number of actions per turn.

4. Mind control, in all of its various forms and synonyms, is banned, even for use on or by NPCs. As a general rule, you should treat another person's character like you would treat your date. Don't grab them by the hand and pull them into a new scene without asking first, don't assume that they would act or react a certain way without giving them a chance; don't "god mod" as they say.

5. For the purposes of this particular story, being "unable to control" your power (or character, when they are using it) doesn't qualify as a sufficient curse. Having one angsty boi scorch the earth while everyone else watches from a safe distance is no fun for anyone involved.

6. Your character's "curse" should be thematically fitting and opposite to their "blessing," but in terms of your character's overall power level, they should still end up being very obviously super-human. Low-level monsters like goblins or slimes won't stand a chance against you even in a 10v1, and most regular humans are even weaker than they are. The goal isn't to ruin your character's power completely, as would usually be the case when playing corrupt-a-wish.

7. A human can invoke up to three Jinn. Once this is done, it cannot be undone, so unless you want to design an older character with a rich and storied history and well-established motivations, you should leave a couple slots open for your character to adapt as they grow and their desires change. If they really only have one central motivation that they must fulfill at any cost, you should choose their powers very carefully, since you won't be able to change them later. By the way, don't try to invoke a fourth Jinn. Doing so will drive your character insane (and by insane, I mean the lame gibbering vegetable kind, not the fun scorch-the-earth-while-laughing-mad kind).

Ordinary humans are at the bottom of the divine food chain, and second only to small animals in abject vulnerability. They can use only normal physical attacks, a guard which can be broken by the most Basic attack skills, and Basic magic, which they can only cast using the magic stones that are produced by Mediums. The strongest of them are just barely capable of surviving a one-on-one duel with the lowest rank-and-file monsters, and so they must rely on large numbers or Mediums to survive.


Gifted by the Pandora gene, Mediums are humanity's only real hope of defeating the Demon Mother and reclaiming their lost freedom and dominion of the earth. By invoking spiritual beings called Jinn, they are able to use their Resonant Power to manifest their desires as a kind of magic. Their sworn purpose is to bring humanity's most fervent wish to fruition, but no one but their Jinn really knows what they wish for in secret. Mediums live rich and full lives not unlike the nobility of old, and most have only known hardship during their combat training—before they are sent to the surface to die—while the common folk do little more than work. Both classes have mixed feelings about the other's roles, but the birth of a new Medium always brings joy to Agartha, as it means that more jobs will be created, and the city's population will once again be allowed to increase, to support the upbringing of the newest hero.


The so-called "original Medium" who appeared some time after the existence of the Demon Mother was known to mankind. Very little is known about the founder of the Brionac Program; even the name "John Dee" was only ever a pseudonym. Nobody knows why he was so secretive, only a privileged few have ever read the results of his research on the Pandora Gene—and nobody knows why or where he suddenly disappeared to, just as humanity's hope for its future began to rise to new heights.


All humans possess the Pandora gene, but nobody knows what causes the Pandora gene to activate. What is known is that, if it is not active shortly after birth, it is usually too late, and there is no known method to increase its activation rate. In times past, the people of Agartha tried to produce more Mediums by inflating the size of its population, but after some time it became clear that this would not be a viable solution to their plight, and the unofficial communal effort that had gone unacknowledged until then was quietly halted. Now, the population of Agartha is "carefully managed" by its government.


The conduits of power for the Mediums, Jinn are spiritual beings born from human desires. If humans have worshipped something in great numbers, there is probably a Jinn that embodies that thing, be it an object, element, force of nature, or anything else that evokes human desires. Neither inherently good nor inherently evil, Jinn are easily influenced by the human heart. Even when a Jinn is invoked by two Mediums on opposing sides of a battle, it never revokes either its blessing or its curse, even if it will result in the death of a recipient of its contracts. A Jinn is seemingly only bound by these two forces: its contracts, and human desire. Nothing else is known about Jinn. Perhaps there isn't anything to know.


In essence, Resonant Power is created when large numbers of humans believe in something. When a Medium is successful in defeating evil beings and freeing enslaved humans, they gather the faith of their allies and the people. This faith can then be harnessed by invoked Jinn to empower one's body beyond the human limit, or cast magic, creating the phenomenon known as Resonant Power.


Mediums who abandon their duty to fight for humanity's survival are called Mavericks. The loss of the people's faith results in an inability to accumulate Resonant Power. While they are still incredibly powerful compared to regular humans—retaining their ability to use Basic skills and magic—these oath breakers are fodder for Mediums, who are often capable of wiping the floor with a small group of them.


A small, underground civilization with only about fourteen thousand members. Even so, Agartha is rich with resources, and both Mediums and non-Mediums alike enjoy the city's advanced technology and relative safety. A clear blue sky is projected onto the roof of the cave to simulate day time, while the soft blue glow of its flora naturally imitate a beautiful starscape (albeit with the help of a fake projected moon), and a powerful magic/tech barrier repels low-level monsters. Its denizens are ethnically diverse, but most speak only English after living in such a small world for over three centuries. Transportation in Agartha is achieved with inclined elevators and cable cars, as its topography is complex. Life in Agartha is perhaps best described as "perfectly boring." While the Mediums stave off their boredom with unending training and missions, the common folk lose themselves in their work and very limited time for hobbies.

In Agartha, everything revolves around the birth and upbringing of Mediums, as without them, their lives of independence from the demons would be unsustainable. Agartha's population is allowed to increase only when a new Medium arrives, and the vast majority of its resources go into the Brionac Program, which prepares young Mediums for a future mostly spent fighting evil beings. Despite working or training most of the time, the living conditions are downright luxurious compared to those of humans living under demonic rule. Though underground, the cavern is cool, with naturally circulated fresh air.

Food is a constant concern, and is usually purchased not with gold but with meal tickets, which are provided and managed by Agartha's government. Fruit and vegetables are farmed using vertical and indoor agricultural techniques and technology. Large populations of cattle are unsustainable, so most of the meat eaten by its general population is artificially grown in labs, with the exception of fish that can be caught in a river that falls through the cavern. Wild game is costly and almost exclusively reserved for Mediums and their families. Monsters unfortunately yield no meat when killed, as they will degenerate into a kind of sludge, only edible by other monsters, and only used by humans to create magic stones.

While Agartha's technology is advanced, it has regressed considerably in one aspect, and that is communications. Television no longer exists, and the news is spread with a city-wide intercom and old school papers. Landline phones also exist, but all forms of communication over the "air waves," such as cell phones, internet, and radio, have been eliminated, as demons can hijack them to cause mass panic and spy on people. More secure and advanced communication methods are used by Mediums, which run on magic, but have their own limitations. For one, they cease to function entirely during a Calamity.

Like many other governments in the past, Agartha's is divided into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. All members of the legislative congress are human, and are voted in exclusively by humans, while the other two branches are mixed. The executive branch and associated military forces are almost exclusively Mediums, with many humans occupying the lower government worker positions and supporting roles, with few exceptions: Executive Elpidio, for example, is not a Medium, though he occupies a very important position. In short, the Mediums' dependency on humans as a primary source of their power, and the humans' lack of ability to use said power, creates a society where humans must decide how the system will work, while Mediums run it accordingly. The result is surely far from perfect.

Rather than hosting celebrations on holidays regularly throughout the year, Agartha's times of excess are dictated by the death toll. If more Mediums are joining the force, and fewer are dying, a kind of festival colloquially called "Pandemonium" may occur, where many of the city's usual restrictions are temporarily rescinded. Everyone is given some extra time away from work or training, food will become purchasable with gold rather than meal tickets, couples will rendezvous—and all the usual celebratory fare. The noise tends to dissuade monsters from attacking, as the response is usually swift and merciless.


The Brionac Program, and Brionac Academy, are responsible for training Mediums from a young age to combat the demon menace. Mediums are sorted into three different classes, based first on their estimated potential for slaying evil beings, and later based on their estimated body count. First Class Mediums are a menace on the battlefield, while Third Class Mediums are better off in support jobs or staying off the battlefield entirely—at least in theory. Mediums with First Class potential will drop off to lower classes if they don't deploy when Agartha is attacked, or if their body count is low, as will be the case for Valkyries. Drifters are not publicly acknowledged, but are internally referred to as Class Zero.


A full-immersion virtual reality simulator that allows digital versions of evil beings to be fought in a safe environment, with user-controlled battlefield conditions. The program is new, and collecting the necessary data to produce these "Daemons" is difficult, so currently only common monsters and devils can be fought. Its creator, Executive Elpidio, hopes that the newest generation of Mediums can help him change that. He is also known to design his own opponents for aspiring Mediums to fight.


A pitch-black cavern where Mediums who are at least 16 years of age and have graduated from the "education-only" portion of the Brionac Program go to contact and invoke Jinn. Only those Mediums with the nerve to enter this foreboding place alone and emerge successful are inducted into the second portion of the Brionac Program, where it becomes possible to go on missions with one's life on the line. The Void is home only to Jinn, and contains nothing but the metallic remnants of fallen angels. Despite smelling faintly of death, it is completely devoid of any kind of life, including predators. However, due to the sensory deprivation required to contact Jinn, many reportedly experience terrifying hallucinations.


Existing only as fossils, fallen angels are spiritual beings that were forced to assume physical form before being cast out of the heavens. No flesh samples have survived, but a metallic substance was left over, which can be used to make magical weapons and magically infused technological devices. Even normal humans can technically use these weapons after a Medium has infused it with Resonant Power, but whether or not their frail bodies can physically handle the forces generated is another matter.


Pioneers are seasoned adventurers who are privileged to choose their own battles, and explore the surface world at their own pace, drawing maps and scouring for what's left of the earth's precious remaining resources. For Pioneers, danger is never more than a hair's breadth away, as demonic cities and forces are everywhere and not always visible without a bird's-eye view. Pioneers must be quick on the draw and on their feet if they want to survive. They stay away from large-scale warfare.

Vanguards are stalwart warriors who defend Agartha from higher-level monsters that won't be repelled by its barrier. They tend to stay within close proximity of Agartha, but aren't afraid to venture out beyond the boundaries of the barrier and confront the hordes of small fry accompanying the juicier targets. Defensive in build, with wide, sweeping attacks, Vanguards are well respected by the people.

Juggernauts are physical powerhouses that live to fight the strongest beings the Demon Mother has on offer. They shine brightest when fighting a single opponent, but are more than capable of taking on smaller groups of moderate-to-highly dangerous monsters, such as a pack of dire wolves. They vary in their preference between speed and defense, but all of them are a force to be reckoned with.

Valkyries are magical specialists with a knack for Resonance. The backbone of any task force, big or small, their supportive abilities are adored by the people, and are always the favorite of young and impressionable girls. However, not all Valkyries are of the emblematic "healing angels" variety. Some specialize in other types of magic, such as blessing's opposite, curse magic. Debilitating enemies in large numbers, they allow even normal humans to get in on the monster-slaying action from time to time.

Warlocks are another type of magical specialist with a talent for laying waste to large swaths of demon scum using your basic elemental magics such as fire and ice, lightning and water, wind and earth, light and dark, etc. You can't go wrong with the classics, and the Warlock has remained effective for as long as Mediums who love magic have honed their craft, which is also as long as Mediums have existed.

Sorcerers are strategic masterminds who specialize in dealing with magical foes. Essentially the "team leaders" of Warlocks and Valkyries, they are tacticians who directly counter the demon army's efforts to thwart the humans' advance with magic, while they themselves handle the "trickier" elements of magic, such as nature and artifice, sight and sound, time and space, and generally abstract spells.

Bastioners are experts in artifice magic who act as architects, either in the city of Agartha or on the surface, quickly building forward operating bases, or FOBs. They can assemble towers and bunkers in no time, even in the middle of a battle, if there's enough space and they're left alone. At higher tiers of magic, they can conjure up rows of cannons or other siege weapons, laying waste to the evil hordes. Both on the battlefield and off, their unique abilities inspire awe and jealousy in the hearts of DIY guys.

A secret job title given to a Medium with unique talents and the motivation to use them to defend Agartha, even at the behest of their life, is the Drifter. Drifters are given freedom to pursue their own targets and to execute their own missions because at any given point in time a Drifter can be called to action in Agartha. A Drifter preemptively hunts down and fells the deadliest of all evil beings—those with special attributes who are deemed too hazardous for ordinary Mediums, who prefer facing their foes head on—such as the infamous Medusa. The work of a Drifter is not seen by an audience, but felt by the world whenever these destructive monsters can no longer take human lives. (Credit: Co-GM dabombjk)

After the demons took over the surface world and the human population began to plummet, all religious texts were targeted for destruction, by both malevolent demons and despairing humans alike. All that remains is collected and kept secure by Agartha's small but organized body of government. All that is publicly known is that a divine Father, the Creator, created mankind and gave them dominion of the earth. He then appeared before them many times, attempting to bring law and order to humanity, but they rejected his various laws and disciplines each time, until finally he came one last time, bringing only one commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. Again, the humans rejected his message and killed him, and he never returned to the world he'd given to his children to rule. Agartha's citizens believe various things regarding whether or not the Father will someday return to save his children from the demons. Almost all humans who live under demonic rule believe that no savior is coming.


Roughly 350 years ago, the Demon Mother appeared without warning, though her existence was not immediately known to humans. Some time after, evil beings quietly began to appear within the last of the earth's untouched wilderness. First came the devils, then monsters, and eventually demons and nephilim. Powerless to stop their rapidly climbing numbers, the world's governments tried to cover up their existence, and, in their desperate struggle for the last of the earth's resources, failed to unite against this supernatural threat, and were primarily conquered from within as they vied for the favor of the rapidly ascending demons. By the time the common people took notice of what was happening, all was already lost, and they could do nothing but curse their leaders and pray for a savior that never came.


Animal-like in appearance, these low-level spiritual beings are the Demon Mother's spawn. They feed on negative emotions—primarily fear, by visiting nightmares upon innocent people—until they gain the power to take on physical form and take advantage of the local ecosystem. The most common form of devil is the infamous "unnaturally large black dog" of urban legend. They rival the cleverest animals on planet earth in intelligence, and are purely malevolent toward humans, though they don't always kill them on sight. Devils are exclusively male, and can mate with animals, which produces monsters.


Female animals that mate with devils give birth to monsters, which can take any kind of "genetic experiment gone wrong" form that you could imagine. This interbreeding of natural and spiritual being tends to also cause gigantism, though there are a few exceptions. Monsters do not retain the cleverness of their devil parent, and spend their days mindlessly eating anything that moves, including you. When killed, monsters quickly degenerate into an inedible sludge, so no meat can be harvested from them, but if the monster was killed with magic, the sludge will crystallize and become a magic stone, which can then be used to cast Basic magic of that same element one time, enabling even normal humans to use it.


Mediums that willingly choose to invoke devils instead of Jinn retain only their human level of intelligence, and gain nothing but animalistic features and desires, malevolence, and brute physical strength. The most common kind of Beastkin is the Werewolf, but the most deadly of all might be the Wendigo. Infamous for its cultural association with death, winter, and cannibalism, it retains its former self's magical ability. Concealing its form, but not its presence, it terrorizes its prey before devouring it.


When humans worship devils (by choice or otherwise) those devils may become demons. As the devil evolves into a demon, it gradually loses its animalistic features and gains human characteristics. In general, the more "human" a demon appears to be, the more dangerous it is. High-level demons can use Resonant Power, much like Mediums can, but do not require the aid of a Jinn to do so—therefore, their power does not come with a curse. Whether demons are openly malevolent or more neutral toward humans depends on the methods they used to achieve whatever level of deity they managed to extract from their human subjects. Those who rule through fear will be as violent as they were when they were mere devils, but those who were worshipped voluntarily or coerced without violent methods may turn out more level headed and cunning than their comrades. Regardless, none of them see humans as more than cattle to be exploited for their gain. Like their previous form, the devil, demons all begin their new lives as male, but gain the ability to assume a female form if they desire. Demons who become female in this way cannot give birth—the Demon Mother being the sole exception. Those who retain their male form or choose to revert to it can mate with human women, which may cause a Nephilim to be conceived. The odds of conception are low, however, and since almost all demons see almost all humans as utterly beneath them—in much the same way as humans view animals—such a "union" is extremely rare.


Half-human and half-demon, nephilim can be identified during childhood, if certain conditions are met. Under a full moon during the witching hour, they will appear as the "black-eyed children" of urban legend. However, this is not common knowledge (nor would it even be useful in Agartha), so they often mingle with humans unnoticed, until they become young adults, at which point they will start to express the same gigantism trait as monsters—as well as a taste for human flesh, naturally. Nephilim are often abandoned by their true mothers and picked up by well-meaning strangers, mostly unsuspecting women who can't ignore an infant's cries. Even in cases where this doesn't happen, however, nephilim who reach this age often abandon their caretakers and live in exile, in search of acceptance by demons.


The mothers of nephilim are called witches, due to the old superstitious belief that demons will not enter your home unless they are invited, or drawn there by some kind of wicked activity. Of course, this is not true, unfortunately for humans. Witches, as portrayed in popular culture, do not exist, but the art of witchcraft—potion making—absolutely does, and it's still as taboo as it ever was. Never make the unfortunate mistake of calling your healing elixir a "potion," or you'll get some looks from passersby.


The undead are humans that have been partially resurrected with time magic. Some are driven mad by the desire to return to the afterlife whence they came, while some have been driven mad by the torment of an existence devoid of any earthly pleasure, and seek only to satisfy those desires once again. Contrary to popular myth, they are not harmed by healing magic, but are simply immune to it. However, the realization that their corrupt body cannot be fully returned to life may drive them berserk.

If there are attacks headed your way, choose from the list of Reactions to deal with it effectively. If there aren't any, choose a Free Action instead. If you had a Free Action or your chosen Reaction was successful in dealing with incoming attacks, you'll get another Action after that. (If you were only partly successful, and there are more attacks coming, you may need a second Reaction.) If your chosen Action is an attack, you should describe it, but whether or not it will hit and what effect it will have is up to your opponent to write. Even if your opponent failed to defend against your attack from the last turn, which should guarantee that any follow-up attacks this turn will land, you should still write your post with the assumption that they may not be hit—because a third party may interfere. Even in a 1v1, though, let your opponent describe the damage. (Just because their HP hits zero doesn't necessarily mean they're dead, just unable to keep fighting.) After this, they will recover, and start the next round.

All of this information is probably a lot to take in at once, but that's because I more or less just gave you everything I'm "pretty sure" about with regards to how combat's going to work. Most of the number crunching and nuances of combat will be handled on the back end by the GMs, outside of PvP or side quests. It's usually going to be pretty simple on the player end, especially if you use the OoC Discord combat menu, which will present you with a much narrower range of immediately useful options to choose from, like any good RPG combat menu should. This will be useful for new players or anyone who is risk-averse.