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The year is 1834 as a wave of revolutions swept across the Iridian Empire. As the Imperial army crumbles under a string of defeats, emperor Hadrian Augustus takes the gold from the imperial coffers and flees by train from the capital with his family and retainers. His plan is to reach the port city of Azaire and take a ship to flee the country with all the gold to the kingdom of Adaigo. However, before the emperor can reach the port city, the citizens revolt and Hadrian Augustus is forced to take a different route towards Adaigo. With access to the sea cut off and the rebel armies closing in from the north, his only option is to go south through the Kharakhi desert, the desolate wastelands that separate the empire from the kingdom of Adaigo. The royal train manages to reach its final station where the emperor and his party enter the Kharakhi desert with a caravan of camels never to be seen or heard from again. It is believed that emperor Hadrian Augustus and his party died in the desert, leaving all the gold there left to be found.

Now 50 years later the legend of Hadrian’s gold has sparked many adventurers to search for riches in the Kharakhi desert to no avail. With no real leads, finding the gold seems to be impossible. However everything changes when a mysterious young woman enters Christiana town at the border of the Kharakhi desert, recruiting adventurers to search for the lost gold of emperor Hadrian.


Under the scorching sun is a fantasy western taking place in a fictional world that takes inspiration from the western genre and takes place in a desert environment. Think steam trains, gunslingers, swords and magic in a desert environment populated by many races and dangerous creatures.

The Kharakhi desert
The Kharakhi desert is a huge desert environment that forms the border between the Iridian Republic and the Kingdom of Adaigo and is claimed by neither. It forms a wild borderland beyond the reach of civilization. It is a diverse environment consisting of much more than just endless sand dunes and a few oases. There are mountain ranges, rock formations, area’s small rivers, vegetation, lost civilizations and much more.

The desert is home to many peoples which are all referred to as Kharakhi even when they are of different races and cultures. Some of the Kharakhi live in small permanent settlements while others are nomads that travel the fast expanse between the two countries. Historically the Kharakhi had facilitated the trade between Iridia and Adaigo but ships have made trade less prominent. Now most of Kharakhi trade focuses on products that are exclusive to the desert.
The Kharakhi desert is an unforgiving place. The days are scorching hot and the nights often freezing cold. Water is very often a scarcity and those who do not know their way around the deserts are bound to die of dehydration sooner than later. Taking one wrong turn can spell disaster. Not only is the climate unforgiving, the desert is home to many dangerous creatures.

The civilized world
The civilized world consists of the rest of the countries. These are all fairly developed to 1880’s standards with some frontiers. Industrialization is in full swing. Think factories, railways, industrial tycoons and poor living conditions for workers in the big cities. However it is not all big cities with smoking chimneys. There are many rural towns in the frontier bordering the great Kharakhi desert. On the edge of civilization is where this roleplay takes place.

The most important aspect of the civilized world is that magic is heavily regulated. Only those with special permits and official training are allowed to use it. The illegal use of magic is considered a serious crime. This has made magic a rare phenomenon.

• Keep it Roleplayer Guild friendly. Any content that is not allowed to post on the forum should not be in this roleplay.
• No godmodding/power-playing/auto-hitting/controlling other players characters and stuff like that.
• Be friendly, tolerant and tolerable. Treat your fellow players with respect and don’t be afraid to communicate with them or the GM. If you have any problems, concerns or stunning idea’s then reach out to the GM and the rest of the group.
• The players are greatly encouraged to expand and add existing lore. Making up places and throwing in idea’s is greatly encouraged. But always discuss it in OOC first.
• If you lose interest, run out of time or have some reason that you are no longer willing or able to participate in the roleplay, then it would be really awesome to write your character out of the story. If there is some reason such as a vacation, funeral, wedding or whatever that makes you unable to post for a while, please communicate about it and we can work things out.
• The desired post frequency is 2 per week. If that is too fast or too slow for you, then this roleplay is simply not for you. In the case that players go missing without a trace the GM will take over their characters as NPCs.
• Casual or better writing standards. Write a paragraph or two and use spell check.
• There will be a maximum of 4 participants in this roleplay. Players will be accepted based upon their character sheet. Once your character is approved you’ll be in the roleplay.

Under the scorching sun is a fantasy roleplay so fantastical races are greatly encouraged. This can range from standard fantasy tropes such as Humans, elves, dwarves to more exotic ideas. Just keep them bipedal humanoid and of a relative size that should be able to function in a human society.
They should also have the “human condition”. all have fears, flaws, weaknesses and things they fundamentally struggle with. In short, characters need to be imperfect, make mistakes, mess up and eventually pull themselves back together again.

You got my interest. Could you expand on what magic is like in this setting? How it works, limitations etc.

Thinking of a magic user operating outside the laws and permits you mentioned, maybe on the run from a bounty hunter and needs to disappear for a bit.

This is looking like an opportunity to revamp my mage-gunner character.

You got my interest. Could you expand on what magic is like in this setting? How it works, limitations etc.

Thinking of a magic user operating outside the laws and permits you mentioned, maybe on the run from a bounty hunter and needs to disappear for a bit.

Excellent question. I haven't really thought super hard about it yet. What I mostly want to avoid is that magic nullifies the challenges that come with a desert environment. So being able to create food, water or resources out of thin air is a no go.

What I am thinking off right that magic can manipulate the world as it is but not add to it. You can use magic to breath under water because there is oxygen in the water. Then you manipulate your body to extract oxygen from water. You can't use magic to breath in space because there is no oxygen.

Or you can create a barrier to stop bullets by manipulating and compressing a not of air into a tight space in order to create so much resistance that the bullet loses momentum. Ofcourse there has to be air to work with as you can't create.

Or casting fire magic might work by bending the natural occuring combustible gasses in the air to a spot till the point that enough flammable material is gathered to combust.

Using magic should come at a price. It should not be something that can be used all day long without consequences. Maybe it just consumes the energy of the caster, making him more fatigued and requiring more rest food and water to recover. That way it becomes a decision to use that big powerful spell while the next place to rest is 4 hours away and the party really needs to get there before the sun sets too high.

Magic is a skill that people acquire through study and training. Magic users proberbly have some form of inborn affinity to perceive the world in a different manner. There are legal institutions for training magic users but there is definitely an illegal circuit as well.

That is what i just came up with after reading your question. I'm open to suggestions as well :)

I think this looks like a pretty darn cool and fun concept. I really like the idea of a fantasy Western in an appropriately imaginative setting. I've already got ideas brewing for a possible former scholar / current hermit dedicated to the study of exotic/supernatural life in the desert. My only possible concern is the limit of four players. That means that a lot is riding on every one of them and the loss of one could do a lot of damage. Just out of curiosity, do you count as one of the four?

I think this looks like a pretty darn cool and fun concept. I really like the idea of a fantasy Western in an appropriately imaginative setting. I've already got ideas brewing for a possible former scholar / current hermit dedicated to the study of exotic/supernatural life in the desert. My only possible concern is the limit of four players. That means that a lot is riding on every one of them and the loss of one could do a lot of damage. Just out of curiosity, do you count as one of the four?

It will be 4 players excluding me. Maybe I'll allow a 5th too if someone is really motivated and comes up with an awesome character. I just don't want the group to be much bigger.

Fantasy westerns are always interesting, so have my interest!

Are real-life images for characters expected?

Are real-life images for characters expected?

No, it's fantasy so fantasy races are a thing. Kinda hard to get a reallife elf :)

Most pictures should be fine. Or just having a description of what your character looks like is ok too.

Really digging the genre, and definitely interested in a "tribal shaman/healer/medic" archetype.

As for the civilized world, are we free to make up locales, especially in the case of our character's origins?

@Hellion @Wayward @Abstract Proxy@Lugubrious@Polybius Five people have expressed their interest and I think that is a good number to work with. Feel free to start working on your characters :)

Also have my eye on this if there's space!

You guys go ahead, I'm not really interested in competing for one of the three slots. Best of luck!

@Hellion @Wayward @Abstract Proxy@Lugubrious@Polybius Five people have expressed their interest and I think that is a good number to work with. Feel free to start working on your characters :)

Awesome. So...just to make sure my character concept is a good fit: She is from a tribe that has lived in the desert for generations, and therefore, is hearty and adaptable to the conditions. Her tribe are very spiritual people, and healing (minor wounds, nothing fatal) is a skill she possesses through her connection to the spiritual realm (i.e. "magic" in the game).

She is also well verse in melee and hand-to-hand combat as it typical of her people to defend themselves, and a hunter/tracker.

The magic aspect isn't much, and pretty much augments her ability to heal using herbs/bandages, etc.

Does this seem acceptable?

The concept I am considering at the moment is a Changeling traveling actress with some probably less than legal dealings (thinking some manner of thievery).

The concept I am considering at the moment is a Changeling traveling actress with some probably less than legal dealings (thinking some manner of thievery).

I love Changelings! So untrustworthy, but also just plain cool XD

As an actor, do they have like a one-person act they put on, considering they could shapeshift for every role?

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I love Changelings! So untrustworthy, but also just plain cool XD

As an actor, do they have like a one-person act they put on, considering they could shapeshift for every role?

Haha, that was the plan.

It seemed peak Changeling to just go "what if I just play every character in this play".

Not that she couldn't or wouldn't work with a larger troupe, but to start with I think she'd be doing her own thing.

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Haha, that was the plan.

It seemed peak Changeling to just go "what if I just play every character in this play".

Not that she couldn't or wouldn't work with a larger troupe, but to start with I think she'd be doing her own thing.

haha nice! I can definitely see that.

As for mine, I was going to go human at first, but I think I might go with one of the larger races in like D&D, such as Goliath or maybe a Half-Orc. I'm wanting to go with tribal/barbarian archetype, but not like berserker warrior, lol. She fights when she must, and since she was born in the desert, can endure the hot/dry elements pretty well.

I've got a thought about an undead gunslinger, very personable and easygoing, bit of an adrenaline junkie

I've got a thought about an undead gunslinger, very personable and easygoing, bit of an adrenaline junkie

Oooo, getting Deadlands vibes :)