If there are more than 7 people (as the max # of players I'm willing to take is 8), I'll have to be selective and use my own, personal preference, to decide who gets the final spot. Naturally, people who posted in this here Interest check will get priority when the OOC goes up.
I'll try and draft up a CS template for ya'll to fiddle with while I work on this'n here'n OOC o' ours...
... If only to get the MONKEYS of my back...
EDIT:
Name:Include a Family-name if you have one Age:Try to remember tos tay within the mid-to-late teens, or young adult age-range if possible Gender:Male or Female Race:Human, Dwarf or Elf
Insert Anime/Manga-style faceclaim picture(s) here. Do not use Real Life, 3D or other styles of artwork.
Height: If possible, provide both imperial and metric measurements. I usually use this site when I need a comparison. Eye Color: This is for me, because I'm colorblind. Hair Color: Still colorblind.
Description: If you want to also describe your character in text, you can do so here. However, this part is optional and can be skipped/removed if you don't want to fill it out
Personality: Write a bit about how your character thinks, feels and acts. Their values, ideals, likes and dislikes. Doesn't need to be long, just something to give us a feel for what they're like.
Quirks: List one or more peculiar traits or habits of your character. - - -
Brief History: Write a bit about your character's past. What drove them from their original home, if they had one. Where did they wander? When did they start hearing 'The Calling'? And how did they end up at the ruined hamlet? Again, don't need to go into every little detail and tidbit, unless you want to. Just somehting to give us an idea about their past.
-- Skills/Spells, Stats & Items ---
Occupation:Your previous, or currently self-appointed, job.
Social Status:Commoner, Noble, Tribal, Exile... Your rank in society's hierarchy.
Skills: You may start with up to 3 skills of your choice. Any more skills will need to be learned. Also include a description of your skill and what it does, like in the example below. You're free to set the skill-level to whatever you want, except for Master. - Fire Magic (Adept): Can wield staves/wands and learn tomes of Adept-level fire magic. Can also cast Fire spells up to Adept-level. - Fishing (Expert): Is really good at fishing, and can use both poles, nets and crab pots. Knows how to make bait and where and when to fish certain types of aquatic critters. - Swimming (Apprentice): Knows how to do the breaststroke and can manage to stay afloat in calm lakes and rivers. CAn even swim a bit in the wavy ocean, if the waves are low and far-between.
Equipment: List any important items or equipment your character is carrying on their person, with the exception of their clothes. As an example, see the list below. - Copper Shortsword - Leather Hauberk - Feathered Cap - Simple Fishing Pole - Simple Backpack
Spells: This is a place to list all the spells your character knows and has learned from Tomes. Spells kept in staves/wands should not be listed here, but in your Equipment section. Remember the include the spell's name, element and tier, along with a brief description as in the example below. If you plan to learn many spells, you may want to make this bit a Hider. - Flame Arrow, Fire (Apprentice): Conjures a small fire-projectile the size of a regular arrow, but made of pure flame. Can be fired in a straight line at anyone or anything in sight. - Ignite, Fire (Novice): Creates a small candle-flame just above the caster's fingertip. Useful for lighting a campfire, torches or anything else that needs to be set alight.
--- My House ---
Until the RP actually starts and you guys get a feel for what the village looks and feels like, please leave this section alone.
Location:Where in, or outsde, the village is your home located. Type:Is it just a residence? SOme kind of shop? A facility of some kind? Floors:Is it a single or multi-storey building?
Description: Here you can describe the out and inside of yoour building, along with any special or notewrothy aspects of it. If you're feeling articularly creative, you could even include a floor-plan for others to look at, if you're into the artsy drawing biz.
Height: 5' 8" / 173 cm Eye Color: Light brown/amber Hair Color: Red
Description: Akitsugu has wide shoulders, but still has that youthful litheness of a man who hasn't quite grown into his bulk yet. His hair seems naturally unkept, though he keeps it quite clean, and likewise he maintains a neat and clean-shaven countenance. Most of the clothes he currently owns don't look like they're suited for outdoor labor, but he doesn't seem to have a problem tying up his sleeves and girding his robes. He bears all the signs of athletic training, but from how little he moves one wonders how he could've ever built that muscle. He often appears deep in thought, looking down at the ground or up at the ceilings, and has a habit of turning away from people to do other tasks even if he's genuinely interested in what they're saying, or speaking directly to them.
Personality: Akitsugu is the type that gets an idea and can't stop working on it until they've figured out all the nitty gritty details. However, anyone else who looked at his workspace would see "orderly chaos," and God help you if you move something out of place.
When complimented, he becomes flustered and nervous; but no matter how biting the criticism he always seems to let it roll off his back. He clearly hates asking anyone for help, but will give his own freely whenever it's requested. However, one should beware being too specific, or not specific enough. If you ask him to dig a hole but don't tell him how deep, you'll soon need a ladder to get him out.
He's quite morally upright in terms of his values, but also very respectful of privacy and doesn't abide gossip. He doesn't have any inkling of desire to "police" others' behavior, save in instances where they're clearly overstepping their bounds or committing some direct offense towards another. He's quick to jump to the defense of children.
He likes savory foods over sweets, meat over bread, and bitter tea rather than coffee or milk. His tastes in music are soft and melodious, favoring wind instruments over drums or strings. He dislikes people that interrupt others, but also people who talk to much.
Quirks:
If confronted or questioned, he gives away any insecurity by over-explaining.
He will mutter, scribble on a napkin, or leave himself various "clues" to organize his thoughts.
Sometimes he writes secret poetry.
Brief History: Akitsugu hasn't been the most forthcoming about his past. His family, the Yasunami Clan, live in a nation far from The Hamlet, and seem to be some form of nobility or knighthood. However, they were apparently not happy with Akitsugu's desire to become a blacksmith for some reason. It's not clear whether he was forced out or left on his own, but before he departed he stole a rare and valuable heirloom from the family vault: a blade named Miyusahime.
He traveled for some time, rarely stopping until after his supplies ran out. He began to do hard labor for coin, but many villages were rightly suspicious about a lone, foreign wanderer with a sword. Sometimes, they thought it even more suspicious that Akitsugu asked for work that didn't involve using said sword. Whether because he couldn't find enough friendly faces, or wanted to get further from his family's reach, or for some other purpose, he just kept walking...until he heard a new voice Calling him. It rang in his ears, like a hammer on hot steel.
He had been walking a long disused, rocky trail, said to lead to a mine now abandoned, when he came across the hamlet. Again, he heard the ringing, but now it was different. Direct. Perhaps...perhaps this was to be the place, then. A place where he could finally settle down, and get to some real work.
-- Skills/Spells, Stats & Items ---
Occupation:Blacksmith
Social Status:Foreigner
Skills:
Swordsmanship (Expert): Can wield swords for a variety of techniques up to Expert level.
Jujutsu (Adept): Unarmed combat suited to throwing, disarming, and grappling up to the Adept level.
Blacksmithing (Apprentice): Knows how to smelt and process basic metals, and make simple tools/objects such as hammer and axe heads, ploughshares, nails, etc. The quality is only up to Apprentice level.
Equipment:
In Akitsugu's homeland, there is a belief that the most skilled craftsmen imbue spiritual power into their creations, and also that as objects age they accumulate spiritual power of their own. The Yasunami Clan is an old bloodline, and Miyusahime is an old sword. Yet the blade's "power" has nothing to do with how well the edge cuts, nor how it channels any kind of supernatural spell or ability.
"Eugh! Your hands are cold! Hey, are you sure that choji oil is fresh?!"
Basically, she talks. More specifically, Miyusahime can somehow speak, hear, and--within only a short distance of herself--perceive her surroundings as a human would. And unfortunately, she has an attitude to go with it.
Otherwise, she is a "normal," albeit absolutely beautiful sword. Her hamon pattern appears like dappled sand dunes, uneven in height yet smoothly flowing down the blade. Her sheen is such that, if tilted just right in the light, she scatters rainbows against the walls. The silvery, mirror-like surface of her steel is unblemished, and her tsuba is of finely wrought and embossed gold depicting a dragon curling over itself. Ivory white rayskin wraps her hilt first, then a criss-crossing black cord, which threads into the gold, rounded pommel at its end. Her scabbard is lacquered in a glossy, midnight blue with more vibrant slashes of white-froth-tipped, watery waves--like the ocean's surface on a dark night.
Tarnished Copper Hatchet
Smith's Hammer
Simple Hunting Bow
Simple Backpack
Spells: None known yet
--- My House ---
Until the RP actually starts and you guys get a feel for what the village looks and feels like, please leave this section alone.
Location:Where in, or outsde, the village is your home located. Type:Is it just a residence? SOme kind of shop? A facility of some kind? Floors:Is it a single or multi-storey building?
Description: Here you can describe the out and inside of yoour building, along with any special or notewrothy aspects of it. If you're feeling articularly creative, you could even include a floor-plan for others to look at, if you're into the artsy drawing biz.
The Smith has arrived, I see. Looks fine and dandy, and at least now you guys won't have to trade with travelling merchants for every single tool you'll need.
There're no pre-conceived tropes about any of the races. If you wanna be an island dwarf, go for it. If you wanna be a metropolitan elf who lived in excessive wealth and hedonism, go for it.
Name: MacKinnon Age: 17 y/o Gender: Female Race: Human
Height: 5'1 | 155 cm Eye Color: Green Hair Color: Grayish Brown
Personality:
Greedy and jovial, MacKinnon lives to dig for the riches within the earth. She has a sharp wit and loves to chat with others, a sociable miner who always has an ear out for rumors and stories of hidden treasure. Perhaps the girl is bewitched still, by that rush of euphoria when she had uncovered the treasure that changed her life and bought her freedom. But perhaps she was always like this. For one born into poverty, enough is never enough, after all.
Yet even street urchins had their principles. Her pickaxe isn't used to mug travelers on the road, nor is she about to dig graves to wrest family heirlooms off the necks and fingers of the recently-deceased. Skeletal remains adorned with jewels? Fair game! The great-grandmother of a noble family? Naw, she'll let 'em go, no matter her personal thoughts on the generationally-wealthy. And while she can be stingy when her purse is empty, she is paradoxically as generous as she is greedy when she strikes a mother lode. After all, MacKinnon isn't stupid! Only idiots expected to grow their money by letting it rot in some dusty old metal box. If you wanted to have good fortune, you had to spread a fortune.
And what was a treasure hunter without Lady Luck on their shoulders?
Quirks:
A compulsive gambler, MacKinnon can't resist taking anyone up on a game of chance, and the worst the odds, the happier she is.
MacKinnon has a surprisingly good memory for music, and lives her life with a melody (or even just a few bars) on her lips.
She spends money like water, but hoards food as if it were gold. Nothing gives her more security than a cellar full of preserves.
Brief History:
The children yearn for the mines.
Not because they liked the persistent risk of getting crushed by falling rocks, breathing in toxic gases, or crawling into holes that they couldn't crawl out of, but because at least there, urchins and orphans could work for some coin, have a straw mat out away from the elements, and be guaranteed at least one meal a day. If they got older and their bodies were still intact, they could become a proper miner, making more money just by pushing carts in and out of the caves, or hammering away with pickaxes in nice, roomy tunnels. And the boss always told them too: he used to be one of them, so if they all worked hard, they could afford a house of their own, three meals with meat a day, a pet dog, and a loving family!
MacKinnon might have been one of them. MacKinnon was one of them. Her earliest memories were that of the mine and the pickaxe, of digging away in search of ore veins for the adults to blast open. Her hopes were pinned to the mine, to honest work, to gradual growth and pay raises while keeping her body as uninjured as possible.
That changed though. At eleven years old, in a tunnel that she had to slither into the depths of, her lamplight reflected off a gleaming emerald. The green flame blinded her eyes, and from that day on, nothing was the same again.
It was a process, of course. Breaking off chunks of the gemstone, swallowing it, then vomiting it back up. Collecting the pieces until she had a small fistful. Hiding it desperately from the overseers, the anxiety crossing over into excitement at night. It was a gleeful, taboo thing, doing something only for her own sake. It was exhilarating, even, a liveliness in her steps as she got to work every day to chip away at her little project!
And when emeralds were traded for coin?
Well, even though she knew she was getting ripped off, MacKinnon still ended up with more money than she could have ever imagined! Thus, the miner was gone! Thus, Treasure Hunter MacKinnon was born! She brought new clothes, new equipment, and a whole night at a proper inn. She threw a whole feast at a restaurant for her miner-buddies, giving them a taste of 'luxury' that they would never forget. And then, before her sins could catch up with her and the overseers could drag her back to cut off her hands or something like that, MacKinnon skipped off out of town, with a pack full of food, her trusty pickaxe, and a broken compass.
Six years later, that compass lead her to an empty village and the promise of new findings!
-- Skills/Spells, Stats & Items ---
Occupation:Miner Treasure Hunter
Social Status: Urchin
Skills:
Treasure Hunting (Expert): Either incredibly capable or incredibly lucky when it comes to searching for buried 'treasure'. Increased chance of coming upon rare materials or artifacts when digging through caves.
Gambling (Adept): Either fairly good at calculating odds and counting cards or simply lucky when it comes to games of chance. The more dicey the situation, the more excited one gets.
Appraising (Apprentice): Either intelligent and analytical or just plain lucky when it comes to ascertaining the value of something. For MacKinnon, appraisals become more accurate with higher-value items than with lower-value items.
Until the RP actually starts and you guys get a feel for what the village looks and feels like, please leave this section alone.
Location:Where in, or outsde, the village is your home located. Type:Is it just a residence? SOme kind of shop? A facility of some kind? Floors:Is it a single or multi-storey building?
Description: Here you can describe the out and inside of yoour building, along with any special or notewrothy aspects of it. If you're feeling articularly creative, you could even include a floor-plan for others to look at, if you're into the artsy drawing biz.
I was kind of torn between a meek plant lover and a delusional caster who claims to be an epic archmage (actually flubs basic spells all the time) for mine.
While the latter idea is funny to me I don't actually know how useful they would be to the village. The former might be a little too basic, but might work out well if there's a good story/relationship intersection with someone else
Personality: Quick-witted, sarcastic, and light-hearted, Rinn makes it easy for others to form strong opinions of him during any interaction. He never shies from confrontation and is always ready with a jab or compliment depending on the situation at hand. On the outside he is the life of the party, the unwavering optimist, and the first to call out perceived injustice (though maybe only if an escape route is close at hand). He will defend his friends or loved ones with surprising ferocity, be it in social or physical context. Though skittish in the face of overwhelming odds, Rinn does possess a modicum of skill that lets him defend his boasts or challenges but will quickly spin any loss into a victory, if only in words.
Quirks: -Always has a tale or anecdote to inspire (or discourage) a course of action. These are most often made up on the spot, though Rinn would never admit it. -Claims to never-ever be wrong and if he is it’s just because he WANTED you to notice he was wrong so… you’re welcome! -Will hit on just about anything with two legs (but he can take “no” for an answer).
Brief History: Rinn Arniman was born the third son of a minor noble family of good standing. His parents were stern and distant and quick to show favor to their first born heir and as he grew, Rinn surrendered his attempts at gaining their approval and spent most of his time galavanting in the local bars or taverns. Handsome and confident, his rousing tenor voice quickly drew the attention of a local bard named Dorn D’Arto who took the boisterous young lad on as an unofficial apprentice. Skipping out on his private tutelage, much to his parent’s chagrin, Rinn quickly picked up the harp and lute and soon became a favorite request by the local drunks and merrymakers. Just after his 18th birthday the eldest Arniman, Rhohin, was struck down by a fever and the mother and father who never once wasted their affections on Rinn or their second son, Rellin, suddenly realized their continued legacy wasn’t as stable as they believed. They cracked down on Rinn’s ‘frivolous behavior’ and sought to yoke both boys with speedy arranged marriages to other noble houses. Rinn protested his restriction of freedom and when the ultimatum of 'obey or be disowned' was given he chose the latter. Ever vengeful, his parents ensured he would not be welcomed in his local haunts and so the young bard was forced out of the city and into the greater countryside. He made coin where he could but destitution was ever at his heels until that night he sat within the stable of a roadside inn and had a very peculiar sensation. The following morning he started walking east.
Skills: You may start with up to 3 skills of your choice. Any more skills will need to be learned. Also include a description of your skill and what it does, like in the example below. You're free to set the skill-level to whatever you want, except for Master. - Rapier and Dagger (Apprentice): learned from some very talented and well-paid tutors. - Performance (Adept): Can play a variety of instruments as well as sing before a crowd of any size. - Inspiration (Apprentice): Is able to pull out the best in others when the situation is most challenging.
@Crowvette Honestly I think the latter would be funny. Like, the mage can do basic stuff across a wide, wide spread but struggles to do anything grandiose. And is just incredibly salty about it.
Another spin that could be fun would be a novice alchemist, maybe that could roll up my previous idea of a plant lover into a character who specializes in alchemic plants (might be a good contrast to a traditional farmer who knows how to handle less exotic crops?)
@Crowvette Honestly I think the latter would be funny. Like, the mage can do basic stuff across a wide, wide spread but struggles to do anything grandiose. And is just incredibly salty about it.
That could be a fun way to take it. The other option I considered was taking a wild-magic approach in the sense that they just can't control what a spell actually is when they cast it, but I already have a character like that, so maybe the "cantrip master" idea is better
@CrowvetteFarming's hard work for a single person. If you don't have kids to help you, you may as well get another PC to help instead. ;3
Nothing like going from the wizard's tower to being reduced to a simple farmhand. You hate to see it... (It's actually more funny than anything)
I was kind of torn between a meek plant lover and a delusional caster who claims to be an epic archmage (actually flubs basic spells all the time) for mine.
While the latter idea is funny to me I don't actually know how useful they would be to the village. The former might be a little too basic, but might work out well if there's a good story/relationship intersection with someone else
Well, hey, if you wanna be farm pals we can be farm pals. Dont have any super in depth ideas yet beyond her being an elf. I was considering whether or not to have them take a minor skill in alchemy so they can definitely totally make their own fertilizers/plant growth serums that totally wont cause chaos.
EDIT: Pfft, just saw your second post well its w/e to me. I probably will have a CS up and more in depth ideas tomorrow.