Imagine a world parallel to ours. A world where inhuman and semi-human creatures alike lurk - vampires, werewolves, faeries, warlocks - and yet pale compared to the demons that threaten to snuff out humanity on a daily basis…
And now, imagine the sort of person it takes to fight back against those demonic shadows.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the world of Shadowhunters. It is much like our own in many ways, and yet hides an alternate reality of magic that most mundanes never see, a Shadow World inhabited by various supernatural entities, and assailed on a regular basis by demons desiring the destruction of all other life on our planet. Protecting Earth from these deadly foes are the Shadowhunters, or Nephilim: humans with angelic blood in their veins, granted superhuman strength and speed, as well as the runes and weaponry necessary to fight back against the demons that have menaced the world for a thousand years and more.
Generally speaking, people who are already familiar with the Shadowhunters universe would be preferred as players. If you’re not, however, then before you can get started, there’s a few important pieces of terminology we need to go over, bearing in mind that massive spoilers to the setting and stories may follow, specifically from the six books of The Mortal Instruments and other stories set in that time period:
Mundane - Normal humans, unaware of the Shadow World, usually lacking the Sight to see past the glamours hiding it, and generally not introduced to it to avoid causing a panic. The equivalent of Harry Potter’s Muggles, for comparison’s sake.
Downworlder - Any denizen of the hidden Shadow World, from vampires to warlocks. Technically includes Shadowhunters themselves, though it is uncommon to hear them described as such.
Glamour, and the Sight - Magic used to hide the Shadow World from mundanes, as well as the true nature of things in general; and an ability necessary to see past glamour that mundanes generally lack, with greater strength allowing the bearer to see past stronger glamours.
Shadowhunters - The Nephilim, part-angel and part-human. Shadowhunters are trained from a young age to defend Earth from the demons that assail it, with both physical prowess beyond human norms and many angelic gifts such as seraph blades, the holy runes called Marks, and the Mortal Instruments, all gifted by the angel Raziel. They reside in Institutes in cities across the planet, or in their home city of Alicante in the hidden city of Idris, and are all participants of the Clave, governed by the Council which in turn is presided over by the Consul. Note that in breeding pairs, Shadowhunter blood is dominant, and will always produce Shadowhunter children with both mundanes and all fertile Downworlders.
Vampires - The Children of the Night, these are humans infected with a demonic virus that turns them into undead, yet highly powerful beings. With superhuman strength, grace, speed and senses, as well as powerful regenerative abilities and the ability to mesmerise others with the encanto, vampires are very similar to how they are depicted in fiction, though this applies to their weaknesses against sunlight and blessed substances and materials too, amongst other things. Vampires and werewolves are inherently opposed to one another on an instinctual level, and though this instinct can be overcome with effort, it nonetheless negatively affects their relationships with one another on a race-wide scale.
Werewolves - The Children of the Moon, these are humans infected with a demonic virus that transforms them into wolves in the light of the moon, though they may also Change at will when trained to do so (and for their own sake they are encouraged to do so). With enhanced strength and speed even in human form, they gain powerful claws and teeth in their lycanthrope state as well as enhanced senses, and can spread their lycanthropy through a bite, though their regeneration is cancelled out by both the angelic fire of a seraph blades and weapons made of pure silver. Werewolves and vampires are inherently opposed to one another on an instinctual level, and though this instinct can be overcome with effort, it nonetheless negatively affects their relationships with one another on a race-wide scale.
Warlocks - Lilith’s Children, unaging and sterile beings that are born half-demon and half-human, usually through unsavoury means on the part of their demonic parent, and who possess the power to invoke demonic magic in various forms, up to and including the illegal summoning of demons. Of all Downworlders, Shadowhunters are most likely to work with Warlocks in order to benefit from demonic magic that the angelically-aligned are forbidden from using, namely the creation of Portals to allow transportation from place to place.
Faeries - The Fair Folk, believed to be part-angel and part-demon, yet possessed of human souls nonetheless, as well as their own brand of magic aligned to neither angels nor demons, supernatural swiftness and grace, and an ethereal beauty underpinning their varied forms and cunning natures - though pure iron is toxic to them and they are unable to tell lies, they are masters of social manipulation, often tricking mundanes and Shadowhunters alike with wordplay and subtle magical manipulation. Though they tend to keep to their own affairs in their realm of Faerieland, also called the Faerie, their tendency to meddle in the affairs of others is well-known, and for their actions in the Dark War have been heavily sanctioned for the time being.
Angels - Winged celestial beings who oppose demons in all forms, both directly and by proxy via the Shadowhunters, whose patron and creator is the archangel Raziel. Angels are rarely seen on Earth, as their primary concern is with Heaven and the war against Hell, though in the rare circumstances that they are brought to Earth, they are considered powerful beyond the scope of any mortal being.
Demons - Evil creatures originating from Hell and the Void, these are beings of pure destruction: they seek to destroy all worlds, turning them into horrific places inimical to non-demonic life, and generally take on monstrous corporeal forms that reek of death in our dimension depending on the demon in question. Though they are very weak to holy weapons such as seraph blades, and cannot detect angelic magic, they are nonetheless terrifying foes which are more than capable of slaying even a Shadowhunter if they are unwary, especially those Greater Demons that occasionally make an appearance on Earth, and rather than dying the demonic energy powering them simply returns to the Void upon their physical body’s destruction, ensuring their ability to come back to our dimension again some day.
The Covenant, and the Accords - A set of rules that all Shadowhunters live by, enforced by the Clave and providing both the basic moral code and the overall legal system that Shadowhunters, and to a limited degree Downworlders, have agreed to abide by. The Covenant has been amended several times via the Accords, a series of treaties agreed upon by Shadowhunters and Downworlders to further improve Downworlder rights and minimise discrimination, with revisions taking place roughly every fifteen years. As of present, the punishments set out in the Cold Peace after the Dark War means that Faeries do not currently benefit from the Accords’ protections.
The Mortal Instruments - The most powerful artefacts of the Shadowhunters, gifted to them by Raziel himself. Includes the Mortal Cup, allowing mundanes to Ascend to become Shadowhunters by drinking from it (though the process is rarely used without extensive testing for suitability); the Mortal Sword, which compels Shadowhunters to tell the truth when held; and the Mortal Mirror, thought lost for ages until its recent rediscovery as Lake Lyn in Idris, whose waters are poisonous to Shadowhunters.
Recent conflicts within the Shadowhunter universe have largely been spurred by the Circle of Raziel and its agents, radical Shadowhunters whose leader Valentine Morgenstern sought to purify the world by killing all Downworlders. These include the Uprising, the Mortal War, and the Dark War, in that order. The Circle’s ideals first coalesced into violence during the 1991 signing of the Ninth Accords, where they tried and failed to kill all Downworlders present at the meeting, only to be fought off by a combination of Shadowhunter and Downworlder forces. By 2007, the Circle had reformed, and attacked Idris directly along with an army of demons, though with the assistance of Clarissa Fairchild an alliance of Shadowhunters and Downworlders again managed to fend the Circle off, with Valentine dying in the process of summoning the angel Raziel with the Mortal Instruments. However, his son Jonathan would then corrupt many Shadowhunters with the Infernal Cup, creating an army of Endarkened that fought alongside Faerie allies to try and destroy Alicante again only three months after the Mortal War, though all Endarkened perished after the Infernal Cup’s destruction.
Further information on all of these topics can be acquired here. Once again, bear in mind the possibility of spoilers for the setting in general.
As far as the game itself goes, it will be Co-GMed by @Nallore and @JaceBeleren, and set in the city of San Francisco in 2010; a High Casual level of writing ability will be expected of players, and as stated awareness of the terminology is very important. Note that the setting involves significant amounts of romance throughout the canonical stories, so those who are interested should expect their characters to get involved in romantic subplots with either PCs or NPCs. Having said all that, here is your character sheet:
Name: Your character’s name, of course. If they happen to have any aliases, include those here too. Vampire and werewolf names are typically similar to mundane names, as both groups generally have ex-mundanes as members, though vampire names will of course reflect the time and place the ex-mundane was born in; Shadowhunter surnames are traditionally compound, reflecting an aspect of either the family or the name's original bearer, e.g. Fair-child, Love-lace, True-blood; warlock names are created by the warlock themselves, generally a combination of a standard first name and a verb- or adjective-derived surname with negative connotations; and faeries usually hold elaborate first names, but rarely possess surnames, or at least tend to avoid telling other races what these surnames are.
Race: Are you a Shadowhunter, or one of the many types of Downworlder? You could also play as a mundane who’s somehow been introduced to the Shadow World, but that’s boring. If you want to do something interesting or secretive with your character’s race, a la certain main characters in the setting, make a PM with all three GMs as readers. Also note that due to the somewhat alien nature of faeries and the restrictions set upon them as of 2010, such players will need to demonstrate both significant understanding of the setting, faeries in particular, and excellent writing ability to be accepted.
Age: The character’s age. For Shadowhunters and werewolves, and considering the nature of the setting, try to stick to between 16 and, say, 50, unless there’s good justification for being outside these ranges, and note that below the age of 18, Shadowhunter characters are legally considered children by the Clave; vampires and warlocks have more leeway in terms of age for being immortal, as do faeries with their extended lifespans, but all characters in these groups should remain below around 250-300 years of age.
Sex/Gender: Nominally male or female. If the character is transgendered, include both their birth sex and preferred/transitioned-to gender; if you have something else in mind, just ask.
Appearance: Your character’s appearance, both their body and their clothing, as well as any changes to either that their personal glamour generally induces. As minor guidelines, Shadowhunters typically possess various Marks on their skin, and many fine white scars across their skin from constant Mark application, plus any actual battle scars they may have acquired over time; vampires tend to possess pale, sallow skin and a thin build, though this is not always the case; werewolves have both a human and wolf form, both of which must be described; warlocks always have a defining feature that marks them as inhuman, be it horns, wings, hooves, or whatever; and faeries tend to possess inhuman beauty and skin of various pastel colours, amongst other defining traits, though the gentry tend to look more like humans than the common folk.
Personality: How your character acts in general. Talk about their defining and not-so-defining traits; their likes and dislikes; their demeanour towards particular groups of people or Downworlders if relevant; their pastimes and hobbies; their sexuality; and so on and so forth.
Skills and Abilities: Both mundane and supernatural things your character can do, learned or natural. Most Downworlders, Shadowhunters included, have some degree of innate superiority over mundanes with regards to abilities, though mundanes are in some cases able to learn to use demonic magic; however, many Downworlders also have some significant weakness hindering them, which should also be mentioned in this section.
Biography: Your character’s past - what did they do, what moulded them to be the way they are now, what significant events took place in their life? Etcetera. As with Race, if you want to do something that requires secrets to be kept from other players, make a PM that all three GMs have access to.
@Keksalot@Rockette@FantasyChic@Altered Tundra@Eyeruption And with that, please prepare your character sheets, folks. Naturally, they should be posted in OOC rather than Characters for inspection before they are accepted; that applies to all players, not just the ones listed above.
I've had a stewing concept for portraying twins for a good couple days now, are we allowed to "double up" - as the term goes - or would it preferred that we stick to solitary-primary characters?
@Rockette Well, I don't have any particular issue with players having multiple characters (within reasonable limits, of course), and I'm sure @Nallore and @JaceBeleren won't either. For the time being, feel free to write up both sheets.
Two things: First, I want to reserve the face claim of Adelaide Kane for my character. And secondly, this is a two-part quesiton. When it comes to runes, are there any limits number-wise we need to be aware of? And also, are there any runes that are off-limits either because of the power they would give the Shadowhunters or because of plot reasons?
@Altered Tundra You can claim that name if you like. As regards number of runes on a Shadowhunter's body, there aren't any particular limits, though a large number of them are impermanent in nature, and all vary in strength depending on how close they are to the heart, as well as how well-drawn they are and the physical strength used to draw them. Regarding runes that are off-limits, most aren't, though some are reserved for the Silent Brothers and/or Iron Sisters, and the parabatai rune in particular cannot be applied after you turn eighteen due to how it works, nor can you use some runes unless you have a parabatai due to their drawing on the parabatai bond's power.
Also, certain runes were first developed (brought into the human world, more accurately) by Clary Fray, not being known of by Shadowhunters in general until then, and a lot of those are unable to be drawn by anybody else, most notably the Mark of Cain, though many such as the Alliance rune are now available for general use in the Shadowhunter population after being brought into the mortal world. As a general rule, and for sake of ease, stick to the ones we know of in canon, including those newly added to the Gray Book through Clary's efforts.
@BCTheEntity A tempting offer, but I already have my character's name picked out.
Hmm, okay. I just wanted to make sure because it hadn't been a topic that was addressed in the Interest Check(of that I've seen, I mean). And that all seems fair. But, based off of what you said, I'm guessing that custom/original runes are out of the question? It doesn't matter to me that they are banned, but once again, just asking in case someone else has the same inquiry.
@Altered Tundra 1. What? I mean, I was just confirming what you said. I thought the name was what you were claiming, but... just to clarify: who exactly is Adelaide Kane? 2. Custom runes are not allowed, no. We don't know what other runes are in the Gray Book, and it's safe to assume they're not commonly used if they're not mentioned at all in canon, so there's no point bringing them up to start with.
@BCTheEntity An actress. I'll be using her as my character's face claim(where you choose a celebrity's face to act as the face reference for your character's).
And fair enough. I figured I would ask. i mean, it's not a big deal regardless. There are plenty of runes to choose from, so I'm not really sweating about it. ^^;
@Altered Tundra Gotcha, gotcha. I will say, for the sake of everybody who's curious, it's not strictly a matter of "choosing from" runes; a large quantity of them are going to see frequent use, most notably the iratze for faster healing, and of course some are applied permanently regardless, whilst others can be applied to objects other than Shadowhunter skin, namely the various Opening runes to mundane locks. It's a whole group of stuff that needs remembering, which is usually why Shadowhunters have years of training from an early age.
@BCTheEntity Can I ask a question? I read the part where Shadowhunter blood is dominant when it comes to birth, so say my character's parents were a Shadowhunter and a breedable Downworlder, would they inherit only the Shadowhunter traits or would they inherit both? Also what falls as a breedable Downworlder? I am only asking for my sake, I have a character in mind, just seeing what I can work with.
@FantasyChic Faeries and werewolves can produce children with Shadowhunters, and the resulting offspring will essentially be a Shadowhunter, but will possess certain traits of the Downworlder parent's race, such as pointed ears for faeries or more prominent teeth for werewolves; a faerie's child with a human will be half-faerie, whilst a werewolf's child with either human or werewolf may or may not be a lycanthrope themselves, but even if not will possess a dormant version of the lycanthrope virus that grants them enhanced strength and speed and the option to pass on the virus, but not to become wolves themselves. Warlocks are infertile due to being a hybrid of human and demon- and that may have something to do with the natural demonic tendency towards destruction rather than creation, but that's just me theorising over here- and vampires can't pass on their genes due to being dead, though they can "breed" in a sense by turning other humans or Shadowhunters.
Some exceptions to normal breeding rules do exist, however, under special circumstances, as discussed in the interest check, and if you wish to go over something along those lines feel free to PM the GMs.
Most notable is the case of Tessa Gray, child of a Shadowhunter who never acquired any runes and an Eidolon demon, thus technically being a warlock, but with the ability to have children as well as a unique ability to Change into anyone so long as she's holding an item that has acquired an imprint of sorts from that individual, like recalling somebody else's memory. This is even more notable because the child of a demon and a Shadowhunter is usually stillborn, evidently due to the additional angelic influence of the runes, but even then it's implied Tessa survived as a result of a particular protection on her throughout pregnancy.
