[OOC] Fire Emblem: Fates ~ Entwined

This is for us all to edit, either info about the RP or any rl issues that arise! - Genkai

[Genkai]

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GM Notes: This is a roleplay between myself, @Dynamo Frokane , @BurningDaisies and @Grey though I may accept one other person, it's unlikely as I'd prefer things to stay fairly compact.

RP Premise: Two kingdoms are at war with one another for have been for roughly seven years. Even so, not many can recall what actually broke the peace. Both kingdoms are powerful and have plenty of allies. And both kingdoms have folks who want to rebel and fight for the opposing side, for whatever reason. Unrest is an everyday feeling and many cities and towns are becoming new battlegrounds for the two kingdoms and their armies. After fighting for so long, the lands are becoming wastelands. Food is becoming scarce and so is the once flourishing population of the landmass.

Enter a group who knows where the true enemy lies. This group has been recently formed with some from both kingdoms. This group is led by a mysterious set of twins who claim the real enemy is the demon controlling the two rulers of each kingdom. These two twins have seen such destruction before and want to help bring peace to the land before all hope is truly lost. Together, they've convinced only a handful of people to fight for the innocent and to bring down the invisible hands which control the two kingdoms' fate.

We will be starting with our characters already companions. How your character was convinced is up to you. If your character comes with a sibling, retainer, servant, pet, etc, that is fine but you must include another sheet for it as well. I will be the two twins who hail from another world where the two demons have already ruined with their eternal rivalry. Our group will have a sanctuary where we will go to regroup, tend to our wounds, etc. As a note, there will be slice of life and action. There will also be a lot of travel and saving people, so don't go into this thinking it's all action or it's going to be boring. We should have a mix, ideally.

Hoshido will be a lively kingdom full of life and energy. Nohr will be a strict kingdom, will tough defenses. Both kingdoms are full of pride and tricky fighters. Since the four of us have knowledge of FE: Fates, I will no go into depth regarding the politics. However I will stress that unlike in Fates, supplies, food, morale and patience will be a lot more scarce. People are getting more desperate and bloodthirsty. Lots of lives have been lost in the fights that have broken out across the border between Hoshido and Nohr.

World Map: Below is our map with labels. Please refer to it as needed. It is a large picture.

Map

Quests: Throughout our journey there will be optional quests to gain money, items and food. I will have a separate hider for when we're ready.

Inventory: We will be using a very slim inventory system. Things like clothes won't be counted but it is a means to ensure a character doesn't magically have everything they need. If their sword breaks, they can't pull a new one out of thin air. If they're hurt and a healer isn't around, they either suffer or keep supplies on hand. I won't be strict with it and demand it be updated at all times, but the main six characters will need to use an inventory due to the land's current state.

Characters: I will be making us character banners for our major six characters, as such I would like you guys to try and find high quality pictures. By that I mean the pictures should be medium/large in size, lack any pixels, shouldn't be sketched or hand drawn etc. Below is a sheet which BD and I have tweaked together.

In the personality section list three positive traits and one negative.

In the Hopes/Fears list two for each.

In the Talents/Shortcomings list two for each as well, not pertaining to combat.

CS

[center][h1].: Name :.[/h1]

[s] | : [[/s] ⚔ [s]] : | [/s]

[b]Appearance:[/b]
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[b]Age:[/b]

[s] | : [[/s] ⚔ [s]] : | [/s]

[b]Class:[/b]

[b]Weapon Affinity:[/b]

[s] | : [[/s] ⚔ [s]] : | [/s]

[b]Personality:[/b]

[b]Talents and Shortcomings:[/b]

[b]Hopes and Fears:[/b]

[s] | : [[/s] ⚔ [s]] : | [/s]

[b]Relationships[/b]

[s] | : [[/s] ⚔ [s]] : | [/s]

[b]History:[/b]

[b]Inventory and Money:[/b]
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Romance: I think it's safe to say it's bound to happen. Our large cast should find romance, find heartache and find friendly rivalries. Should romance blossom, please take it to PMs but totally fill us in back here if anything DID happen. I don't really want offspring to happen though, so let's all pretend our characters have plenty of contraceptives in this war torn land.

Posting Expectations: We all have lives outside of the Guild. As such I don't need us to be spamming posts every day, that said I would love it if each person could manage at least one post every 7-10 days. I would also like it if our posts looked uniform so I will be giving a code for posts before we begin. Post size should be around 4-6 paragraphs for a major role. Any minor/side roles can have as much or as little attention as the writer decides.

Starting Point: As mentioned above, we will be starting with our characters having recently joined forces. Since I will be playing both outside twins, we will need to discuss how mine convinced yours to take a risk. That said our group will have just recently escaped a scuffled between both Hoshido and Nohr armies due to the two royal siblings having seemed to have betrayed their own blood.

[Grey]

@Genkai So as far as NPC Nohrian royalty (including the King) and minor (i.e. not Hoshido-Nohr) national relationships go, do we have to follow any criteria for that or are we good for just making it as we want as long as it fits the general spirit of the setting?

[BurningDaisies]

@Grey
Is the focus of your question regarding the romance aspects (e.g. Royalty eloping with commoners) or just relationships in general (e.g. expected behavior and etiquette between people with different social statuses)?
Or am I missing the point of the question?

Regardless of what the question is, I'd like to know the answer. xD

[Grey]

@BurningDaisies The focus was on relationships in general, but mostly the relationships between Nohr and smaller, neighboring nations like Nestra and the Ice Tribe. Also whether or not the Nohrian King is gonna be predetermined or not. The main point was basically if we can make stuff up or if we're adhering to something.

Speaking of Nohrian stuff though, totally want us to keep the canon Nohrian retainer initiation ceremony (i.e. drinking their lord's blood) because that's metal as fuck.

[Genkai]

@Grey In terms of Nestra being neutral or no? I think Nestra would stay neutral. Though I don't really want to go into which places have/haven't surrendered to Nohr/Hoshido since it might be a bit time consuming. I'll probably find images for both kingdom's rulers. I think I'm actually toying with the idea that Mikoto is still alive and well and being corrupted, just as Garon is. But I'm also totally up for new rules since after so many playthroughs, it can get boring. In terms of the royal line of succession, I'll leave that up to you guys in terms of if you've got older siblings being groomed to rule, etc.

Though DF and I haven't discussed our side much, it looks like I may take the reigns there.

Seriously? They drink their blood? Jesus fuck. I don't mind keeping it.

[Grey]

@Genkai Cool, cool. I can work with that. Probably going to take an "as canon unless otherwise noted" approach, so I don't foresee a huge number of changes taking place.

Probably the biggest change I see making is having Garon or whoever replaces him being less of a Saturday morning cartoon villain, but I also think expanding on the country's lore would be really cool.

And yeah, it's in one of Siegbert's lines, and it makes perfect sense given all the dragon blood lore.

@BurningDaisies Speaking of history, how many siblings do you think we should have and should we still keep the whole 'concubine wars' backstory for the royals?

[Genkai]

@Grey Garon's portrayal was indeed cringe-worthy a lot of the time so I'd like to make him more rounded and less janky. I'll probably expand on him and Mikoto when I'm done with an intro I'm making for another RP. I also have a more clear image of the roles I'm intending to play so I want to work on those too, today and tomorrow. -crosses fingers- I just found out my brother is being shipped out with special ops this July and my eye exam uncovered some new issues with me retina and its impending detachment so I'd love a distraction. ^^;

[BurningDaisies]

@Genkai Cool, cool. I can work with that. Probably going to take an "as canon unless otherwise noted" approach, so I don't foresee a huge number of changes taking place.

Probably the biggest change I see making is having Garon or whoever replaces him being less of a Saturday morning cartoon villain, but I also think expanding on the country's lore would be really cool.

And yeah, it's in one of Siegbert's lines, and it makes perfect sense given all the dragon blood lore.

@Grey

Yes to all of this~

@BurningDaisies Speaking of history, how many siblings do you think we should have and should we still keep the whole 'concubine wars' backstory for the royals?

Grey

I would like to keep that aspect in play. It gives us significant artistic leeway to make royal/noble/servant characters and hook them into the story​ in some meaningful way.

As for how many...
I'd say one legal wife and 2-6 concubines, since that's reasonable from a historical context. However, I'd imagine quite a few have died just from the internal strife and assassinations alone.

Honestly, its as good a focal point as any to use story-wise

[Genkai]

Also I've decided to do away with the monetary focus either to say money itself has reached a point of obscurity and people purely trade/barter which might be fun. Or just because I don't feel like bothering with that detail. Would a barter/trade system be okay with you guys? My thought would be there'd be a lot of scavenging/looting so coin would be less and less used as poverty increases.

[BurningDaisies]

@Genkai
Currency is a really a necessity for monetary exchanges. While pure barter works to an extent... how do you haggle around the purchase of a cow, when all you have to barter with is 30 chickens? The existence of magic can't easily fix that kind if dilemma either.
Although, I'm cool with it, if you want go the barter route anyway for funsies. =o

If you're okay with it. I can manage the money aspect through the fastidious merchant (think merlinus from blazing sword) character I'm making. He can act as master of coin/banker for our party.

I'm intimately familiar with to he currency systems of various table top RPG systems. Moreover, I already have a kingdom management spreadsheet leftover from the last D&D Birthright campaign i was in.
I probably need to modify a few formulas though.

In short, I can have something usable put together in a couple hours.

Then I can convert IC actions into purchases/sales accordingly.

[Genkai]

@BurningDaisies That would be pretty neat, I think we can work together in terms of using that role to help keep things fairly grounded as I'd hate for our characters to keep getting back if say, money happens to be tight, I want it actually be felt in battle and in travel. In terms of having the merchant act as master of coin, do you see the royals giving him their funds at the start and him managing it as he sees fit? I figure the royals who have fled, have probably left either with NO funds, or have tried to get as much coin as possible...

[BurningDaisies]

@Genkai
Pretty straight forward actually....
We can just say, my character is spearheading a merchant's rebellion across hoshido and nohr, which would be in parallel to our missions. Most royals and nobles loyal to their respective crowned monarchs would despise us. The more shrewd ones would openly hate us, but secretly fund us. Perceptive nobles and merchants follow the cash flow. And if that starts to shift away from the current ruler, they will hedge their bets.
They don't even have to know about the mission to save the world. It could just be their own self-interest. =P

War is good business for some, but not for this merchant and his friends, whom are slowly withering under excessive war taxes. A few nobles who lost much of their levies during the ongoing war might join the cause as well.

[Genkai]

@BurningDaisies Alright, I wouldn't making making some kind of character to work alongside yours.

I think the council meetings would want to include the master of coin but it would be entirely up to them whether they know about the rebellion our group is charging, or not.

I've also been toying with a retainer for one of the other Nohrian nobles who would be sent to retrieve the siblings from their horrible life choices. Did either you or Grey have an elder sibling in mind I could bounce my character off of?

[BurningDaisies]

@Genkai
You could play his personal aide. :3
Theomars is a merchant and former lord of Nesta. His caravans cross all borders and he manages an extensive network of contacts. However, only one person stands at his side on a regular basis: Vera, a blind wolfskin.
She was originally bought as a slave on the market, but has since proven to be invaluable. With her enhanced senses, she makes an excellent lie detector and can tell the difference between coins with different gold content. Theomars officially adopted her and she remains fiercely loyal to him.

Erik, youngest son of the King's first wife, Grey's brother.
He's an ambitious youth who, through his own actions on the field, has earned much respect from the wyvern knights and himself is a skilled rider.
He and Faye shared a brief, but bitter rivalry for their brother's [Grey's] recognition. Faye won~

[Genkai]

@BurningDaisies One sexy personal aide coming up haha.

And alright, I'll work on my sheets tonight and see what tweaking is needed to things fall into place nicely.

[BurningDaisies]

I'm in the middle of thursday night Pathfinder right now, but I'm working on that spreadsheet in between turns. I should have it done tonight. I just need to list the different canon kingdoms and "guesstimate" their holdings.

[Grey]

I've also been toying with a retainer for one of the other Nohrian nobles who would be sent to retrieve the siblings from their horrible life choices. Did either you or Grey have an elder sibling in mind I could bounce my character off of?

@Genkai

Yeah, I've got one too. Actually I was also planning for her to not be an immediate recruit/antagonize the party for a while.

I believe I named her Aradia and had her down as a Bow Knight or Dark Falcon. I'll check after I get home. But anyway, I had her as being second oldest, which I guess makes her the Camilla of our Nohrians. So I'll probably make her a Dark Falcon if she isn't one yet, lol.

[Genkai]

@BurningDaisies Sounds good, no rush though if it can't be finished tonight.

@Grey That would be fine with me, my retainer for Nohr won't come into play later like Silas as well.

[BurningDaisies]

For reference, I'll be tied up until Wednesday evening.

If you guys need to anything from at all, just drop me a PM.

[Grey]

Yeah, I think it being Easter week/weekend is putting a damper on activity in general. I know I'll be busy next two-three days.