[OOC] You All Meet in an Inn

[Queen Raidne]

The ale is flowing, spirits are high, and three things catch the party's eye:

1)

A small list tacked half-hazardly to a well used pole. It contains advertisements for magical items of dubious quality and a posting that says, "Alchemical Shop-Minders Wanted". At the top, in dark, blood-red ink and wide, sans-serif letters, it says, "Craig's List".

2)

A mysterious gentleman with a long, white beard lurks in a shady corner, staring at the party from underneath a dark, hooded cloak. Several times, he has started to stand and move toward the party, but he quickly changes his mind. He periodically mutters something about a ring.

3)

A dwarf sits at the bar, war hammer leaning on his stool, blankly staring at his ale and not drinking it. Engraved on the hammer is a masterfully designed image of a dwarf, an elephant, and a butterfly. The dwarf is making a plaintive gesture. The elephant is laughing. The butterfly is dead.

---

I'm looking for four to five people to play a fantasy RPG. In playing the game, you will also be worldbuilding it. I will not play every NPC; I will just play the important ones. That means that if you need a shopkeeping assistant to talk to, or a love interest, or anything of the sort, just create them. If you aren't sure how our elves are better, make them so.

The three caveats to this rule are as follows:
1 - I reserve the right to veto creations in extreme circumstances (eg: against the site rules)
2 - If you come up with some elaborate backstory for a race in your head, but don't demonstrate any of it in your writing, then that backstory doesn't exist yet
3 - Group worldbuilding means that all of our creations can be added to; this means that nothing we create will be specifically ours aside from our characters. If you make an incredibly elaborate backstory for elves, and then someone adds to elves and takes them in a different direction, then too bad.

In other words, go off of what's been posted, and then add to it. If you need to make up an entire race and kingdom to justify some small thing, just do it.

Rather than post 16,000,000 words on the backstory of the dwarves or something in the IC, put in the OOC. Exposition dumps in the OOC; IC is for introducing/acting upon new elements of the setting.

I will do my best to collect races, kingdoms, etc on the zeroth post of the OOC.

The setting which I'm going for is a trope-filled, tongue-in-cheek, fantasy setting with magic, stock fantasy races, probably some sort of pantheon of gods, and the inevitable kingdom or two.

This is sort-of like DnD without the tabletop elements.

---

Characters:
Characters will grow as the adventure progresses. After each module, you'll receive loot - part of that loot might be a new spell or strength training. Obviously, I'll tailor these to the characters. Alternatively, you could spend time in town learning new bardic songs or reading up on animal tracking. Character advancment, in other words, can happen organically, so long as it's RP'd (nothing is free).

All of that means you should not start out very powerful; leave room for your character to grow. Aim for slightly-better than normal.

In addition to the character sheets, the party should know each other. To that end, I've made a party sheet for everyone to fill out via decisions in OOC.

Characters

Accepted:
Pending:

Character Sheet

Feel free to add catagories to this, if you like

Name:
Gender:
Class: What's your job in the party? Do you heal? Make spells? Shoot things? Talk?
Race:
Description:
Why you're adventuring with the party: Don't list literally everything, and keep in mind that you should have room to grow.
Notable skills or equipment:
Background:

Some classes I thought of just now; by no means should this list limit you:

Class ideas

Alchemist
Tinkerer
Artificer
Wizard
Knight
Cleric
Bard
Merchant
Fighter
Ranger
Thief
Driver
Druid

Race Ideas

See my note above "class ideas".
Human
Elf
Dwarf
Orc
Halfling
Gnome
Pixie
Hobbit
Lizardman
Construct
Kobold
Mer (tricky to play on land, I imagine)

Raw

[u]Name:[/u] 
[u]Gender:[/u]
[u]Class:[/u]
[u]Race:[/u]
[u]Description:[/u]
[u]Why you're adventuring with the party:[/u]
[u]Notable skills or equipment:[/u]
[u]Background:[/u]

Party Sheet

I will add answers to this as you decide things in OOC.

• Who is the best cook?
• Who owes someone else a favor, and what is it?
• How did you meet?
• What is the best purchase your party ever made?
• Who is the messiest person?
• Who is the most dependable?
• Who should never, ever keep watch again, and why?
• What's the most illegal thing you've done?

[Queen Raidne]

Reserved in case I want it.

[Pathfinder]

I call dibs on Sneak Stab Guy, I already have a race in mind that I'll be putting the bones up here soon.

Actually, I like the concept I got for an unconventional fighter. I'll finish up this race thing and get the character up at the same time, might take me awhile though.

[Br3ad]

Name: Aala
Gender: Female
Class: A paladin with the power to heal wounds and protect in dangerous situations.
Race: Human
Description: Clad in big and heavy gold armor, Aala loves to protect others and will put herself in danger to save the people she cares about. She's not afraid to pitch in with her mean looking mace if things get rough though!

Why you're adventuring with the party: Aala loves the outside but her overprotective father is worried she is not strong enough to face the outside world. She joins the party and lies to her father saying she was getting a drink. She took her favorite made and donned her magic armor and ran. She has been in the party ever since.

Notable skills or equipment:Carries a big mace and can fix injuries faster than most people. She can also notice tactical mistakes and use them against her enemies.

Background:Aala comes from a family where all the men became paladins, sworn to protect the village and its people. One night she sees the men training and asks if she could 'Be like daddy'. At first everyone laughed it off but she was determined. She showed remarkable skill in medicine and had above average strength. Her father saw this and trained her ever since and she has learned the healing and protective spells of the elder paladins. The elder paladins are known to be the best of paladins and a very prestigious title to obtain.

Heal Desc: Given enough time Aala will clear most of your battle wounds and in a pinch can rapidly heal a person with her paladin magic, this can only be once a day and makes her very tired afterwards however. Only the very advanced paladins can use the Rapid Heal spell more than once a day.

Mace Desc: The size of Aala herself, she calls it Retribution and is a mix of Steel and Iron. It is blessed with Holy Magic, a closely guarded secret of the paladins.

First post how'd it go? :p

[71452K]

(Character pending!)

[71452K]

Let me know if there's anything you'd like to change about Aala in my character's biography. @Br3ad

[BayRat]

Dragon Warlock

James Roy Abither

---

Gender:

Male

Class:

Sorcerer/Warlock

Race:

Dragon-Blooded Human

---

Description

Roy is a 19 year old and stands at 5'9" with pale ivory skin, crimson eyes, and short jet-black hair. His build is frail. He sports a black tunic and trousers with curled boots, leather gloves, belt, and a cape with two ruby's on its front. He sports a large curled cap on his head where the rim nearly covers his face from most angles. His whole attire is decorated with yellow lines in an ornate fashion, and his cap in addition has bones arranged in a aesthetic design. The robes split into five slits that are arranged around his chin like a star; the tunic itself conceals his neck and some of his chin.

---

Reason for joining

Being sent to journey the world in hopes of reawakening the power of their bloodline, Roy sees traveling in a group to be the wisest option. However he prefers to keep to himself and his own studies.

---

Notable skills or equipment

Blood of the dragon (Racial)

Draconic blood runs through his veins. Such monstrous blood is toxic to most, exposure to which can leave minor acid-burns on a few minutes within contact save for those that are unaffected such as dragons themselves or those that possess their blood. Additionally, those with dragon's blood have a lesser resistance to fire; While they do not have a complete heat immunity like true dragons, Those with the blood of dragons can withstand typical fire without being burned. They can be burned or disintegrated by anything hotter however.

More distinctly, those born with the blood of dragons has a natural prowess and affinity over the arcane.

Abither Staff(Seen in photo.)

This staff has been passed down through his family believed to be as long back as when they were first born with dragon's blood. An iron staff augmented with the bones of a dragon. A spine coats the bending upper part of the road which then straightens out briefly before forming a crescent shaped curve. Two razor blades, one longer then the other, give the staff the potency of being used as a crude melee weapon in situational circumstances; Though its inefficient design makes such a role mediocre.
Inside the crescent curve, attached by bones, is a powerful glass orb infused with great arcane power. This orb helps channel the magic potency of the user's draconic blood.

Current Spells(Sorcerer)

• Dragon's Breathe: Roy fires a mid-range cone of flames that burns as hot as a candle's flame.
  When casted without the staff Roy breathes these flames instead of firing it from the staff's orb, in which case the range is cut in half and the cast time is extended to 3 seconds; the spell also becomes a straight line based breathe attack rather then a wider cone-shaped attack.
  Cast Time: 1 second.
  Range: 12 meters.
  Duration: 10 seconds Max.
  Cool down: 30 seconds.
• Shadow Bolt: A Mid-Long range spell that shoots a ray of black electricity; about half as strong as the average natural lighting bolt in terms of heat and voltage. Only castable by Staff.
  Cast Time: 3 second.
  Range: 100 meters.
  Duration: 10 seconds Max.
  Cool Down: 1 minute.
• Ember: Shoots a lesser fire projectile that slightly explodes and expands upon contact for minor fire and force damage.
  Cast Time: 1 second
  Range: 15 meters.
  Cool Down: 5 seconds
• Magic Missile: Roy can summon up to 3 separate cone shaped projectiles of blue aura, which can fire and home onto one or multiple targets. Delivers raw magic power. Only castable by staff.
  Cast Time: 2 seconds per missile.
  Range: 50 meters max.
  Cool Down: 30 seconds per missile.
• Minor Telekinesis: Roy can slowly lift and move any number of objects with total weight less then
  40 kilograms within a radius of 20 meters, requires concentration and for the object to be inanimate. Cannot move fast enough to be combat effective.
• Calamity Cannon: Roy unleashes a powerful arcane beam(2m radius wide) of energy from his staff, utilized as a precision-based long range attack. The spell is powerful enough to tear through a 30 mm thick iron wall. Using this spell leaves Roy exhausted of both stamina and mana.
  Cast Time: 5 minutes.
  Duration: 10 seconds max.
  Range: 200 meters
  Cool Down: 6 hours.
• Summon Familiar: Roy transforms his staff to allow his dragon spirit to become a lesser imitation of its once living state. Only castable with a staff. When transformed, the imitation is both biological and magical in nature, injuries cause it to bleed and it can be drowned, poisoned, etc. Damage does not transfer to staff and vice versa. 'Killing' the imitation ends the spell, however this does not prevent the spell from being casted again after the cool-down period; This is due to the fact that the Transformation spell merely 'temporarily revives' the otherwise dead spirit into a suitable (but weaker) form. While using this spell Roy is vulnerable as he cannot cast any spells save the ones he can cast without a staff.
  Cast/Transformation Time: 5 seconds.
  Duration: 5 minutes Max.
  Cool Down: 24 hours.

Familiar Details (Niddhogg)

The current summon is a 7 meter long(1.8 meter tall) reptile clad in keeled green scales and tough spines along the back. Two long horns jut out from its saurian head, and the spines on the tip of its tail extend into a spear like protrusion. A slightly elongated neck and sturdy legs add to its quadrupedal height.

The summon is impervious to any degree of heat(Though vulnerable to the cold), and possesses scales and spines as tough as stone (With the exception of an underbelly as soft as leather.) It is capable of breathing fire; moving as fast as a cheetah; claws, horns, spines as sharp as iron blades; and enough raw strength to tip over a six ton elephant (At its highest strength limit.) Its blood is mildly corrosive like Roy's.

It should be noted that this physical form is not the dragon's true form but rather a weaker imitation, and is better thought to be an immatured body that has yet to grow and evolved to its fullest power.

The familiar's spirit naturally lingers around a chosen carrier of the Abither bloodline, in this case Roy. Destroying the staff won't change that, however he will need a new staff to summon that familiar should he lose his original one. The bond is mostly tethered to the nature of the family's blood and its magic, in addition to some ritual performed by their ancestor.

---

Background

The blood of a dragon runs through the Abither family. It is said that the ancestor of their bloodline had consumed the blood of a slayed dragon, though the rumors lack any detail over the matter. Regardless of how they obtained dragon's blood, it has gifted their bloodline with natural born prowess over the arcane; Furthermore their family possesses the spirit of a dragon that serves as a sort of familiar. The identity of this dragon spirit is referred to as Niddhogg.
For the past 6 generations the dragon spirit had suddenly become dormant and unresponsive to the power of the Abither family. It wasn't until the birth of Roy that reawakened the ancient spirit. Having been seen as a prodigy child by the rest of his blood, they decided to send Roy to go on a 'pilgrimage' of sort to fully reawaken the power of their bloodline.

[BayRat]

@Queen Raidne Just btw, if I made my warlock too powerful we can cut some spells out and leave them for future upgrades.

[Pathfinder]

It's not completly done, I kinda had a burn out before I could get the background done but everything else is finished. Feel free to add stuff, this is a collaberative effort after all.

---

Rakeesh, The Southern Rat Men

Name of race:
Rakeesh, but more widely known as Ratlings.

Geographical location:
Though they claim home to the southern mountains, near the holds of the dwarfs, the Rakeesh have begun to slowly spread across the continent.

Common physical attributes
The Rakeesh have the appearance of bipedal, roughly man sized rats. Their bodies are built for speed and agility, on average being twice as fast as an average human, but typically being weaker in raw strength by large margins. The fur that covers their bodies is very fine and thick, insulating them from the cold well enough while secreting an oil that effectively waterproofs the fur. Most fur is brown in color, with those born with black, gray, or white being relatively rarer.

Rakeesh vision is fairly poor in the sunlight, needing tinted goggles just to see without pain, but their darkvision is incredibly developed. To compensate, they have evolved an acute sense of hearing that is almost on par with an elf and a sense of smell that is unrivaled by any sentient species.

Beliefs (non-religious):
The color of ones fur is an incredibly important part of Rakeesh culture, with those born with black fur being seen as natural warriors, those with white fur destined for scholarly pursuits, and gray fur marking one as touched by the winds of magic. Those pups born with these furs are taken to live in the three major colleges where they are trained in their specific specializations, while the more common brown fur is looked upon as a sliding scale, with darker shades of brown are expected to be hardier while lighter shades are expected to be more cunning. However true albinism is seen as an oddity, hotly debated as either a good or ill omen.

Due to births being heavily regulated, the actual breeding and raising being done by a specific caste, and the minimal physical differences between the sexes has to lead to the Rakeesh to simply not care about gender and it's place in society. A female is just as likely to be a soldier than a house keeper and vice versa.

Family:
Rakeesh pups are raised by the Matrons Guild, the only ones permitted to have children. It is a communal effort, with pups being sorted into potential trades based on physical traits, mental faculties, and general temperment. Outside of the Matrons breeding is banned and it is normal, but not mandatory, for many Rakeesh to chemically castrate themselves by ingesting a particular fungus.

Rakeesh are incredibly social creatures who require physical contact with others to stay mentally healthy, so much so that solitary confinement is considered a horrible punishment. They are open with and very physical with their affections, with a favorite leisure time activity is napping in large, comfortable piles. Romance is no different and as long as no births come out of it is supported wholeheartedly, with polyamory being the norm.

Education:
Most Rakeesh are uneducated outside of their professions, with a large majority being manual laborers, carpenters, and masons. The crowning jewel of Rakeesh education, however, is the Triumvirate, the three great colleges and their subsidiaries.

Hierarchy:
Rakeesh society is ruled by a council made of the best individuals in various fields, with a majority of the power being held by the Field Marshal, the High Architect, and the Gray Priest.

Language:
The Rakeesh language is characterized by rapid-fire chittering, squeaks, and trills, with words being repeated to add emphasis. This bleeds into any other language they learn.

Skeetch

Name:
Skeetch

Gender:
Male

Class:
Fighter

Race:
Rakeesh

Description:
Skeetch is fairly tall by Rakeesh standards, reaching up to five foot six when he stands straight and has the muscle of a trained soldier. He has pitch black fur which is crisscrossed with small scars along his arms, snout, and chest. His tail is about as long as he is tall and his eyes are as dark as his fur.

Why you're adventuring with the party:
Skeetch was lonely and latched onto the first group of people who would take him in.

Notable skills or equipment:
Military Training- Skeetch was raised from birth to be a Vanguard, the halberd wielding heavy infantry of the Rakeesh military. He's much stronger than he looks and fights with a ferocity only a rat backed into a corner can have, which combined with his natural swiftness and agility makes for a deadly warrior.

Rakeeshi Halberd- His weapon of choice, the Rakeeshi Halberd, or Skiket, is more like a sword on a stick than what is traditionally thought of as a halberd and is designed to chop through leather, wood, and bone with ease.

Scavenged Plate- What he's been able to keep together since the raid, the only pieces of armor left from his original heavy plate being the armor and gauntlet covering his right arm, the pauldron, and the knife headed helmet. All of it in red. The rest is a mess of leather pieces, belts, and chainmail.

Tail Blade- He may not be an assassin, but Skeetch wields the tail blade with enough skill that he'll be able to surprise more than one person with a hidden knife.

Sneaky- Rakeesh are a naturally sneaky people and Skeetch is no exception, without his armor on Skeetch may be able to pass for a competent sneak thief and has a great head for ambushes.

Background:
Skeetch's life was uneventful and regimented. Wake up, train, patrol, and sometimes take out a troublesome beastie that crawled out from the darkness. It wasn't until an expedition towards the lands further north did his life get thrown for a loop.

[bleedingwords]

If there is still room I would be very interested.

[71452K]

Is the whole fur colour thing known to those outside their society?

More importantly, is Skeetch carrying monies$$$? :D. @Pathfinder

[Copperpen]

Varn

Name: Varn

Gender: Male

Class: Crossbow Ranger

Race: Human

Description: Varn is the best description of a human in the world he lives in. A few scars from military service, dark, short hair and not too tall or short. He is plain-faced and plain-skinned, having come from a territory inhabited by forests, rich rivers and greedy rulers.

Why you're adventuring with the party: Fortune other than continuing fighting wars. He has little left back home except his loving parents, who insist on running an agricultural business.

Notable skills or equipment: A crossbow marks the booming revolution of faster, cheaper fighting in the lands back home; firm wood starting to wear from use. His protection, aside from humour, is a chestplate and mail elsewhere.

Background: Varn was cattle ever since he was born, that much was known. His village, Hillmouth, farmed and birthed fighters. His parents were also the wealthiest below the lord of the region, not that they were any noble, they just knew food was the most valuable commodity to troops and travellers.

Varn himself learnt a few extra things from this life, mostly from his family attempting to bestow their salesman wisdom onto him. The constant variation of people also taught him how common the average person was, even the wealthy, and what the average desire was.

Of course, a lot of his curiosity waned to familiarity. What was once wonder and learning became labour that got in the way of village life, socialising and impressing the girls. It turned out village life was just as routine, socialising was either very pointless or risky, and girls were just as strong as some of the boys.

Once old enough, Varn was given the choice by his parents to fully leave for a wartime life (volunteering to a standing army was permitted if the fighter paid for their own equipment) or wait until the king called a compulsory army, staying in the village.

The boy took the chance instantly, heading to the capital once outfitted to join under the highest banner.

Three years passed in this hard life until the next war. Varn discovered the reality of being a servant to leaders made cold by their own harsh treatments, never passing a word of mercy when the call for blood was mentioned. He hardly gained insight, he lacked the intelligence to do so, but he certainly had a change of face.

After a large battle allowing the king to usurp an old title and new lands, Varn saw little meaning in his life once again. Every grey sky or dark night he drank under became the same meeting of men who would inevitably march to death.

He considered staying, for different reasons, but convinced himself to break away from his life and desert for his own income, though he made little planning and ended up staying at the nearest tavern after the long walk to nowhere.

I am willing to make a map if we eventually agree on where to put what.

[Pathfinder]

@71452K
Not particularly, the Rakeesh are relative newcomers to the whole scene. They lived under the ground for forever, feeding on fungus, bugs, and whatever other creatures lived in the under lands. I'd say within the past couple generations the Rakeesh kinda stumbled upon the dwarf holds and have just been working it out with them before slowly spreading out into the continent. At this point people have heard about them, but very few have actually seen one.

And kinda, Skeetch likes shiny things but he isn't too fond of gold. He's all about that jewel life though.

[71452K]

@71452K
And kinda, Skeetch likes shiny things but he isn't too fond of gold. He's all about that jewel life though.

@Pathfinder

...He has jewels on him? Not that kind. Tell me more. :))).

I see (bout the colour fur thing), if possible at some point should he mention it to the party - let me know. My character has opinions on it.

If you don't mind, I vote Skeetch as the messiest member of our party in the Party List. :P.

[Pathfinder]

@71452K
Yeah he'd have a couple of jewels, but also stuff like shiny glass, pearls, and pretty looking rocks. He's a pack rat.

Side note, this whole "Skeetch is the dirtiest" is discrimination and I won't stand for it. He and his stuff is clean, he's a trained soldier in a pretty regulated society, but I can see him being careless with food since they are in the woods a lot. Lots of gnawed bones that've been cracked open for that sweet, sweet marrow littered about. So I guess there's that, not personally dirty but careless with garbage.

[71452K]

Sure. @Pathfinder

[Pathfinder]

Well with my race out of the way, it's time I started working on my next bit of worldbuilding. How does a heavy metal bard collage built alongside a volcano sound?

[Queen Raidne]

I'm around, just very busy with school. Expect me to post ~4 times a week.

[Copperpen]

just a heads up: I'm planning on doing the history of the humans, so if anyone wants to add to that, PM me

[71452K]

Do we really need a history of humans?

If this is written poorly (and accepted) it will affect many other players directly, can you bear such a task properly? Like 'Humans can only do XXX.' and screw every other thing in the process.