God is angry with us...When my friend jumped from the cliff and into the dark waters, a part of me woke up. For nearly two weeks we traveled together, trying to escape something that was inescapable. The entire planet had succumbed to what has been titled the Rising Tide. It is exactly what it sounds like except completely different. It is infinite. And you do not drown in it. You are simply consumed by it.
It was a stroke of luck that we ended up at the right place at the right time and survived when nobody else had. Even animals and other people that typically lived on higher ground were gone. Drinking the water possesses you to go to it. This includes just about anything that grows from the ground. I knew about this before anybody because the person who taught me everything I know told me. So I only packed food that I knew had been around before the event began and explained everything to my only friend as we ran for the hills. My master insisted on going alone, but I have reason to believe that he’s gone.
We lived on what we could carry on our backs, thinking that if we kept travelling to higher and higher ground the tide would stop rising and give us a chance to figure things out. This was, of course, idiotic, especially given what I had already knew from my master. I only told my friend the basics, what he didn’t know was that we were doomed no matter what, the details of which are incredibly scary and unbelievable. We had hope, so I didn't want to ruin that for him. And, in a way, I didn't want to ruin it for myself either.
But one night, I saw him standing at the edge of a cliff, motionless and staring down at the waters. It seemed as though he were in a trance, so I walked over to him slowly, scared. I thought that maybe he accidentally ate something he wasn’t supposed to. When I got close to him I asked him what he was doing and he simply replied that the answer was right in front of us. We must join the rest of them and become a part of it. His words froze me. You said we don’t die, he explained. The waters consume you.
This was incredibly dark stuff, but he said it with such conviction that I couldn’t believe the waters were having a direct influence on him. Listen man, I said to him, my voice shaking. I don’t even know what death actually means in this case. I was just telling you what I was told, using the same language. When a deer is consumed by a lion, you could argue that the deer lives on in the energy it provides the lion, but as far as the deer is concerned it’s dead. You understand? Everything that makes you who you are will cease to exist. You can’t be deader than that, I said with a very nervous laugh.
I think this is different.
No, no, no, I said, clutching his shoulders. There are things you don’t know. You have no idea what that thing really is. I’ll tell you everything, just please walk with me back to the camp.
I’ll find out myself, he said as he quickly shoved me away from him and jumped.
Like a rock, he shattered the water’s surface and never returned. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized what it meant to be alone. We knew we were probably the last ones on the planet, but the idea never really sunk in. Now all I had was myself. I had to persevere knowing that the end was inevitable. For a few moments I stood at the cliff thinking about what he had said, contemplating its validity. But then I thought about my master and his unwillingness to surrender to anything or anyone and I told myself that this is what he would have wanted.
So I pressed on, hatching onto a new plan. Instead of continuing onto higher and higher ground, I went backwards to find a ship. With what little knowledge I knew of sailing, I traveled the waters for no more than a few days before all land was out of sight. After a while it seemed the water was growing in strength by the hour, getting more vicious and intent on taking me down. I was at the wheel when I heard a massive and demented roar behind me. I turned to witness a 100 foot wave moments away from crashing onto me, taking the form of the thousands of faces that it consumed.
The roar itself shook the boat along with my courage, but I stood my ground and let out a furious cry before I went down.
I am paralyzed and I hear voices everywhere, but see nothing...and my life begins to flash before my eyes.
Extra stuffThe RP begins on Earth, where magic had only been discovered about 100 years ago. In that time, many have mastered their craft and users of magic peacefully co-exist with the normal population. Magic has also begun to take a major role in entertainment and technology. However, the discovery of bringing one's poetry to life changed everything drastically. It's difficulty had caused many deaths, more accidents than any other medium in magic. Due to the danger in it's difficulty, the medium was at first outlawed. Once poets had gotten better and better, it became clear that the potential the medium had was nearly limitless. If a master in the medium had ever emerged, they would likely become god-like. Twenty years ago, all of Japan had been wiped out in a catastrophic accident as a result of a single poet. The depressed and lonely poet dedicated much of his life learning the magic of poetry, but could no longer find the will to live. In an attempt to kill himself in a single haiku, a poor choice of words and a misinterpretation of his own emotions ended an entire civilization in the blink of an eye, along with himself.
The world had never seen anything like it: neither the amount of deaths nor the sheer power. Fear spread across the world and every world leader began to execute practicing poets. Many were mistaken for simple writers. Although many magic users and normal folk were united in the fear and hatred for the poets, many were still sympathetic. Noticing this, most world leaders passed laws against protecting poets, some going as far as executing them as well.
How Things Will WorkThe basics: No GMing, PPing and all that other wonderful stuff. Posts should never be shorter than two paragraphs (which I think is an advanced section-wide rule anyway), but if you seriously need help, I don't mind lending a hand. Just send me a PM.
Sex stays in the bedroom: There will be mature content and romance will probably happen naturally, but nobody should ever be thinking about actually writing out a sex scene in detail. That's weird. Cursing and violence is okay, just be reasonable and in-character.
Cat fighting: They're fun to watch from a distance when you're not involved, but part of the reason I want a small cast is so that it is much easier to get to know each other and build respect. Try not to be a jerk. I hope we're all mature enough to not have this kind of problem here.
Quality over quantity: I've been to countless RP forums and there seems to be wide-spread confusion as to what this actually means and it's rather frustrating, so I want to be absolutely clear. Your skill as a writer is not determined by how long your posts are. That would be quantity. Any critic in the literary world would be laughed at if they said one novel was better than the other simply because it was longer, so it's always fascinated me that the RPing community is so obsessed with length. If anybody says that quality is the length of the post, then they're simply morons. Being able to "keep up" with the pace of the RP does not mean writing posts as long or longer than the last guy. There's nothing that bores me more than reading a really long post from somebody who clearly doesn't know what they're doing. You won't be commended here for the length of your posts, so write your best not the most. And, above all, be creative.
You don't even need character sheets!: But your first 3-4 posts will extensively cover what your character has done before the Tide began, along with just about everything we need to know that would ordinarily be covered in a character sheet. These first few posts are flashbacks, so none of our characters will interact with each other yet. All memories of the Tide are forgotten, so until I indicate otherwise, all of our characters have forgotten it even existed or that they had been consumed by it. After the flash backs, your characters are free to notice weird things, but the Tide should never occur to them. These flash back posts are the only time in the RP where the two paragraph minimum simply won't do the job. You have a lot to cover and have nothing holding you back, so go crazy and have fun. Just think of it as writing a story centered around your character. I'll have a character sheet template ready after this phase so that you can fill them out if you want to, but they won't be mandatory. ~~ I lied. Character sheets can be found here. Do not send in sheets unless you've been approved to join the RP. ~~The magickz: Your characters are allowed to be able to do anything and on any scale, but teleportation and time manipulation are banned (I may use them for plot purposes because I'm special >=P). Just keep in mind that invincible characters are usually boring (and technically GMing). If you plan to have a super powerful character, you obviously must justify it in your flash back posts. Anything goes, just be smart about it. You're also allowed to have characters from other planets, just keep in mind that they have also been consumed by the Tide just like everybody else. This will make sort-of sense later. However, these characters will also be the first ones to realize something weird is going on, since everybody will be on earth after the flash back posts, so that should be entertaining.
The poets: I will RP as maybe two of them for plot purposes, but they won't be my main/regular characters nor do I want them to be. That said, I encourage you to RP as one. Just keep in mind that utilizing their magic is notoriously difficult and nobody has mastered it yet, so when the RP starts your character will either be an okay beginner or just suck completely. You're also probably not to open about your ability since people want you dead. If you're wondering if you'll actually be required to write poetry to play the role-- while that will certainly be very impressive (if you do it well) I can't require it of you. No harm in trying though! You should also keep in mind that once your character starts to get more powerful, they will be focusing on only one form of poetry. You don't have to worry about this toward the beginning, but for planning ahead, check this out:
Poetic Forms & other useful stuffHaikus are easy, but don't be a party pooper! I personally find Villanelles fun and relatively easier to write than other poetic forms, so that may be a good place to start. I'm not a very good poet, but I write them from time to time, so you can always ask me for help or feedback if you need it.
If you want to join: If there's an open spot, simply post in OOC saying that you want in, just keep in mind that I expect you to be a decent writer and creative. I am simply trusting your own judgment on that. If all spots are taken AND the flashback phase is over, PM me with a post sample and if I think you're a good writer, you'll be notified as soon as there is an opening. I may even just let you join if I feel like the RP can handle it. DO NOT send me a character sheet before I've given you the go ahead.
If I missed anything: Or if you have any questions or concerns, just ask.
