[OOC] Through The Forgotten City

[Alehkra]

This is the OOC/Sign-Ups for an RP I am starting (find the interest check here). The RP takes place in the Low/Dark Fantasy setting of Provinka, an isolated sub-continent in which magic is present but exceedingly rare and generally not believed in.

Basic Setting Background

Provinka itself is a lush land characterized by vast grasslands, rolling green hills and meandering rivers. As you go further West the land becomes progressively more wild. The hills become harsh and jagged, and large untamed forests dot the land. The mountain range is young, filled with towering peaks and unforgiving passes. To the South the weather begins to warm, at first pleasantly so. The farther one walks, however, the hotter it gets, until you reach the Northern edge of the great desert that spreads out beyond the southern reaches of the mountains.

The Eastern coastlines are the most densely populated region of Provinka, inhabited by a loose patchwork of independent city states. The population, while far from unified, is generally homogenous in nature, and with a few exceptions they are at least united by a shared culture and ethnicity, and are broadly referred to by scholarly types as the Turizi people. While specific traditions and beliefs will vary from city to city, the Turizi do considers themselves part of a commonly held culture superior to most others.

Central Provinka is dominated by a strange, semi-nomadic people distantly related to, but quite distinct from, the Turizi known as the Viorla. While the Viorla do have a few permanent cities, some of them actually important trade hubs, the majority of the population are herders who follow the migration patterns of their herds. Viorla life is dominated by a monotheistic religion wholly foreign to the native population. This religion, focused around worship of the God Gonoter, commonly perceived by other peoples as a Sky God, has it's roots in the desert to the south.

Inhabiting a long, wide strip against the fringes of the western Mountains live the newcomers to Provinka, the Dalrians. The Kingdom of Dalria, as it is now known, was once populated by the westernmost branch of the Turizi family. Less than a century ago, however, an invasion force by King Beor the Old (quite young at the time, despite his eventual nickname) carved out a new realm for himself and his followers. The Dalrians either displaced or absorbed the majority of the native Turizi, though it is still common to see a couple Turizi families in a Dalrian settlement. While Beor himself died five years ago after 73 years of rule, he left a strong, energetic Kingdom that, despite a brief civil war following his death over the matter of his succession, is perhaps the most unified nation in Provinka.

After a long period of calm and peace in Provinka, things are beginning to become rather more interesting. A savage, unknown people in dragon ships are appearing off the Northern coastlines, raiding and pillaging coastal communities. Noone knows the origins of these raiders, noone knows the style of their uniforms or their language. They are a thoroughly alien people come to terrorize Provinka. They have thus far been seen only a handful of times, but each time they come they come with steel and flames. They have a couple times been fought off, but they strike without warning and with a surprising ferocity, so it is difficult to mount an effective defense.

In response to the recent raids, King Geralt of Dalria has ordered the fortification of the Dalrian coastline. He has ordered the local lords to garrison coastal communities, and has sent a troop of his own men to assist with the defenses. As a result, however, the Dalrians have made a very interesting discovery. Just on the fringes of the western mountains, close to the northern coastline, lies a vast, tangled forest. While sometimes used for hunting and gathering by the locals, the forest has been left undisturbed in the sparsely populated area. However, while on their way to reinforce the coast, a force of Dalrian soldiers stumbled upon a surprise. Nestled deep within the woods lies a massive city, noticeably ancient and unlike any other in all of Provinka. Composed of once graceful towers and crumbling structures of unknown architecture, the city is a tantalizing hint of once grand, now forgotten past for the people of Provinka.

While generally ignored by the Dalrians themselves, the discovery of the city made quite a buzz throughout the rest of Provinka. The Turizi Dalrians, weary of their foreign overlords, have claimed it as proof of their inherent superiority over the Western Barbarians who dwell in ugly stone castles. The Viorla think it the site of a once grand Temple to the Sky, and the scholars of the Eastern cities believe it to be the remnants of a previously unknown civilization. An obscure cult amongst the strange Lorelae people, a minority population in some Turizi cities, have proclaimed it to be the city of the Gods before they abandoned the world to humanity. Regardless of the cities true origins, it has already begun to attract a variety of adventurers. From explorers and treasure hunters to scholars, the city is soon to have it's depths plumbed and it's secrets exposed.

The RP will be centered around several characters exploring (read: looting) some recently rediscovered ruins belonging to a hitherto unknown, and by all appearances quite advanced, civilization from Provinka's murky past. See above for a little more info, but the gist of it is that these ruins are rumored to contain untold treasures and or a wealth of archaeological discoveries. As such, your characters can be quite varied. They might be a greedy treasure-hunter looking to strike it rich, a scholar seeking a new fount of knowledge, or perhaps just an adventurer who can't resist the call of the ruins of a once magnificent city. Whatever might motivate your character and draw them towards this lost city.

On the topic of characters, a couple things. I won't be accepting too many, at least not at first. I'm still getting back into the swing of things, and I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. I don't really have any hard limit, but probably not more than five or so, unless I see a character that I like too much to leave out. Also, as per the "low" in my low fantasy setting, humans are very much so the norm. However, I'm of course willing to accept a couple fantastical raced characters. There are a few Elven communities scattered through Provinka, and the Western Mountains are home to several Dwarven realms. I'm also willing to accept any creative, custom-made races you might come up with so long as they're interesting/not-overpowered. Where am I going with all this? I'll probably only accept a couple non-human characters, and I'd honestly probably expect a bit more out of you quality wise. A tad unfair, probably, but them's the breaks.

Anyways, here's a character template:
Name:
Gender:
Race:
Age:
Physical Description:
Equipment*:
Brief Bio:
Any other interesting tidbits about your character:

Now, just a few ground rules. Most importantly, don't be rude or disrespectful (unless it's in-character, naturally). We're all here to have fun guys. :) Secondly, I'm honestly not too big a stickler on quality control. Just keep the length and grammar up to a reasonable level. I make grammatical errors on a daily basis, and I understand not being able to make every post a masterpiece. Just be mindful of punctuation and try to give the next person something to go off of. Also on a somewhat-related note, I like to encourage character building. If there isn't any action going on around you, chat with the other characters, explore your characters, develop relationships. This isn't a solo project. Last of all, feel free to make any suggestions you might have or ask any questions that might be on your mind.

*One final note on equipment. Keep it simple for now. As a general rule of thumb, no powerful magical items. Minor accessories with some significance to your characters with some magical gimmick is perfectly fine, of course. Don't worry, you'll all be getting better and shinier toys as the RP progresses. :)

[Alehkra]

List of Characters (in progress)

L (chukklehed)
Khane Greavas (Deamonbane)
Amras Telemnar (KnightsTemplar)
Tyr Ethelson (Sturmgewehr)
Galen Gallatin (Izaka Sazaka)
Anthea Lavina Noir (Emma)
Miralie (Big Sister AM)

[Alehkra]

One last bump

[chukklehed]

Just to restore your faith.

Name: L
Gender: female
Race: Beastman
Age: 19
Physical Description:

Appearance

Equipment:
A srange amulet.
A small pack with traveling essentials (food, blanket etc.)
A gold capped wooden staff. Seems to be for channeling her power.
Brief Bio: No matter who you ask, they will tell you there's more to this timid little girl than meets the eye. Likewise, nobody will be able to tell you why they think that besides vauge guesses. L is shy for the most part, rarely volunteering her opinion. Nobody really knows why she chose to join the group, though the markings on her pendant look like some found on those ancient walls.
Any other interesting tidbits about your character: L seems to have a strange power, letting her heal people and mend broken objects. Without her staff the process is slow.

[Alehkra]

Alright, look good so far. I'll make final reviews and whatnot when we (hopefully) have a few more for me to look over. Until then, any questions or suggestions or anything?

[chukklehed]

All the questions i had were answered when you accepted the CS.

(Are we allowed to have beast races. Are we allowed to have magic. Can we uses pictures instead of a description.)

The only one left is can i invite some people to speed things along.

[Deamonbane]

Name:
Khane Greavas

Gender:
Male

Race:
Human

Age:
34

Physical Description

Taller than your average man, standing around six feet five inches tall, lean as a whip. His eyes are a pale brown, underneath bushy, weather-beaten eyebrows. His skin in white, but heavily touched by the sun over the years, tanned to the color of leather. His hear is long, grown down to his shoulders and usually kept tied back, brown as well, with some streaks of grey already there. He is dressed well, if somewhat blandly besides his armor and weapons, usually warm as he has grown used to spending the icy nights in the north out in the open. A plain silver necklace is around his neck carrying the signet ring of his family.

Equipment*:
Arming Sword
Shield
Long Dagger, sometimes used in his shield hand as a surprise weapon.
Horn Bow and 20 bodkin arrows, used mainly for hunting.
Caius
All these weapons, while there is nothing magical or special about them, are masterfully made and the sword, shield and dagger have been at his side for almost two decades, showing no sign of wear and no blemishes on the blades of the weapons.

Brief Bio:
Born to a lowly noble family with small holdings, but proud and history seeped deeply into these lands, Khane was the youngest of three brothers and 2 sisters. His father was among those that followed the King Beorn the Old in his youth, and thus was rewarded with lands and a strong placing among the nobility. Sadly, the man had little other ambition than that. His eldest son was not quite so, quickly making a name for the family, equally the second son who moved to the capital and made a name for himself as a gifted politician.

The two youngest sons, however, were quite different. They were twins, with Khane the youngest by a few minutes. Not surprisingly, both fell in love with the same young woman. Both were sixteen at the time, and with passions inflamed by the energy of youth, both dueled each other for her hand. Khane killed his brother in the duel, much to their father's dismay. For the crime of Fratricide, Khane was banished from his father's lands and removed from his name. From that moment on, the Young Khane set out on his own, selling his sword skills to the highest bidder as a mercenary, bounty hunter, and just about anything else that can put coin in the purse of a man with a blade and skilled in it's use.

[Alehkra]

Good, certainly accepted. He'll get along well with my planned character. :P

[KnightsTemplar]

Name: Amras Telemnar.
Gender: Male.
Race: Wood Elve.
Age: 225.
Physical Description:

Appearance

Equipment*: Elven Longbow, Elven leather armor, Hooded cloak, Dagger, medical, repair and herb pouch.
Brief Bio:

Amras Telemnar eschews the fineries of Elven life and enjoys greatly the thrill of the hunt, believing that the hardships of survival build character and gives him his strength. In his eyes, the civilised elves have abandoned this way of life and become weak as a result. He is a passionate person, who follows tends to follow his heart instead of his head, trusting in his instincts and intuition, because they are the best tools for survival in the primal forests.

He's also intense in thought and demeanour, with a straight connection between his heart, mind and body. He always say what He really think about something and does not hesitate to act when He knows he is doing the right thing. Amras can have two faces, the one they show to to his people and the one He wears for outsiders. To other Elves, He is attentive, kind and protective, but to others he is aloof, uppity and with more than a measure of arrogance.

[chukklehed]

here's a question. if we feel like it can we hve more than one character?

[Alehkra]

chukklehed said
here's a question. if we feel like it can we hve more than one character?

I'm tempted to say no, but I'll amend that by saying no, unless the second character is accompanied by a truly exemplary character sheet and a very interesting background.

EDIT: Second amendment: Things such as animal familiars, spirit companions, ect, so long as they are well done do not count as multiple characters.

[chukklehed]

well, i wasn't planning on it right now, just wanted to know for later

[Alehkra]

Also, after giving it some thought, I'll make a second amendment to that. Things such as animal familiars, spirit companions, ect, so long as they are well done do not count as multiple characters.

[chukklehed]

STOP GUESSING MY CHARACTERS FUTURE!

I mean, what? Totally not planning for her to have a spirit companion. I don't know where you got that idea.

I'm really bad at secrets.

[Munk]

Okay, I give in. This sounds too good to miss—I'll think up a character. Looks like L's got the magic covered, so I'll go with a mundane character. A scholar, maybe.

[Sturmgewehr]

I wanted to make two characters that are tied to each other but since it looks like we are allowed only one I will make one playable and the other a NPC. Anyways here is my CS.

Name: Tyr Ethelson
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Age: 29
Physical Description:

Appearance

Equipment:
- Composite bow(shown in appearance pic.);
- Quiver with 48 arrows(also shown in appearance pic);
- Short sword.
Brief Bio: Born in the kingdom of Dalria, Tyr was fascinated by archery ever since he was a child. It was his childhood dream to be an archer. At the age of 17 he made his dream come true after he joined the Dalrian army as an archer. The instructors were impressed with how fast he was learning and how good he was becoming. At the age of 25 he was already one of the best archers in the kingdom. Everything was going perfectly for him, up until he met a woman named Alana, who he fell in love with. Tyr had no idea that Alana was a professional thief. He found out after she was captured and sentenced with execution. Apparently the last person she stole from was an important person amongst the king's ranks. And he insisted with the execution, although life in the dungeons was more enough. Tyr became very conflicted and had no idea what to do. To let the love of his life be executed for thievery or damn himself for good by attempting to save her life. When execution day finally came, Alana faced public execution. But just as the executioner was about to drop the axe and chop off her head. An arrow that came out of nowhere pierced his heart. Tyr then dived into the crowd and climbed on the wooden stage as he began fighting off the few soldiers that were there for security purposes. Then he grabbed Alana and they both fled. Tyr has been on the run ever since, with Alana accompanying him.
Any other interesting tidbits about your character:

NPC: Alana

Aged 30 Alana is a professional thief. She lost her parents when she was 8 and she began stealing ever since then in order to survive. Her skills in stealing grew along with her age. Five years ago she met Tyr in a tavern and they fell in love with each other. She kept her profession a secret from him up until two years ago when she tried to steal from one of the King's generals. Unfortunately for her she was discovered and captured. And the general insisted on her beying executed by having her head cut off in public. Fortunately for her that never happened as she was saved by Tyr just in time. The two have been wandering Provinka together ever since. Alana is very skilled in using throwing knives, climbing buildings, stealth, lockpicking and even some hand-to-hand combat as well. Of course she didn't learn all these skills by herself as she was taken under the tutelage of another professional thief when she was a teenager.

[chukklehed]

Munk said
Okay, I give in. This sounds too good to miss—I'll think up a character. Looks like L's got the magic covered, so I'll go with a mundane character. A scholar, maybe.

oh man, that would be great. So far it's just L and a bunch of Meatheads. (no offense to said meatheads). It'd be great for L to have someone to talk to.

[Munk]

chukklehed said
oh man, that would be great. So far it's just L and a bunch of Meatheads. (no offense to said meatheads). It'd be great for L to have someone to talk to.

So far the plan is having my character be an old adventurer/treasure hunter who heard the stories about the Old Gods and decided to learn more from the cults in Turizi. Initially just from a desire for treasure and excitement, but eventually he became so interested and obsessed that he settled in Turizi to study the Old Gods. And now, well, the stories may just have turned out to be true ;) should be a lot of fun to play.

[Deamonbane]

Sounds good... my character can be the skeptic in that case *grins*

[KnightsTemplar]

Meatheads???

I'mma gonna pull your bunny ears