[OOC] Midnight Illusion Town: An Urban Fantasy RP

[VitaVitaAR]

The Town of Minazawa.

A fairly peaceful place, Minazawa is located near central Japan and is considered to be a perfectly ordinary town. Well... with a few exceptions. If one thing about Minazawa could be thought of as anything other than ordinary, then that must be the plethora of urban legends. Hauntings, youkai sightings, all kinds of things are nearly constantly reported in Minazawa. In this otherwise ordinary town, it seems as if the residents want to spice things up with all kinds of myths. From rumors of Hanako-san haunting every single bathroom in every single building, to claims that a fox spirit haunts the abandoned shrine at the edge of town, to the famed myth of the beautiful lady vampire that visits the richest district of Minazawa every year, there's no end to the different supernatural rumors circulating throughout the town's residents.

Kuchisake-onna. Hanako of the Toilet. Teke-teke. Youkai. Ghosts. Phantoms. Onmyouji. For whatever reason, Minazawa has become hotbed for sightings of the uncommon. No-one knows why. To the citizens of Minazawa, it seems to be a complete and utter mystery without a single clue. The Phantom Mansion, the oni in the forest, it all appears to be a strange and total mystery. For this reason, some people have begun to call Minazawa the 'Midnight Illusion Town' due to its sheer density of urban legends and sightings of the supernatural.

Of course, most of the people of Minazawa don't take this seriously. Rather, there's a sort of fun to it, the rumor that such things could exist, that spices up everyday life. 'Investigation clubs' have sprung up of all sorts, in order to get to the bottom of mysteries like the vanishing alleyway or the hidden secret district that only appears once a week. Some legitimately believe that there's something supernatural afoot in the town, but most of the residents feel that it's simply a way to have fun.

It's in this regard that the people of Minazawa are wrong.

Hauntings, youkai, vampires, phantoms, wielders of magic... It's all real. All of it. A secret second layer of the world, beneath the common world of modern man.

And soon, the common world of modern man and the supernatural layer beneath it will intersect.

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So, this is a new attempt at an RP set in my urban fantasy setting! For some background, here's some information I have recorded on the setting as a whole. For a quick primer on things likely to appear in the RP...

• Magi: Capable of magic, invoked by spells and symbols, sometimes in conjunction with one another. Magical prowess is passed through bloodlines, some families having more or less mana(and higher or lower quality mana) then others. Magi will have an affinity, which can range from things like fire to gravity to numbers. Affinities(which are also passed through bloodlines) are not limited to the affinity itself, but also includes things that are conceptually linked to it. For example, a mage with an affinity for fire would also excel at spells involving "consumption", "ignition", and "destruction". Magi can preform spells outside their affinity, though it is more difficult to learn. Affinities cannot be for anything entirely man-made. Playable!
  
  • Note: The most powerful mage(in terms of raw power) in this setting has an affinity for mana. They will not be appearing in this RP, and mana as an affinity is strictly off-limits. Other affinities that are off limits include Death, a totally unique affinity also claimed in this setting and absolutely broken for the purposes of this RP.
• Onmyouji: Magical practioners utilizing onmyodo as opposed to western methods of magic. They are similar(magic is passed through bloodlines, they have the same affinities), yet their methods are fundamentally different. Effectively they use the same magic, but with different methods. Onmyouji use ofuda to cast spells, which can be applied to objects or even bodies for a variety of effects. Onmyouji are also adept at preforming exorcisms. Playable!
  
  • Magic Traits: Some magi and onmyouji families possess a special "magic trait", an inherent magical ability connected to their affinity. These are quite uncommon, but they still exist. They require no spellcasting, and usually give some edge in ability. The magic trait "Illusion Break", for example, passively destroys illusions as the mage or onmyouji draws close to them. It also enables them to see through illusions.
• Youkai: The various supernatural beings native to the country of Japan. There are a fair number of their kind located in Minazawa City. These days, many kinds of youkai have a humanoid appearance, but some do not. There are many that can coexist with humanity, but there are also many that are dangerous creatures that must be hunted. The more human-like youkai can crossbreed with humans. Playable!

As for the main thrust of this RP, we'll be various people living within the town of Minazawa, who for varying reasons begin to associate with one another. As a result, they begin to work together in resolving the supernatural incidents that befall the town, some of which may be far more interconnected then it seems...

Additionally, @RolePlayerRoxas will be serving as my co-GM for this RP!

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• Name:
• Age:
• Gender:
• Race: Youkai characters are permitted, but I'd prefer at least a small majority of human characters rather then an all-youkai cast.
• Appearance:
• Personality:
• Abilities:
• Skills:
• Equipment:
• Brief Backstory:

[Phonic]

Hey!

Is this roleplay still open? Seems interesting enough to join at the very least!

[VitaVitaAR]

@Phonic: It is indeed!

[TheFake]

I think I have an idea for this if I can maker it work in a way that makes me happy. How does a child of a demon serving as a church Exorcist sound?

Either that or I'll use an old idea.

[VitaVitaAR]

@TheFake: Demon children are complicated, because they're both pretty rare and always demons.

[TheFake]

@TheFake: Demon children are complicated, because they're both pretty rare and always demons.

@VitaVitaAR

That was the plan. They converted to Christianity and do the work of an exorcist as penance for their heritage, seeing themselves as an abomination.

[caliban22]

Quick question, would a homunculus be possible as a PC? Also I am interested if there is space.

[VitaVitaAR]

@caliban22: We'd need to discuss the idea first.

[caliban22]

Alright just curious. I'm good with whatever.

[UndeadSpartan]

Say, what are the limits on ofuda talismans and how exactly will they work? Like, I imagine they'll only have a single use and there's a limit on how many you can carry on you, but additionally, what about things like summoning and fireballs? Can you have/(eventually) tame/summon a familiar? If you have a familiar, can you do something along the lines of letting it "possess" you, letting you draw on its power? Can ofuda be used to make fireballs and shoot them or would they be limited to combustion effects on whatever person/object they're applied to?

[VitaVitaAR]

@UndeadSpartan: In the case of something like a fireball, the ofuda itself would likely become the fireball. As for carry limitations it's basically however much you think your character reasonably can carry without it being noticed(provided they're going somewhere people might see them), honestly.

Familiars for onmyouji are shikigami, and shikigami are created by contracting formless spirits and giving them bodies. These formless spirits can have barely any actual consciousness of their own, as the body they are granted will give them a more complete sense of self.

Allowing a spirit to possess you would always be risky business, but I guess you could technically do it?

[UndeadSpartan]

I see, I see. Well at this point I'm mostly just theory-crafting and trying to figure out the basics of the magic system anyway, I'm not actually planning to shoot fireballs or get possessed. Quite on the contrary in fact, I figured I'd go with the keyword "Tranquility."

...Finding a nice image is hard though.

[VitaVitaAR]

@UndeadSpartan: I mean, it's modern times, so you really just need a picture of someone who looks like they suit that. They're not trying to advertise their nature as practitioners of magic.

[OliveYou]

interested! how does a bunny priestess/yokai sound?

[VitaVitaAR]

@OliveYou: Rabbit youkai are perfectly useable!

[RolePlayerRoxas]

I should probably note I won't be playing an active PC (not yet, anyway), but I will be assisting with NPC actions and behind-the-scenes stuff, too.

[Raineh Daze]

I discussed this with the GM first.

I didn't just randomly look at the stuff in the universe and write something up.

• Name: Raum, properly, though for everyday business she goes by Sophie R. R. Watt. Or, given that she's currently in Japan, just the first and last two.
• Age: 1000+. Looks 10 if you're willing to squint a bit.
• Gender: Female
• Race: Demon
• Appearance: Though there are some differences with the picture... namely, that she tends to prefer stuffed ravens to bears. She's also got wings, though with how small they are when folded, you would never notice outside of a swimsuit.
• Personality: Despite being a thousand year old demon... Raum's really timid. She's almost certainly the only example of a demon that an average human could get away with bullying, since she's really pessimistic about her own abilities--though that person would learn if they pushed too far that she is pretty dangerous when cornered. With a world view that places basically every supernatural creature as a bigger threat to her, Raum does her best to avoid fighting with them.
  She's friendly, though, and gets on really well with animals, even if they aren't birds. She's also pretty good at noticing small details.
• Abilities: As a demon, even a weak one, Raum has significantly enhanced physical abilities and a powerful regenerative ability. Everything else she can do in some way ties back to birds... hesitantly firing shadowy bird-like magical projectiles is the flashy one, but she can actually talk to them and get them to do what she wants, mostly sticking to crows, ravens, rooks, and the like. And then, obviously, there's the wings--quite small and covered up when folded, but she can spread them fully and fly.
• Skills: Raum has basically no skills that would come in useful for investigating mysteries or the like beyond "I'm old enough I might have run into something like it!" She can do her own housekeeping, cook food, look after animals, and garden. Beyond some talent for investments, she's not really good at much more than being.
• Equipment: She's got a lot of stuffed toys, and an annotated copy of both the Ars Goetia and a list of the 7 princes. The annotations are mostly personal notes, the magicians who'd be after such information would be flummoxed by the comparatively mundane contact details.
• Brief Backstory: Born in York, there wasn't much to say of interest about the soon-to-be-Raum. She was poor, human, and apparently about as unusual as a slightly burnt piece of toast. Then Lucifer fell, and everything got very strange, very fast. Going from human to demon was quite the jump and finding many of the others that had gone through this gave her quite a shock... mostly because she had the misfortune of running into the demon princes early.
  It rather set the girl up for the future. With no prior knowledge of the supernatural beyond superstition, Raum was only able to gauge her abilities relative to some of the most powerful beings alive, and wound up being easily intimidated by more or less everything/ Though sticking close to the more powerful beings when the church has come knocking has done great for survival, it hasn't really done much for her confidence.
  Having acquired investments and property, she's made a habit of moving to where it seems nice and quiet, untroubled by terrifying and powerful supernatural entities, where there's almost no chance of someone like Asmodeus dropping by without calling first. She's currently been living a year or so in a nice apartment in Minazawa, looking for clubs or the like that might let her join despite the whole "I don't want to go to school" thing. That got boring after the third time.

[VitaVitaAR]

@Raineh Daze: Since we discussed this ahead of time, accepted.

[Phonic]

@Phonic: It is indeed!

@VitaVitaAR

Awesome! I'll get to working on a character whenever my schedule allows for such.

Is there a discord for this roleplay btw?

[VitaVitaAR]

@Phonic: Not yet, at least.