Welcome, to the city of Mahoukyo! Tensions are rising between the three most powerful and influential families in the city, which side are you on?
Premise
In a world not dissimilar to our own, everyone in the world is born with 'Soul'. Utilizing the power of Soul, magical abilities will manifest and are powered by the amount of Soul one possesses. These people are known as mages, and their powers vary greatly. From being able to create and manipulate fire, to putting up barriers, to simply moving very fast, anyone and everyone is born with the potential to use magic. However, not everyone truly becomes a mage for magic, you see, is a strange and mystical power that not much is known about. Most that is known that one needs to it to be invoked, generally through a powerful or traumatic event, though at birth or it just manifesting from the blue are not uncommon.
Our setting takes place in Mahoukyo, where three powerful families have long been feuding over a rare resource known as Soul Essence, the purest form of Soul and that can only be found in the city. It only appears during the night, when strange magic washes over the city. Unbeknownst to all bar those involved, a strange alter reality known as Zero Time is created where Soul Essence is found in abundance. However, strange beasts lurk in Zero Time, preying on those who cannot see them or fighting the families as they fight amongst themselves.
Other strange things happen throughout the city. People disappearing, a serial killer on the loose, mutterings of a dark force pulling things behind the strings, pizza being stolen and people just turning up dead are just a few of the strange rumors circulating throughout the city. Most mages cannot function in the city without being a part of one of the three families, though it is not unheard of for unaffiliated mages to be found. Will you join one of the families, or be a lone wolf?
GM's Hello/Notes
Welcome, Lunarlord34's the name and being a terrible writer is my game. Been on the guild for awhile, but never outright gm'ed a rp here so this is my first attempt at something like this so cut me a break yeah? At least I'll have my co in Leslie Hall to keep my chaotic methods somewhat in check. Anyway, let's get onto the sweeter details.
I'll get into the rules in a moment, but for now, I'll give a brief explanation on the families. Note, the families are more like a clan or organization than a straight forward family.
The Rikimaru Family: Those who value strength and honor tend to drift towards this family. More of a splattering of gangs, this family is currently made up of roughly 30 different factions all united under one banner and each group ranges from 10 or so to upwards of 50+. The troublemakers of the three families. If one wishes to join the Rikimaru, then they must a current member of the Rikimaru to prove their strength. If your character is in this family, then they'll be in Gang 13 which is run by Frieda Necromantia (more on her below).
The Akechi Family: Sticklers for the rules and traditions, this family is less open towards outsiders however even their own leadership is fragmented. They're far more elitist and picky on who can join their circle, however, so long as you can serve a purpose they'll tend to have you. If one wishes to join the Akechi, then there are various ways to do so. Letters of recommendation, 'donations', a long list of decorated services, or more likely being scouted by the family are the more likely reasons for inclusion. If your character is in this family, then they shall be in the group run by Hector Johnson (more on him below).
The Isamu Family: For those that don't belong, who need a place to go, the Isamu will greet all comers with open arms. United as one big family under the current leadership, they're the most chill of the three families. If one wishes to join the Isamu, it is actually rather easy. They have a lax requirement to join, simply abide by their rules and protect your new family then they'll be more than happy to have you. The family head, Maylis Isamu, is a constant presence around all groups, though Squad 5 is captained by Dieter Gunnar and the one which your character will be apart of if you wish to join the Isamu.
With that little snippet out of the way, let's get to the crux of the matter. As explained above, Soul is what powers magic here so yes it's just renamed Mana because mana is overused and boring. Magic items/tools exist in this world. I will rank them in levels of rarity/usefulness. Grimoires, wands, scrolls, rings/jewelry, and weapons. Grimoires allow access to larger spells and better control, while Wands offer only better control. The other two will vary a lot more, however, but it leaves it open for whatever you wish. If an item you want isn't covered by these 4 terms, I'm more than happy to talk about it to see where they would fall.
Every family has a collection of Magic Stones, each one branded with their family crest which they use to gather the Soul Essence. It also allows them to access Zero Time, and in times of emergency as a back-up Soul power-up, though it comes with drastic draw-backs.
For the ranks, I shall be using a 3 tier scale system which I and my co Leslie ended up making.
Experience, which is as it sounds. It's more an age-related matter, so no 10-year-old child with the highest level of experience.
Capacity: One's ability to contain and sustain Soul and magic. I have the likely hood of people having each tier listed in the sheet below.
Aptitude: Basically how good you are at controlling your magic. Once again, it will be a bit of an age-related matter however I'm more lenient age-wise to this as prodigies do exist and adults with basically no control will as well.
Rules
1. GM's words are final. If I say you can't have this or do that then that's that. I am happy to debate things though, but be aware that I will just resort to this if needed.
2. Take any drama or nsfw stuff to pm's, don't want to deal with it. However, if you need me to solve any issues, once again just PM me.
3. There is basically no limit to the whacky magic/powers you can have. So long as I approve of the idea, you can have it. I want an open power system with whacky powers that either match or contrast personalities. Also, whacky character ideas would be pretty cool. There will however be a limit on how strong I'm allowing people to be, which will be a balance between the three rankings.
4. Ideally, we'll be taking 9-12 players, so roughly 3-4 in each faction including not being affiliated. You may play multiple characters if you wish, to a limit of three however they cannot all just be in the same faction. This limit doesn't count towards characters of NPC status though. Also, if you don't make the cut but if someone drops I will leave it open to you to join later if you so wish. May also increase the limit depending on interest.
5. There are 4 factions for players to join. One of the three families, or simply not being involved with the families. Straightforward. Just to clarify this, I will be looking to spread players evenly across the factions, however, you may have a character in each if you wish. Don't want to end up with a 1/2/4/29 type ratio.
6. If you need help with anything, don't be afraid to ask. More than willing to help accommodate players' ideas, and if you have subplots or the like ideas more than happy to hear them as well.
7. Now because I'm sick of dying RP's, I will be doing something of a check on players who wish to join as a warning. Mostly for activity and whatnot. There'll also be a semi-strict posting policy, which will vary in length though no shorter than a week, or I'll just skip you if it comes to it. If you want to drop, or are too busy to post then just tell me. In the case of the latter, I will look to accommodate you. I know sometimes you just can't post and I don't want to stress you out.
I think that should cover just about anything. As I said, any questions just ask. Anyways thank you for reading this far and I hope to see you in the big city.
Discord (ping me when broken): discord.gg/9mTQK8