Long ago, the Gods faced an ancient enemy which they could not defeat, so the gods to ensure their survival bestowed upon humanity powers and blessings, that they may continue to live on and prosper. Nowadays the ancient evil is almost all gone, and the powers are mostly used for tournaments to settle issues between nations, families, and individuals.
The city-state of Rhea is currently the largest and most successful city-state in the world. In times gone by, it was one of the first cities to institute the arena method of solving issues, political or otherwise. Over time, an equal emphasis came to be placed by most other nations on this ritualized combat, leading to a new age without large scale wars. Now most arena training begins during high school, to help children master their powers and be prepared to defend themselves, or more important to the state, the state itself.
The city-state of Rhea's main tourist attractions are their tournaments. Every person's power is unique, themed after their divine benefactor's portfolio causing no end of special oddities and wacky abilities. Most major cities in any region of the world will have tournaments but none are as usually as grand as the city-state of Rhea's. Visitors from far and wide come to pit their might against the best the city has to offer.
Schools of Importance
There are four main schools which usually fill out the 'best' category. They are St. Laurel's School of Divine Excellence, Mephisto's School for the Wickedly Inclined, Sir Clausewitz' School for the Militarily Minded, and Lord Kiburi's school for the Truly Exceptional.
St. Laurel's School of Divine Excellence as you might be able to tell from the lofty sounding name is quite a high class school. It has an extremely large campus with top class facilities for just about everything you can think of. There's even an engineering section for those who've been blessed by the God of Smithing and aren't well suited to direct combat, for example. The school has a very good standard of education, so even if one doesn't succeed in the sphere of combat there's always more study options.
Mephisto's School for the Wickedly Inclined always shows up in every tournament but no one is quite sure where they happen to be located. Their physical location changes in the records just about every year. To have your school's location inaccurately listed is supposed to incur a fine, but the principal doesn't seem to have a problem paying it every year. He does also seem to spend a lot of time being suspected of tax fraud, however.
Sir Clausewitz' School for the Militarily Minded is the closest to a military school that exists in Rhea, built and sustained by strict codes of conduct and demands of excellence. Their demands are so high the school holds the highest expulsion rate in Rhea, as well with the highest rate of student injury. Those able to survive the exceptionally harsh conditions, and succeed in getting the grades demanded of them for arena participation have been some of the most dangerous arena fighters in Rhea.
Lord Kiburi's School for the Truly Exceptional is a school maintained by the current grand champion of the Arena, Lord Kiburi. This school reeks of decadence, pride and is truly steeped in unequaled self importance. Partially funded by Rhea itself, partially funded by Lord Kiburi's winnings in the arena, this school is a school with the most bare definitions of it. The stated rules of the school are as such.
One. Don't kill other students.
Two. Don't be a whimp.
Three: Don't skip school unless the reason is cool enough or good enough.
Four: You don't break the rules if you don't get caught.
As one can see, truly Lord Kaburi is one capable of running a high functioning place of learning.....
There's also been new faction that seems to have shown up recently. Tournament teams are usually school based, but there are various free tournaments in which all you have to do is form a team and register in order to fight. One such team has become very large within the two years it has been active, and that is the Vigilantes. They're not actual vigilantes, but amongst their members are various students from St. Laurel's, Mephisto's, Clauswitz's and Lord Kaburi's.
Their membership is now too large to be called just a normal group, and as such they are treated as an small organization of sorts. As long as they can pay the fee for entry, they can register in the larger school tournaments, like any other non-school organization. They do free-lance jobs for the money, stuff like finding stray cats, manual labor, exorcisms, fighting supernatural pests and the like. Besides that though, records of the group's membership and activities are scarce.
Most would dismiss such a group as nothing more than an oddity in the general order of the city, however they attracted much attention on their first entry into an official tournament because of their leader, King. He was strong enough to win every 1v1 battle the group had to fight by himself. Regardless of any complaints about how victory was achieved, they achieved victory and earned their rankings on Rhea's Ranking Board.
The Great Evil, a strange inky substance resembling the star spotted night sky is a thing from a time long passed, which is caustic to the gods themselves. This mysterious power assaulted known existence a long, long time ago and was the catalyst for the gods bestowing great power upon humanity. After the War for the Heavens, the Great Evil has been reduced to a infinitely small fraction of its previous power. Existing now in the greatest depths of caves, ancient dungeons, or the deepest nooks and crannies of the ocean, it is rare for one to encounter this force within their life times. However, there are those who seek out this horror to destroy it, and some other for more nefarious reasons...
Rules!
1. Don't be rude to other players.
2. Metagaming will be fine in some cases, and I'll also be metagaming technically as the GM to bother people sometimes. The line for metagaming for me is when it's not about fun, and more about chasing an advantage you shouldn't have.
3. Being overpowered won't matter so much in most cases, but in the tournaments of course they will. I can make some exceptions for something like a good character weakness, or at the very least you can keep some kryptonite in your back pocket. Just ask if you're not quite sure what to do.
4.Auto-hitting is fine for pretty much anyone I'm controlling, but just to the point of confirming whether or not an attack has hit, and maybe some follow-up attacks. If I want something to live, then I'll find a way. No auto-hits against other players though, as always.
5. Don't god mod. You're all going to get plot armour, and there's no place I'd feasibly want to kill you in unless you act really stupid. I will warn you normally with a "Are you sure you wanna do that?". Ignore that warning at the peril of your character..
Powers!
I won't place too much restriction on the nature of your powers, but as a personal recommendation, I'd say that the simpler your powers are to use, the easier it'll be to play. Each character can start with 1 central power, and up to 3 other abilities. You get more as the RP goes along, but you might not so choose wisely.
Your central power is the one you should base your character's core combat potential, and your three other abilities should help to facilitate your core power in some way. You can choose to do whatever you really want, though.
Anyhow, here's the basic CS skeleton.
Basic CS skeleton:
Name:
Feel free to include any nicknames or titles your character would have.
Age:
If your character is a student, it'll be 18 years at the maximum. You can be a lot younger though, say if you were a child genius or something similar.
Grade:
Only applicable for students, the great schools are highschools, enter the school name followed by 1st year, 2nd year, or 3rd year.
Biography:
Include some form of either personality or background here. It's optional, but there won't be much time to set up characters at the start of this RP, so having something is going to be better than having nothing.
Powers:
Put your powers here. Do remember, 1 core power and up to 3 other abilities. If you'd like a guideline as to how far you should or shouldn't go, I'll have some example sheets later on.
Relationships:
Rivals and nemeses, reputations preceding, perhaps even some special feelings for a special person. This section is optional, but it's nice.
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