Under the scorching sun
A fantasy western roleplay
Premise
The year is 1834 as a wave of revolutions swept across the Iridian Empire. As the Imperial army crumbles under a string of defeats, emperor Hadrian Augustus takes the gold from the imperial coffers and flees by train from the capital with his family and retainers. His plan is to reach the port city of Azaire and take a ship to flee the country with all the gold to the kingdom of Adaigo. However, before the emperor can reach the port city, the citizens revolt and Hadrian Augustus is forced to take a different route towards Adaigo. With access to the sea cut off and the rebel armies closing in from the north, his only option is to go south through the Kharakhi desert, the desolate wastelands that separate the empire from the kingdom of Adaigo. The royal train manages to reach its final station where the emperor and his party enter the Kharakhi desert with a caravan of camels never to be seen or heard from again. It is believed that emperor Hadrian Augustus and his party died in the desert, leaving all the gold there left to be found.
Now 50 years later the legend of Hadrian’s gold has sparked many adventurers to search for riches in the Kharakhi desert to no avail. With no real leads, finding the gold seems to be impossible. However everything changes when a mysterious young woman enters Christiana town at the border of the Kharakhi desert, recruiting adventurers to search for the lost gold of emperor Hadrian.
Setting
Under the scorching sun is a fantasy western taking place in a fictional world that takes inspiration from the western genre and takes place in a desert environment. Think steam trains, gunslingers, swords and magic in a desert environment populated by many races and dangerous creatures.
The Kharakhi desert
The Kharakhi desert is a huge desert environment that forms the border between the Iridian Republic and the Kingdom of Adaigo and is claimed by neither. It forms a wild borderland beyond the reach of civilization. It is a diverse environment consisting of much more than just endless sand dunes and a few oases. There are mountain ranges, rock formations, area’s small rivers, vegetation, lost civilizations and much more.
The desert is home to many peoples which are all referred to as Kharakhi even when they are of different races and cultures. Some of the Kharakhi live in small permanent settlements while others are nomads that travel the fast expanse between the two countries. Historically the Kharakhi had facilitated the trade between Iridia and Adaigo but ships have made trade less prominent. Now most of Kharakhi trade focuses on products that are exclusive to the desert.
The Kharakhi desert is an unforgiving place. The days are scorching hot and the nights often freezing cold. Water is very often a scarcity and those who do not know their way around the deserts are bound to die of dehydration sooner than later. Taking one wrong turn can spell disaster. Not only is the climate unforgiving, the desert is home to many dangerous creatures.
The civilized world
The civilized world consists of the rest of the countries. These are all fairly developed to 1880’s standards with some frontiers. Industrialization is in full swing. Think factories, railways, industrial tycoons and poor living conditions for workers in the big cities. However it is not all big cities with smoking chimneys. There are many rural towns in the frontier bordering the great Kharakhi desert. On the edge of civilization is where this roleplay takes place.
The most important aspect of the civilized world is that magic is heavily regulated. Only those with special permits and official training are allowed to use it. The illegal use of magic is considered a serious crime. This has made magic a rare phenomenon.
The rules
- Keep it Roleplayer Guild friendly. Any content that is not allowed to post on the forum should not be in this roleplay.
- No godmodding/power-playing/auto-hitting/controlling other players characters and stuff like that.
- Be friendly, tolerant and tolerable. Treat your fellow players with respect and don’t be afraid to communicate with them or the GM. If you have any problems, concerns or stunning idea’s then reach out to the GM and the rest of the group.
- The players are greatly encouraged to expand and add existing lore. Making up places and throwing in idea’s is greatly encouraged. But always discuss it in OOC first.
- If you lose interest, run out of time or have some reason that you are no longer willing or able to participate in the roleplay, then it would be really awesome to write your character out of the story. If there is some reason such as a vacation, funeral, wedding or whatever that makes you unable to post for a while, please communicate about it and we can work things out.
- The desired post frequency is 2 per week. If that is too fast or too slow for you, then this roleplay is simply not for you. In the case that players go missing without a trace the GM will take over their characters as NPCs.
- Casual or better writing standards. Write a paragraph or two and use spell check.
- There will be a maximum of 4 participants in this roleplay. Players will be accepted based upon their character sheet. Once your character is approved you’ll be in the roleplay.
Character creation
Under the scorching sun is a fantasy roleplay so fantastical races are greatly encouraged. This can range from standard fantasy tropes such as Humans, elves, dwarves to more exotic ideas. Just keep them bipedal humanoid and of a relative size that should be able to function in a human society.
They should also have the “human condition”. all have fears, flaws, weaknesses and things they fundamentally struggle with. In short, characters need to be imperfect, make mistakes, mess up and eventually pull themselves back together again.
