The Kingdom of Estoria has lost a great ruler; king Wildred Grandhelm, to a horrible sickness of which even the best healers could not cure. He wasn't even able to name an official successor before the disease rendered him comatose, and as such the throne would, as tradition dictates, be passed down to his eldest son or daughter. However, in an unprecedented move, 3 siblings along the line of succession passed up on the position for various reasons, leading to the young and inexperienced Aribelle Grandhelm to inherit the throne once she turned 18 in only a little more than a month after her father's passing. In this land there's only a king or a queen (rather than both at once), depending on the gender of the royal child taking the throne, so she had a whole lot of responsibility thrust onto her alone in such a short amount of time. She needed help to properly run her nation in these chaotic times...but could they all be trusted? She was admittedly a tad naive, impressionable, and unaware of the true nature of her position and the position of those around her, all qualities that would allow people with ill intentions to sneak inside her weak points and manipulate her into being a puppet for their own ambitions. These crooked individuals are not all there is to worry about. Not by a long shot. There are those who want not to manipulate her, but to kill her. Bring down the entire kingdom of Estoria with her. Watch the entire world burn.
Estoria was once a grand kingdom and has much potential to be brought out yet again, but is of this moment caught in a precarious situation that would test the abilities of even one of the greatest rulers. The dwarven empire of Durra'halma, to the southeast, has been locked with them in a long, brutal, drawn out war with no end in sight. The elves of the Ilinor Woods to the north are of unknown intentions, but are unlikely to be of much help to Estoria; if anything leaning towards siding against them unless some brilliant negotiations are employed. The diverse kingdom of Kaer, to the west, is the most powerful nation in the region and may become allies, but if they do it's likely going to be only in their own best interest. Although not (openly, at least) hostile towards Estoria, they're well known for their grabs for power, land, and influence not only in this region but across the world. Queen Aribelle must make sure not to become their puppet if she's to ask for their assistance, an all too likely possibility. There are a few other smaller kingdoms in the area, but none of much use against such a large threat as the dwarves and possibly the elves as well. Should she broaden her reach to the outside regions? Is a new, inexperienced queen such as herself even capable of such a feat?
And then there is infighting. Magic users have been persecuted for some time due to either fear, ignorance, or hatred. Although in these witch hunts there are indeed actual witches, some of which were using their special powers to harm those who had no way of defending against, that doesn't make the slaughter any more excusable. Sometimes the witch hunts were mandated by official laws, sometimes encouraged, sometimes ignored, sometimes banned, but during any of these times the witch hunts kept going, carried out by vigilantes who would kill magic users no matter what, considering themselves to be martyrs if they got caught by authorities. Queen Aribelle has banned the killing of magic users and even has some working in her court, inspiring much hatred by these groups. Public opinion of this issue is not in her favor, which is why some rulers, even with absolute power, still tended to cave in and turn a blind eye to the killings. No sense riling people up and causing a civil war for the sake of a chosen few.
The people she has working for her clearly have to work overtime to make sure things don't end in disaster...If they even have a chance to begin with.
This roleplay will focus primarily within the castle's walls in the capital city of High Tower; of the politics and character interacts inside rather then focusing on the war itself. There will be some action scenes when assassins attack or in other rare circumstances, but don't expect the Queen to rush out onto some battlefield and start chopping heads any time soon. Unlike some roleplays, ending a war peacefully rather than violently has far more precedence, so a climax might very well be signing a peace treaty before everyone gets themselves killed in an epic battle that shouldn't be fought. Sometimes war is inevitable, but it's not the only solution here.
The main plot will simply be about keeping the kingdom from falling apart by forces foreign and domestic and your actions to achieve that goal as we go about our day to day lives. Unless, of course, you're playing a character who may secretly not have such noble intentions. There will be a lot of mystery involved about who is truly on what side. The ending of this roleplay is not planned out; only the beginning. That being said, everyone has the power to influence how this roleplay will proceed. Not only can your own actions tip the scales, but as mentioned in the plot you can also manipulate my character, Queen Aribelle's, actions as well. Will she turn out a majestic ruler or will you corrupt her into a tyrant? Will the kingdom of Estoria fall or will it become a thriving beacon of hope for the rest of the world? Only time will tell.
One more thing; the events of this roleplay may be grey and grey morality rather than black and white. It's recommended that nobody be truly evil, but instead have reasons for their actions, some of which highly sympathetic. Despite the Dwarven Empire being at war with us for a long time, many of them are just as tired of it as we are and had their reasons rather than all "Yeah! Let's keep killing everything for fun!" Even the witch hunters might just be scared of the witches power and wrongfully assume the witches are the evil ones out to destroy everyone.
As mentioned there are dwarves, elves, and humans; the primary three fantasy races. There may be others as well, just not having a large kingdom within the region this story takes place in. There are many faeries within Estoria and other places. Fauns have a lot of influence in Kaer. There are many more than just these examples, so if you have a race you'd like to include than just tell me about it and I'll see if I can approve them. As for mythical beasts, expect unicorns, (rare) dragons, griffons, etc.
This is a fantasy world with medieval technology. As high technology as crossbows has been invented and they can wear steal plate male if they are rich enough to afford it.
Magic is of the witch and wizard variety, chanting incantations from a book (or from memory) or using rituals such as pouring ingredients into a cauldron. There's a huge variety of spells available but most people are incapable of using any of them. Instant death or coming back to life are two spell types that are said to not exist. If they do exist than there are no documented cases. Being able to use magic is something you're born within besides rare circumstances. Everyone has mana, magical energy, but only said magic users are in tune with their mana enough to use it in their incantations of magic. If you can use magic, huge amounts of training is needed to be able to effectively cast it by way of controlling your mana. As such there is rarely young people able to cast magic, causing the stereotype that only elderly people can use magic. There are some exceptions to those especially gifted. Mana is the strongest in the youngest due to it fading with age, so exceptions might very well be quite powerful indeed.
Elves and fairies all have some form of mana control while dwarves have no documented cases that can be verified. Humans rarely have it, similar to most races. Fairies can use magic without incantations, using only their instincts, but are not very powerful in most circumstances. Magic was the cause of the so called "Great Tragedy", a story passed down for generations among the people of Estoria that has contributed to the hatred and distrust of magic by many. In the story there was a group of magic users who committed suicide by unleashing all of their magic at once, wiping out a good portion of High Tower. Indeed there is evidence of a huge blast that has been rebuilt over a long period of time.
If you wish for any magic than please inform me before using it in the IC to make sure it's fine.
1. Keep things PG-13 or less.
2. Casual and forum rules apply. This means no god modding, etc.
3. This already has a ton of interest so expect to be turned down unless you were among those who have expressed interest already. You can ask to be PM'd if a slot does become available in case a bunch of people drop out. Either that or you're free to start your own roleplay based on this and get everyone together who couldn't be in this one.
4. If you are gone for over a week than please inform us. I or someone else can manipulate your character to move the plot forward if they hold us up that long.
5. No one liners. I'm hoping for a high casual sort of thing, or just normal casual if you can't do it. Just put in effort and you'll be fine.
6. I'll be the queen so no taking that position. Everything else is pretty much fair game if it hasn't already been reserved and there isn't any room for more of that position.
7. You may have more than one character.
Fill out at least this much information. Include additional information if desired. Don't include things in parenthesis in your sheet (unless you really want too for some odd reason). Don't include things you want to be kept secret. Your character's cover story could be posted here as if their real story.
Name-
Age- (Elves and fairies don't die of old age. Dwarves can reach 500. Humans are normal unless they used some form of magic)
Gender- (Don't feel limited to gender roles. In this setting female knights are allowed, for example)
Race- (If you make up your own then please give me information. If their true race is a secret but they can pass as another race than say the race they are pretending to be)
Occupation- (Anything that could be relevant to the plot is allowed)
Appearance- (Written or picture)
Personality-
Magic- (If yes, please explain what they can do. Keep in mind that magic is rare and could get characters to treat you different if they find out)
Abilities- (Non-magical abilities they can do that could be helpful)
Weaknesses- (Nobody's perfect)
History- (What they were up to before the start of this roleplay. You can make up your own town names or whatever as needed)
Aribelle Grandhelm-ImportantNobody
Prince Finn Audalian of the Illinor Woods-smarty0114
Fidget Danger AKA "Fi"-Tatsua Aiisen
King Alexander Gildone-Dmessenger
Goliath-BKburke
Rand Thorel-Enalais
Princess Serena Grandhelm of Estoria and Rose Thorel-BlueAjah
Azoth Gray-Drake Baku
Unknown-Drake Baku
Jiro Tigermane-InfiniteEmbers
Sonorus "Son" Carver-Siren
Agilne Sky-Boboclown89
Geralt Montegue-Baconator
Alaric Gar-Ekirei
Minus the dragon of course lol.
