[OOC] Judah

[Zeropathic]

- I accidentally double posted, ignore this. -

[Capra]

Zeropathic said
how many giants are there? And what happens to the ladies giving birth to them? Somehow, it doesn't sound so healthy for the mother.

In Sodom and Gomorrah, right now? Alive, very few. Dead, many. Mysteriously disappeared, even more. A giant is born much in the same way a human does, since the fetus is similar in size to a normal one; however, many mothers either die in childbirth, or kill themselves upon seeing the abomination their womb has spawned.

[Ashgan]

Yo Capra. I should probably let you know that I am indeed still around, just mostly lurking or posing questions by proxy through Zero. We're working on our characters as I write. I wanted to chime in quickly and ask about the cultural situation of slavery in the twin cities; before the coming of the angels, as I imagine that, afterwards, people did what they pleased for the most part. Given how common slavery was in antique cultures, I imagined that it would probably be accepted practice in Sodom and Gomorrah as well, but I wanted to make sure.

[Capra]

Slavery was indeed acceptable, with most people becoming slaves because of debts.

[Zeropathic]

Hi again.
So, my character, Malakai, was a warlord (self-proclaimed king) of a powerful domain within the city of Sodom, which he usurped by murdering his younger brother who was the intended successor. His subordinates attempt to have him assassinated, and while he survives the attempt itself, he is left with a wound that festers and threatens to kill him.
On his deathbed, he is plagued by visions of meeting his brother in the afterlife/hell, and pleads to God to save him from his fate, but God does not respond. Instead, Malakai pleads with Shamshiel, pledging to conquer the city of Sodom in the angel's name and build a great temple in his glory if only he will rescue Malakai from death.

This is where I intend to have him forge a pact with the angel Shamshiel, but I'm wondering how to perform the ritual in question. I also wonder about the gifts I can receive: I intended to give my character an unnaturally long life as well as the power to cure grievous wounds (including his own) and various diseases and other ailments. This seems within the specified scope of abilities, but I'm asking just to be safe.

[Lo Pellegrino]

I only just came across this Roleplay and am extremely interested. Back in college I studied Judeo-Christian mythology deeply, along with texts since removed, and in all honesty, am a Universalist in reality. I find the old stories both fascinating and revealing when it comes to humanity.

I'll be working on a character sheet soon. Generally, I prefer more seasoned individuals who favour stealth and precision. As a lover of Dante, you will likely see a middle-aged follower of Sariel torn between learning more -- risking what's left of his humanity in turn for the secrets of the Writhing Mirror -- and returning to the mortal plains with what he's already discovered.

[Capra]

Zeropathic said
This is where I intend to have him forge a pact with the angel Shamshiel, but I'm wondering how to perform the ritual in question. I also wonder about the gifts I can receive: I intended to give my character an unnaturally long life as well as the power to cure grievous wounds (including his own) and various diseases and other ailments. This seems within the specified scope of abilities, but I'm asking just to be safe.

Swear a blood oath and offer your life to the angel, and he'll gladly accept your servitude. The abilities you chose are fine.

Lo Pellegrino said
I only just came across this Roleplay and am extremely interested. Back in college I studied Judeo-Christian mythology deeply, along with texts since removed, and in all honesty, am a Universalist in reality. I find the old stories both fascinating and revealing when it comes to humanity. I'll be working on a character sheet soon. Generally, I prefer more seasoned individuals who favour stealth and precision. As a lover of Dante, you will likely see a middle-aged follower of Sariel torn between learning more -- risking what's left of his humanity in turn for the secrets of the Writhing Mirror -- and returning to the mortal plains with what he's already discovered.

Very nice!

[Capra]

How's everybody doing? Thread's been silent for almost a week.

[Zeropathic]

I've been down with the flu for the past couple of days and haven't had the energy to do much else than trying to sleep. But I do have about 650 words of backstory written, which I assume will be around 2500-3000 words when I'm done, if I continue at the current rate. I think I'll try to cut down a little, as it most likely doesn't need to be that long. I'm trying to write in the style of a biblical historical narrative, which is new to me. It seems appropriate, though. I've also been reading the Book of Enoch. Fascinating stuff.

[Ashgan]

Yo Capra, I'm done with the background; just need to get physical description and a bit of personality out of the way and I'm good. I just have a small wonder concerning the age of the characters; all things considered, I would have to assume that these people would age significantly slower than real life humans, wouldn't they? The imprisonment below could have lasted centuries, enough to outlast multiple generations, and the characters weren't even born in prison. So what I'm trying to say is, is it plausible to have a character survive from the day the angels first came to the twin cities up to the start of the RP, and have them not be a shrivelled metuselah?

Also, concerning physical description: I assume that characters are reasonably banged up after having been specially imprisoned for their sins, right?

[Capra]

Ashgan said
Yo Capra, I'm done with the background; just need to get physical description and a bit of personality out of the way and I'm good. I just have a small wonder concerning the age of the characters; all things considered, I would have to assume that these people would age significantly slower than real life humans, wouldn't they? The imprisonment below could have lasted centuries, enough to outlast multiple generations, and the characters weren't even born in prison. So what I'm trying to say is, is it plausible to have a character survive from the day the angels first came to the twin cities up to the start of the RP, and have them not be a shrivelled metuselah?

Characters did not age at all during the time of their imprisonment. They were kept in a sort of "coma", if you want to call it like that; although their physical body did not age, they could perceive every single second of the eternity they spent in chains.

Ashgan said
Also, concerning physical description: I assume that characters are reasonably banged up after having been specially imprisoned for their sins, right?

Yes, they might be.

[Ashgan]

I see. Still, I realize I ran into a bit of a problem with the way I wrote my story, as, with the fact that about a hundred years passed in between the descent of the angels and the cleansing by God, it now stands that my character should be in their early hundreds (not, counting imprisonment). So, if characters in this world age normally, and thus have a life expectancy of, let's say, sixty-seventy (eighty?) years, which for the time is probably already quite generous, then that's a bit of an issue. I may have to do some reconstructing, which is a shame because I was rather satisfied with how it turned out. Hmm.

Ain't nothing a covenant with an angel (or demon) would do about that, right?

[Capra]

Ashgan said
I see. Still, I realize I ran into a bit of a problem with the way I wrote my story, as, with the fact that about a hundred years passed in between the descent of the angels and the cleansing by God, it now stands that my character should be in their early hundreds (not, counting imprisonment). So, if characters in this world age normally, and thus have a life expectancy of, let's say, sixty-seventy (eighty?) years, which for the time is probably already quite generous, then that's a bit of an issue. I may have to do some reconstructing, which is a shame because I was rather satisfied with how it turned out. Hmm.Ain't nothing a covenant with an angel (or demon) would do about that, right?

Don't worry too much about that sort of things. After all, this campaign is inspired by biblical tradition, and in the Bible there are characters who lived for five hundred years. Besides, depending on which angel you decided to serve, you might find various ways to justify your aging being slowed down or halted (necromancy with Samyaza, your body being replaced by a writhing mass of humus and worms with Araqiel, etc.)

[Ashgan]

All right, thanks. I was actually going to enter a covenant with Baraqel, by the way.

[Capra]

Thread's been silent for a whole Creation (plus day of rest). How is everybody doing?

[Zeropathic]

I'm having problems with my hands, and it doesn't seem to be getting better very quickly. Writing turns uncomfortably painful after a while, so I haven't gotten much done. Frankly, even if I force myself to finish the sheet I don't know whether I'd be able to post regularly without detrimental effects. I'm sorry that this comes so late, but I've decided to pull out of this RP.

[Ashgan]

All right Capra. It's pretty much now or never I feel, so I will stop being a professional procrastinator and perfectionist, and simply post my sheet as it is now. Though personally unsatisfied with it and considering it incomplete, it does contain everything you needed in the strictest sense, so I'll do what a lot of game developers are doing and pump out this thing and fix it up later. Now this still means that, by the looks of it, I am the only one who's at least remained interested, so I don't know if that's really enough for you (and by the gods, having me as your only player bodes badly for the pace of things, even if I won't drop out) but at least you get something to read, some token of appreciation of your thread which I still love. I also want to apologize for having been a disappointment so far; thanks for your patience.

Character Sheet

Name:
Kyoru, the Queen of Denial
Oft referred to as the Queen of Whores by dissenters and admirers alike.

Age:
132

Gender:
Female

Story:
Awaken!

If this city were a man, he would be stricken with disease, incurable and terrible. If it were a man, he would devote the remainder of his miserable days to prayer and the pursuit for atonement, for he has failed his lord in all the tasks once set before him. Sodom and Gomorrah, the twin cities built in a realm of nothingness with the purpose of filling the void with goodness and righteousness and the word of the LORD. But it was not good, for God had tolerated a single flaw in his grand design: that it was to be populated by Man. In a design so perfectly pure, a single blemish would shatter everything, for it was destined to be equally, perfectly fragile. The embodiment of all that is good and holy, the LORD had forgiven mankind for his transgressions, had filled them with new hopes and dreams, had set them upon a fresh path and a clean slate, for he dreamed with them of a bright future. Yet all the dreams in the world, be they of gods or men, could not keep the darkness away forever. Had the LORD hoped that by engulfing Man in his own light, in a realm void of anything else, he could purify them of their disease that festered in their tarnished hearts? What disappointment he must have felt when he saw what he had wrought. For the brighter the flame, the deeper shadows fall.

Few would know more about the shadows than Kyoru, a lowborn woman in a world of men. Destined to live in poverty and servitude to those more privileged than her, she was all but overlooked by the world at large. In a world so poised to look upwards and to strive towards greatness, few would pause to look down at the quiet, unseen forces at work beyond what we normally perceive. For Kyoru was a slave like her parents before her, and it was the destiny of slaves to stand in the shadows of greater men. This was the LORD’s plan, and he saw that it was good.

Perhaps they were wrong. Pride and ignorance would be their downfall, for had they ever looked into the dark where Kyoru dwelt and toiled, they would have seen the venomous hatred that grew inside her like a son. Hatred for the LORD, hatred for his apostles, hatred for the self-righteous, hatred for the inevitable. The very concept of destiny and predetermination caused revolt and disgust in her, and gave birth to the concept of the grand denial. Denial of the LORD and everything he stood for, denial of all the things that he had set forth and decreed. Kyoru rejected the life she had been given, and yearned for a way to break the chains of fate that bound her.

It was at this time that the winged emissaries of God, the holiest of creatures, descended upon the twin cities with intentions impure and misguided. Once possessed of unequal purity of body and spirit, these angels found things in the dark reaches of creation that had driven them from the path of God, had inspired in them a savage side that was so very reminiscent of another creature: Man. And much like man, these angels began to feel previously unfelt desires; cravings normally reserved for the wingless. When they beheld the daughters of man, those pitiful creatures bound to the unclean earth, they were overcome by a great want for their bodies and warmth. Having strayed from the LORD’s word, they shed the last vestiges of divinity from their angelic forms and lay with them as they pleased. More than that, they mingled with the society of Man and introduced him, woeful, ignorant creature that he was, to wonders of technology and mysticism. Secrets were revealed to them that would have never become known were it not for the aid of these misguided messengers, who now felt more kinship with the mortal flock than they did with their creator. This was a time of great change and great things. A time of innovation and prosperity. A time of opportunity.

Do you remember how it all began?

While men cast their eyes towards the stars and towards their newfound gods – deified angels and false idols of gold – the fallen ones combed the deep shadows of the twin cities, finding lost treasures within the unlight. Baraqel, the Father of Lies and Watcher in the Dark, found a very special flower growing in the darkness, one that fed on tears and shunned the light. It was small and shriveled and tangled in weeds, and when he asked for its name, it called itself Kyoru. The little thing told him that it was the queen of flowers, and that one day it would outgrow the dungeon it had been planted in, grow to such magnificence that all would prostrate and worship it. So intrigued was the fallen angel by her that he indulged her fantasies and promised to help her grow – if only she would indulge his. Thus, hidden away from prying eyes, the two consumed their infernal union, and one thing was exchanged for another.

Up above, enlightenment turned to decadence, and from decadence spawned violence and decay. The twin cities collapsed in on themselves after years of infighting between groups gathered around petty, self-proclaimed lords who would seek to use the secrets of the angels against their next of kin to further their own agenda. Fat, uncaring men gorged themselves on wine and fruit whilst looking down from their gilded towers onto the burning streets of Sodom and Gomorrah, where lesser men butchered one another to appease them. Idolatry became rampant, the idea of the LORD all but a distant memory. The natural order of sex was entirely discarded in favor of aggressive experimentation; nothing was sacred. And above all else, the darkened silhouettes of titanic giants loomed across the horizon, where they could be seen pillaging and annihilating less fortunate places. Not many knew where they had come from, but everyone knew that they were the bringers of the end.

They were called the Nephilim, and they were the unholy offspring of a union between an angel and a woman – a union as unspeakable as the abominations they have spawned. Kyoru should know, for she bore her very own loathsome Nephilim. Most mothers of such monsters either died at birth or committed suicide out of horror upon seeing the disfigured body which had crawled from their womb, yet Kyoru not only survived the birth of her child, but seemed entirely ignorant of its repulsive appearance. While others saw only a monstrosity lying in her arms, her bewitched eyes saw a child more beautiful than anything she had ever beheld. Such was Baraqel’s gift unto her: she had the power to bend reality and turn things into their opposite, though it was all deceit, for she had no power over the true nature of things.

While her child-beast grew into maturity, Kyoru used her newfound powers to sway the hearts and minds of men throughout the entire city. Always altering her shape to appeal to the simple minds of men, she promised them the world, and made them love her and believe in her cause. First she gathered the warriors, so that she might be safe in a city that was further descending into chaos, violence and madness every day. Then she gathered the women, so that they too might be safe, and that they might please the men, thus fulfilling part of Kyoru’s grand promises. Wherever she and her apostles went, they welcomed the steadfast and the hopeless alike into their seductive embrace, and great numbers flocked towards her court, for it was easy to like a sovereign who offered pleasure, riches and peace over tyranny and slavery.

Henceforth, her name was praised through the streets of the twin cities, and she would become known as the Queen of Denial – or, as competing rulers would have it, the Queen of Whores, for it was truly descriptive of her court. Over time, the number of these opposing lords diminished, as the weak were devoured by the strong, and before long Sodom and Gomorrah were ruled by only a handful of despots. Given more time, perhaps she could have ruled all of the twin cities, but such thoughts are idle fancies now.

This was the time when the LORD returned and beheld what mankind – and his angels – had wrought. Few remember what happened hereafter, for few survived the cataclysm that tore the twin cities asunder. Those that did – the angels, the Nephilim, and the greatest of human sinners – were imprisoned in the darkness beneath the blasted surface, where they were locked away to await the end of the world. The rest was never heard from again, and thus concludes the account of Kyoru and the twin cities.

Appearance:
Kyoru is a woman of many faces, and most accounts of her vary wildly from one another. Sometimes she is described as tall, other times as short; one man claims she had long, golden hair, another affirms he had seen her with raven hair cut short. To most, she appears as a young woman, seductive as she is beautiful, but some would claim she was much older than the former would admit, appearing mature and experienced. As if she were but a collectively experienced dream, Kyoru seems to change the details of her appearance at will, always succeeding in appealing to the beholder. At the very least, everyone could agree that she was, in fact, a woman, and her behavior also remained consistent enough to define.

Sin:

• Lust, sexual depravity


• Envy


• Pride


• Conducting of and permitting sorcery


• Consorting with an angel


• Above all else: Denial of god, heresy

Affiliation:
Illusionist by the grace of Baraqel

---

Awaken!
For the first time in eternity, light falls into this forgotten chamber, deep beneath the surface. The flicker of torchlight reflects against the oddly metallic floor inside, barbed with millions of finger-length spikes, like grass made of metal. From the poisoned, iron soil rise gnarled, silvery trees that stood the test of time, unchanged from when they were first warped into their deformed shape. In the center of the circular garden stands an enormous iron tree, its metal roots digging deeply into the ground while its myriad branches carve holes into the ceiling. Only dimly illuminated by the torches from this distance, one can see a person hanging from the tree, held in place by thorned vines made from iron. The ancient nails dig into her flesh, and lines of crusted blood are painted all across her emaciated body. This woman’s lifeless body hangs motionlessly from its unyielding prison, this Iron Garden to which she had been sentenced a long time ago. And by all rights, she should have remained there to rot for all eternity, but everything changed when it penetrated her prison…

[Capra]

Don't be so hard on yourself, man. Your character looks very nice, although it's true that starting the campaign with only one player wouldn't make much sense. So, for now I'll just bump this thread (and the IC) and hope for the best.

[Ashgan]

At this point I think it's safe to say that we are not going to see any additional participants unless the intchk keeps getting bumped, and even then. Additionally, I'm sure you've taken notice of the ever more ridiculous downtimes that RPG is going through, further antagonizing the potential of a roleplay happening. Maybe you'd like to try hosting this on a different website? You'd get the benefit of a fresh chance of garnering interest as well as a new audience, and you'd also get a more stable platform to run it on in the first place. Just a suggestion. Either way, whatever you decide to do, please let me know when/if decide to do this again. I am not often this enamored with an RP concept, and I want to see it go places.

Should RPG be down for whatever reason, you could reach me via e-mail under [[e-mail]] or find me on skype as [northwind-hero], if you'd like.