Forwards Unto Dusk - Liberal fantasy

In the beginning, the world was beautiful. Sierras of silver divided the landscape like the delicate curves of a cartographer's pen, and livable woodland stretched from coast to coast like conquerors, dense, rich and broken only by lush savannas, and flaxen prairies. And yet, despite all this… it was dark, cold and hollow. There were no men to stride through its vast, unexplored canyons, or delve beneath its silent, un-vexed seas: All was still, and the only light was the fire of distant stars, faint and without warmth. It was an incomplete work of art, hanging still and motionless within the great expanse of stars and shadows. Alone, before whatever creator had abandoned its great work could first breathe life into it. But soon, fortune came, heralded by the passing of a shooting star: The Goddess Merida, patroness of starlight. In her passing she saw the world, and she fawned over it: For in everything, from its most delicate beaches to its most rugged mountain tops, she saw beauty… And yet, it saddened her. ‘This world’, she thought, ‘Is perfect. And yet it is cold, and still.’ But in her bosom she felt warmth like no other, and took pity upon this planet ruled by darkness. And so she forged it a companion, one of her own heart, and set it above the world: Our sun, the brightest and most beautiful of all stars. And she decreed it be called Luxus –The Dawn Star, and the world she had gifted it to, Luxa. And at her command, Luxa was illuminated: The Dawn Star shone its finest, and shed upon the planet rays of gold and bronze, bleeding colour into the fields, the woodlands, the oceans. Vibrant, verdant greens, shimmering blues and sandy whites. And oh, she declared it beautiful: But still, she was saddened. She had given this world her heart, but it was yet empty, a wasted gift. A waif left neglected amongst her starry children. And so she gave it her breath, too: And in doing so she created the winds that did shake the trees and bellow throughout the valleys… and breathed life into Luxa, for the first time. The stag is fabled to have been the first beast Luxa raised from nothing, and so it became her symbol. Then the bird, the bear… and, eventually, mankind. And, for a while, they rejoiced, and named her Mother of them all. But humanity, unbeknownst to Luxa and The All-Mother, was not alone. For when Luxus had first struck out, and disentangled Luxa from the cold bonds of darkness, it had involuntary created another world. For when darkness was forced to retreat from the rays of the sun… the first shadows were born. And within those shadows lay another land all together, Luxa’s deformed twin, twisted and eldritch: The Nocturne. And it, too, had felt Merida’s breath… and awoken within its centre were a different breed of creatures. Most prominently the spirits which wailed and rattled, given life at last, and under the darkling Nocturne sky, The Demon Princes they paid fealty to. But this was not the concern of men, who cared very little for their shadows. Instead, they rejoiced in the light of the sun, and thrived! But as the centuries went on, man found life tiresome. The sun was never to set of Luxa, and whilst that was a good omen in metaphor, in practice it left mankind burnt, and weak. Nature shriveled at their feet, and- as The All-Mother had only given them life- they didn’t even realise they longed for death. They hadn’t even the knowledge to beg. But Merida watched from afar, and loving matriarch that she was, was saddened again. Man worked under the tyranny of the sun eternally. Like the Gods they were unable to die, but they suffered for it. And so, one day she saw that Luxus and Luxa were lonesome, and plucked from the meteor she rode as though it were her beast of burden a sphere, made of ice, iron and rock. And she cast it into Luxa’s orbit, and knighted it The Dusk Star – Selene. Then, imbuing it with the faintest starlight, she tethered it to a stretch of the darkness, and gave Luxa a spin. That is the story of first day, and the first night. And as mankind lay down, and slept for the first time, Selene reached through the night, and finally let the oldest die in peace. She gave humanity the gift of death, the gift of children, and the gift of rebirth. Then, satisfied, she retreated into the field of stars, and watched again from afar. For a while, her resolve worked well: Men lived by day, and by night they rested. The world grew hot, and then cool, and Luxa thrived under that balance. It was only… Merida had not anticipated the selfishness of her own child, Luxus. For Luxus was a jealous star, who did not believe he should have to share the sky: And so with each passing century the day grew longer, and Selene- being a modest star- obliged, and made the night shorter to compensate. However, what Luxus did not know- and Selene did not rightly bother to tell him- was that at night, The Nocturne thrived. For when it was so dark that Luxa at large was enveloped in shadow, spirits walked the Earth and The Demon Princes paced the villages of mankind as though they were men. And- sensing that their time on Luxa grew ever shorter- they would not abide Luxus’ reign. And so The Nocturne all at once revealed itself, and declared war on the sun itself. Pouring from the shadows were beings immortal, given life by Merida, but pardoned from the gift of death. And they marched, and joined arms with their mortal cousins to prevent Luxa from being once again under Luxus’ tyranny. Bestowing upon mankind the knowledge of demonic magics, they stretched a canopy of night across the skies, and blotted Luxus out completely. The sun was outraged, but powerless: For The Nocturne drew its power from Selene, and Selene, although smaller, feared Luxus not. And so day surrendered, and negotiated with night. Selene and Luxus- with Merida, their surprised mediator- agreed upon their times within the sky, including periods in which one would reign longer than the other, as long as- over all- balance was maintained. Then they set about making neutral points. No longer would night and day simply become one another, they would transition, slowly and regularly, so peace might be maintained: These periods between day and night could become Dawn and Dusk respectively, in honour of the titles Merida had bestowed upon them. Satisfied, the denizens of The Nocturne returned peacefully to their lands (for the most part at least), and humanity settled finally into the eternal rhythm of dawn, day, dusk and night… and Merida, satisfied she had done well by her people, faded once again into the starlight. She will return, it’s fabled, when such a time as she is needed again… … so she’d best arrive soon. The Dawn Star Luxus is again an aggressor, and this time he threatens the Kingdoms of Dusk. Again, the days grow longer, and tensions between the kingdoms grows ever higher… but this time, Luxus is not alone. It would seem a clan of magical practitioners belonging to The Kingdoms of Luxus have evoked a radical and terrible magic in order to grant Luxus his trespassing… and The Nocturne’s patience grows short. Hello everyone, thank you for reading! Forward Unto Dusk is the story of a world where magic is prominent and tensions are high. In this setting, magic isn't a pre-determined skill, but rather a science that is studied in various different ways. It isn't a natural ability in humans, and instead requires an indepth knowledge of ancient linguistics and metaphysics (not that you actually need to know that, I'm just elaborating). And because it's a science, it branches out into different forms. Your generic elements are of course available, but the portions of the day are equally as important in this society, and so Solmancy (Day), Umbramancy (Night), Opacamancy (Dusk) and Auroramancy (Dawn) are also very prominent schools of study. The setting is liberal in the sense that there is no strict sort of magic, the way your magic behaves is specific to you, as is how you achieve it. Most people will study it, but some people will become 'Vessels' and as such they will be permitted to borrow a demon or spirit's magic in exchange for housing them in their body (more on that in the actual OP). Whether your magic fires generic elemental bolts, or is instead charged into body parts or used in any other sort of creative way is purely up to you! As is the place you come from and the culture you carry. The world is divided amongst four major kingdoms, those of Dawn, Day/Luxus, Dusk and Night/Selene (and no, none are inherently good or evil, although there are strong rivalries and distrust amongst them all.) Whether your town or country falls into one empire or another is your call. Anyway, enough rambling! The plot! In Forwards Unto Dusk, the worst has happened: A group of magical practitioners from The Kingdom of Luxus have banded together in an effort to restore 'the glory of the sun' and remove Dawn and Dusk from the equation all together, lengthening the day in the process and destabilizing the magics of Opacamancers and Auroramancers both (as they draw their power from realms similar to The Nocturne known as 'The Duskthorough' and 'The Dawnstream', which occupy the fainter shadows made by fainter light). To do so they're using an ancient magic, perhaps not even of this world, and the only hope the people of The Kingdom of Dusk have is to send a search party between the worlds of The Nocturne, Duskthorough and Dawnstream in the hopes that they can find the magical knowledge necessary to reverse the magic, and- failing that- summon Merida from across the star spangled darkness. If they can't, The Nocturne may vouch itself for a war which cannot be won, and Luxa will be thrown into utter chaos. All roleplayers will need to be magic users of some sort, but again, how your magic manifests is your call as long as it corrosponds to your element or time of day. And naturally there will be a strengthener/weakener mechanic put in place. Hope that wasn't too much to read! Hope to hear from some people soon!

Forwards Unto Dusk - Liberal fantasy

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