[OOC] The War Over Driahn Peaks (High Fantasy)

[Dragonite777]

To the east there is the Kroven Dynasty, and to the west, the Lorean Empire. For a long time, the two nations - the two greatest and largest in the world - were actually wonderful allies. That hasn't lasted to this point. Lately, abundances of resources have turned up in the Driahn Peaks in the frigid southern lands. Very rare, very valuable resources. Rare creatures to hunt, rare minerals to mine, and of course, plenty of untamed space to occupy. Guess who the top two contenders who want these things are?

The respective rulers of the Kroven Dynasty and Lorean Empire - King Maral Kroven and Emperor Marcus Lorea - have tried to compromise with one another on the matter of the Driahn Peaks and the invaluable resources within, but all attempts so far have fallen short of successful. Tensions and hostilities have increased in the months since, and the two reigning superpowers of the world are now on the verge of war with one another. All the while, the many smaller kingdoms between the two prepare themselves to either ally with whoever lives closer in case a war starts, or sneak into the Peaks themselves and take the resources for themselves amidst the tensions.

The scape and scope of the land is nothing to scoff at; it's a big world out there. The large ocean surrounding the one major landmass and several large islands is abundant with food in the form of fish, and the many lands and sights between the freezing Driahn Peaks in the south and the abandoned Isle of Graves in the north all have their own cultures, stories, and problems as well. The world of Aephere is a big place, enough so that only one who devoted their entire life to exploring and seeing it all would ever be able to hope to see it all. And then there's you.

Wherever you're from, you've found yourself in a currently-neutral small island kingdom resting on a landlocked sea known as Sothia. Sothia is a small port town surrounded by water supplied by a channel running south from the northernmost centre point of land. This town is the port city to be at. Sothia is the centermost point on the continent, and is equally far from the Kroven Dynasty as from the Lorean Empire. Whether you travel east or west, to help or harm the kingdom you approach, there will be many choices to be made. Some may be better than others.

You stand in Sothia, going about your daily life you've created since you've arrived. The civil unrest is creating tension that is thick enough to slice with a knife. Some of the fair people in your now-hometown are siding with the Kroven Dynasty, yet others choose the Lorean Empire. You need to choose a side, or to abstain from siding with either. It's all your choice.

CS:

Name: (Who are you? What are you called?)
Age: (How old are you?)
Gender: (Male? Female? Trans? Hermaphrodite? Other?)
Race: (If it's not a common fantasy race, give a short description and/or a link to a page with information on that race)
Appearance: (picture and/or description)
Personality: (how do you act?)
Background: (Bare minimum: how did you get to be in Sothia)
Moral Weakness: (One method of guilt that gets you feeling super guilty)
Moral Immunity: (One specific method of guilt that just doesn't work on you)
Skills: (choose 3 of any kind of skill from cooking to kickboxing)
Other:

[Kimiyosis]

I'm interested~!

[Primal Conundrum]

Should we post characters here in the OOC or to the Characters tab for you to approve?

[Dragonite777]

@Primal Conundrum Here in the OOC if you would please.

[reddy]

Still working on stuff, but before I go to much further, I wanted your opinion on the race and guilt sections. I think I might add more to the race, to make things clearer, but I want to make sure I'm going in the right direction.

Name: Einin of Ora

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Race: Heqet- A race of humanoid frogs common in the southern tropics. Most range in height from 4-5' and have an impressive array of colors and patterns adorning their skin. These colors tend to be fairly uniform based on clan. Gender wise, male and female heqet can be hard for other races to distinguish between. Their names often don't help matters.

Heqet begin life as fairly large tadpoles in shallow spawning pools. As they mature and lose their ability to breathe water, they are adopted by members of the clan to be raised. Their adoptive parent teaches them a trade and the ins and outs of clan life. There are only two exceptions to this system. One is that all members of a clan are taught how to defend themselves and their neighbors, a fact that has led the heqet to become some of the most prolific martial artists in the world. The other is when a child is found to possess the "spark of the divine," and is taken from their parent to become one of the clan's shaman leaders.

While heqet are most comfortable in warmer climates, that doesn't mean the race hasn't branched out since being discovered by the Lorean Empire. Every few years a couple of youngsters like Einin trickle out of their homelands to wander Aephere. Those ranging to colder climates, however, are careful to bring some extra means of warmth with them as they just aren't built to take the cold.

The idea for this race mostly came from this picture, which is awesome.

Appearance: Einin is about 4'3" tall. Her smooth skin is a golden color and fades to white on her hands and feet. This is contrasted by her black, glossy eyes and a dark blue stripe that runs from her forehead to the back of her neck.

Einin is typically dressed in a dark red sarong and/or a matching head scarf depending on the weather. Both have purple embroidery bordering the cloth that depicts small birds in flight. The only other clothes she wears are a pair of simple leather vambraces and a leather belt.

Personality: Einin's a friendly and outgoing heqet with a tendency to talk over herself when she gets excited or frantic. She is an optimist who has a somewhat childish veiw that everything, no matter what, will work out in the end. It's this optimism that has kept her going despite life's pitfalls. She also has a strong indipendant streak when it comes to oppression, whether its aimed at herself or others.

Background: Einin, like some of her kind, found the wider world to her liking and decided to travel when she came of age. It wasn't surprising. Ever her father's "little bird," Einin was always wandering off to see what lay beyond the next hill or river. Her wanderings took her through the Cashan Desert, the Rhothland Hills, and finally to the town of Sothia where her coin gave out.

With not much else for prospects, she turned to the weaving she learned from her clan and now works a loom to feed and house herself. Although it was only with the intention of gaining enough money to keep traveling, this bird's wings seem to be clipped. Each day she finds it harder to envision moving on. It might take something drastic to get her on the road again.

Moral Weakness:
Dead Father- Choosing to leave as she did, Einin turned her back on her clan and her father. She never appreciated the gavity of that choice until he died in an attack perpetrated by clan Daq. Even though she couldn't have helped him or her clan, she still feels responcible for not being there when he needed her, his loss hitting her like a freight train every time she catches herself reminicing about him.

Lack of Focus- Everyone around Einin is doing something with their lives. Having children, working towards a goal, making plans. She has none of that and nothing comes to her when she sets her mind to finding one. It makes her feel unimportant and depressed.

Forgetfulness- Einin has always had a habit of being distracted and forgetting important details. Most notably she was working for a friend, Nora, on her dream wedding. In particular Einin was in charge of the clothing. By the time the date came around, nothing was finished. Everything was thrown off and it even ended the friendship. To this day Einin regrets not taking her responcibility more seriously.

Moral Immunity:
Societal Pressure- Einin might be lost in her own life, but she will be damned if she'd going to be told what its point should be. The shamans, her father, her clan, the empire, none of them can define her and she will fight if anyone tries to.

Skills:
Weaving- Einin's quick hands and nimble fingers make her a skilled weaver. She made the clothes she wears and the clothing of many other people around town. It's a skill she takes a particular amount of pride in.

Climbing- Like other heqet, Einin has the ability to adhere to surfaces that can support her weight. Walls, trees, ceilings, as long as she can get a good grip she can crawl or climb along any of them.

Martial Arts- Einin favors the moade style, like most of her kin. It's a soft art that focuses on redirecting and re-positioning her opponent's force and using the environment to frustrate attacks.

Other: None yet.

[WilsonTurner]

Aye, interested as well.
CS be up soon.

[Dragonite777]

@reddy you're looking at the moral weaknesses from the wrong end of the deciaion. It's supposed to be about what kinds of responses to decisions would haunt your character the most, or at least more than others. The example of a grieving family I had in the post could be one. An ex-alcoholic (metaphorical "30-day chip" AA member) might regret seeing someone he kept from killing themselves dive into an alcoholic binge. Maybe you just feel most guilty when you make someone pissed at you because of a decision you made, like informing an abused spouse that what her husband has been doing actually is abuse and the husband finds out you told his now-ex wife and is out to get you. Stuff like that. I personally think it's hard to come up with any broad moral weaknesses or immunities.

The typical emotions to a response to your decisions that you aren't immune to should include at least a little of the following: grief, regret, sadness, self-anger/self-hate, and more on those lines. What kinds of outcomes from a decision would cause at least a little of several of those emotions or a lot of one of them?

[reddy]

@reddy you're looking at the moral weaknesses from the wrong end of the deciaion. It's supposed to be about what kinds of responses to decisions would haunt your character the most, or at least more than others. The example of a grieving family I had in the post could be one. An ex-alcoholic (metaphorical "30-day chip" AA member) might regret seeing someone he kept from killing themselves dive into an alcoholic binge. Maybe you just feel most guilty when you make someone pissed at you because of a decision you made, like informing an abused spouse that what her husband has been doing actually is abuse and the husband finds out you told his now-ex wife and is out to get you. Stuff like that. I personally think it's hard to come up with any broad moral weaknesses or immunities.

The typical emotions to a response to your decisions that you aren't immune to should include at least a little of the following: grief, regret, sadness, self-anger/self-hate, and more on those lines. What kinds of outcomes from a decision would cause at least a little of several of those emotions or a lot of one of them?

@Dragonite777

So you're only wanting the situation that was the genesis of the guilt and the feeling that the guilt engenders in the character? Ok, I'll rework things. I just wanted to make sure to avoid melodrama, where everyone is just crying all the time.

[Dragonite777]

<Snipped quote by Dragonite777>

So you're only wanting the situation that was the genesis of the guilt and the feeling that the guilt engenders in the character? Ok, I'll rework things. I just wanted to make sure to avoid melodrama, where everyone is just crying all the time.

@reddy

I think you got the idea. It's just an example of what aftermath of a decision would cause any of the aforementioned emotions. An ex-alcoholic's would be seeing that his decision drove someone to alcohol. An ex-hooker's would be seeing their decision cause someone to have to hook for money. It doesn’t have to be something you did, I just can't think of better examples than those. Maybe Einin's could be seeing a decision she made screw up a family (i.e. separation, a parent committing suicide/homicide, etc)?

[AiyvaGuard]

I AM INTERESTED RESSERVE <3

[AiyvaGuard]

Is magic allowed?

[Dragonite777]

It is high fantasy, so it is in the world, but it's not really abundant. There are rare magical abilities at best. If you're wanting to have your character use magic, just run it by me so I can make sure it's not too OP.

[Dragonite777]

I'm hesitant on magic because the whole premise is making morally-grey decisions. It would be a lot easier if you could just use magic to fix it with a compromise of some sort. It's just hard to fit magic into a world where you're not "the destined hero that will fix everything and all will be good". You're just some kid with his/her own motivations, travelling or whatever you end up doing for your own goals or views. There will almost never be someone that is explicitly "the bad guy(s)".

That's just my two cents on magic. I'm not saying no, I'm just saying it's difficult.

[WilsonTurner]

Could it be the kind of magic where you have a reservoir inside you that slowly replenishes based on your energy, that you can use to put into precious items (Gems or highly enchanted items) or use to power spells? Could the spells be that like code, rather than just "fireball." Like, a spell to create light would be start>light(200units)>Ball>2000seconds/oncommand>end, so each spell could be infinitely special/complicated? It'd also allow quite a bit of creativity- much more than just a "fireball" spell or a "candlelight" spell. Making a spell that's simply start>light>heat>ball>end, would be an infinitely-existing ball of unknown heat and light. It could be like a supernova for as long as the caster's energy sustains it. It would mean magicians are careful and thought out, at least in spells, with very good memory and reflexes.

[reddy]

I tend to look at magic as a super power, which in turn makes me look at characters with magic like super heroes. The best heroes are the ones who can't solve their problems with their super powers. Spiderman's life sucks. His super powers don't bring money in, make him and his loved ones a target, and force him to live a double life to keep alive the legacy of his late uncle. In all fairness he'd have more time, a better job, and be closer to people without the powers. The powers make Peter Parker's life exciting, but they don't make it better.

[WilsonTurner]

I don't like that kind of magic. It's too focused, too centered. It's a superspecial thing- super rare. I prefer that it's there, and many have a slight affinity, still a good deal with a medium-ish affinity, and maybe a couple dozen or so total that could have total mastery over a magical field.

[Kimiyosis]

I remember that I ran a character before, who's powers was...well....temporarily giving someone else powers for a short duration of time, longest being one day. Powers given were never the same, even if you cast it on the same person, and one person couldn't be gifted multiple times without the first power expiring.

That was fun~

[reddy]

Finished now. Woot woot.

@WilsonTurner It's not so much that I was saying "Only special people can use magic." It's how the magic is used, not who or how many get it. More of a Sanderson's Second Law thing. Magic for everyone would be fine as long as it can't immediately solve their problems.

[Dragonite777]

Alright, I'll try and come up with a system for magic as soon as I can to dissolve this, but for now go under the assumption of no magic. I don't want want it to end up being an RP where you end up having the solution in your powers. This is supposed to be about normal people dealing with conflict and the results of their actions. I'm not saying that we can't have any magic involved, I just don't want magic to get in the way of that or anything.

[Primal Conundrum]

Honestly, not everyone has something that they feel guilty about, and I find that kind of an odd field to have. Having every character have that listed is going to push the RP towards melodrama, since everyone will have to work something their character regrets into their backstory. Besides, a regret doesn't always result in a feeling of remorse, the few things that I could say I regret actually fill me with a burning anger and a desire to go beat the shit out of a specific individual who basically conned me out of my entire life.

Anyway, the character I wanted to do was a sort of mercenary voodoo lizardman necromancer / witchdoctor that used the spirits of the dead (both cooperative and uncooperative) to fuel / perform his magic, so if there's low / no magic in this then I'm probably gonna duck out. The high fantasy thing made me assume high magic, since I've always seen those go hand in hand. The whole discussion of the conflict between the two nations also made me think that conflict was going to be more central to this, but from what you're saying it's sounding kinda like combat wouldn't be playing as much of a role as I had previously understood.