Right, so everyone wants magic and everyone wants it to be subtle.
@innertt I simply wanted to know: magic, yes or no. Most want magic, so I guess I will add magic. The same people also want magic to be subtle and on the verge of 'is it real, or is it luck?'esque magic, so we will roll with that.
In my opinion, the magic should be real but subtle. Witches born with this unnatural magical ability, that is subtle and at times hard to control. Maybe hands that can become so overheated that anything they touch burns, or maybe someone who can feel the emotions of everyone around them whether they want to or not. Kind of like a mutant, but very dumbed down powers. And they would be persecuted and sometimes burned at the stake if caught by the wrong person. Or someone who causes things to wilt and decay whenever they touch it. Maybe someone whose cells can regenerate, or they can see through solid objects. A magical ability kind like in charmed. But...it seems most of u think that would be too much. But i just think it should be a select few born as witches who have this innate magical ability and the struggle of hiding it and when or how to use it. Just to add to that fantasy category.
But...it seems most of u think that would be too much.
Ya, sounds a bit overt to me.
But i just think it should be a select few born as witches who have this innate magical ability and the struggle of hiding it and when or how to use it.
Yknow, when you say 'select few' in an RP, that means nothing. It does not change how many players will apply as characters with magic. In fact, it will draw more to it. People think of interesting and intricate backgrounds and stories that explain why and how they have their abilities. You really can't hate them for that but then the RP either has more magic characters than originally intended or they have to create a limit on how many magic characters there can be at once... and that stinks for everyone.
Hey, I might have missed it, but is there an explanation of the technology level? Are there windmills and paper and circular masonry, and what is the military like? Is it pike hedges and arquebusiers, or is it mailed knights and Type X's?
I'm agreeing with Innert. While I adore magic, it only makes things far more difficult than it needs to be. If its subtle and just tricks, than it doesn't exist right?
We have the Elder Scrolls and Dungeons and Dragons types where magic, witches, warlocks and the like are running amok and there is magic off the wazoo. Like, summoning titans, shooting lightning bolts, raising the dead, and causing all sorts of magical mayhem.
Then we have the more political-themed ones like Game of Thrones, where magic is subtle. It's there, but comes with a price. Sort of like Fullmetal Alchemist's explanation of Equivalent Exchange. Or at least a variation of it. In these types of fantasy-themed rps, the focus is more so on the country and -enter impending doom here-. It's about the characters rather than flashy magic.
Personally, I can be down for either types. The story is what's most important.
[I cannot find a picture that is satisfactory, will continue searching] “There are two things I am good at: killing time, and killing time. I'm proud of both, for very different reasons.”
Laurence is a big man in most every way imaginable. He is tall, several inches over six feet. He is large, even for his height, boasting muscular arms sprouting from a barrel chest, long thick legs and wide, firm hands. His head, though normally proportioned, sports a massive smile nearly constantly, standing prominent on a field of mottled stubble. His eyes are wide and his nose scarred and deformed from several run-ins with hard steel or angry fists. His voice is loud and boisterous, deep and commanding but quick to jape and quicker to laugh a laugh that fills rooms to near bursting. His tan skin is marked and cratered, each inch bearing a remnant of some past service to crown and coin, weathered and calloused and in general disrepair. His short brown hair, the exception to the rule, sits atop his head short and unobtrusive, kept fastidiously short.
________________________________________
【Full Name】
Laurence Attewood
【Aliases】
Styled himself “Bulwark Laurence” for a time, but has dropped the moniker as pretentious and foolhardy
【Age】
30
【Sex】
Male
【Sexuality】
Heterosexual
【Birthplace】
Hoffburgt
【Societal standing】
Of common parentage, Laurence has lived his life in vacillating status, changing depending on his line of work. He is a commoner through and through, and has little political or social aspiration driving him up the chain.
【Employment】
Ex-Mercenary, recently honorably discharged after 13 years of service with the Glasshorn Company, most recently and most frequently stationed as garrison and guards of Coedwin and her noble inhabitants.
________________________________________
【Personality】
Pragmatic would be an acceptable way of characterizing Laurence, though not in the way most would naturally think of. Laurence is out to enjoy his life, no matter what. He indulges in what he loves and finds ways to expedite those tasks he is less fond of. He has a soldier's attitude, beaten into him after 15 long years of the occupation. He is as lazy as a man can be when he is not needed to do something, and as proactive and hard-working as a man can be when he is. He is quick to joke, quicker to laugh, and quicker still to forgive. He prizes friends and family highly, though recently he finds himself with little of either. He loves to drink and gamble and sing and fight and sleep and eat and pursue women. He brags in jest, his tall tales told in such extravagant falsehood for no other reason than to entertain and enthrall, not to bolster some reputation he has long since abandoned. He is loyal to himself, and to those matters he deems pertinent. He has a distaste of nobility, a distrust of authority and a predisposition towards the working man over the administrator, one which he is trying to rid himself of. He values freedom, merriment and excitement in equal measure, and lives his life accordingly.
【History】
Born to a smith in Hoffburgt, to a brood of six other children, Laurence had a fairly normal upbringing. The third son of three, he worked at his family smithy learning the trade, as he grew he realized that there was no place for him in the family business, and so began planning to strike out on his own. Already a large child, a few weeks after his 13th birthday he was chosen as a replacement squire for a middling knight in the service of the Lord of Hoffburgt. It was an incredibly fortuitous event, one which Laurence was immensely pleased with, and for a time he was happy. He loved to learn the ways of the sword and the bow, to learn how to saddle a horse and strap armor. He discovered he had a knack for it too: he stood head and shoulders [both figuratively and literally] above his fellow squires, and by 14 he found his way onto his first battlefield, a border skirmish to the south. He remained in the south for periods during his tenure to his Knight, but he found that life as a royal soldier was not to his liking. There was too much etiquette and tradition, too many months spent inactive and above all too little pay. At 16 he left squiring, and joined the Glasshorn Company. The shift in occupation was jarring, but he took to it like a duck to water. He was made a swordsman, and within two years found himself in the Ironglass Guards, the greatsword-wielding elite of the Company, tasked with aggressive charges and guarding important figures on the battlefield and off. He loved the camaraderie, being surrounded with mostly commoners, being paid great deals of money and having commanders he could rely on to find victory safely.
His eleven years in the Ironglass Guards were marked with hundreds of interesting anecdotes and scenes, of which Laurence will boast and brag endlessly. He earned battle honors and wealth, and made a minor name for himself among soldiers in the south, initially because of and later despite his best efforts. After his traditional thirteen years with the Company, everyone expected him to re-enlist, a command position almost guaranteed, but Laurence did not. He left the company on good terms, few knowing and fewer understanding his desire for a change in occupation.
【Dreams, short term goals, and fears.】
Laurence is a man wracked with ennui. He wants to help people, to be a paragon of justice and aide for the downtrodden. For this goal he left the Company and all it's promises of wealth and status, and initially he thought he would be like the heroes from the songs and tales: he would wander the lands, righting wrongs and doing Good. Unfortunately for him, more than a year has passed and he has accomplished little, a done scant good. He fears he has made the wrong decision, but fears greater turning back from his charted course, and so soldiers on trying to find his heroic destiny somewhere in the cities and fields of his homeland, all the while burning through what money he did not send home to his family, doing little more than scaring off bandits and drinking heavily, all the while becoming more and more aware that his short time alive is dwindling.
________________________________________
【Martial prowess】
Laurence has been a soldier for a large part of his life, and his abilities reflect this. He is past his prime, to be sure, but age has done little to dull his skill with a blade. His weapon of choice is a long, two-handed great-sword, more than five feet in length, sharp and deadly and not nearly as cumbersome nor as simplistic as the common person thinks it is. It is an incredible defensive weapon, and one that presents myriad benefits to the strong, skilled swordsman who dedicates himself to its mastery. He is, however, more than proficient at all manner of fighting implements, though never found himself a capable or even middling bowman.
【Combat style】
Fighting with a greatsword is an interesting skill. It is an incredible defensive weapon, more versatile than most anything else on the battlefield. It is long enough to be on equal terms with short polearms, and is incredibly deadly when locked in melee, a hand gripped on the upper blade making it a precise and deadly stabbing weapon. For fighting less armored opponents, it is a slashing and stabbing weapon of force and speed, controlling a fight and delivering withering blows to an opponent. Against an armored opponent, it is a massive lever and crowbar, excellent at wrestling foes to the ground to be dispatched by a stiletto or a solid punch to the face. Against multiple enemies, its fluid sweeps and long reach make attacking and disabling its wielder a difficult, often fatal proposition.
【Weaponry】
Laurence's primary fighting implement is a five and a half foot long sword, weighing nearly eight pounds and forged from high-quality steel, still sharp and deadly after years of service. It has an exceptionally wide, unadorned crossguard, and similarly plain quillons. For dispatching armored enemies, Laurence carries a stiletto, a long, exceedingly thin and sharp knife for finding weak points in enemy armor. He carries a larger knife with him for utility purposes, and though does not own a smaller sword or shield he is proficient in their use.
【Armor】
[this more than anything else is highly sensitive to period: I am assuming the late medieval period here, but can change it easily]. Laurence kept his plate harness when he left the Company. Infantry armor, lighter than its cavalry cousin, it is no less effective at stopping swords and arrows from doing Laurence any true harm. Thick steel from full helm to sabatons, it lies overtop a gambeson, with links of chain protecting areas which shift too tumultuously for plates to be viable. It weighs just over 16 kilograms, on the heavier side of what the genre allows, and though worn with use is still in excellent condition, gleaming silver and softly gold when worn, and clattering loudly in a pack tied to his horse when it is not.
Hey, I might have missed it, but is there an explanation of the technology level? Are there windmills and paper and circular masonry, and what is the military like? Is it pike hedges and arquebusiers, or is it mailed knights and Type X's?
Didn't explicitly say this but I was thinking mid-medieval type stuff. Ofcourse we are set in, more or less, a fantasy world so you can take some creative freedoms with this.
Hey Partisan! I know it didn't work out for me last time, but if you'll have me, I'd love to join in on this!
If you create a character that is just as good as last time, sure! Just don't leave again. :P I could've used you in that last one.
@innertt putting me on the fence again. I agree that having no magic would be simpler, and those characters that absolutely want to be dark and mysterious witches can always just go with a 'pretend' type of magic where they simply are well versed in what plants do what, and use it to trick people into thinking they are magical.
Well, if we're talking mid-medieval then muh zweihander is a tad anachronistic. Are you OK with me pushing the time period forwards slightly for my sword?
Like I said, creative liberties. I am a history fanatic but I am in no way meticulous enough to do proper academic research for an RP, which is to me meant to be more about fun than about being a, what we, the Dutch, call a 'ant fucker' or someone who pays so much attention to detail that it becomes annoying.
The Japanese is from my new favorite movie, Garden of Words. It's.. a good movie, for the story. It's the best movie for it's art. Really, take a look.
The Cyrillic is because I love Russia (along with other eastern countries and Asia) and I have a lot of Russian friends, too. :P
Currently I am working on the royal family and after that.. I think I should be more or less done, except for writing down the plot idea, so that you all know what we'll be doing. I have a few ideas but I need to brainstorm which is the best because they all come with some issues.
