[OOC] Astaria: General Fantasy RP

[Karos]

Astaria

Welcome to Astaria, a land of magic, fantasy and intrigue. I'm looking for a small party no more than four other players to take part in a somewhat traditional medieval fantasy RP.

The main sources of inspiration for this RP include: The Elder Scrolls (particularly Skyrim, but bits of the other games too), Lord of the Rings, Greek and Roman Myth, and D&D 4th Ed (I know, it's not the best but it's what I've got).

I'm leaving this quite open to new ideas for now, whilst I've got a few elements together I really want to make something that'll be fun for you the players. So please feel free to throw out any ideas you have and we can take a look at it.

Here's some general information though just to get things started:

Races
Humans
Elves
Halflings
Dwarves
Dragonborn
(Half breeds between some of these races are possible, just run them by me first.)

In addition characters may choose to suffer (or gain, depending on your perspective) from Vampirism or Lycanthropy.

Magic
Magic is split into various schools, a mage who is skilled in destruction magic (fireballs, lightning bolts etc) may be completely useless in divination. Broadly speaking Mages won't know more than two schools of magic, although very powerful mages may pick up the odd lower tier spell from other schools here and there.

Character Creation
In order to ensure that the party is somewhat balanced, I've included a list with the classes needed (fighter, mage, healer etc). You'll be able to put forward a character for any of the available roles on a first come first served basis.

The World Map

Character Sheet
Name:
Physical Description: (You can use pictures, or a written description, or both)
Race:
Gender:
Age:
Class:
Equipment:
Bio:
Personality:

Required Roles

Mage
Rogue
Warrior
Healer

(These are very broad roles indeed, don't feel that your character needs to fit the classic archetype of any of these)

---

My Job as GM

Most of you will probably know this stuff, but I thought I'd go over it in case as we've a few new people here.

My job is basically to act as referee and chief storyteller, but above all else it is to give you a framework in which you can have awesome adventures. If there's something you don't like, or you get stuck writing a post, please don't hesitate to drop me a PM and we can work something out. This is all about having as much fun as we can, whilst making an awesome story.

However, there are a few basic rules to be aware of:

1) No meta-gaming
2) No Gary-Stues
3) I'll control the NPC's in the majority of instances but there are exceptions (e.g. if you just want to kill a generic monster you don't need me to write that your attacks kills the monster stone dead, same if you're dealing with a merchant and so on).
4) Any rule decisions come down to me, if I think you're character is too OP, if you're ordering around the other players etc. I'll message you about it and we'll try to work something out, but GM decisions are final. Keep in mind however, I won't just make decisions without talking to you, GM rulings are always a two way street.
5) Keep it friendly, if your character loathes another character and wants to insult them, attacking them and generally be unpleasant to them that's fine. But what happens in character stays in character.

Other than that have fun.

[Frengo]

How's this?

Thranok

Prince Thranok Broadrock of Blackmoor Hold

Physical Description: Thranok is nearly as wide as he is tall; a mountainous mass of fat and muscle. Standing at four and a half feet, and smothered in copious amounts of gleaming mails, he looks like your ordinary perception of a Dwarf warrior. Shoulder length blonde hair, and a well kept neck length beard surround what looks to be an almost permanent scorn.

Race: Dwarf

Gender: Male

Age: 163

Class: Fighter

Equipment:

• Double headed bronze battle axe
• Bronze Short Sword
• Tower Shield (Hooked over his backpack)
• Backpack, containing generic travelling goods (food + water etc)

Bio: Thranok, son of Mountain Lord Thranix Broadrock of Blackmoor Hold, and sixth in line to the Gemstone Throne. Sounds a mighty title, doesn't it?

Alas, being sixth in line to the throne, and possessing five older brothers, means that it is unlikely that Thranok will ever achieve much greatness beyond performing his duties as a royal dignitary. Not that it would be a hard life mind, and one could certainly do worse - but for some of us, a cushioned and sheltered life free of strife and struggle is a life not worth living. Thranok is of such mind, and that's why he has formally resigned his post - against his father's wishes - and set forth into the world with nothing but his axe and a few decades of combat training to his name.

He's a hardy warrior in theory, who has proven himself on the training grounds, but who has not fought that many real enemies. A few goblins met their demise at the wrong end of his axe, that's a given, but beyond this? No. Thranok is a mighty hero in the making, not a mighty hero stalking the world. His future may bring greatness and glory, or it may be a rather short lived tale of misguided ambition and undeserved arrogance.

Time will tell.

Personality: Thranok is an arrogant, overly confident warrior full of boasts. His tales are long and usually untrue, but he is always prepared to back up his bravado with real action. He's the brave amateur that all began as, and the keen idealist that no one ends up as. For Thranok, honour is everything - for now at least.

[Karos]

@Frengo I'd say we've got our warrior.

[The Elvenqueen]

Okie dokey, here goes the first draft..let me know if any edits are needed @Karos! :)

Meliya

Name: Lady Meliya Ardorion of Achyn Vale
Physical Description: Tall and slender like many of her race, standing at six foot five inches with well-defined cheekbones and bright ice-blue eyes. Her hair is straw blonde in colour and stops just below her shoulders, with natural curls/waves through it.
Attire:
(apologies for the slightly huge images, Idk how to resize them :$)
"Casual" or otherwise every day attire can be seen in above picture
Armour:


Race: Elf (Wood Elf)
Gender: Female
Age: 861, roughly
Class: Mage/Healer (can have her as either/or, depending on what is needed. Just let me know, essentially :3)
Equipment:

• Bow and quiver (w/ arrows, of course! Arrows are usually enchanted unless her magic is blocked by a binding spell etc., substitute for a staff since she's just not the kind of character to carry a staff >:L)
• Dagger (secondary weapon, not often used)
• Pack (for carrying supplies e.g. food, water etc.)
• Medicine pouch (for keeping various healing herbs/equipment/supplies; if she ends up being the healer of the party. If not, I can remove this from the list ;))
• Can't really be counted as "equipment" per se, but I usually have her with a hawk named Ialon as a companion, so if that fits ok with the rest of the setting/plot he'd be accompanying her too.

Bio: Her mother died during her birth due to complications, so Mel knows little of her except that she was a taleted markswoman and good with a bow. She was instead raised by her father, who insisted upon keeping her reigned in and under constant guard, as the young she-elf had the same headstrong spirit as her mother and, being the last he had of her, feared Mel may meet a sticky end if she were allowed to pursue the part of a warrior. At first, he intended for her to remain with him in their household and she received the same general education as many non-warrioresque elven maidens, learning of history and politics (though to the politics she paid very little heed as it bored her to death). At 500 years of age it was discovered that Mel had a talent for ice elemental magic when she accidentally froze part of her father's library after getting particularly excited in one of her lessons. After this, her father allowed her to train as a mage and learn to use her talents to her advantage, even allowing her to learn archery so she might defend herself in a battle with weapons should her magic ever be stunted for whatever reason. When she graduated from her lessons, her father gifted her with her mother's old bow and quiver, which are to this day still with her, and her most prized possessions. After much nagging and persuading, Mel managed to convince her father to allow her to travel and see the world, as she grew tired of the repetitiveness of her life in the Vale and constant skirmishes with the nearby goblins, and this is how we find her currently as she travels to try and meet other races and get to know the wider world better.

I'd be interested to try and throw in an encounter with a vampire of some sort into her history too to work in the vampirism curse, potentially, but not sure how so might just leave her as is xD

Personality:
Sarcastic | Untrusting | Loyal | Sharp-tongued/snappy | Compassionate | Sensitive Untrusting of newcomers/strangers, but once she comes to know someone or think of them as a friend you will not find a better or more loyal companion. You stick your neck out for her, she will reciprocate, essentially. Rather sharp-tongued and snappish, which can surprise some given her more lady-like upbringing in her early life; Mel is never short of a sarcastic quip or remark. It's best to learn quickly not to take most of them to heart, she often can't help it, being not a particularly patient individual. Despite being sarcastic a lot of the time, this elf can still be sensitive and compassionate to the plights of others, and is always looking to lend a hand to those in need, even if she has a peculiar way of showing it at times

[Karos]

@The Elvenqueen I'd say swap the rapier for a dagger and you'll be all good. Which weapon does Meliya favour in combat, her spells or her bow? You listed her as a mage, so other than the back story point there's little use a mage carrying a bow, unless you were to tie her magic to it in someway?

[The Elvenqueen]

@Karos Fair enough, will do. She'd fight mostly with her magic tbh, it'd be magic-imbued arrows for instance that she'd use mostly, so it'd be tied to her magic in most instances, unless she was somehow blocked from using it with a binding spell or something x'D

[corbosiny]

Icarus Shadesong

Name: Icarus Shadesong
Race: Dwarf

Physical Description: Like your typical dwarf he is quite stocky with broad thick shoulders that have been finely toned from many hard years of working in his fathers forge. His beard his far too short to be braided like most dwarfs and is actually groomed quite close to his face; this being due to safety hazards within the forge(Icarus learned at quite a young age how flammable hair can be). His hair was almost a fine blondish white, quite rare among dwarves, yet the ash and smoke from in the forge has seemed to almost permanently left a layer of soot turning his almost oddly bleached looking hair into a dirty blonde. His eye's are a mix between blue and green and always had a look of inquisitiveness in them, a trait he was told he had received from his mother, a wandering healer. Forging no only requires a steady hand but perfect posture, which has given him the habit of having an almost rigidly stiff back, thus giving him the appearance of being taller than he actually is(despite being only average height for a dwarf). This rigid way of walking contrast with the loose and inquisitive nature he carries himself with.

Gender: Male

Age: 24 (Very young for a dwarf!)

Class: Healer(With a mix of Divination/Conjuration in there)

Equipment: -A large and sturdy two handed forging hammer, used for hammering down thick blocks of metal to flat sheets fast. A little unwieldy in combat since it really isn't made for that purpose, but can pack quite a punch due to its weight.
-Very small craftsman hammer used on small tool working
-Leather smith's gear that provides decent protection from whether elements
-White traveling cloak with family crest emblazoned on the back
-Backpack of supplies like rations, water, small knife, pair of tongs, rope, blanket, and flint + steel.

Bio: Born into a small darven mountain mining clan, his father was one of the few local smithies and his mother was a wandering healer who seemed to work wonders even with little amounts of herbs or potions at her disposal and sometimes was seen talking to what only looked like an empty room of shadows. Her mother had a brief romance with his father, Gruve Stromschlag, and only stayed long enough to give birth to Icarus and then suddenly vanished. She left behind a pile of books with a single note saying: "To my son, the only gift I am able to give you." Icarus spent years in his father's forge repairing much of the local's tools and learning to be quite an adept craftsman, and when he became old enough to read in his spare time gorged himself on the various books his mother had left him. The books were mainly on healing, but occasionally he read one on spirituality and on magical rituals. Icarus used this mew knowledge to assist miners that had been injured during their work in the more dangerous parts of the caverns. Yet he noticed when helping people he could see strange white lights surround those more grievously injured, and on even more rare occasions, voices coming from recently deceased bodies. His clan was a superstitious one; so he kept these events to himself. As time passed and he grew older, these events occurred more often. Once during a sickness outbreak where he was treating a local baker had become so ill his death became inevitable; Icarus saw the white light began floating off the man and almost felt a connection to it. yet he felt a sense of longing from it, a sense of desperation and as if almost by instinct Icarus willed it to remain connected to the body. Icarus felt himself being drained from this "connection" to the light but saw improvement in the man so he continued. The next day, after Icarus had passed out after a few hours of this exertion the man woke up; fully recovered. It was like a miracle, but Icarus did not speak of what he had done for he had a sinking feeling about what it was. Necromancy. Icarus realized what the stories of his mother and her strange talks with shadows and miracle healings were. She was a necromancer, but weren't they supposed to be evil? All she had done.. was help people? Maybe.. just maybe necromancers weren't.. necessarily evil? With this revelation Icarus was frightened, but endeavored to test his new found powers in secret; he began to listen to the voices near the graveyards and hear their moans, he tried to heal his own wounds and scratches from the forge without anything but this "energy", and as he experimented his powers grew. One morning a massive cave in several miners were killed. The clan gathered to mourn their dead and has Icarus arrived he noticed one spirit standing near his wife who was wailing over his body. Without thinking and so distraught by this woman's wails Icarus used his new powers to make the spirit visible to her. She stopped suddenly as the spirit of her dead husband held her for one last time and then with a shimmer disappeared. The clan was shocked by this display of power and immediately turned against Icarus. Only due to his long time of healing their injured did they allow him to gather some of his supplies before being exiled. His own father now looked at him with disgust as he gathered his things. Icarus gathered some tools and one of his mother's cloaks that she had wrapped up the books she left for him and set off into the world. He changed his clan name to shadesong after the stories of his mother talking to shadows, and donned the cloak that had the crest of a phoenix embroidered on the back. Icarus now wanders from town to town doing handy work or healing in exchange for lodging or food and is always in search of a good library to further his studies in his arts over death. Icarus hopes to find his mother and one day found a school for white necromancers that use their influence over life and death for good.

Personality: Icarus us incredibly studious and loves to get his hands on any books, bits of lore, or artifacts he can find. He is a bit wary of talking about his past and abilities due to his foul treatment from those he loves, but deep down is incredibly friendly, loyal, and appreciative of those that can look past his abilities to who he really is. He can get caught up in seeing all the spirits and emotions of those around him or just in one of his newest books so he is considered a bit of a spacey person that gets distracted easily.

Let me know if you want any edits!

[Karos]

@corbosiny A very interesting take on necromancy and healing, very interesting.

@The Elvenqueen@Frengo

I think you're all good to move your characters over to the CS tab, provided that you've made any amendments I asked for.

[The Elvenqueen]

@Karos Fab, yep, changed it up as you said

[The Elvenqueen]

@corbosiny Oohh, that is an epic way to work in the healing magic O_O Sounds like a great char, can't wait to get to know him more o3o

[The Elvenqueen]

Oh, another question out of curiosity, just so I can establish how she should react when meeting them xD

What are we going for in terms of the general history between the Elven/Dwarven races? Are they on relatively amicable terms or are we going for the usual Tolkien-ish "hate each other's guts age-old feud" thing?

[Karos]

@The Elvenqueen I'm thinking whilst overall they can get along, maybe certain factions amongst them… not so much. I'll leave it up to you whether you want to be a faction that's born a grudge or moved on.

[corbosiny]

@Karos@The Elvenqueen Thanks! I wanted to spice up the healer role a bit, and thought this would be a fun way to do it! I'm picturing stuff like white necromancers can only summon spirits for seances that wish to be summoned, only heal and hold people's souls together with their bodies if they wish to live, instead of draining the life of others he drains HIS OWN life for more powerful heals and such, can possibly free revived undead from an evil necromancers grasp if they are strong enough and such like that(almost like a paladin's turn undead). So nothing really game breaking or anything that makes for a super powerful ability due to the restrictions of being a white necromancer; but just thought it would turn the typical "all I do is heal and stuff" healer into a more versatile support who's powers can make for some interesting rp moments. Hoping it will end up being fun to play as! :) Excited to see your guy's characters as well!

[corbosiny]

@KarosOh and also, did the go ahead for moving characters over also apply to mine as well?

[The Elvenqueen]

@corbosiny Definitely a much more diverse and exciting take on the "oh yeah I'm just here to make sure y'all don't die" guy for sure XD

@Karos Awesome, I shall wing it then and see how it goes in the RP I suppose :P

[dereken]

Is there still room?

[abloomingflower]

I'd also like to apply for the rogue if its available!

[Metronome]

Could I make a satyr?

[dereken]

I'll back out then. Someone else can take the rogue spot.

[Karos]

@corbosiny Yes you're all good to move to the CS tab.

@abloomingflower Sure that would round out the party nicely.

@Metronome That'd be fine, what sort of class were you looking to play? I'm gonna let you and @dereken play too so the party will be a little bigger than I'd planned but if you've got cool characters I don't want to leave you out.