Aleranicus

Circus of Hunters

@Majoras End Interesting. I’ll tentatively say yes, depending on how you want to work them in.

Circus of Hunters

Ironic that im thinking of making a circus rp.

Never the less, ima join this.

Quick Edit, is a "Devil Jester" character allowed?

Also, I found a suitable photo for the rp you can use!

@Majoras End

Thx for the image! Will update thread from Home after work!!!

Define “Devil” but jester is totes cool with me.

Circus of Hunters

Alright then. I'll think it over at work during the weekend. Any CS's submitted will be approved/critiqued/declined starting on Monday unless I can make time between jobs this weekend. In the meantime, I'll be online for about one more hour if any of ya'll have other questions.

Circus of Hunters

@EchoicChamber In reverse order:
2.) The performers do not age, but they may only stay in the circus if they renew their Contract every 7 years and do not break their Compulsion in the contract.
1.) I was thinking either modern era or 1920s. I'm a bit torn about this one but am leaning to Modern unless the players would prefer otherwise.

Circus of Hunters

@EchoicChamber No, that's exactly what I had in mind! Funny, everyone's been telling me I NEED to watch that show, but I never got around to it! Might have to binge it this weekend.

The Ringmaster is the one who signs the contract with the characters. The catch is the Ringmaster cannot tell the performers where they get their powers from, or where the circus will go next. So the characters don't know that they're serving a good purpose. They can assume it, or they could believe they're in an evil vs evil civil war of some kind.

I am all about encouraging creativity with this RP. You can come up with whatever incentive you'd like to for why they would drop everything and sign up for a mythical circus.

Circus of Hunters

@Aleranicus Quick question. Do they all have to make deals solely for power, or would the Ringleader have been able to provide certain things as well on top of the power in exchange for them making the contract with him?

@EchoicChamber

I'm assuming everyone coming into this is human, but the question itself intrigues me! What did you have in mind?

Circus of Hunters (Interest Check)

OOC: roleplayerguild.com/topics/167634-cir…

Circus of Hunters

Parael Magnus, the Ringleader

Parael Magnus

The Ringleader



Joined January 1st, 1634

Act: The Ringleader when not on the combat team, the Ringleader manages the safety and security of the circus. He has the ability to empower mortal humans to help them combat daemons.

Parry's ability to empower mortals comes at a cost- the Ringleader cannot answer questions as to where this power comes from, or where the circus will go next. The performers will never be given a hint as to whether they have sold their souls to a daemon like the ones the are called to battle.

Why Parry Magnus Joined the Circus.
Parry Magnus established the Circus on behalf of the Powers-that-Be in order to combat the daemons infesting the human world. He voluntarily Fell from the Celestials to enact his superiors' plans against the Powers that Were. And he also wanted to put on the most fabulous shows imaginable!

A Biography
Parael Magnus may be classified as "angel" to the more religious minded of humans. Those like him refer to themselves as "Celestials" among the Powers that Be, while their enemies, the Powers that Were, employ their own agents called daemons. Parael Magnus was of middling rank before his Fall, noted for being an effective combatant against daemons, but enjoyed too much freewheeling among humanity. Food, wine, women, men, and exotic substances- he couldn't get enough of them. So when the Powers began searching for one of their own to voluntarily Fall and take the fight to daemonkind without breaking the ancient pacts, Parry couldn't raise his hand fast enough.

Parry "fell" to Earth on January 1st, 1634 as a mortal in the realm of the Holy Roman Empire. He quickly found himself in a world overcome with bloodshed and dogmatic battle over an old man nailing a paper to a doorway- a silly thing to kill people over if you asked him. The Powers that Were had a free hand to play in such devastation, but Parry was determined to create an alternative venue from which his agents could operate. Within ten years, he had established Cirque des Chasseurs as an organization that had toured large swathes of what would be called England, France, China, Egypt, Russia, and India. Every morning the Circus gates would close on one city, and every night they would open on a new one of Parry's choosing.

Parry is well aware that he has a cheerful, fleeting nature. He seems easily distracted by sweet things, bright colors, and adorable animals. Many newcomers to the Circus take their powers and sign their Contract, assuming he will be a fool or easily swindled. Parry is not easily swindled, but he can be a fool. Nevertheless, while he cannot reveal that he is a Celestial to his many circus workers, a few of the longtime circus performers have sworn that the last time Daemonkind found the circus and attacked it, they witnessed Parry become something... otherworldly.

A Connection
- Parry Magnus empowered each and every member of the Circus. When a potential combatant against the Powers that Were is identified, he approaches them each in their own way, but presents them with their contracts all the same. In times gone by they were printed on Vellum and signed with ink and quill, the terms spelled out informally but with the specifics highlighted where needed. Today he's upgraded- his tent (modeled after an Ottoman Harem, complete with hookah, silk pillows, and plush carpets) has a laptop and printer prepared to write up contracts as needed.

Beyond the signing of the Contracts, Parry takes only as much interest in the individual performers as he has time to spare. The Circus as a whole has several hundred members, but many of them signed contracts for what Parry considers paltry things like extended lifetimes or miraculous cures to incurable diseases. These he tasks with shepherding the townsfolk from one attraction to the next- like lures on a hook, allowing the more specialized performers free reign to investigate whatever city they are camped in at the moment.

Audition

It's been as though you're walking in a dream. There is no other way for you to describe it. Your parents took you to a circus once. Long ago. Tired looking lions. Bears that did a few tricks. Clowns on motorcycles. Cotton candy that cost your whole allowance for the week. It was all a big ripoff, and you knew it back then when you were only a few years old.

This? This is something else.

The park in the center of town might be the size of a football field, and the iron fence rings the whole thing with one gate and entrance booth, but you've been walking for hours and haven't seen the same tent twice. This is absolutely maddening! The whole evening began with what could only be described as an ensemble of sensory overloads in the Grand Tent.

There you sat on the bleachers with hundreds, maybe thousands of others from your town, stacked like stadium seats going further and further down to a central ring. The air hummed with enthusiasm, the scent of popcorn, caramel, hot chocolate, and other small treats filling your nostrils.

It began with the trapeze act. Except it was not trapezes. Great curtains made of silk were unfurled into the air above the ring. Acrobats entangled themselves within and began twirling through the air, swinging into each others arms while torchlight replaced the crude electrical bulbs to illuminate them. The performance is sensual, passionate, but also filled with love. There are six acrobats swinging into each others' waiting arms. You get the feeling that each of them loves one another like husband, wife, and anything in between. It's a strange thought, but you can grasp the passion therein.

The act never really concludes so much as it is interrupted by the show beneath it. (You find out later on that the performance was called "Lovers' Embrace" and would continue for the rest of the night.)

"Ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls, and none-of-the-above." The figure takes the center ring. A tall, lanky man(?) in a great black suit- jacket, pants, bow tie, top hat, and a half cape of silk. Within his white gloves, he clutches an old cigarette holder, lit and trailing smoke. The look is stereotypical, but he stands and carries himself in a way that you can easily imagine him wearing clothing dyed in a rich Imperial Purple, or sensual scarlet.

"I want to welcome you to tonight's entertainment. We at Cirque des Chasseurs wish you all nothing but a night of the greatest tastes, the brightest lights, the most mystical sights, and the most pleasant sounds as you have ever or ever will, experience."

The Ringmaster pauses, inhales a breath from the cigarette holder. He exhales with a flourish, forming a cloud of smoke several times his own size. A trick of the lighting? Are they funneling smoke from the torches?

"As the manager of this entertainment venue, I wish to impart a few rules to you all. First, there shall be no smoking within the tents or on the premises."

The cloud above him twists and bends in the wind while the cigarette dissolves. Somewhere, a light flashes with the brightness of the sun. There is a crack, and then a roar. When your eyes adjust, there is no smoke in the tent. The torches remain lit, but even they will not give off any wisps. In the center of the ring, where the cloud of smoke once hovered, there stands an enormous lion. @Cherrywitch A golden haired woman stands beside the beast, dressed in scarlet and with a playful smile on her face- like someone who is about to play a trick on someone but they've no idea what is about to happen to them. She cracks a whip, but not to prod the animal- only as a signal. You think.

The lion begins pacing up the aisles, followed by the tamer. It stops halfway up the stairs near you, only for the tamer to tell the beast "I think now is fine." The beast pauses, straightens its spine, and the tamer stands perfectly on its back. Like a California surfer on their board, she rides it up the steps and out of the great tent's flaps, not once losing her balance.

"Reach out your right hand. Into the aisle," a voice beside you says. Another @Tenslashsix man, dressed in a suit and top hat, sits beside you. He nods quickly. You hesitate, but do so. With not a moment to spare your hand catches a piece of jewelry, a bracelet, fallen from one of the acrobats. Later, she will approach you for it and offer to show you around the Circus. Some of the things you will see, you will remember unto your deathbed.

"Another rule- please, no touching the performers!"

A woman @FancyHats struts into the ring beside the Ringmaster, standing from the front bench. It is hard to make out details other than the shape of her figure- after all, her dress is immediately wreathed in flame when she stands and burns as bright as a neon sign. Approaching on her left is a hugely muscled, mustachioed man with arms that could probably lift weights at an Olympic competition. He reaches out with one hand to touch the dress, only to suddenly and dramatically pull it away before running up the stairs to one of the tent's many exits. He curses in French the whole way. The woman extends one hand to the Ringleader, who accepts it and bows, the flames of her sleeves lick around the Ringleader's gloved hand but do not seem to catch.

"Unless of course, they invite you to do so!" The woman bows, then casually follows the strongman up the steps, her dress extinguishing itself to become a vibrant blue and cream color, though the sleeves seem to smolder like coals.

"Not a rule, but some advice. Please watch where you step! You may not know when an act comes to you instead of the other way around."

The sound of steel hitting wood jars you. Where your hand had extended a moment ago, a knife was embedded in the wooden step leading down the bleachers, vibrating from the speed of its impact. A dozen others are likewise embedded up and down your section. You crane your neck upward- to see a young man, @FourthKing barechested with an open vest, held at the ankles by an acrobat. He is swung from one performer to the next, and he plants the knives into the steps of each section from over a hundred feet in the air, slinging the blades with unerring accuracy, easily dodging guests who are still walking to and from their seats. When you turn to grab the closest knife to you, you find only a pile of smooth ocean sand.

"Please do not feel compelled to offer monetary tips to our performers. They are being... suitably compensated for their skills."

You'd forgotten about the Ringleader with the stunts going on, and turn your head back in time to see him stepping onto a high wire above the central ring. Before him is a chestnut-haired woman, @VerusEbullio wearing her own flowing, fanciful coat and gown. While the Ringleader keeps his footing, he genuinely looks uncomfortable that high above the ground, using his walking stick to keep perfectly balance. The woman, meanwhile, cartwheels away from him on a cord that looks as thick as a fishing line. She gives an over the top gesture of exasperation to the assembled crowd.

'See what I have to work with?'

She removes a silk blindfold from her coat pocket, ties it around her face with both hands, pivots in place and then walks casually down the line, between soaring acrobats and above a hundred foot drop- with no net below it.

Complete*. Come meet your Ringleader!

*= The Audition will be expanded with each character added to the RP.

Circus of Hunters

The circus arrived with great fanfare, When it seemed to be most needed...

Your days have been dark ones of late. Months and months go by, and things have been stagnant or decaying around you. The factory hums, people collect paychecks, but... there's something in the air about your town. The cracks in the sidewalk loom wider. The mood of your neighbors turns darker. And your baby sister seems to be losing that spark of hope and innocence she always had. But what can you do in this world to change it? You've got bills to pay, a job to get to, and it leaves you too bone tired to do anything else except subsist.

But tonight, something changed. Tonight you left work and headed home like usual, only to see something you had never seen before in this town. The city park had been overtaken by a forest of tents, ringed by a wrought iron fence, its bars warped into the shapes of birds in flight, dragons battling knights, and other fanciful images.

The tents have no uniformity of look. They come in black, white, emerald, scarlet, purple, and a hundred other hues you've seen but cannot name. Drawn by this strange happening, you approach the ticket booth along with a growing throng of individuals. It is not free to enter, but you are shocked by how cheap it is to buy a ticket. Surely they mean to milk you dry for games of chance or prizes.

But you find none of these. As the sun sets, the tents come alive with supernatural, stupendous acts. You are not charged a dime for any of these, but some ask for strange things- for you to kiss your own palm upon entering, the name of your favorite toy as a child, or the last name of your first love.

A fortune teller knows your name, that your birthday is in two weeks, and advises you to call your mother promptly tomorrow at noon. When you do, you find that you reached her just in time to help her with a medical emergency, saving her life. But that will come later.

The knife thrower volunteers you for her act. Her blades will buzz close to your skin, sheering off your hair. When you step away, it looks professionally cut, and Michael Bellikoff, your crush, compliments you when he sees you later on.

But the strangest thing comes as you're eating caramel popcorn, taking a shortcut between tents. Two performers are whispering around a corner. They plot about hunting a "rooted demon" in the town, how "its' corruption has only begun taking root" and how they will speak to the Circus Masters about "leading a hunt" for the beast. This puzzles you, but you've seen a theater tent earlier. No doubt this part is just an act.

In the morning, the circus is gone. And the shadows cast about town seem strangely... less dark.

========================================================================

Welcome to the Circus of the Hunters

In times gone by, battles between creatures of Order and Chaos played out among humans in the every day. The Powers That Be have since... mellowed out a bit, and declared a truce. No more cities laid waste by fire and ash, no more beasts running rampant in the streets devouring innocents. And for a while, the truce held.

But the forces of Chaos were never trusted, and rightfully so. They sneak and skulk through the human world, infesting towns and cities with their insidious presence, claiming earth and souls alike for the dark powers. The creatures of Order know that to call them out on this behavior would tear the treaty asunder. Millions would die from the destruction unleashed by the Powers That Be going to war on the mortal plane.

And so, they themselves did something remarkable. They cheated.

One of their number voluntarily Fell, was cast down to Earth, and forfeited most of its power. But it was given the strength to empower others in the quest to root out the daemons of chaos to new, mythical heights. These performers form a pact with the Being, the Ringmaster, to forfeit their souls in exchange for some measure of power. For 7 years, their lives are forfeit to the Circus. And they may renew the contract for another 7 years after it expires, again and again until they perish in battle or grow tired of the fight.

The Ringmaster and the Circus move from town to town, city to city, as a traveling troupe of a city-sized-circus. To the citizens of its latest stop, it is a place of respite and wonder. A lure to draw in all those cast in the shadows of daemons. And while the people are distracted by the glorious acts before them, teams of mystical performers-turned-warriors have one night to hunt the daemon of the city. To tarry too long in one place is to invite the ire and hunger of the daemon hordes...

=====================================================================

Rules of the IC
1.) Obey the rules of the Site.

2.) Be courteous to others. ~ This is an RP site. We're here for fun, but that fun should not come at the expense of others. If it looks like you're being a jerk OOC, I will ask you to leave.

3.) Be dramatic, but don't be a drama llama. ~ This RP is about a supernatural circus. I encourage drama of all sorts- whether it's descriptions of stupendous performances or feats of magical combat. Likewise, interpersonal drama is encouraged, but please don't stir the pot "for the lulz".

4.) Characters ~ Your character should follow the below sheet, but feel free to add any details or sections you would like. The only thing not up for debate is the Audition. If you do not follow the Audition instructions, I will reject your CS immediately.

Character Sheet

A True Name

A Stage Name

An Image (Anime or fantastic theme encouraged)

The Date One Joined the Circus (The Circus began on January 1, 1634)

An Act One Performs when not on the combat team (Juggler, Fortune Teller, Acrobat, Ice Sculptor, etc.) along with any sort of mystical powers one has been granted by their Contract.
- The powers of the Contract come with an RP cost, a compulsion, such as "I cannot tell a lie, not even a kind one" or "I cannot give in to fear or terror." Breaking this compulsion means your character will be expelled from the Circus forevermore. Be creative with this. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Why One Joined the Circus.
- What price did the Ringleader pay to get you to sign the contact? Did you approach the Ringleader, or did they approach you?

A Biography
- One may go completely ham here, or leave it a mystery. I will accept a mystery if the writing on the rest of the Character Sheet indicates you have sufficient skill to capitalize on this fact in the RP.

A Connection
- How does this performer interact with at least one other person's character? As an example, "Xander was the first performer the Ringleader recruited into the Circus. He often leads the away teams hunting daemons or he manages the performances that draw in the mortals during the hunts- whichever the Ringleader is not doing at the time."

The Audition
- Here, I want you to describe your character's act from the perspective of one of the visitors of the Circus. It should evoke a sense of wonder, of joy, of excitement, or some other emotion. Have fun with this. I expect it to have a beginning, middle, and end. No novels are needed, but this will be my main deciding factor in accepting or rejecting the CS.

5.) Commitment ~ RPs live and die. Some barely get a few IC posts up, others go for thousands of posts over years and years. It's a fact of life this site. This RP recognizes everyone has a life, and IRL takes precedent. I myself will only be able to post on weekdays, due to multiple IRL jobs (side note: PM me if you would be interested in co-GMing and we can discuss later). Knowing this, I will invite people to use this RP to test and expand their writing skills. If you want to hammer out a one shot post expanding on character history, practice writing combat, or just describing a really cool sounding mystical act, I'm all for it. Such posts should be clearly marked with the name of the city the circus is in and the date it is happening (always in the past) at the top of the post to make it clear to everyone that this is the case.

Circus of Hunters (Interest Check)

Well then! I believe this is a level of interest that can be worked with.

As I believe I mentioned in the post, I work regularly during the weekends, so I will say if ya'll want to post CS drafts here, I will review them upon return.

There is an overarching plot to this RP, but I will keep things flexible to the whims of the group.