aviendha — Roleplayer Guild

The Trolloc Wars




GM: @aviendha   
Co-GM: @POOHEAD189


This RP will be based on the Wheel of Time, an amazing series by Robert Jordan, though it is not necessary to know the series to participate. The time is a thousand years after the Breaking, during the end of the Trolloc Wars. There are Ten Nations, all of which collapse by the end of these horrid events. Below, there all the details you need to participate in the RP.


LANDS




Aelgar- A coastal land renowned for its tremendous wealth and power. 
Almoren- The nation next to Tar Valon, filled with mountains and forests.
Aramaelle- A kingdom that has been overrun by the Shadow.
Aridhol- Now Shadar Logoth, the base for the Shadow operations.
Coremanda- A kingdom that has been overrun by the Shadow.
Eharon- A coastal kingdom bordered by rivers, and spotted with forests.
Essenia- Known for its philosophers and stores of knowlede, filled with plains and swamps.
Jaramide- A kingdom that has been overrun by the Shadow.
Manetheren- The home of the Two Rivers, ruled by Aemon and Eldrene. 
Safer- This is the vaguest nation, I honestly could not find any solid info about it.

Blight- A rotten wasteland, the birthplace of Shadowspawn.

Aiel Waste- A desert, devoid of oasis, and the home of the Aiel. Feared by the Trolloc forces.

Seanchan- A land across the expanse, untouched by the Trolloc Wars.

Tar Valon- The home of the White Tower, the base for the Aes Sedai.


SOCIOECONOMICS


GENERAL


We're going to make this really simple.

Each surviving Kingdom has a Queen, or a King, that leads the nation. Their spouse may or may not have power. It depends. 

Female channelers are referred to the White Tower to be trained to be Aes Sedai, or at least learn to control it, while male channelers are referred to be gentled (see below) and imprisoned. Aes Sedai are generally respected, though some fear them. 

Skilled workers are generally richer than those who work menial jobs; being born into money can only get one so far in this world. 

The Aiel are gathered in tribes of sorts. They have individual warrior societies, some of which focus on women that can channel. More on this later, if we have any interest in Aiel characters.

The Seanchan are really world and disinterested in Westlanders. They enslave channelers as damane. More on this later, if there's any interest in Seanchan characters.

THE SHADOW


At the top, we have the Dark One. It is the cosmic force of metaphorical darkness; evil, and chaos, and other related aspects of humanity. It cannot be killed, because it must exist for free will to exist, but that's a whole other philosophical subject. The Creator placed it in a prison at the beginning of time, but the Dark One tries to break free, to break the Wheel of Time, and remake the world in his own image.

He has his Forsaken, a small group of people who were his most intense followers, before they too were trapped alongside him. One of these, Ishamael/Ba'alzamon/like 50 other names periodically takes a vacation from prison, inflicting darkness upon the world. 

Dreadlords are men and women able to channel, who choose to work for the Dark One in this war, directing troops and forces, acting as commanders in battle.

The Black Ajah is the secret Ajah, of Aes Sedai who hide their work for the Dark One.

Darkfriends are any other people, channelers or not, open in their identity or hiding in plain sight, who work for the Shadow.

AES SEDAI


The Aes Sedai are based in the White Tower, in Tar Valon. They are a congregation of women capable of channeling the One Power; no men are allowed, due to the taint on their part of the magic (see the One Power section below). 

There are three basic levels of Aes Sedai. First, there are the Novices. These are the girls who are first interred into the White Tower, young women with the capability to channel. They must take classes, do chores, etc. Additionally, they wear all white, and follow strict rules. After they have proven themselves, through an intense test involving three arches, they become Accepted. If they cannot, they must leave the White Tower. Some die.

The Accepted are given a Great Serpent ring to wear, marking their status. They wear dresses decorated with the seven Ajah colors at the hems, rather than solely white. Their test for the next level involves a series of complex weaves, under an incredibly stressful situation. At this point, she is a full Aes Sedai. After succeeding, she must swear on the Oath Rod three things-

To speak no word that is not true
To make no weapon with which one man may kill another
Never to use the One Power as a weapon except against Darkfriends or Shadowspawn, or in the last extreme defense of her life, the life of her Warder, or another Aes Sedai

At this point, she must choose an Ajah, and be granted a shawl of that color. Once she has joined an Ajah, she can wear whatever she wants.

Red Ajah- Focuses on wrong and dangerous use of the One Power, which sometimes involves capturing male channelers, and Darkfriends/Dreadlords, and bringing them to the Tower to be gentled. They also eradicate groups of female channelers gathering outside of the Aes Sedai. They do not bond Warders.
Green Ajah- Nicknamed the 'Battle Ajah', they train to fight, in preparation for the Last Battle. They bond as many warders as they want; usually, those with only one warder marry them. They are the largest Ajah.
Gray Ajah- Focused on diplomacy and politics.
Brown Ajah- Focuses on the acquisition and preservation of knowledge. They control the library in the White Tower.
Yellow Ajah- Focused on Healing. 
Blue Ajah- Focuses on specific causes, to bring about justice to the world. They also have a large spy network.
White Ajah- Focused on logic and philosophy, the tiniest Ajah. They are usually not concerned with the outside world.
"Black Ajah"- Aes Sedai from other Ajahs who are secretly Darkfriends. 

At the head of the Aes Sedai, we have the Amyrlin- in this RP, that is Tetsuan. She oversees the Aes Sedai, and directs them on a large scale. She must answer to the Sitters, representatives from the seven Ajahs. She has a secretary of sorts, the Keeper of Chronicles, who works things on the business end of operations. 

A word on Warders- some are trained at the White Tower, while some are assorted men from across the nations. Either way, they are meant to be fantastic fighters, capable of defending and protecting an already powerful Aes Sedai.


THE ONE POWER


This is the magic system in the Wheel of Time.
It is made up of two complementary parts, Saidin, the male half, and Saidar, the female half.
Those who can use it are called channelers. Only a tiny percentage of the population is able to channel.
Usually, channelers must be trained in order to tap into the One Power; those very few who naturally pick it up, often unaware that they are doing so, are called wilders.
Channelers are not all equal- some are stronger, and can handle more.
The One Power is addicting, and dangerous- drawing in too much can burn someone out, rendering them unable to channel, or leave them brain dead, or kill them. (note: if you try anything too OP, that doesn’t fit within your character’s limits, this may happen).
Channelers can also be permanently cut off from the Source by others; this is called severing, or stilling for women, and gentling to men. Anyone who loses access to the One Power also loses the will to live. There is no known way (yet) to get it back (and there won’t be, during this RP).
Sometimes, people develop mental blocks that prevent channeling in the absence of certain conditions. These conditions can sometimes be ridiculous, and take a lot of work to break through.
A channeler will live longer than a regular person.
When women are touching the Source, other female channelers can tell, from a white glowing aura around their body.
As for how it works:
One weaves together ‘flows’ (threads) of five different elements: Earth, Spirit, Water, Air, and Fire. Some people are stronger in certain flows than others. Strength in all five is incredibly rare.
Weaves can only be seen by channelers of the same gender, and specific weaves have specific purposes.
Women can link together to form a circle, and channel together. Men cannot, without women present; but a man must be present to extend the number of participating channelers past 13.
And the Taint:
The Dark One placed a taint on Saidin that caused/s all male channelers to go mad.
Any man who uses Saidin will be affected by this, there are no exceptions (except Ba’alzamon).
The madness manifests differently in each individual.
There are therefore no male Aes Sedai.
And Angreal:
Angreal: objects which allow those who can channel to draw more of the One Power than they normally could without harming themselves in the process.
Sa'angreal: similar to angreal in that they allow channelers to use more of the One Power than they could otherwise safely access—much more. All sa'angreal multiply exponentially the amount of the Power upon which the channeler may draw; as a consequence, they are much rarer even than ordinary angreal.
Ter'angreal: objects of the One Power that perform specific functions. They do not necessarily need to be activated by the One Power, so a non-channeler could just as easily use one.

If I’m forgetting anything, I’ll add it later.


TIMELINE


The Trolloc wars were most simply a 350 year long series of battles between humans, and Shadowspawn. While the enemy armies were comprised mainly of Trollocs, Myrddraal, Draghkar, and other forms appeared as well. Humans who served the Shadow, Darkfriends, fought against the forces of Light, some in secret, some openly. 

Prior to the wars, humanity was still trying to recover from the Breaking, trying to repair the world, to cooperate. Nations had met a sort of peace, a fiercely intentional period reliant on treaties and other agreements, the Compact of the Ten Nations, spearheaded by Queen Mabriam of Aramaelle. 

The war began with a series of attacks by the Shadowspawn on the Borderlands, specifically Jaramide and Aramaelle. The city of Barsine in Jaramide was destroyed, while others faced awful destruction as well. At the attack on Barsine, the people of the continent- each of the Ten Nations, with the cooperation of the Aes Sedai- attempted to subdue the armies of the Shadow. They failed in their attempts, and the Shadowspawn spread into the Westlands. They began to demolish settlements, cities, and fortresses. Aramaelle, by this point, was completely overrun, though Jaramide struggled still to survive. The Shadowspawn sank into southern kingdoms, namely Aridhol, and launched their first major attack on Tar Valon.

During these first many years, the human armies were unable to face the Trolloc armies head on; they instead isolated smaller sections split off from the main armies. The only exceptions were those battles where Aes Sedai were abundant. 

The Trollocs attempted to invade the Aiel Waste, only to be met by the forces of the Aiel clans. They demolished the Trolloc armies, and the Trollocs now refuse to enter the Aiel claimed lands.

The Shadow, meanwhile continued its push into Aridhol. The king received advise from a man named Mordeth, that he must be more ruthless to defeat the Shadow. The king therefore sacrificed thousands of lives to attempt to keep the Shadow away from his kingdom. The Prince of Manetheren, the neighboring southern kingdom, attempted to help the king see the error of his ways- the prince was imprisoned, and tortured, losing a hand before he escaped. The other nations marched on Aridhol to demand recompense; only to find that it had been consumed by evil, and had fallen to ruins. It was condemned with the name of Shadar Logoth. Even now, an army of Shadowspawn still remains in the city; Mordeth stays to continue his evil work.

This is when our story begins.

After Aridhol’s demise, the Shadowspawn focused their fight on Coremanda, and Manetheren. We will focus on Manetheren. In the first few years of these battles, King Thorin became famous for his glorious efforts. He was succeeded by his grandson, Aemon. Aemon marries an Aes Sedai named Eldrene, and the two led a fantastic effort against the Shadow. Aemon formed a band of elite warriors, the Band of the Red Hand. Seemingly in response, from the Shadow emerged a new commander- Ba’alzamon, the Forsaken Ishamael disguised as the Dark One himself. 

Certain things must occur during this RP, as there is a history which we must follow. If you don’t want spoilers, don’t look it up, but all of the information about the Trolloc Wars is posted on the Wheel of Time wiki.

The majority of the story will (probably) take place in Manetheren, with Aemon and Eldrene, Shadar Logoth and the Blight, with Ba’alzamon and friends, and Tar Valon, with the Amyrlin Tetsuan and the other Aes Sedai. There may be battles and whatnot all over the place, there really are no restrictions except that we must follow the timeline, the lands, the socioeconomic structure, and the magic rules, details of which can all be found above.


CHARACTERS


RULES FOR CHARACTERS
As far as Character Sheets go, there are no limits as to how overpowered you can be. However, as strong as you are, you must have equivalent weaknesses. In addition, there are certain things which are not allowed; a warder must be bonded to an Aes Sedai, who must be a player character; only Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah may have multiple warders, all others may only have 0 or 1. You may only play a male channeller with prior permission, demonstrating an understanding of the restrictions of such a character. No ta’veren are allowed, because that will just become too confusing. Characters must be old enough to have enough experience to actually contribute to the war- I suggest at the very least 30, more like 40 if we're being honest, while Aes Sedai could be at least 100. In short, no special snowflakes. 

Also, we must follow all of the rules of the Wheel of Time universe. I do not want to be haunted by Robert Jordan's ghost. 

No part of the character sheet can be marked "unknown" without prior approval. If you have a character with a big secret- such as the fact that they are a Darkfriend- that you wish to keep hidden from the rest of the players, PM me and Poo and we can work something out.

Once a character has been posted in the Character tab, you may not edit it any further. Hence the rule below, that all characters must be approved by both GM's before they are posted in the Character tab.


All characters must be approved by both GM’s,

and posted in OOC prior to being posted in the CS tab.


CHARACTER SHEETS
Post this character sheet in the OOC first, for approval from both GM's. Tag us both at the top of the post.

[These top things should be as succinct as possible- as few words as possible. Simplicity is key.]
Name: 
	[Include any and all titles.]

Gender: 
	[Note that you can be a gender not of the typical binary- however, if you are a channeler, PM me so we can discuss the details of how that will work.]

Age: 
	[At least 30 years old, unless we've talked and decided otherwise. Keep in mind that female channelers can live a hell of a long time, but that history happens; if you have a particularly old character, make sure that you know what was happening in the world during their younger years. If you need help with that, message me and I’ll send you the relevant, abbreviated information.]

Origin: 
	[Which of the nations are they from, specifically?]

Career: 
	[What does your character do? Who are they? For example, an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah, a Warder to an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah, the King of Manetheren, Darkfriend working as a Street Vendor, etc; include all relevant information as to your character’s primary occupation(s) in as few words as possible. Please include your rank as well, if necessary. And being a parent counts as an occupation.]

Faction: 
	[What group will you, the player, control, that this character is a member/leader of? If they are the commander of said faction, write "Commander of [insert faction here]" rather than just the name of the faction.]

[The rest of these things can be as detailed as you wish.]
Appearance: 
	[This can be a picture, so long as it’s not anime/manga, or it can be a physical description. Either way, show us enough that we can know what your character looks like- we don’t necessarily need to know the specific way her eyes shine at the break of dawn, just the basics- you can elaborate in the IC. If you need help finding a picture, PM me.]

History: 
	[Here, include a basic summary- no more than 500 words- of your character’s life. This should be brief, succinct- as much information as a civilian might  gather from chatting up a few acquaintances.]

Notes: 
	[Any other information you deem relevant to the public. Include whether or not this person can channel, unless that’s already obvious by their occupation, if that information is publicly known.]

Send this character sheet to the GM's for approval in a PM. This must be approved before your character sheet can be posted in the Character tab.

Personality: 
	[An in depth analysis of your character’s belief system and personal code, and their perspective of the world, and how they act in it.]

History: 
	[As long as it needs to be. A full account of your character’s life, from as early as you want to the current date.]

Family: 
	[Does your character have any surviving relatives, or loved ones? Warders and Lovers should be listed here too, as should any similarly strong relationships. This should be in list form- i.e. Stan, brother; Bob, husband; Sally, daughter.]

Further Notes: 
	[Any other information you deem relevant. Include whether or not your character can channel, if that information is not publicly known. If your character is a channeler, and you want her strength to be privately known, place it here.]


Possibilities for characters include the following:
DARK:
Dreadlords- Mostly women with the capability to channel who lead forces of Shadowspawn
Darkfriends- People who fight/act on behalf of the Dark One (either known or in secret)
Ba’alzamon and the Shadowspawn- will be NPC’s, the former only controlled by the GM’s.
Trollocs
Myrddraal
Darkhounds
Gray Men
Jumara/Worms
Draghkar
LIGHT:
Aemon and Eldrene- will be controlled by Poo and me, respectively.
Tetsuan- will be an NPC, GM controlled.
Band of the Red Hand- The warriors who fight in Aemon’s name
Soldiers- Warriors who belong to the greater armies of the Ten Nations
Aes Sedai- Women capable of channeling
Warders- The men who protect individual Aes Sedai
Aiel- People of the wasteland, outsiders
Civilians- Anything else you want


If you have a special request or neat idea, based on something not listed here, go for it! Tetsuan and Ba’alzamon can be claimed, if you guys want them. The latter must be controlled by someone who has read the series, and knows the character well. Tetsuan is really open ended, though.


ON FACTIONS


All players must control a character, obviously, but the player will also control a faction, of which their character is either the leader or a member. For example, Aemon will dictate what the Band of the Red Hand is doing during battle, as he is the commander of that faction. A run-of-the-mill member of the Green Ajah would tell us what the other Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah are doing during that battle; she would not be commanding them, she would simply relay to the reader what is going on. This will be reflected in the Character Sheets, so there isn't any confusion.

The only time we need to know what a faction is doing is during battle; outside of an active battlefield, you'll just write about your character.

Factions available include:
Aes Sedai - Commanded by Tetsuan*
Green Ajah
Red Ajah
Blue Ajah - Claimed by @LadyTabris
Yellow Ajah - Claimed by @Ezmeralda
Brown Ajah
Grey Ajah
White Ajah - Claimed by @aviendha
Warders
Nations
Manetheren - Commanded by Eldrene*
The Band of the Red Hand - Controlled by Aemon*
Aelgar - Claimed by @Lucky Knight
Almoren
Eharon
Essenia
Safer - Claimed by @Snagglepuss89
Shadow
Greater Forces - Commanded by Ba'alzamon*
Black Ajah
Smaller Forces - Claimed by @Durandal, and @Tangletail, and?
Other Factions
Aiel Clan
Seanchan


* = NPC's controlled by the GM's


Before you post your character in the OOC, let us all know here what faction you want to claim (or invent).

RULES


Honestly, since this is in the Advanced section, I expect that you guys know how RP’s work. Be nice, don't control others' characters, use correct grammar, etc. I’ll let out a little bit of faith here, and we’ll only post explicit rules of conduct if problems arise. Here are just some guidelines for how this should work:

The expected word count of any given post is ~1,000. If you write 500 solid words, and you don't want to elaborate lest you end up with redundancies and purple speech, we're good. It's not a strict thing- just an average post length. We want to give each other enough material to actually respond.

Speaking of purple speech, though- I will have none of it. Flowery words are ok, flamboyant sentence structure is fine, but going out of your way to seem like you're a drunk poet that stepped out of the 19th century? ...No.

You won't need to post every day, just keep up to date on the IC, and try to post at least once a week, wherever seems most appropriate to you. 

Try to keep up on the OOC- at least on the posts that either of us GM's make. If you have any questions, ask. I will be more than happy to answer anything. No question is a stupid question (I'm a teacher, so I actually believe that).

On a final note, there is no such thing as plot armor. There is every chance that your character will die. Those characters which are particularly overpowered or fantastic pose a greater risk. Remember, few names survive to the Third Age- all of your original characters' stories will be forgotten after their deaths. Hence the 'no special snowflakes' character rule. If you want to play a character who is guaranteed to live, you may choose to play as one of the canon characters.


If you have any questions, feel free to ask here, or in a PM to Poo or myself! 



APPROVED CHARACTERS


(format: Character Name | Faction | @Player)
Suel Istan | N/A | @aviendha
Naia Irabena | White Ajah | @aviendha
Rennet Kyne | Aelgar | @Lucky Knight
Ardath Dodorea | Shadow | @Tangletail

NPC'S


Tetsuan | Aes Sedai | @aviendha
Eldrene | Manetheren | @aviendha
Ba'alzamon | Shadow Forces | @aviendha, @POOHEAD189
Aemon | Band of the Red Hand | @POOHEAD189

For your own reference, here's a link to the moderation policy in the RP forums.

Grey had been awake for hours, staring at the gentle moon filling the sky with her light. So many songs could be derived from her beauty alone, as she stood with such grace among the stars and clouds alike, reflecting the harsher light of the sun. In her hands, Grey held her oud, occasionally playing a few lines of harmony to accompany the sounds of the evening. Sitting atop the Guild's base, she felt at peace with the world. She could hear the songs of nature, whispering in her ears- the distant crashing waves of the ocean, the breath of sleeping animals, even the bits of wind trapped among the leaves.

The sun began to rise, and Grey felt a yawn burst forth. She slipped into a shadow, flitting between darknesses until she found herself back in her own room. Barren as an empty sea, the only decoration was a stand in the corner, onto which she placed her oud. Her grey robe hung from a rod beside her cot, alongside her dress and cloak. Considering the manner of the tourney, she chose to wear the robe.

First, though, she pulled from beneath the cot a roll of cloth bandages. Careful and delicate, she wrapped her chest and groin lightly, to bind herself to a manageable state to fight. The robe was shapeless enough that no one would see this work, but it granted her a sense of security anyways. She slipped the silk on, over her body, and lowered the hood over her face, casting a shadow across her features. The dim nature of the shadow over her face offered her a sort of invisibility; one could see her, just as one can see every piece of furniture in a room, their attention would just be diverted elsewhere. She was, when her hood was down, nearly impossible to pay attention to- until battle begins.

She was a bard, sure, a classically trained one at that. A half elf, even- she was meant to be dramatic. But it just was not in her nature, an affect of her personality gifted by her deceased mother, no doubt. It was not modesty. Merely, she had grown up not wanting to stand out, and this had affected her personality and style alike. Thus, Grey simply walked out of her room, and through the halls, until she reached the grounds for the tourney, and waited until the others arrived. She considered a nap, watching the sun with scorn in her eyes.

When Artura entered, Grey remained hidden in her dark corner, unseen, and quiet. Grey watched the guild mother with the corners of her mouth almost twitching into a smile. She loved Artura, almost as much as she loved the moon. Not wanting to delay the start of the tourney, Grey stepped out of the shadows, and waited to be noticed. Kaito entered soon after the announcement, with his flare of exuberant flamboyance. Grey admired his strength- for a man without a face, he was the most expressive she had ever known. Grey maintained her composure, face locked in a serene look of ambivalence, and walked up to the circle. 

She removed her hood, and held out a hand.

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