DesertFox

The Daylight War

Races done. Now moving onto Lore.

The Daylight War

Interesting. I don't suppose you could provide a better idea as to what level technology is at?

@Sagittarius

I'll get to that in the Lore section, just wanted to see if the fishes were going to bite before I committed myself.

Basically, we're looking at present day technology, but with the obvious hindrances/drawbacks that a post-apocalyptic world would inflict. Fuel is rare, many weapons have been patched and repaired over their life span, everything is made out of recycled pre-disaster era. In essence, humanity has kept the know-how, but lacks the materials.

Unless we're talking about Skyguard's Inner Sanctum, (will get to this in the lore), where the rich and powerful live. It's a walled compound, consisting of perfect gardens, a few sky scrapers and immaculately maintained houses. In the Inner Sanctum, people go about their business much as they did before the bombs fell. There's plenty of fuel, electricity, everything is new(ish) and food is plentiful.

The Daylight War

Mostly a W.I.P, but the story is done. Anyone interested?

The Daylight War

By DesertFox

A Darkness Broken, A Darkness Renewed

For a million years, Vampires ruled both the night - and the world. They were masters of all they looked upon, and their hunger was sated by the blood of lesser races. Creatures that were too stupid to amuse them in the hunt, or too clever to be harmless, were struck from the histories at a whim. Creatures that were too slow to populate, or too confined in their habitats, were also wiped from the face of the planet. Only the entertaining, adventurous and plentiful were allowed to live.

Humans were such a species.

But humanity was resilient, unpredictable and had a knack for surviving whatever was thrown at it. The humans eventually rose up against their Vampiric overseers, and using daylight and fire, were able to drive the nightmarish horrors from the surface world.

And for a million years, humanity reigned. He evolved, grew smarter, stronger. He covered the planet from North to South, from East to West. Every plain, every jungle, desert, forest, swamp, mountain and ocean knew his face. Empires rose and fell with every thousand years, and though he was master of all, he warred with himself endlessly over pride, vanity, greed and power.

His former masters watched and waited from the darkness, content that they be confined to myth and legend. The Vampires knew that another war with humanity would end much the same way, especially now that he was stronger than ever. The sun - daylight - was a decisive edge he held over them, and they cursed their foolishness for allowing him to grow as strong as they did. If they wanted to correct their error, and regain their right as rulers of the world, then they needed to negate the sun.

Over the span of centuries, the Vampires set their plans in motion. By kidnapping human women, handfuls at a time, and impregnating them with their offspring, they were able to sire the Day Walkers. Day Walkers were Man and they were Vampire, an even split in most things, save for two significant qualities. Firstly, the sun did not harm them, and they could walk the earth as freely as Man. Secondly, in appearance they were Men, and there were very few ways of differentiating the two.

Day Walkers were not immortal, unlike their fathers, and lived only for thousands of years at a time. They were also highly unstable, and the older they got, the nearer they verged to insanity. Though they possessed inhuman strength and speed, they were much weaker than their full-bloodied kin, and whilst their fathers only need feed once in a decade, they needed to feed once every ten day period. Still, their loyalty and dedication to their fathers was beyond doubt, and over their long lives, they furthered the causes of which they were assigned.

And when Man's twilight era came upon him, he knew it not.

Having infiltrated the very top of the human governments and militaries, the Day Walkers used their power and influence to create a conflict that spanned the globe. Man unleashed his vast arsenal of doomsday weapons against himself, scorching both the earth and the sky. Nations that had stood for thousands of years were reduced to ashes in an instance; billions were killed in the nuclear fires, and radiation did the rest.

And then the Vampires came back out of the darkness, and sought to claim the world for themselves once more. This time, humanity was in no shape to contest them. The survivors of the Great Disaster fled to fortified enclaves, and established around themselves vast and impressive defences to guard against the onslaught.

Though Man was greatly diminished, much of his technology survived, and so he used his knowledge to imbue these defences with the sciences he had acquired over his time. Man became militarised, and he became violent - resilient despite the magnitude of the disaster arrayed against him. From within his fortified cities, he was safe, and each night the Vampires were repulsed again and again.

But their resistance has a time limit, and with each passing day, the challenges they face to survive are mounting. In the darkness of the many caves, caverns and strongholds, the Vampires are plotting the final phase of their conquest. The end of Man will not go with a bang, but a whimper.

Skyguard, a city of a million souls, rests on the East Coast of the former United States of America. It is the sole surviving bastion of humanity for a thousand miles in either direction, and it is also the key to final victory for both species. For within its high walls, past the machine guns, solar-beams and the barbed wire, the greatest mortal minds are vying to create an airborne virus that will destroy the Vampires. It is the only known threat to the Vampiric race in recent times, and with it gone, there will be no more hope for humanity.

With the existence of the Day Walkers still an unknown to the human defenders, they have unwittingly lost the security of the sun. They will no longer be able to sleep soundly in the afternoon, and rush to their defences in the night. For them, this will be the Daylight War.

Rp Summary

Simply put, this RP is all about the triumph or defeat of the Vampires. Players will either play as a Vampire, a Day Walker or a human. Vampires and Day Walkers will work in tandem (or not!) to destroy the city, through sabotage and all out assaults, whilst the humans will give all they have and more to buy enough time for the airborne virus to be created.

The Day Walkers are very human looking, think your typical hollywood depiction of a vampire. Actual vampires are well, monsters really, all teeth and claws. Humans are still bland. Technology before the Great Disaster was on par with the 21st century, but has now taken on a post-apocalyptic Fallout-y appearance.

The humans, despite the Great Disaster, do not know of the Day Walkers and have no suspicions. This would allow for the Day Walkers to sabotage things, physically or politically... unless they pity them, somehow? The Vampires can sneak out at night and murder everyone, or roam the city's dark areas. The humans can just keep shooting their guns until they run out of ammo.

This is a freeform, player driven and semi-sandbox experience. You know the setting, you know the overarching plot, but everything outside of that is entirely up to you.

Races

Vampires

Vampires come in several forms, but are all monstrous in appearance, and bound by a common weakness to fire.

Some spew forth several limbs, others are nothing but a twisted ball of flesh and teeth. They have lived for millions of years, and with each generation, evolution has stepped in a different direction. However, they all share the weakness of the sun. Some ignite instantly when exposed to its rays, whilst others lose their strength and mental faculties. In any case, the results are always devastating.

What makes the Vampires the supreme species however, is their Sixth Sense. The ability to actively control the material world with their minds. It is through this sixth sense, called the Birth Right by some, or the Gift by others, they can contact each other and the Day Walkers from several hundred miles away. Furthermore, they can also invade the minds of humans, and enforce their will upon them. However, as has been proven, if a human is strong-willed then he or she may fight off the attack.

When it comes to moving objects with the Birth Right, a Vampire can move anything with an approximate quarter of his or her physical strength.

During the day time hours, Vampires will hide or slumber in any dark space that they deem safe and suitable, and will sometimes employ Day Walkers to stand watch and turn away/deal with any unwitting humans.

If a Vampire is injured by anything other than fire, then it is able to almost instantly heal itself. Burns resulting from flames can take weeks to heal, and can result in infection - the only scenario in which a Vampire is exposed to the danger that microbodies present to humans.

Day Walkers

Day Walkers are the result of Vampire and human copulation, and their conception is usually a brutal, horrifying affair.

They spend their first five years tutored by their father in the safety of the underworlds. During this time, their purpose is explained to them in full, and they are taught how to hide their true selves from the unsuspecting humans.

Day Walkers mature and age at a rapid rate, and though only five years old when they leave the underworlds, they appear as a human in their mid-twenties. A network of existing Day Walkers who live within the human enclaves, then oversee their entry past the walls - a feat usually involving a mixture of fake identification details and subtlety.

This same network, also silences those who are losing control of themselves, or who are beginning to develop "feelings" for their human enemy.

Day Walkers can live to be thousands of years old, but it is generally accepted that after the first five centuries, they start losing their minds. This process is slow, and can be stalled, but is the result of the "human part" of their brains struggling to cope with their own longevity. During this stage, they develop human-related emotions, such as love, fear and hate. Prior to this, their emotional patterns closely resemble a human psychopath's - in that they feel nothing.

A Day Walker's strength and speed far surpasses that of a human's, but is dwarfed by their father's. Worked out mathematically, they have approximately a quarter of the strength and speed of their fathers. Though this makes them superior to humans in almost every way, they can still be killed easily by a well placed bullet. Their wounds heal quicker than a human's, but not instantly like their fathers, and is something they often have to hide when living among the enemy.

When a Day Walker feeds, four large incisors emerge from their jaws, coming up in front of their human teeth. They can hide this at will however, and only a dental xray will reveal them otherwise. Though even if a dentist or doctor saw these teeth, they'd be more likely to treat it as some kind of benign deformity, than anything more sinister.

Humans

The former masters of the world.

Humanity is in grave peril. Vampires stalk them during the night, and in the day, Day Walkers sabotage their chances of survival without so much of a hint of suspicion. Food and resources are growing increasingly rare, and though the wealthy elite of Skyguard live in luxury, the vast majority are downtrodden, starving rats who are living purely because they must. It's in their nature.

And it is their nature, that has driven them to stand fast against the odds. Though weak and frail, humanity is ever resourceful, and there are as many heroes as there are cowards.

Lore

Technology

When the Day Walkers initiated World War Three, it was the year 2059.

The RP takes place two decades after, in 2079.

Common technology exists as a reworked, recycled stop-gap from the ruins of the pre-war world. Guns are in abundance, cars are still a thing, and even the odd plane sometimes tries to take off. However, things such as raw metals, fuels and minerals are a finite commodity.

Recovery Teams, mounted by Skyguard's military, head into nearby pre-war ruins to salvage what they can. This has worked for a time, but the local areas are starting to turn barren. The Vampires have also wizened to this, and actively seek to destroy anything they deem useful for the humans.

Skyguard

Skyguard sits upon the ruins of Manhattan, and overlooks the torn and twisted form of greater New York.

With a population of little over a million, the city is understandably crowded and full of squalor. The common man live in cramped slums, but the wealthy few live in the city's centre most point, where much of the tall buildings have been kept in tact. Surrounded by a large electrified wall, they are completely disconnected from the misery taking place just outside of their windows.

Solar panels cover the tall buildings, and hydro stations dot the New York Bight. Further north, at Yonkers, the military operates using roads as runways and the pre-war buildings as barracks.

Skyguard itself is surrounded by a three mile-wide parameter. These defences extend into the ruins of New York, and consist of fortified emplacements, trench networks and barbed wire. On the banks of Manhattan, a large twenty foot tall concrete wall circles the city from West Village to Yonkers. Hundreds of armed and trained soldiers patrol this at all times.

The Inner Sanctum, where the wealthy and powerful live, is surrounded y a similar construct. Although, this s more to keep the common man from looking in on his betters, than as a deterrent against Vampires. In the city's twenty year history, the Vampires have never broken through the wall on the banks, and have only broke through the parameter defences three times.

Maps

W.I.P

Rules

W.I.P

Warcraft II: Heroes of Hillsbrad

Sorry, I'll get my character sheet together later today.

@Pyromania99

Its okay, take your time.

Warcraft II: Heroes of Hillsbrad

Here's the OOC.

Warcraft II: Heroes of Hillsbrad

Name: Sir Tobias Helmwall

Age: 22

Gender: Male

Class: Knight

Race: Human

Weapons and Armour:

• Full Plate Mail
• Shield
• Hammer
• War Horse
• Dagger

Spells: None

Appearance: Tobias is a tall man, and though not overtly muscular in appearance, looks to be a man who is used to hard work. He has long dark hair, and a young beardless face.

picture

History: Tobias is the son of a wealthy Southshore merchant. Born to a life of luxury, and schooled to carry on the family tradition of buying and selling turtle related goods, Tobias enjoyed a safe and rich childhood. However, he was always an easily excited child, and spent more of his time than was proper, inventing quests for himself to go on. These quests usually ranged from besting the local bully in honourable combat, or tracking down his mother's lost jewellery.

As he reached adulthood, his childish antics took root in his future wants and dreams. He asked his father for permission to serve as a Knight to Lordaeron, but this request was denied. Being his father's only child, he was told that his enlistment into the army would detroy everything the aging merchant had fought to build. Tobias regretfully accepted his father's wishes, and resumed work as an apprentice merchant.

However, as word reached Lordaeron of the Horde's sudden appearance in the south of the continent, Tobias' childhood dreams took over. Unhappy with the boredom of the merchant's life, he forsook his father's wishes, and spent his personal savings on buying a the title of knight, and a small fief outside of Dalaran.

Kissing his mother goodbye, and giving his farther a curt nod, the young Sir Tobias Helmswall immediately launched himself into the men's world of war. He spent countless hours on the training grounds, trying to catch up in skill with the squires who'd spent their whole lives learning the trade of combat. He surprised his drill masters, but was constantly belittled for his rash decisions and fiery temper. This did not diminish his passion however, and he continued to pour more energy and enthusiasm into being the 'perfect knight'.

He made frequent trips to Dalaran, and made use of its wide libraries. What meagre material existed on the Horde, most of it entrenched in folklore, he absorbed with eager anticipation of a coming war.

When Lord Lothar of Stormwind made landfall in Southshore, with the Kingdom's remaining living souls, it was no surprise then that Sir Tobias immediately volunteered his service to the regional commander in preparing the Shores of Lordaeron for a Horde incursion.

Warcraft II: Heroes of Hillsbrad

Character Sheet

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Class: Will also define race, unless mercenary is chosen.

Race: Mercenaries Only

Weapons and Armour: If pre-existing class chosen, then keep it in line with their lore weaponry as seen above.

Spells: Mercenaries only. Pre-existing class spells can be found in their descriptions.

Appearance:

History:

Template

Warcraft II: Heroes of Hillsbrad

Warcraft II

Along the coast of Hillsbrad in southern Lordaeron, a lone Alliance outpost wages a guerilla war against the terrifying might of the Horde.

Summary

Interested? Read on!

Hello, and welcome to Warcraft II: Heroes of Hillsbrad.

This RP might take some of you way back, and make you feel old and miserable, and I am sorry for that. However, I wanted to do something fresh and new.

So the premise is pretty simple, staying in tune with the original game's very simplistic story, and disregarding what is probably a whole library full of lore by now, courtesy of the Blizzard money making machine. The players take the role of an individual soldier in Lordaeron's/Alliance's army in the early days of the Second War.

The Orcs are raiding up and down the coast, everyone is sh*tting themselves, and things are about to get pretty tense - so tense in fact, that eventually there'll be a whole pay-to-play MMORPG that becomes a global super-giant of the market, a decade later.

The RP starts with everyone performing mundane tasks, and by mundane, I mean hunting down Orc raiders along the coast. And then, as the story progresses, and things turn against the Alliance, the Hillsbrad outpost will become cut off and isolated, forcing its defenders to do some Viet Cong type guerilla stuff in a campaign of epic awesomeness.

The RP will play like any other, there's no mechanics, and I don't expect an Orc to take 5-8 arrows to get killed like it did in the game. This is purely a narrative exercise.

However, because I know you all love little eastereggs and fun stuff, I'll use Warcraft II's map editor to help narrate the story, giving players a little glimpse of their characters handling life in the game world.

When making a character, you will do all the usual stuff, i.e name, age, gender, weight, boob size etc, but will be expected to fill a unit role of the traditional game. Examples being: Footman, Elven archer, Mage, Knight, Paladin etc.

So, will anyone be interested in this? I haven't started work on the real thing, although what we already have will probably serve as the intro. Players will not need to be grounded in Warcraft lore, because lord knows I'm not, and as we're going by Warcraft II's version of events, everything is pretty vague and general anyway. Orcs bad. Humans good. Humans kill Orcs.

Map

Warcraft II Campaign

Active Characters

Sir Tobias Helmwall, Knight of Lordaeron.

Refugees, Rumours and a Knight:

Refugees from the Kingdom of Azeroth have brought with them ill news. Stormwind City has been sacked by the Horde, and King Llane has been slain by an assassin. Lord Lothar, the leader of these refugees, has warned King Terenas II, Lord of Lordaeron, that our lands are under immediate threat of the Horde.

Already rumours are spreading along our coasts, of a huge Horde armada crossing the Great Sea. If these rumours are true, then we may only have days, not weeks, to prepare. Our armies are still mustering, and it will take longer than this before can make a response in full. Whatever threatens to lurch from the waves, and onto the beaches of our homeland, we must stall it unto death if needs be.

However, we are not alone. A contingent of Elves from Quel'Thalas, and a detachment of Dwarves from Ironforge have arrived to not only bolster our efforts, but also to see the situation for themselves. Both nations are not yet committed to a mutual military effort, and so for now these forces are only a token of their support - but never the less, we shall need them in the coming days.

Sir Tobias Helmwall, a Knight in the service to the regional commander of the southern defence forces, is assembling a small regiment of men and women to aid him in establishing an outpost in Hillsbrad. He is a young, rash man with little combat experience to his name, but his peers know him as an honourable fighter and a keen scholar.

You are assigned to his command, and whether for love of country, or for love of money, you are to follow his orders to whatever end.

Godspeed, and let us hope that Lord Lothar is wrong, and that the Horde is merely content with staying in the south.

Classes:

Footman:



Footmen are the initial line of defenses against the Horde. Arrayed in hardened steel armor, they courageously wield broadsword and shield in hand-to-hand combat against their vile Orcish foes. The valorous Footmen are ever prepared to heed the call to arms.

Elven Archer:



Out of the mysterious forests of Quel'thalas come the Elven Archers to aid the Alliance in its darkest hour. Descendants of the elder race of Lordaeron, these sylvan woodsmen are unmatched in their use of the bow. Unencumbered by helm or heavy armor, Archers are keen of eye and fleet of foot. These Elves have long been embroiled in a bloody conflict with the hated Trolls of Lordaeron and are swift to let loose a rain of arrows upon any foe, including those that attack from the skies above.

Elven Ranger:



Elven rangers are a special cadre of elven archers who are intimately bound to the wildlands of Lordaeron. Their pursuit of mastery in Longbow, Marksmanship, and Scouting make them more rugged and even deadlier than their brothers — traits for which they are greatly feared amongst their enemies. These secretive and elite warriors have never involved themselves in the affairs of humans, but when Horde onslaughts threatened to destroy the elven homelands, they quickly offered their services to the Alliance. Although their numbers are few, their presence could change the course of the war if they are deployed wisely.

Knight:



The Knights of Lordaeron represent the fiercest fighting force in the armies of the Alliance. Protected by suits of heavy armor, they carry mighty warhammers with which to crush all who would threaten the freedom of their lands. Astride great warhorses, these honorable and just warriors serve as a symbol of order to the peoples of Lordaeron in these dark and chaotic times. Having learned of the fate the Knights of Azeroth suffered after the First War, they have sworn to both avenge their fallen brethren and free their homelands from the grip of the Orcish Hordes.

Paladin:



This is the call of the paladin: to protect the weak, to bring justice to the unjust, and to vanquish evil from the darkest corners of the world. These holy warriors are equipped with plate armor so they can confront the toughest of foes, and the blessing of the Light allows them to heal wounds and, in some cases, even restore life to the dead.

Paladins are similar to Knights in their appearance and tactics, but have access to spells.

Mage:



Once students of the Conjurers of Azeroth, this new order of Mages have been forced to discover untapped magical forces to command in their war against the ruthless Orcs. Although masters of their arts, the Conjurers who fell during the First War were unprepared for the rigors of warfare. Determined to avoid a similar fate, the Mages have undertaken a regimen equally demanding on body and soul, thus dedicating themselves to the command of more aggressive and destructive magiks. Whether in their sanctum at the Violet Citadel in Dalaran or on the many battlefields of Lordaeron, the Mages are resolute in their efforts to defend the people.

They can cast these spells.

Dwarven Demolition Squad:



From the deep, subterranean halls of Khaz Modan, the Dwarven Demolition Squads come to aid the Alliance in their crusade for the liberation of Khaz Modan. As masters in the handling and arming of explosives, these squads are renowned for their ability to demolish any obstacle - from a mightily wall to a bulwark of solid stone. Reckless and bold, these Dwarves are zealous in their loyalty to the Alliance and would not hesitate to detonate their explosive payload should the situation turn grim.

Armed with their innovative exploding shells, the stalwart Demonlition Teams of Khaz Modan are capable of blasting apart enemy ranks from long range. These fearless dwarves are masters of explosive devices and relish in pounding fortified enemy emplacements to dust.

Gryphon Riders:



From the ominous and foreboding peaks of Northeron come the Dwarven Gryphon Riders. Mounted upon their legendary beasts and wielding the mystic Stormhammers forged deep within the secret chambers of their Aviaries, these feral Dwarves fear no enemy and rely upon no friend. They have allied themselves only with the Elves of Quel'thalas, distrusting both their Dwarven cousins and the Humans alike. When the call to battle is sounded, however, they can be counted upon to fight alongside any who oppose the Horde.

Mercenaries:

As Lordaeron and its allies mobilize their armies for war, mercenaries have been employed as a stop-gap measure to bolster the existing forces. These men and women from across the continent of Azeroth hold allegiance to no Lord, but gold speaks volumes to their commitment, and the coffers of the Alliance are all too willing to indulge them. They vary in skills, talents and renown, and to a regional commander, present an unreliable force on paper. However, in practice, they may be just what the Alliance needs to keep the Horde at bay long enough for its regular armies to respond.

Rules

• No God modding and all that jazz.
• No OOC arguments.
• When playing a mercenary, your spells are limited to Warcraft II's spell lore. See here for the list
• Pay attention to Sir Tobias, as he'll be the story's main protagonist and will keep things from degenerating into a free-for-all.
• When playing a mercenary, no Horde races allowed.
• If leaving the RP, please have the courtesy to kill your character - or at the very least, notify me, so that I may do it for you.
• Character sheets go to the character tab.
• Where there is a Lore conflict between WC2 and the other games, WC2 takes precedent.
• As proof that you've read all of this, put "I swear allegiance to Sir Tobias Helmwall" at the bottom of your character sheet.

Warcraft II: Heroes of Hillsbrad

Kk. What character type is everyone else planning on?

@Pyromania99

Well I'm a knight. So we got that going for us.

Warcraft II: Heroes of Hillsbrad

I am a huuuge Warcraft nerd (Warcraft 3 and onward, which is a pain, but I'll read up on WCII). Most interested, sir.

@Ozymandias

It's all pretty simple.

In Warcraft I, the Kingdom of Azeroth (Stormwind) is beaten by the horde, its king killed and the city sacked. In Warcraft II, The survivors, led by Lord Lothar, flee across the Great Sea to Lordaeron and warn them of the threat. The Horde then invade the Shores of Lordaeron (where the RP is set), and Khaz Modan. Eventually of course, the Horde are driven back.

Anyway, I think four is enough for me to work on getting the OOC up. I'll put a link here once it's done.