Welcome to this interest check for my small-big medieval fantasy adventure!
Closed for admission, sorry :)
Anyone who has expressed interest so far may still submit a CS, but newcomers are kindly asked to refrain from posting here except for giggles^^
--> IC / OOC <---
Tales of Leyland
OverviewThis is a recruitment thread for this RP since some people left right after the IC went up. I’m looking for one to three people maximum.
The idea of this rp is a small group of people in a medieval fantasy world that gathers together, each with their own personal reasons and motivations and start traveling together to unravel a larger, overarching mystery. While traveling, our characters accept a lot of "side quests" if you will; Things they do that might help further the main plot, but sometimes ultimately lead to apparent dead ends or end on their own note. This way, the story is separated into chapter or episode-like, smaller adventures that are incorporated into the overaching plot that again has an ultimate conclusion. With these sub-episodes it is also easily possible for you guys to bring in your own ideas or stories that you want your characters to experience, while I’ll gently usher you through the main story.
I was thinking that 4 to maximum 5 characters is a good number to play with. Possible, I’d like the gender dispersion to be 50/50, but it doesn’t absolutely have to be. The general, overarching plot would be set out by me for you, but I love input and I’d be happy if you have something to add to the story or wish to bring in your own thoughts. The pace of the rp would be each person posting minimum once a week, possibly more.
Now, to the meat on the bone!
Background information
Our story takes place in the kingdom of Leyland. It is a fairly commonplace medieval fantasy kingdom, with a monarch and royal court situated in the castle city, and as many as 12 holds throughout the land, each centrally governed by a lord commander and their vassals. The twelve lords hold the most direct power in the kingdom and only answer to the king and his court, while their higher subordinates control chunks of land and report to their respective lord-commander. The inhabitants of the kingdom are humans, as I’m planning on having the biggest chunk of sentient races be human. There is a possibility for lesser races such as goblins, imps, or other creatures which could serve as merchants, distant mountain/desert/island tribes, or something else, but for the beginning and for our characters I’d prefer to stick to human. As far as culture goes, think England in the middle ages, with some lingering influence of an ancient, once highly advanced race that left behind ruins and magical constructs that speak of their former glory. Some of the contemporary cities are built upon these ruins and some of the still intact buildings were refitted for their new inhabitants.
Geographically Leyland covers a range from the highlands in the north based on Scotland and Ireland, over wide grassy fields and dense forests in the western, eastern and central parts of the country that resemble southern England, down to the more Mediterranean climate in the south, that borders the ocean and would be the Leylandian equivalent of Italy. There are many cities that rival Kingsreach in size and population, with the second largest city being located in the south (think Rome-ish). The architecture ranges from mighty gothic/medieval castle cities located on bluffs or higher altitude hills, to towns and villages in simpler, more rural styles. In the southernmost parts, cities would have a greek/roman flair, with island dotting the southern border that resemble ancient greece, though I’m intending on focusing the story on the central and northern parts of the kingdom.
Magic primarily plays a secondary, inactive role in this RP. That is not to say there are no mystical, magical things in this world, only that they are more subtle such as river-, animal- or tree gods and spirits for instance that are still around from the olden days and may or may not grant people their favors. There are some scholars who know about the Leylines, rivers of energy that zig-zag the country and some capable minds are even able to tap into this network, but only to a very limited degree. The Leylines have an impact on the daily lifes of people by influencing things like harvests, the weather and good fortune. Also, spirits tend to gather around places rich with Ley-energy. The Leylines give us some narrative freedom to add more magic into the RP later on if we wish to do so.
The ruins and remains of the ancient civilization have a certain science-fantasy vibe in my mind, but we don’t have to go that far in the actual story. Scholars who research the Ancients possess a limited amount of knowledge about them, and know them to having possessed powerful arcane construct that could move mountains and dry out lakes. It is suspected that their rise and fall was connected to the Ley-lines, though the degree of this is unknown. We may or may not use the plot device of the Ancients for our story. I have some ideas and you’re very welcome to join in with your own thoughts on this.
So far so good, a rough outline of what I have in mind. We can expand on that, since there are lots of possibilities to do so, but I’d also love to discover our world hands on, directly while playing in it. We can always build more into it while we’re walking around in the world we’ve created, that’s fun as well I believe! And it leaves room for mystery and wonder we can discover together. Any input is appreciated of course :)
Short Plot Layout
About six years ago, people all over the kingdom started going missing in small numbers. No one knows why, no one knows where they go, but it is happening. The majority of the common folk don’t notice, since a merchant falling into a gorge on a trip and his body disappearing, or a lumberjack falling into a river and being washed are things that just happen. People die, it’s life. But this is different. The events that are occurring are unnatural and the people who are taking notice are concerned…
Character Sheets
As far as characters are concerned, the only requirement I have is that they should have any kind of motivation that would drive them to start traveling together. This can be anything from having lost someone to the mysterious disappearances (much like my own character), being all about the money and seeing these people as an easily exploitable source, to falling face down in love with our little gang and wanting to travel with them forever. Be creative, keep it in context and have fun building your character!
Character Sheet
Name: (Feel free to do anything you like as far as names are concerned. It’s only roughly based on medieval Britain, so I’m not going to insist on “typically” british names^^)
Gender (I’d prefer the gender dispersion of this to be roughly 50/50. I'm willing to go 3/1, or make it 5 characters if the CS dispersion turns out that way =) )
Age (Liam is about 26, so I wouldn’t mind him having companions his own age^^. But do feel free to have your old drunkard or your loose cannon of a teenager)
Physical Appearance (Feel free to post a picture or write a wall of text, whatever you prefer. Do keep the setting in mind if you post a picture^^)
Personality (Who is your character? How do they tick, what is important to them? What are their motivations and goals? Be creative and meaningful. There’s always room for character development during the story.)
Biography (Where are they from, what did they do in the past, what’s their motivation.. be creative =) )
Skills (What is your character good at? What can he/she do? Not necessarily just fighting, skills in general :) You can also throw quirks, additional info or anything out of the ordinary/interesting regarding your character into this section)
Disclaimer
Whenever I start an RP, the general rule for me is: “No first come first serve”. If there is a surplus of CS, I will choose the ones I like best and of which I think fit best together and into the story. This is of course, totally biased and I apologize if it comes to that and you are not one of the ones selected (*bow, bow*) This doesn’t mean that your CS wasn’t good or not even that I didn’t like it, it just means that it didn’t hit my sweet spot for this RP. So no hard feelings and let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that : )
Accepted Characters
Liam O'Neill (m) by Enigma
Ade Marconi (m) by aegyolk
Anais, moniker "The Thorn" (f) by EsmetheGreat
Alicia "Lady of the Leylines" Pentechast (f) by Amaranth
May Chaimbers (f) by Seagull Bay