Tortoise

Through the Rifts: Progeny

Well this looks interesting....

(I can't resist anything D&D...^^")

You know what? I'll throw my hat in the ring as well. ^_^

@Guardian Angel Haruki

Hmm? Not D&D, I've never even played it

Through the Rifts: Progeny [Open!] [Co-GM Run]

@Irredeemable@Lady Lascivious@Crusader Lord@TimeMaster@ClocktowerEchos@Darkspleen@Mao Mao@Sigma@Goldeagle1221@Perihelion@DX3214@InsertANameHere@Slamurai@Nate1008@Guardian Angel Haruki@Eldritch Puppy@jorvhik

Let's get this party started, yeah?

Through the Rifts: Progeny [Open!] [Co-GM Run]

Through the Rifts: Progeny

Do your people remember their homeland? The Plane from which they first came? It is called Gaia, a massive and beautiful world, full of life and magic, a world of swords and spells and mystery and longed-for beauty. Or, at least, it was. Before the Cataclysm ended that pretty old song.

We are the survivors of that Cataclysm. We are Gaia's disparate children, sent haphazardly through the Rifts- magical gateways that led us from the world of Gaia to new homes. Each one went somewhere different, a different Plane of existence. Our people were spread across countless extraplanar realms, some living in worlds wreathed in flame and inhabited by demons, others finding themselves lost in great green forests. We were spread apart, disconnected from each other and our home.

Now, five hundred years later, the Rifts have reopened. And we are beginning to find one another.

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General Idea

This is a fantasy spin-off of my successful science-fiction NRP, Through the Gateways: Humanity.

Now, for me, the most interesting part about NRP has always been the interactions between different cultures. How does the warmonger react to the pacifists? What happens when a group of religious faithful meet a society of atheists?

As we have in Gateways, that's what I want to focus on in this RP. But instead of sci-fi, we're going fantasy this time around. We're going to each be playing as a roughly medieval nation, descended from the original settlers who were sent through the Rifts and into other Planes. The world we came from was the typical fantasy realm, where magic is real, and elves and dwarves probably hopped around. But when the Cataclysm happened, an apocalyptic event that caused the environment of Gaia to become uninhabitable, we were forced to open magical portals to other worlds and flee there instead. That's where your people have been living for 500 years.

Now think about what might have happened to them in this time. Did they land on a harsh plane, and used dark magic to survive? Are they ruled over by a ruthless tyrant? Have they made pacts with whatever creatures live there already? Or have they managed to stay true to some chivalrous, knight-like ideals? I want this to be heavily culture-focused, so your imagination is the limit. (As long as you don't break the medieval tech limits, don't be afraid to go somewhere that isn't typical fantasy.)

Now, for reasons unknown, the Rifts have reopened. All at once. For the first time in five centuries, our poor little countries will be sending their scouts into the Rifts and finding one another. And personally, I think it could be pretty fun to RP these early 'first contact' interactions. Seeing how our different people respond to one another. And as the RP goes on, I'm not opposed to anything; war, trade, diplomacy, or whatever else.

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How Do the Rifts Work?

Magically!

Alright, alright, more importantly, there are some rules that make this RP work. Like:

1.) All Rifts connect to all other Rifts
The Rifts magically offer anyone who enters them a choice on where they want to go, so long as their desired location also has a Rift. This means that every Plane can get to every other Plane, so that none of us are prevented from interacting with one another because we're not close enough together on a map

2.) There's no way of traveling throughout the Planes other then the Rifts
When you step into a Rift, it automatically (and magically) offers you a choice on where to go. As above, this means any other active Rift.

3.) Since the Cataclysm, the magic to create new Rifts has been lost.
This is to prevent anyone from spreading out into new Planes, so that the focus stays on us interacting with each other rather than trying to expand throughout the extraplanar worlds :

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Magic and Technology:

This is a Medieval Fantasy RP. I'm imagining that the world of Gaia was in the Medieval Ages when we left for the rifts, probably around the equivalent of 12th century Europe. Hoooowever, what happened on the other side of those rifts is up to you. Maybe your people had an Enlightenment as soon as they got there. Or maybe the centuries of isolation have allowed them to forget much of what was once known, slipping them back into antiquity. As a result, I'm allowing tech levels to be from anywhere to the early Iron Age to the very start of the Renaissance. (Guns, however, are a banned tech.)

All that said, I'm just one man, and I can't reasonably research, debate and rule on every technology. So when you fill out your NS, you only need to give me a general idea of what they know. As long as you're not coming at me with machine guns and tanks, or with sticks and stones, it'll probably be chill.

With magic, I'm going to play it by ear.

You can go high or low, from fireballs to simple card tricks, when imagining the magic that your people use. It may be that your Plane lends itself to a particular kind of magic- perhaps you live in a place where there are new gods that empower your wizards in new ways? Or, perhaps, the whole of the Plane seems to make mysticism fizzle out and spells go awry. Maybe the only spell that works in your world is the one that summons pink frogs. Use your imagination and give us something interesting!

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The Crossroad and Gaia Now:

The first Rifts, the ones that our people fled into to find their refuge in new Planes, existed in different places all over the world of Gaia. There were dozens, perhaps hundreds, which myriad peoples and races fled into. But, now that they've reopened, our nations will find that there's only one Rift left in Gaia. Any nation who steps into their Rift and sets course for Gaia will find themselves in the same place. Here many peoples will no doubt meet: we call it the Crossroad. A neutral ground. It is a stone courtyard in the midst of a grassy field, nothing else in sight but the hills and a distant forest.

Which is another odd thing, isn't it? The Cataclysm should have destroyed all life left, and yet, nature still remains. It makes one wonder what else they would find, if they ventured out from the Crossroad.

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On Joining and Leaving:

If someone wants to join after the game has already begun, I've decided I'll just say that the Rift leading to their plane has only now opened. Likewise, if someone leaves or goes MIA, we can say the their plane's Rift just shut down as mysteriously as it had reactivated. In this way, the NRP should be able to accept new players whenever, and survive losses without grinding to a halt. It has worked so far for Gateways; here's hoping it'll work here too.

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Interested?

Worry not, you don't need to have been in Gateways to play with us here. The NS is below!

Nation Sheet

Nation Name

_{(This is probably a good place to insert a flag or other representative image)}

Government Form:
_{(Monarchy? Caliphate? Anarcho-capitalist Republic? Whoever slays the most demons is in charge? Whoever summons the most demons is in charge? Or anything else you can think of.)}

Demographics:
_{Both humans and non-humans welcomed. Be snooty elves and grumpy dwarves if you want. Or throw out that tattered copy of Lord of the Rings you've got lying around and make up something more original.}

Population:
<sub>I'll admit, population size was hard to come up with in this. There's so many factors! I've decided to go fairly broad, on a rough scale of:

1 Million or Less: Small
2-5 Million: Normal
6-12 Million: Large
13 Million or More: Massive)

In cases where your population size is very important to your nation, I am willing to discuss making an exception. (Just not for your Sun Elves, Lady Lascivious.)</sub>

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Plane Description: _{(When your people escaped through the Rift, where did they end up? Is it a flaming inferno inhabited by demons? Is it an earth-like jungle, or a mountainous island chain? What's this place like, and does anything else live there? Let your imagination run wild here)}

History: _{(What happened after you landed on your new plane of existence? This can be as brief or detailed as you like.)}

Culture and Society: <sub>(How do they live? Anything from ritual cannibals, to matriarchal atheists, to a German-Chinese fusion culture. Religion also goes here!

This is my favorite section ^-^)</sub>

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Governance and Politics: _{(Like the government form field, but more room for detail. Tell me if your monarchy is slowly being subsumed by the merchant classes. Or, if your people are organized in such a way that they don't even have a government or politics anymore, then this is also a good place to talk about that.)}

Technology and Magic:
_{(Before you start, please read the Technology and Magic section up above. Done? Aight, go ahead and let your imagination run wild)}

Military Overview: _{(This is the space to talk about any offensive/defensive capabilities you have. Now, keep in mind that our people have all been essentially isolated for 500 years. If you have a huge army, I want to know who it is that you've been fighting all this time to justify having a military that tough. If the answer is "Nobody" then, mis amigo, you shouldn't have the huge army.)}

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Additional Info: _{(Anything else you want to include that there isn't a spot for up there. Little factoids about your nation are both amusing and welcome.)}

Also, here's the Discord link!: discord.gg/znnVCxCX

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Rules

1.) No godmodding, or controlling other player's characters/nations
A basic rule in any RP. You know it, you love it.

2.) Cannot fully conquer other player's nations without permission.
You can go to war with another player. But you will need the a-okay from them before I allow you to completely exterminate/assimilate/remove another nation from the game.

3.) If conflicts cannot be decided, the GM will arbitrate.
This goes for IC and OOC conflicts. I always prefer for people to work things out mutually. Ideally, everyone can agree about who wins/loses wars, or who has the upper hand in trade, or so on. But if you can't, I'll step in to try playing judge fairly.

4.) When using concept art for your NS/posts, avoid anime pictures.
I'll allow some! But I don't want the RP to feel too anime, so try to keep it light. (This one is less of a rule and more of a guideline.)

5.) No way to stop others from entering the Rift into your plane
You can set up defenses around it, of course. But you can't actually prevent someone from entering their Rift and heading through to yours. You'll just have to stab them when they get there. (This is so that wars and other fun interactions don't just grind to a halt with a player saying "I'm closing my Rift!")

Through the Rifts: Progeny

@Dark Cloud
No worries then. I'll make sure I include all our major announcements here as well, for those who don't use Discord.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@FrostedCaramel
Approved! I actually like the way you hid the history throughout, and the whole unusual feel of the NS makes it... immersive? Interesting? IDK, but it worked, and you're in :P

@The Goblin King@Knight Solaire
Due to having about 8 WIP sheets in my other RP to review today, I won't be able to get to y'all two at the moment. However, reviews will come soon, probably within the next two days or so. Sorry for the wait!

Through the Rifts: Progeny

Concerning sheets and deadlines: While I know many players like to go full-in on crafting worlds, I do want to make sure that we don't stall on getting the RP actually started. As a result, I'm giving everyone until February 1st to have a finalized sheet. At that point, I will approve or reject every sheet I've received. (Rejection is possible in this RP, but don't take it too personally if I can't let you in at just this time. We've got like 20 people who have expressed some variety of interest.) The goal is to start this RP on 2/2/22 :P

Still gonna read over all the sheets I've already received in the meantime, ofc. And speaking of:

WIP Reviews

@ClocktowerEchos
I love, love, love the aesthetic feel here. Really hoping these guys get into a war one day. The clash of steel against clay, the ground afterwards splattered in blood and shards of broken terracotta. (Blood presumably being from whoever they were fighting :P)

@Nate1008
Looking forward to seeing that "Primal Magic" in action. The chaotic feel will make any fight scene featuring a Gruall mage both dangerous and chaotic.

@Dark Cloud
Not much to truly review yet, but I do like the cleverness of your hider

@InsertANameHere
This is pretty good, my dude! I like it. I can see the "personality" of the Empire (materialist, practical, somewhat authoritarian) without you needing to directly tell me. I'd like a little more on the culture section, and I'd like for the population to be a number. But other than that, this is a solid sheet.

@Mao Mao
Although clearly still WIP, I can see some good worldbuilding here. I'm already curious to learn more about these birdy folks. Also, giant tortoises exist here!!

@DX3214
Your lack of clear grammar is causing me some issues. There's little punctuation in some of your writing, and that makes me worried about your ability to keep up with the high-casual writing of this RP. If you can fix that up, I'll give the sheet a more full read as we approach the deadline.

@Timemaster
Message'd.

@Perihelion
Just giving a quick glance due to the amount I have to review today, I have to say that this is precisely the kind of sheet I like to see. Wonderful writing, detailed. Always awesome to receive this kind of app.

Also, I do urge everyone to join the Discord who hasn't already. I make a lot of announcements and so forth there, and it would be helpful as a tool to follow along. You don't really need to be super active, but just being aware of it and occasionally checking on your browser or whatever can aide you.

Through the Rifts: Progeny

Hello there. I'm new to these forums, but I'm an active RPer. This sort of RP seems to be in line with what I like in an RP, per my introduction - mainly, a focus on worldbuilding.

I do have a question. If we're looking at the 12th century as a general base, why the ban on guns in particular? They didn't invalidate things like bows or armor (steel plate armor as we know it came in at about the early 13th century, after firearms, and was tested for strength by shooting.) Their main advantage at that point was ease of use - gunners were less effective than trained bowmen, but it was much easier to teach someone how to load and point a gun than to train them on archery.

Not that I'd argue about it if you just prefer no guns. It seemed like a very specific ban to me, considering that the deadlier, armor-piercing arbalests would presumably be allowed.

@InsertANameHere

On the one hand, it's an aesthetic thing. I'll be frank with you: I want this to be Lord of the Rings, the Eragon series, D&D. Even knowing that guns and gun-like instruments have been around nearly as long as gunpowder itself, it would just mess up the feel that I'm going for.

Secondly, it's a slippery slope. Imagine that a guy who doesn't know the history very well sees that we have guns, and can't distinguish between the medieval versions and their deadlier counterparts that came centuries later. He'll either be angry because he believes that swords and bows are now obsolete in the RP, or he'll overestimate how much his gun-wielding troops can do. You must always remember that we aren't history professors here, but players of a game. Most players aren't going to start researching the history of firearms, and I would hardly want them to. So it's better if guns are just... not present.

It's bad on both accounts.

(That said, no taboo on posting your WIP before waiting on me. It's coolio, yo. I've been held up a bit lately)

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@Everyone,

I'm now preparing the OOC. As mentioned, that and reviews on your WIPs will be made later this evening. Thanks, grazie, etc.

Through the Rifts: Progeny

@Dark Cloud@Darkspleen@Mao Mao@Perihelion

Glad to have y'all. OOC will prolly be officially up in a day or two. Don't forget to join the Discord, where a lot of the actual discussion and important developments of this RP is bound to happen

discord.gg/hxQVFpHZ

Through the Rifts: Progeny

What's the name of a government that is lead by elders? Trying to recall, hrm.

@Dark Cloud

Gerontocracy?

Through the Rifts: Progeny

@Tortoise And uh how high of an advanced writer do I have to be? Because I can push out at least mid/high casual writing. I find the advanced tag somewhat daunting.

@Dark Cloud

I would have it set to both casual and advanced, but there's a limit to how many tags you can use :P

Yeah, mid/high casual will be totally fine