Versa — Roleplayer Guild

[indent] Influences for this idea are media like FMA , blah , blah 

Gelicht, ??? 
The world itself has many names.

Some just refer to the world as the name of the larger continent they live upon ,Gelicht. Foreigners sometime refer to the world as Akna or Mata, both of which translate to mother. But the true name for the planet itself is Natus. It was a word only known to those who would spend their lives researching the Old World.

Before the empires of man began their rule on Natus there were a number of species that called her home. Elves, Dwarves, Giants, Orcs, and countless others. All of them lived on the planet harmoniously in the early years, but as time passed and hardships arose, they would turn on eachother time after time.

All of the races had a way of communing with the planet in some way. The elves through their trees, the orcs through their fire, and the humans through wells of mystical water that coursed through Natus. At some point the Elves numbers were dwindling beyond repair and their leaders were in desperation to not die out, so they asked their people to all come to the great trees and speak to the planet herself and beg for protection.

Suddenly the trees themselves came to live, not just the ancient trees they spoke through, but forest itself simply uprooted and began to march out. The elves mounted their white stage and followed the treants to the western shore of the continent. The remaining elves would find the smaller marched straight into the ocean, while the larger older ones stopped at the water and rested. The leader of these elves seemed to understand what this meant and despite their way of life being to only care for and live beneath the great trees, he began to strike the tree with an axe to gather lumber. They were to build ships out of their one way communication method with the planet herself. And seemingly the ultimatum was to either stay on this land and continue to speak to her, or leave and survive while losing that gift.

The orcs and giants were the most stubborn of the races and despite endless conflict with its enemies they continued to raid and pillage. The humans seemed to have it the best as their advancements seemed to be much faster than the rest of the monsters that inhabited their land. It was only a matter of time before they were the masters of the continent now called Gelicht and many of the other races were hunted till extinction.

Gelicht, 850
The Apostle of the Sun flees from the clergy.

The holy men and women who worshipped the one and only true goddess see all splits and divisions in their religion as meaningless. Differentiating from the old testaments or choosing to believe in anything else is ludicrous when so much evidence points to the goddess and her existence. The Kingdom of Eva itself was established alongside the Church of Thelena, now simply called the “The Church” as other religious advents are stomped out in the country without remorse. Except for that of the individual who called himself The Apostle of the Sun.

This apostle was never truly identified. Maybe it was a single person, maybe it was a group who all claimed to be the apostle. What is known is that whenever the Crusaders would show up to to execute him for preaching in public, he would vanish without a trace. The people in the cities he appeared at would only hear rumors and legends about the apostle, finding him to be more of an entertainer than a holy man. But a few seeds would be planted into the heads of those who listened to their words.

* The world is a living organism, and the northern empire is killing it.
* The sun in the sky is the one true god that should be worshipped.
* The land would continue to grow stagnant if nothing was done about the wasteful habits of the Evan people.

The clergy saw potential in the Apostle’s message. And they also believed that the things he believed in could be twisted to fit the worship of the mother goddess. So the seven cardinals set out to hunt this person down, each city would be combed by monks and priests alike until eventually they ended up at an orphanage where a young practitioner no older than twenty raised hundreds of motherless children.

They had found their apostle, and spoke of funding his word of god. They even offered to allow him to join the inner circle of the clergy where he would have access to nearly anything he wanted in Eva as someone above the law. The nameless apostle asked for none of this, but instead wished to be publicly recognized by the Church so that others may take his teachings more seriously. The clergymen ultimately agreed.

Within a short amount of time the Apostle would gather a large number of followers who believed in this Sun Worshipping. He was charismatic, his words held meaning, and he abandoned all worldly desires as he traveled from city, to town, to village seeking to teach all of Eva about the words the Sun God had directly spoken to him. To his believers the Apostle was a prophet with a closer relationship to the god he spoke to than the clergy with the goddess.

Within a year, the clergy was in an uproar over the backfire in this situation. They had meant to utilize this street performer as a means to instigate the people to enlist into the military in the fight against the north. But instead the Cult of the Sun had grown to large to be ignored at this point, and a large force of crusaders would be sent to eliminate the apostle and all who followed him.

But the apostles precognition would keep him and his followers safe, seeing the incoming threat far ahead of time and fleeing to the southwest shores of the kingdom where there were only small towns and villages. It was in one of these villages that gave the cult members a boat and spoke of a small island off the coast that could shelter them. Seeing this as a sign from god, the Apostle immediately set off to find the island. They had no food or water and it seemed as if the island itself was a legends. But after a week at see, on the brink of death, the Apostle in his followers would find the island and land aboard their new home which they would call Aielessa.

Gelicht, 923
The Second War of Dazyl is over.

While the Kingdom of Eva may recover over the next hundred years, the people will never forget the losses they suffered in this war. Not only do the casualties number in the hundreds of thousands, but the outlier towns and villages are all but eradicated. The wheat fields have been burned leaving the commoners starving, the once bountiful pastures are now dry and barren from the havoc of war. The clergy remain in their chapels pleading the goddess for help in these dire times. But she would not answer.

Dazyl, a place of historical importance speculated to be the first place the gods touched on Gelicht. Seven pillars stand in the site's epicenter, a star at the top of each of them and each a different color. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Violet, White, Black. The researching holy men seem to say that each pillar represents an aspect of the soul, anger, wisdom, courage, greed, lust, faith, and apathy. The goddess is said to embrace all forms of emotion and created the soul and magic by giving them manifestation upon Gelicht. It is here that men and women of the cloth constantly research and worship in order to grow closer to the goddess, and hope to one day discover a means to return her to the earth so that she may smite Eva's enemies and guide them to the promised land.

It is also a place of constant conflict. The Atma Empire in their encroaching advance seek to subjugate all of Gelicht without discrimination. With their use of magitech weaponry Atma dominated during the Second War of Dazyl and for the first two decades suffered only a handful of losses as they marched into Eva lands with their mechanical titans. Their goal? To take Dazyl and the territories that surround it, the land of which was ripe with ley lines that could be harvested to further fuel their war machine. Emperor Ferdinand spared no resources in the effort to take these lands during the Second War, filling their cities with Anti-Eva propaganda to bolster their forces as the war bled them dry for nearly a hundred years.

But it would ultimately be the faithful people of Eva who won the Second War, securing Dazyl for the chosen ones. And despite the damage done to their land Dazyl remained a paradise, the rivers were always crystal clear, the trees grew tall and strong filled with fruit, the animals that lived their abundant and healthy. It was the royal family's decision after the war to abandon the Holy Capital of Arden and relocate to Dazyl. The crusader knights and crossbearers lined up with their armored horses, drawn carriages filled with labormen, full caravans of stockpiles resources, and took to the eden in hopes that they would be able to survive in place of the people. 

They knocked down every stone wall and bulldozed the broken ancient floors to built atop what was once held as sacred. When all was said and done, what remained of its former grandeur were only the seven pillars of old. The new castle for the royalty was built around these important structures, the throne room itself now holding the seven pillars behind the king's seat showing his closeness to the goddess. The clergy themselves saw this as a sign that they had grown one step closer to bringing about her second coming, and despite her absence of communication they believed that building atop the ancient ruins of Dazyl was not something that would anger her.

They were the chosen children of the goddess, they could do no wrong.

Gelicht, 1036
The Empire spreads its influence East.

One-hundred and thirteen years after their sudden loss against the Kingdom of Eva to the south, Empress Joan decides to halt the efforts against the deranged zealots and turn to the broken lands of Eastern Gelicht and what lies beyond the ocean. The creatures of the east are far less civilized than what Atman combatants are used to and the empire's conquest seems to sweep through the primitive territories without falter. With their advance the expeditionary units would come to find large groups of mutated manbeasts in the unexplored regions. Rather than purge this new race of people, Empress Joan ordered the units to peacefully interact with these tribes of beastmen for the time being while the rest of the war machine pressed further towards the ocean.

The squads that mingled with these beastmen would come to find that their people had a unique talent for sniffing out mana fonts throughout their swampy region. Almost as if it were a generic sixth sense, the beastmen would intentionally build their tribes around these ley line hot spots, having customs where they spoke to the planet from time to time en masse rituals. As this was reported back to the Empress she would immediately order the capture and enslavement of these beastmen, turning their guns and machines on them during the night after gaining their trust. Numerous expeditionary unite would come after, hunting down the remnants of these people and ensnaring them, only to be forced into airships and delivered back to Atma’s capital of Nito.

These beastmen would be labeled as Chienne and would come to find themselves unceremoniously placed into a slave role in the Atma society. Even more swiftly was their talent for sniffing out mana surpluses put to use, as Empress Joan ordered that their cultural leaders specifically be used in this effort and should they resist be executed immediately. Soon after this the Empire would gain and second wind of prosperity. With more fuel for their everyday necessities the common folk were once again in more comfortable conditions, and now that there was a class of people even below themselves social norms shifted to heinous ends.

The problems of pollution, famine, and all other hardship were to be blamed on these filthy mutant foreigners.

Gelicht, 1055
The Empire sends diplomats to the Kingdom or Eva.

Nineteen years after the Chienne people are absorbed into the Empire of Atma, Empress Joan seeks to dispel the hostility between them and their southern neighbor. Rather than send homegrown nobility to the holier than thou Evans, the officials instead decided to send commoners with land along the southern borders for the peace talks. With a lack of knowledge in doing such a thing the commoners who were sent to the small city of Baham were instead captured and interrogated. 

During their time in the stockades, these commoners would learn that the current state of Eva was not quite paradise as well. Crop growth had still not recovered from the war nearly a hundred years ago, and whispers of the goddess remaining silent plagued the faith of commoners and nobility alike. The Atman captives would spin the offer of food production bolstered by magitech and advanced farmings methods that could be taught if bastardized magic was too extreme.

Baham was not far from Dazyl which was the most fertile land in Evan territory. And because of this they didn’t suffer from famine as much as the far southern territories. But being close to the border also meant that their populations were few and they got little if any assistance from the church. To the majority of the people in the Kingdom of Eva, the closer you were to the heretical Empire of Atma the worse off you were in the eyes of the goddess. The military men who guarded the stockades weighed their options and listened to the Atman commoners and the mission of bringing peace between the countries.

It was definitely a difficult story to believe. But whether it was real or not, such an outrageous offer would need to be heard by the king. The new holy capital was only a week trip on horseback from Baham, so the commoners were lead by a small group from the border city to Dazyl despite the dangers it may have caused them.  

Upon reaching Dazyl, the soldiers safely escorted the commoners to the royal castle and sought an audience with the king. This was met with contempt and hostility even towards the Evan men and women who had only escorted them. A strong and faithful soldier among the group Remus Lehrer who’s grandfather had been quite decorated during the second war pulled the veteran card to the unruly guardsmen and eventually audience would be given. As they entered the castle walls the Atman commoners would find archaic structures remaining intact. To the Atmans it was as if the Evans still lived three-hundred years in the past without advancement.

Reaching the throne room, the Atman commoners stared in awe at the beauties within. The seven pillars which had only been rumored to exist for the people Atma, and also the beauty that was Princess Lyuris. It wasn’t long before the heated talks began, Remus seemingly took it upon himself to push the fact that the offer from Atma was genuine. The commoners would be instantly interrupted by King Luxord upon trying to speak. finally Lyuris would vouch for the peace treaty as well, winning the tug o war in one fell swoop. 

By nightfall the king had scratched up terms for some poor spirited peace arrangement. In order to allow trade, travel, and work to be done beteen the countries, the Empress would need to send a hundred men and a hundred women to the Advent of the Sun. Should they be transitioned into members of the clergy successfully, he would usher in what he called The Holy Compromise. Only because he’s a Holy King is the kingdom of Eva, so everything he does needs to sound biblical and important.

The Church's Hierarchy
Seven Cardinals > Archbishop > Bishop > Grand Crusader = Crossbearer > Priest > Crusader > Deacon

Cardinals   -   The highest position of power within the Church standing only below the royal bloodline. There can only be seven of these in the Church at one time, all of which share an evenly divided power split. The cardinals are expected to be grand masters in terms of magic skill and are required to contribute research that reflects that degree of knowledge. The cardinals change fairly frequently every decade or so, and because of this the direction of the church also seems to alternate from generation to generation. The cardinals don't make public appearances and typically stay within the confines of the holy capital.  

Bishops and Archbishops   -   The bishops are the face of the Church. There are typically about fifty altogether between archbishops and average joe bishops, though it increases during peace periods and decreases during wartime. This is because they are the leaders of the Church's military force and unlike the cardinals are expected to be on the frontlines supporting the crusaders and shieldbearers. In order to even reach the position of bishop one must have served the church as a crusader or shieldbearer spilling blood in the holy war in your tenure. The transition from bishop to archbishop is another challenge entirely, a position voted on by the commoners of Eva between the many options of bishop their is. Once a bishop takes that step up the ladder they take on a more public role than standard bishops and are expected to construct and run events to bolster the faith of the people.

Grand Crusader   -  

Crossbearer   -  

Dazyl
A city that is seen by all as some sort of paradise. The water seems to never dirty, crops grow without issue, new animal species pop up from time to time along its bordering lands. The Kingdom of Eva strive to maintain the natural beauty around the city walls, gathering lumber is illegal and taking water must be documented in advance.

Within the walls is just as equally beautiful. Dazyl was once an ancient city built by humans hundreds of years ago, many of the infrastructure within Dazyl was built using those old walls and roads in mind to make it truly authentic to their ancestors. The walls are painted with religious murals depicting the mother, building are structured for beauty above all else, and small canals fueled by the nearby rivers divide the walkways from one district to another.

There are four districts within Dazyl. The Royal District which holds the most extravagant structures which are tall with gold and platinum roofs constantly being scrubbed by working men, as well as the military facilities that are positioned right next to the royal castle at the center of the city. The Trade District which is filled with merchants of every kind, blacksmiths, seamstresses, butchers, anything you could imagine may be purchased along the shopping strips. The Common District which is where the majority of non-blue blood citizens find their reasonably sized homes and small service buildings find their place near as well. And lastly the Holy District which is mostly empty with many of the canals leading here, a large chapel along with many sitting areas are all that’s to be found in this district.

Places or Interest:
The Royal Castle
The Chapel of Thelena
Abernacki’s Magical Emporium
Verus Blacksmith
St. Felis Orphanage

Arden
Formerly the holy capital of the Kingdom of Eva is now a mostly defunct ghost town. The city is rather large and a spectacle when seen from a distance with a it’s massive castle that towers in height compared to the more average sized one in Dazyl. Arden was once packed with countless Evan people from throughout the kingdom, it was a place where festivals in celebration of the goddess happened yearly and many could find homes here regardless of their walk of life.

It was after the First War of Dazyl when the pillars were first discovered that the city began to change. The clergy diverted all of its resources away from the upkeep of events and assisting those in need and into the research of the ruins themselves. It was even the clergy themselves who hired researchers from the northern empire to assist in the initial research of the grounds, which ultimately sparked that first war. The loss of help from the clergy and the abandonment of the royalty left many of those without proper jobs to turn to theft and other less savvy occupations in order to survive.

Arden is now ran by a lord directly under the king named Seren Chernis. This lord mostly keeps to himself and allows the city to run itself into the ground, seeing his role as more of a stepping stone than a privilege. The city is now rumored to be mostly ran by thieves and criminals.

Places of Interest:
Sierra Castle 
Church of St. Fredrica 
Gaela Academy of Sorcery
The Thieves Guild
The Slummiest of Slums

Maidin
A city larger than any formerly lived in by royalty. But rather than having vertical splendor Maidin is sprawling across the western countryside of the Evan making it impossible to miss at ground level. Maidin is less of a city and more of a frankenstein built of multiple smaller towns fusing together with outdoor caravans connecting the longer stretched together. Only the innermost of the city actually has any walls, and they only do to keep their current lordship alive and safe through the chaos.

Lady Fina Wolke gets little sleep as she oversees the city. Things are constantly happening and many inhabitants have even heard talks of Lady Wolke sending trusted merchants across the western sea to explore what is behind the maps that they currently know. But the church constantly has something to say about her adventurous side. So instead she presses the people to develop in the bubble of existence that Eva remains.

Maidin has come to be the most advanced city in all of the holy kingdom. While not being any near what the Empire is capable of, waterwheel powered generators giving its people general electricity, and even coal fueled engines are found in this part of Eva. If magitech were legal in the kingdom they would likely delve into that technology, but still they manage with the developments they can make. Maidin is seen as a place filled with black sheep and social rejects within Eva. Prisoners who complete their sentence are typically sent here as they aren't capable of working in the more religious cities throughout the kingdom. The end result is a hodgepodge of a wide variety of people living in one large area using whatever skillsets they have to survive in the still recovering landscape of Eva.

Places of Interest
The Ring of Maidin
Sonnen Merchant Strip
Great Swordfish Inn
Abernacki's Traveling Circus

Eva Countryside 
While the kingdom isn't completely littered with populated cities and bustling townscapes, the ones that are scattered throughout the country are carefully constructed with military sensibility in mind. But other than those stonewalled castles, the land is filled with countless small towns and villages which are all occupied by commoners who live the quiet life of working the daily turns and paying taxes to the royalty. Many of the smaller towns do still hold churches however, and priests are dispatched from their headquarters in Dazyl to make sure they are operational. 

Because of the church's constant and helpful presence many of the smaller towns and villages are incredibly devout and put their faith in the goddess above all else. Even as their crops wither and rain becomes sparce they continue to go to their churches and pray to the goddess for her favor. Even after the cardinals stopped hearing the words of the goddess, the people would adamantly continue to pray for her forgiveness and the hopes that even if they do die, whatever comes next would be the paradise they have long sought for.

Places of Interest:
Town of Salas
Thelena's Garden
Brooken Village
Amber Mill
Fredrika's Mirror

The Southern Wilds
The woods and forests that are untouched within the kingdom's territory are called home by a number of monsters and critters that many in the kingdom dare not face. Those that were cleared by woodsman held the weaker creatures, the goblins, the wolves, the owlbears. The ones that remained were the strong or the intelligent and as their habitats shrunk to what remains now, they grew more hostile to protect what remained of their environments. 

Most of these wilds are along the western and eastern coasts with a very large forest along the border of Atma to deter any incursions. The name of that particular location is Waldwood, and it is filled with the most vicious of these monsters. In the center of the forest is a chain of small mountain chain filled with abandoned mines and tunnels from civilizations long past. They're said to be haunted, filled with dragons, some even say a demon lord plots the world's demise from the very bottom chamber of thee caves. All of which are probably lies, but people avoid the Waldwood either way.

To be added..

Peace has lasted between Atma and Eva for five years.

The two hundred Atman citizens who were swallowed up by the church have finally been spat back out into society, seemingly a success of indoctrination of the northern heretics. Empress Joan’s reach has finally spilled into the eastern sea out to the nameless islands. With trade now commonly active between the two countries hostilities are starting to spark, and suddenly figures behind the curtains begin moving their game pieces.

The Church’s research has finally discovered something useful in their research of the pillars. Shards harvested from each of the structures long ago have been experimented on beneath the spiral labyrinths of the Grand Cathedral. Each shard is dense and radiant to the brim with magic, so much so that it overwhelms those with even the most minuscule talent for magic. Luckily the numerous priests across the county have been watching and documenting the talents within Eva. With that knowledge they specifically have handpicked seven talented individuals with no affinity for magic whatsoever.

Position 1   -   Isekai Character
This character is consciously aware of the fact that other worlds do indeed exist. They lived on Earth in their previous life, what exactly they did with that time is up to the person who chooses this role. The only things that must be incorporated into the character sheet are that a. they recall meeting a goddess, and that deity asked them to find her daughter in Gelicht. b. they cannot tell anyone about the knowledge of their past life. 

The pillar shard they will end up with is that of Apathy. All of these shards awaken the magic potential in the character bringing them to a level that would take tens of years to cultivate let alone master. The side effect of the black shard is the Curse of Absence the result of which is that the character is more easily forgotten by the people of Gelicht. While people constantly around them would find it easy to remember this person as their face and name are actively replanted in their memory, prolonged absence from this person makes their face and name begin to blur away into nothingness.

Position 2   -   Reborn Deity Character
This character will have the most predetermined plot among the seven as they're the primary driving force for the overarching storyline within Gelicht. They are the reincarnation of a god that once watched over the planet for thousands of years before falling into a deep slumber, then somehow they found themselves in the mortal shell they are now within. This character will have flashbacks and sporadic triggered memory of their former life, but will not consciously be aware of who they actually were. When writing their backstory they will need to have some connection to Evan Royalty. Whether they're directly in line for succession or just involved with them somehow is up to the player.

This character will end up with the shard of Faith. The side effect bestowed upon the character is with this shard is the  Curse of Conquest which causes the character to strangely calm the hearts and souls of those around them, which results in the character difficult to become angered with and even harder to deceive. The longer people are around the shard of Faith, the easier they become to subdue until eventually going against the will of this person becomes seemingly impossible.

Position 3   -   Revenge Story Character
This character will have a somewhat antagonistic role from the start. Their origin is up to the player to decide as long as they are given some motivation to pursue revenge against one of the major powers in Gelicht. The road to that end goal will be painted with blood and loss, and depending on who those powers are may even end with this character turning on their allies in the end. a. The more fleshed out the reason for their revenge the better, so I encourage you to write out some NPCs and backstory. I will use them so you're not writing them no reason. b. This character will likely be isolated from the writing group at times, so do keep that in mind.

The red shard of Anger will end up in this character's hands bestowing upon them the same magical potential that the other characters receive. It also follows suit with the rest of the shards, bearing the Curse of Contempt causing the character's mental state to steadily degrade over time. The psychological state worsens faster as they are around larger groups of people as the shard translates the negative thoughts of others directly into the character's head. This also means, that they are the most stable while in isolation.

Position 4   -   Atman Researcher Character
A character with roots within the Empire of Atma. The player has full control over the direction and roots of this character as long as they have it written somewhere that they a. knew someone influential enough to pull strings and receive the shard of Wisdom. And b. they are in cahoots with the Empire's infiltration department despite their feigned loyalty to the church. Other than that, they are seen as a brilliant mind without any talent for magic and this is why they happen upon the shard.

They received the blue shard of Wisdom causing the Atman native to gain an incredible talent for magic at a cost. Upon taking the shard within themselves, the character also inherits the Curse of Perplexity. The curse increases brain functions to a tiring degree, allowing the bearer to deduce conclusions and theories at speeds impossible for any other at the cost of rest. The bearer of Wisdom can not sleep, as their eyes shut and the sound of crickets and crackling fire enter their ears their mind begins to race. Whenever they feel as if they may doze off a crippling feeling of pain will wrack their brain until they awaken once again.

Position 5   -   The *Hero* Character
This character is intended by the Church to be a hero of the people. Their origins and upbringing can be decided by the player, but they will need to have some connection to either a local member of their church or one stationed in Dazyl. This character will be most recognized by NPCs and people of interest in the Kingdom of Eva due to them being the chosen poster child for the church's focus on military power as of lately.

The shard of Courage imbues the hero with the magical talent to match the combat experience they've accumulated over their years of training. With every shard comes a burden and the Curse of Arrogance is no different. Despite now having the potential that was once never acquirable regardless of how much training they went through, the hero now feels a sense of intense euphoria whenever they enter combat that intoxicates them and numbs their mental state. With the end of each battle, the hero's ego grows and their thirst for combat intensifies until they reach the point where they are not happy unless feeling the thrill of combat constantly.

Position 6   -   Chienne Thief Character
A character of Chienne lineage from the lands east of the Empire of Atma. The character's backstory is completely up to the player, all that I ask is that they have somehow managed to steal the yellow shard before it could reach its intended owner. Chienne are naturally born with an ability to smell mana and while most have come to terms with the slave culture that was pressed upon them by the Atmans, many have turned to theft and murder to survive.

The yellow shard of Greed imbues the bearer with the Curse of Yearning in exchange for an unnatural talent in magic. The burden does not take effect on the bearer's mind immediately as it is a unique curse that only makes itself known when conditions are met. Should the shard bearer ever lose a possession, they will immediately find themselves feeling on the brink of starvation until the item is returned. If an extended period of times transpires without having the possession returned, the character will be incapacitated from unbearable pain.

Position 7   -   Predetermined Love Interest Character
This character is blah blah blah
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