Expect more information to show up in the OOC and Character tabs as sheets start rolling in. The major plot line is set, but I'm tailoring specific NPCs and subplots based on your characters :)
Characters that further the story and have plot relevance
Lords of Angel's Eye Archipelago
Bio:
Mature He/They
Origin:
KingWhamon is an ancient lord of the Angel's Eye Archipelago and governs its residents. As legend goes, Kingwhamon was a young Penguinmon born on Angel's Eye, center island and most revered of the Archiepelago. When he was first generated the power of the archipelago had not yet been discovered and its residents lived in ignorance of the rest of the digital world, believing they were all to have existed. They lived a largely peaceful life and Kingwhamon eventually digivolved from Penguinmon to Dolphmon with several other Penguinmon and took to the sea.
The pod of Dolphmon explored the vast NetOcean for several years into decades. They were the first residents of the islands to discover land elsewhere in the digital world. They would learn to degenerate back into Penguinmon in order to adventure onto the land and discover the nations of the digiworld. As they adventured they encountered Digimon of all kinds. Beautiful angels whom aided those in need and tended to the land, as well as lecherous demons whom aimed to unravel the status quo and take power for themselves. They learned of its many dangers and made many friends. But as all legends go things eventually took a turn for the worse.
The waddle of landlocked Penguinmon became caught up in a fierce battle between an Angel and a Demon. The Demon took measures for its safety and set up a trap. Giving the Angel the choice to save the Penguinmon from death or chase after the Demon. The Angel deciding the lives of others were more precious tried to save the Penguinmon. However the trap sprung and only a single Penguinmon survived, the one who eventually became KingWhamon. His friends used the last bit of their power to infuse their surviving friend and allowed him to take to the sea once more in an Ultimate form, Whamon. The newly digivolved Whamon went to leave back to Angel's Eye but was stopped by the Angel who asked where his group had come from. The Angel had never heard of Angel's Eye and asked to accompany him and keep him safe as he traveled as he no longer had his friends, it was the least she could do. Whamon approved, not wishing to be lonely.
What exactly happened after that has been lost to time, or more aptly been kept a closely guarded secret. What the island residents do know is that when they arrived back at Angel's Eye Island. Whamon and the Angel met a great Spirit of the land whom told them of a strange power the Spirit felt in the Archipelago. The three, fearing for the safety of the lands, discovered the power and used it to transform themselves into the Lords of Angel's Eye. Knowing of the outside dangers, and seeking to use the youth of the Digital world to their advantage, hid the islands from the rest of the world with their power.
Personality
+ Benevolent / Generous
+ Empathetic to the common folk
- Secretive and Cryptic
- Apathetic to everything that doesn't concern the safety of the Archipelago and its residents.
Note: KingWhamon is so big that his voice fails to be an effective communication mechanism. Instead, a phantom form of a Penguinmon communicates with those living on his surface.
The Angel’s Eye Archipelago exists in the heart of the Net Ocean, the tumultuous aquatic domain of the digital world. Here the whole power of the world rests on it luscious green shoulders. The gateway that makes all other gateway’s possible, where the very soul of this digital universe lives. So why is it then that so few have ever heard of it...? Is it because the archipelago survives off its secrecy? Or is it because the knowledge of the divine should only be entrusted to few mortals? Maybe the very nature of being an unknown entity is sought after by the most powerful of manipulative forces. Whose to say, maybe you’ll get to meet the mastermind who works behind the scenes.
Until then, we should turn our gaze to the mysterious fog that has begun to roll in. Virtually undistinguishable from the natural, and a little too on the nose for a common trope, people who sail into this fog or encounter it on the archipelago’s islands return speaking of a great, dark ocean and creatures of nightmare gnawing at the edges of their vision. Some among these parties do not show their faces ever again in the waking world, others are so twisted and marred they bare no resemblance to their original forms. It is this very aberrant phenomena that lead to you being drawn into the archipelago in the first place.
Humans by their very nature are resistant to otherworldly powers and the laws of the digital universe, how else would we live so long without ever encountering the magic around us. Digimon make their homes behind the very screens we see day to day and yet we do not see the world that lives at our fingertips and thrives off of our dreams. So it would make sense that to fight against unknown powers you would need soldiers so existentially apathetic to their antagonistic forces that the very essence of it wouldn’t affect them, right? Well, only in theory. It’s never been tried before, new recruit, we’ll see if you can get the job done.
Your Story
You’ll be playing as a human brought to the Archipelago by KingWhamon, one of the three lords of the islands, and an island himself. The Lords have taken every precaution to keep the archipelago secret from the rest of the world to protect the source of the powers that be but have met their wits end. The otherworldly dark ocean will not show itself to them and they have been unable to investigate it themselves. Unnerved by secrets they themselves are not keeping, they sought humans as a tool to safely explore this unknown variable. Historically humans have always been brought to the digital world in great times of need, so the Lords of Angel’s Eye took a page from that book and have recruited a few chosen of their own.
Characters will manifest in the digital world with different tools at their disposal based on the states of their personalities and their subconscious. This is of course, a plot digivice to allow players to use whatever mechanics from the canon to design their characters. Enjoy the concept of armor Digimon? Want to punch bad guys in their faces? Want to become a Digimon yourself? All available to you if you can narratively justify it. That doesn’t mean the price you pay for your decisions is just time and creativity for a character sheet, your characters digital manifestations of power will greatly affect how the world and antagonistic forces will act against you.
Digimon and other Digital Entities
The nature of this digital world is an amalgam of inspirited computer files, an infinitely unknowable collective unconscious, and otherworldly forces taking advantage of a deeply manipulative medium to manifest and create life. It is different from the many other digital worlds in existence in that its sovereign entities and protective deities are not collectively responsible for the safety of the whole of the universe, but rather the many regions within, with the gods at the heart of the world unknown to all but the highest of orders. There is no king Yggdrasil, no Royal Knights, no Olympus XII, no recognized group of Holy Beasts governing each direction. Just a myriad of different deific energies controlling their respective regions, some vying for more power, and others content with their increasingly small domains.
The progression and regression of a Digimon's form in this world are greatly affected by the stimuli they feed off of and the nature of their root data. While most Digimon will follow a similar progression to what you've seen in the anime series, many may also follow the confusing interconnected tree(s) you'll find in some of the games. You may start an Agumon but by no means is it unheard of to end up a Lilymon when you follow the right psychological journey, it's just exponentially difficult the farther away from your base nature the desired form is and can takes months to years. Even more importantly, it seems the presence of human stimuli has a great effect on Digimon themselves, with human emotional data invariably having the greatest effect on their progression.
The world itself is wildly influenced by digital trends in the human world and the consciousness of humans that find themselves visiting for some grand task such as yours. Not only the world, but a human's very perception of themselves can alter their digitized forms from one moment to the next. This can range from the tame side of determining your outfit, to a more complex representation of your very own dysmorphic tendencies. The nature of exactly how much the human mind effects the world is unknown, volatile, and adherent to no observable rules. What that has to say about the rules guiding what exists beyond the ever-vexing fog is disturbing to say the least.
Other entities do exist in the digital world. Beings composed of digital matter but harbor no physical form to call their own are extremely common and have no more effect on the world than the breeze. There are natural elements of the world as well such digital copies of small animals such as squirrels and fish or plant lifeto fill up the landscape. Increasingly rare are other manifestations that take on human forms, possess willing hosts, and form the landscape itself.
Lords of Angel's Eye Archipelago
Of three lords the characters will only know of KingWhamon at the beginning. There are three lords, one for the Skies, the Seas, and the Land. Each lord governs their respective domain but performs a job essential to the Archipelago. Of the three lords only KingWhamon's identity is known across the Archipelago. For their safety and the safety of the isles the other two Lords are kept secret. Thankfully due to legend we know of their titles and their duties.
KingWhamon "Son of the Sea" - KingWhamon governs the inhabitants of the Archipelago and acts as their literal King. Due to his size he communicates with a spectral Penguinmon on his surface. As Lord of the Sea he is responsible for keeping the waters of Angel's Eye Archipelago safe.
"Mother Goddess" - An angel from ancient times that arrived at the Archipelago on the back of KingWhamon when he was still a young Whamon. The Mother Goddess governs the skies of the Archipelago. She maintains a great illusion encircling the Archipelago that hides it from the rest of the world.
"Spirit of the Isles" - A great spirit born on Terra-Island, the second largest island of the Archipelago. He is a literal manifestation of the lands that make up the isle, and thus governs them. The Spirit of the Isles guards the secrets of Angel's Eye.
Power Levels and Combat
This is of course a Digimon RP so combat to some point is going to be a given. While not necessarily the main focus of the RP, certain big turning points in the plot will be happening through combative means. As with in the games, the rock-paper-scissors format of weaknesses will apply. Data types are stronger against Vaccine, Vaccine against Virus, and Virus against Data. While this doesn't mean you hard lose or hard win, it does give you a general idea of how much your character will struggle in combat against certain types.
Power Levels:
1). Digimon in this universe are slightly nerfed compared to the animes. Godly Digimon have less power here than usual. By that logic, enemies also have less power than usual. This more of a narrative reason to stay away from the literal reality warping and "I can't lose" mechanics some Digimon have in the anime and manga. So no, you can't power game by making an Armor character and giving them the Digi-Egg of Miracles to do whatever you want.
2). It may have been a given but digivolution is unlocked through narration. You will start the game maxing with Champion/Adult leveled power. As your character makes breakthroughs both personally and plot-linked they will gain more ability and power to progress. At times you may be allowed to temporarily exceed normal limits to make things spicy.
Combat Process: Combat is determined by three things. Initiative, Reaction, and Statistics.
Initiative - Initiative is determined by the state of all PCs and NPCs as combat starts. When combat officially starts and each combat post after you'll see a list of characters and their initiative rating at the bottom of the post. Use these ratings to determine if your reactions auto-succeed or fail. **"Usually" denotes that things can go wrong if you miss an important detail.
Example: Low - Character is caught completely off guard. Will always fail reactions.
Example: Unguarded - Character is acting rashly, will usually fail defensive reactions.
Example: Perfect - Character is at 110%, will succeed on all reactions.
Reactions- Once combat starts you can choose reactions based on your initiative. However, be aware of the situation. Just because you can auto-succeed on an attack doesn't necessarily mean an all out attack is the best option. How will your actions leave you protected from enemy reactions?
Offensive: Attacks and Counter attacks. Higher chance of low defensive initiative.
Defensive: Dodging, Blocking, and Running away. Higher chance of low trick initiative.
Passive: Waiting, Watching, and Hiding. Higher chance of next reaction succeeding, inaction has its inherent risks.
Trick: Natural Abilities, Clever thinking, and Terrain Abuse. Can attempt to perform tricks along with other reactions to influence initiative rating.
Healing: A special reaction that can heal a battle participant. Not all characters have a healing reaction.
Statistics - Traits of you and your digimon that can determine how effective their actions are.
Attributes: Vaccine, Virus, Data, and Free are all attributes digimon can have. Having an attribute advantage gives defensive opponents more power and they become injured at half the usual rate. Humans are considered Free unless otherwise stated.
Stress/Damage: Player characters start with 5 Points Maximum and enemies will scale with difficulty. When combat occurs you'll see either a Stress Rating or a Damage Rating for all participants. A Stress rating usually implies that a character will not be killed (or at least doesn't have to be) when they reach Max, while Damage implies reaching Max incurs a heavy loss. Full hits add 1 point, partial hits add half points, healing removes 1 point but can't go negative. (**Characters that can heal have a "Well" that starts with 3 points they can use to heal. You can regain a point by taking a passive reaction)
Duress: Characters enter duress upon crossing a threshold of points listed in combat posts. Upon entering duress one of three things may happen. The character under duress usually incurs initiative and reaction penalties. Duress can cause certain characters to gain access to powerful reactions. Duress can also force form changes.
**I'll allow a single healer character if anyone is interested but may allow more depending on how many people join or drop. **Self-Healing is a narrative reward for being creative.
Character Sheets:
I use character sheets as a quick reference during roleplays and try to keep them on the shorter side so its easier for my ADHD brain to find the material I need to reference. That means I don't need big long explanations and short stories per section describing to the minutia. So except for the writing sample try saying as much as you can as quick as possible.
Replace "*" words with the appropriate information
[hider=*Name] [h3][b]Bio:[/b][/h3] *Age (16-25) *Pronouns (He/She/They) *Occupation(s) [h3][b]Appearance:[/b][/h3] Art and Photos are grand for a visual aid but I need three things written in this section. Photos should go in a hider. -How intense/emotive are their facial expressions [i]normally?[/i] -How do they normally handle their wardrobe? Is it identifiable in a provided visual or do they have more variety -Are there any hidden aspects about their appearance, or notable past appearances? I.E. Do they dye their hair, have they lost a lot of weight, do they wear contacts? etc. [h3][b]Digivolution/Form-Change Method(s)[/b][/h3] Must follow a canon method. Your method should match your character's personality, dreams, and nightmares as closely as possible. If you take the Frontier route, also put what Digimon you become and what [i]should[/i] be your normal form changes and digivolution routes. [h3][b]Personality:[/b][/h3] Feel free to get creative with this type of formatting. Can be simple word descriptions or a few sentences about hobbies, quirks, and habits. [list] [*] + Positive Trait* [*] + Positive Trait* [*] + Positive Trait* [*] - Negative Trait* [*] - Negative Trait* [*] - Negative Trait* [/list] [h3][b]Dream(s):[/b][/h3] You can bullet this section as well if you'd like. What positive aspects of your character's psychology drives them? Is there an occupation that they dream of? Are they obsessed with the idea of a perfect partner? Or is it the simple things in life such as providing for their family? These should be strong motivations that effect the character's decisions to an extreme level, otherwise they belong in the personality section. [h3][b]Nightmare(s):[/b][/h3] Inverse of the [i]Dream(s)[/i] section. These are negative aspects of the character's psychology that prevents them from moving forward. What are their hang ups? Do they have actual re-occurring nightmares? Has something happened in their past that plagues them? Does the future scare them? Once again these should have an extreme effect on your character's decisions or else they belong in the personality section. [hider=Character Sample] Here goes a writing sample that mimics your posting style and highlights your character's personality and inner thoughts. Careful what you put here, it may have story implications. [b]Prompt:[/b] Your character is in a dream. They are in an unfamiliar area and can hear the ocean. A strange figure (your choice) approaches them and offers them something they've always wanted. Your character wakes up before they can respond.
-If you have a digimon partner you can try to incorporate them but note you have not met them in the Digital World yet. -The strange figure can be an NPC for me to use later, a family member, your digimon partner, or your Digital Form. It's up to your creativity. [/hider][/hider]
Replace *Digimon with the name of your digimon's base form.
[hider=*Digimon] [h3][b]Bio:[/b][/h3] *Maturity (Child-Like/Adolescent/Mature) *Pronouns (He/She/They) [h3][b]Typical Digivolution Path:[/b][/h3] What path [i]should[/i] you normally take? [h3][b]Origin:[/b][/h3] Was your digimon born by your character entering the world? Do they have a history working for another digimon? Did their previous partner leave them/die? Do they harbor a mysterious power inside them? If your digimon's origin is shrouded in mystery feel free to PM me to discuss how we can handle this IC so you don't have to give anything way to other players. Your digimon's Origin is comparable in importance to your human's Dreams and Nightmares. [h3][b]Personality[/b][/h3] [list] [*] + Positive Trait* [*] + Positive Trait* [*] + Positive Trait* [*] - Negative Trait* [*] - Negative Trait* [*] - Negative Trait* [/list] [hider=Digimon Sample(Optional)] If you want to give an example of writing from your digimon's POV but want to keep it separate from the human's Sample you can put it here. There is no prompt here, but consider tying it into your digimon's Origin. This section is here for those who want to give their digimon more agency outside of their human companion or want to highlight their digimon's story.[/hider][/hider]
**Your character will be completely ignorant of the Digital World until told information once they have entered the Digital World. Once that happens, assume any information listed in the OOC and Characters tabs (except for other player sheets) are known to you. **Twin Digimon are allowed. These Digimon MUST already be canonically linked. I.E. Lopmon/Terriermon, Agumon/Gobumon, Gatomon/BlackGatomon. Twin digimon ALWAYS have penalties when not working together. **Try to keep diversity high. Characters, Concepts, and the use of Twins may be rejected if they are too close to each other. First come first served. **Please wait till you have been accepted to post in Characters Tab.
One Last Note!
I don't feel the need to make a rules section because we should all know how to follow site rules and be good people. I do however want to note one thing. Trying too hard to succeed all the time will cause you to encounter narrative resistance. People and Digimon are flawed, consider failing on purpose if the situation calls for it. What about succeeding at something you never wanted in the first place? Being creative and writing realistic characters produce narrative rewards, catharsis, and sometimes even combat perks for your characters.
Yeah, part of the reason I've always been a little daunted by Advanced is the potential of writing paragraphs of minutely-detailed text, but just from reading through people's responses has abated a lot of my anxiety already.
... and honestly, I don't have anything to add when it comes to story or character developement that hasn't been said by everyone else so far.
I've always considered detailing minutia to be a crutch for people worried about post length. I consider Advanced to be anyone who writes clearly, concisely, and compellingly who also has a decent amount of experience and an implied amount of commitment.
As long as I don't really feel pressured to write a LOT of the time, I don't mind staying in Advanced. I just tend to have a mental image of "Advanced" meaning paragraphs and paragraphs of what I view as fluff and padding. But if post length isn't a real issue, and it's just about giving the others stuff to reply to, then I should be fine with it.
I despise fluff to the point I'll skip reading things if the information is useless and uncompelling so like, we on the same page lol
This sounds genuinely fascinating! I'd like to throw my digital hat into the ring!
Lovely! If the other two are still interested that's enough for me to get going on everything else.
I'd just like the three of you to let me know what your wishes and expectations are when it comes to the story, post length, and character development, as well as anyone else who is interested. That way I can cater a bit more to my players.
Also if y'all would rather stay in Advanced or move to a High-End Casual format.
I use the advanced section because there tends to be a higher maturity, reading comprehension, and chance the RP doesn't die but do not care about post length as long as there's a decent amount of quality. If I get another similarly minded person to you two I don't mind moving to the Casual section with a [High-Casual] marker.
Edit: May just do it anyway depending on the next day or so, too excited about this idea to let it die lol