GM Note: In the interest of diversity, I'll be rejecting your character if I feel it's too similar to one we've already got. I try to avoid hard feelings like that so I figure I'll give this heads up to new players first.
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody,
only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
~ Jane Jacobs
Welcome to the city of soot-stained dreams, the stone-and-steel forest packed full of vivacious creatures, the air thick with spice and sweat, where every empty space is horrifically hungry. From the slippery flagstones of Sleet Street shuffled over by even slippier characters, to the remorsefully depraved gallows and taverns of Sinner's Square, the city throbs from the pistons of an eternal engine of dreams, lust, outrage, and terror, and you are but one drop of oil in this hideous contraption.
They'll try to tell you that it doesn't matter where you came from. Not from the gutted gutters of Sharp End or the machined machismo of Mainspring Alley. It only matters where you're going. Maybe to sample the wicked romance of Libertine Lagoon, where the Museum of Iniquities looms gaudily over the gamblers and street whores, or across the polluted lake to behold the polished Colossus of Megadyptes and draw the courage to dive for sewer-washed treasure of your own.
They're lying of course. It absolutely matters where you came from. Experiences pound, hew, and mold a person, and in this city especially, where you start determines what you have and what you lack. And what else motivates someone to move but the trembling crave for things within sight but not reach?
And you're definitely closer to the bottom, aren't you? Maybe you were born there, maybe through your own weakness and foolishness you have fallen there. But this thing we call society creates a ladder for us, doesn't it? The rungs let us know how far we've come. Follow the ladder and you can climb to the top. The journey makes you stronger, sharper. You can get up there and throw down those that sneer at you. And your journey from the depths will let you hold onto the ledge all the stronger, won't it?
That's what they tell you, isn't it? Maybe you don't want to believe it. What, you some kind of cage-rattler?
You're gonna go picking through scraps in the Underband? Beg and steal and make friends with the vermin and hope one's willing to smuggle you out to the Fringe? You gonna go to Blackflag, sign up with a pirate ship, and leave the city forever to explore the wide world?
No. Of course not. You're hungry too. And everything in the world you could stuff yourself with is already here.
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This roleplay will take place in the grim 'n' gritty depths of a dark fantasy city. The atmosphere is varied depending on where you are. The flavor is not strictly medieval, but nor is it a clone of contemporary society. Both black magic and advanced technology are blended together, and whatever kind of aesthetic you can think of, you can find there.
The action will focus on struggles of a particular neighborhood of character. The details of the neighborhood will be determined later based on your input. This roleplay is intended to be partially slice-of-life in the dark fantasy setting, a heavy character-driven storyline based on your individual goals, a dash of collaborative worldbuilding, and likely something... bigger... to tie it all together.
Major inspirations include the urban environments in Samurai Jack, Planescape's Sigil, and to some extent, Discworld's Ankh-Morpork (because we don't want to skimp on the dark comedy either).
You may find the description a little vague. The setting section below only has a few snippets concerning the layout. This is by design, because I want you to intrepret the city according to your tastes.
You might get the vibe of a Victorian dystopia full of steampunk tinkers and maddened chimney sweeps, and I'd want you to make your character like that. You might get the vibe of some kind of cyberpunk rock opera with genetically altered cyborg goth junkies, and I'd want you to make your character like that. You might harken back to monolithic stone walls and monuments built by common folk, sacrificing themselves for their sorcerer-priest nobility, and I'd want you to make your character like that.
And then you all get thrown together.
Think of a real like comic-book or anime convention. You get a mix of people from all walks of life, who are into all different kinds of stories and genres, some of which echo their real-life cultures and subcultures. And they all exist in the same world, and they're all at the same con.
Now imagine that they're not just fans in costumes, but that's who they really are.
And that, in a nutshell, is the Neapolitan ice cream cone of Sammelband. The only hard and fast rule about it is the fact that it's dipped in a crunchy dark fantasy exterior.
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“People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself.
But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.”
~ Thomas Szasz
Now is the time to choose the masque you will wear for this little play of ours.
The characters will all be based in the same neighborhood. You are encouraged to collaborate to establish pre-existing relationships between your characters. It'd also be neat if some of us were rooming together in the same house as well.
Below is the suggested skeleton. You may condense or expand the categories as you see fit.
Basic Information
Name: Include any titles, nicknames, aliases, or other monikers.
Gender: (if applicable)
Age: Preferably younger. It's in the nature of the city to live fast and die young. The hard cap is 1000 years.
Species: Be specific. Come up with some kind of subtype if you have a generic species (so "succubus'' as opposed to "demon", "clurichaun" as opposed to "fairy").
Hometown: The neighborhood where your character grew up.
Occupation: What your character does for a living. Or just how they spend most of their time.
Faction: Where does their allegiance lie? Put "independent" if they don't align to any group in particular.
Physical Description
Height: Or length, if you happen to be a snake or something.
Weight: How hard does gravity tug at you?
Measurements: Aha, okay, this one's not serious.
Hair: (if applicable)
Eyes: (I guess this one's 'if applicable' too!)
Skin: (I should hope this one's applicable, but, hey, feel free to be creative)
Markings: Scars, burns, tattoos, moles. Spots and stripes. Stuff like that.
Body: Fat? Jacked? Skinny as a pole?
Voice: Feel free to fantasy-cast a voice actor!
Scent: What does your character smell like? Bonus if you include what they taste like.
Other Features: If you have something unusual, like an extra toe or something.
Style: How do they dress or otherwise adorn themselves? How do they do their hair? Etc.
If you would rather just write up a paragraph for this section, feel free to do so.
Also, if you want to include a picture that represents your character, feel free to put it here as well.
Personality
Traits: What kind of person are they? Feel free to just make a list of qualities if you don't want to do a huge write-up here.
Worldview: Religious beliefs, personal philosophy, etc.
Feel free to include anything else. Likes, Dislikes, Sexual Orientation, Hobbies, Favorites, and so on. You can customize this section all you want.
Assets
Skills: List mundane skills here.
Possessions: If you have anything of note, a magic item, a signature weapon, this is the place to describe it. Don't worry about nickel-diming everything you own, though. Just the notable stuff.
Influence: This is where to put information related to your character's social standing and connection. Don't go too overboard here. You can lead a small street gang or a minor heir to wealth, but not a high-tier noble or leader of a large crime syndicate.
Special Powers: This is the place to talk about any special abilities.
Here's the ground rules for fantastic powers.
1) Abilities can come from a variety of sources. They can derive from chi or life energy, rituals calling upon spirits, various types of magical energies, innate biological traits, or have stranger origins. Feel free to be creative.
2) No universal power cancelers. You can negate, say, the magic of fairies, but not ALL MAGICK EVAR.
3) No overly hax abilities like high-end time manipulation or reality warping. Smaller scale is fine though.
4) Understand there are exceptions to everything. So there might be a flame that can burn a character immune to fire, and there might be an object impervious to a flame that can burn anything.
More will be clarified if the subject comes up.
Story
Goals: What do they want?
Fears: What do they not want?!
Background: Don't be afraid to heap on the trauma.
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"Everything that humans can imagine is a possibility in reality."
~ Willy Karen
Below is an overview of the layout of the city and a more prosaic explanation of its feel..
City Layout
Sammelband started out as a number of city-states scattered about its present area. Eventually these city-states expanded and started to bleed together. One bold leader from the central city of this region managed to unite all these city-states into the nation that would come to be Sammelband. This ruler's original city is now a single gigantic complex that serves as a palace for the realm's current rulers.
Sammelband covers quite a bit of territory. To give a real-world analogue, it occupies an area roughly the size and shape of the Arabian Peninsula. Not all of this area is covered in dense urban sprawl, of course. There are patches of wilderness, some of which are left untouched as nature preserves, some which are groomed as public (or private) parks, as well as areas used for agriculture or which are for other natural resources. There are mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, lakes, deserts, canyons, and even a couple inland seas, each of which vary in the level of nature versus the amount of urbanization (and yes, there are even cities underwater). Of course, even lost in the larger swathes of wilderness, civilization is never too far away.
Additionally, there are several floating islands, underground tunnels just as buzzing with activity as the surface, and areas of the city which are located in pocket dimensions. The city is inherently supernatural and has a life of its own, and at times defies logical geography.
City Culture
The cultures of Sammelband are diverse, but there are a few identifiable trends within the city-nation.
Despite the chaotic buzz of constant activity and random array of peoples, Sammelband is big on structure. Hierarchies and elaborate codes of laws and unspoken social rules are the norm. While status based on qualities like race, gender, or similar categories is very rare, there is a rigid stratification of class based on accumulated wealth and influence. Corruption is rampant, not just tolerated but encouraged, and seen as the moral right for those higher on the pyramid to abuse their position to further their own ends. Those at the bottom should work and trade their way up if they want a position of influence. If you have nothing else, you at least have your labor, your body, or other, darker things to trade with.
It isn't simply a system of might makes right, however (and in fact, such a belief is seem as unacceptable). One is free to do whatever they can, but only within the limits of system of prescriptions set in place. For instance, it is acceptable to trick or deceive someone into something, because they still do it of their own accord, and it's acceptable to extort someone within your authority to pressure (like a landlord threatening to evict someone if they don't comply). However, simply using force or violence is seen as a serious crime. As such, those who pursue theft or violent action are seen as utterly deplorable.
If someone wants something dead or obtained illegally, they will discreetly pay someone to do it for them. While no one likes to admit to it, it's at least seen as a fair exchange, but those to sell their services as thieves and killers for hire are seen as the basest of thugs.
There are, of course, exceptions to any of these. Not even Sammelband's supreme masters can tame it completely. There are districts where these laws are different or are sufficiently outside the infrastructure so the laws are not enforced, and there are always elements of counter-culture that actively flout or fight society's rules. You never know who might secretly be an anarchist or revolutionary... though you'll always know who's openly an anarchist or revolutionary.
The Fringe
The Fringe serves as a buffer zone in order to keep citizens in the city and keep outsiders out. They are given greater freedom and incentives in exchange for providing much of the city's resources and handling foreign trade, military, and political affairs, and propaganda to maintain an atmosphere of superiority and xenophobia is ubiquitous.
Sammelband is bordered by ocean to the northwest and southeast, and land to the southwest and northeast.
Image Sources
Most of these are artist names on deviantart or pixiv. Text added in by me.
Main Image:
lowlight kirilenko
Characters (left to right):
[c] - control (anime), nove, daniel oduber, fdasuarez, noiprox, poaro, houtengeki
kuoboshi kouhaku, oso, sagatsune, moto murabito, garuku, oyatsu, samidare,
toi, yetworldview kaze, mike mitchell, redline (anime), dukehare, luis royo, chihaya 72
pirate-cashoo, umekiyo, siruphial, kei-suwabe, as109, jason peng, memyou karas
Stage (left to right):
dorayuki, iwai ryou, denki
feigiap, sa, kaninn
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