The Black Horde OOC [M]

[Low-Budget Man]

Rated M for possible mature content including violence, language, drug use, and graphic situations.

The Black Horde

RP is open to all!


IC

For centuries, an ancient evil had laid dormant beneath a calm mountain. It is as old as the world itself. It is old enough to see rivers turned to dust; civilizations fall to nothingness, and mountains to have formed from rocks. Its name has turned to myth and legend. A frightening tale to tell children. It lashes and cries at its imprisonment at the hands of powerful magicians whose bones now inhabit the earth. With each violent roar and burst of vicious magic, the sorceries that bind it is slowly whittled away. Bit by bit, it tears each incantation apart. Eventually, after years of pain and anger, the spells have all been broken. This evil is finally free from its cruel prison. Vengeance and fury blinds it as it calls upon its powers to take revenge upon those who wronged it so long ago. The Lich Lord has now risen and beckons its army to fight once again?



The Lich Lord’s dead legion rose once again to answer the call of their master, as they have done in life, they will do the same in death. Thousands upon thousands escape from their state of death and into a state of in-between. Of neither life nor death. They erupted from their tombs and crypts like rats from a sinking ship, anxious for the feeling of life. More of the dead, even those not originally aligned with the Lich Lord, followed him. Old soldiers from long ago wars, a buried farmer and his wife, an entombed wealthy merchant, no matter the background, they answered the Lich Lord’s call to arms. His numbers swelled into the hundreds of thousands as he led his crusade against the living.

The Black Horde swarmed the nearby countryside with the strength of raging hurricane. Fire and flames followed their trail of anarchy. They butchered all with their wicked blade and foul claws, regardless of affiliation. Man, women, good, evil, elf, human, it didn’t matter to the Black Horde. The only thing that was signified was life. If there was life, it should be perished. No town, village, or fortress was safe from their cruel wrath. They cut a path of ruin and destruction as they made their conquest to eradicate life. For each living soul that fell to the undead’s invasion, another was added to their fell ranks. Their numbers bloated well into the millions as their forces marched forward.

At first, it was viewed as a minor problem to deal with by various nations as they simply ignored the issue to continue squabbling. It is no longer viewed as so. Imaginary borders matter little as the Black Horde launched their vengeance upon the living. There is no longer the The Arcane Brotherhood versus Empire of Goldhorn Dwarves. It is now the living versus the dead. Many tried to hold out in their boasted impenetrable citadels. They believed they would withstand the incoming siege of the Black Horde. None of them survived as the undead simply assaulted the fortresses with their seemingly never ending numbers. Refugees now clog the roads as they desperately escape the reaches of the Black Horde. Farmers, miners, barons, and great warriors all forsake their previous homes for a chance at survival.

No matter how much they run, the enemy looms overhead. There is one hope is the faraway corners of the world. A fortress-city built by the dwarves called Ironhold constructed deeply into a mountain. Made to withstand a siege by thousands it is the last defense against the armies of the dead whose numbers go far beyond. It must now accommodate numerous displaced refugees who have nowhere else to go. Homes and shelters are overflowing of refugees. The refugees are coming faster than the shelters are building. Many pitch tents within the crowded streets while others are forced to make shacks outside the city walls with no space to go. Ironhold was built to survive long spans of time without reinforcements, but the sheer amount of refugees simply made the supply disappear within a few months. Crates of stockpiled food slowly dwindles into the triple digits and into double digits. Bread is slowly becoming more valued than gold.

The wounded bring disease and death to the city. Sanitary conditions in the once fairly pristine city dissipated to nothingness with the overpopulation and hoarding of the barest supplies. Small splintered bands of the undead unleash devastating assaults on the nearby towns and farms causing further problems. Slowly, their attacks are getting bolder as the launch themselves at Ironhold’s walls.

You will play as a survivor escaping from the Black Horde’s reaches. You have traveled across the lands in your quest to find sanctuary in the distant Ironhold. You’ve evaded mobs of undead and passed ruin villages, utterly ravaged by the enemy. Will you make it to Ironhold and fight against the dark menace that threatens all life? Or will you fall to the Black Horde and serve as a mindless soldier of the Lich.

Races

Spoiler: Dwarves 

Dwarves: These short and stocky defenders of mountain fortresses are often seen as stern and humorless. Known for mining the earth’s treasures and crafting magnificent items from ore and gemstones, they have an unrivaled affinity for the bounties of the deep earth. Dwarves also have a tendency toward traditionalism and isolation that sometimes manifests as xenophobia.

Spoiler: Ratfolk 

Ratfolk: Ratfolk are small, rodent-like humanoids; originally native to subterranean areas in dry deserts and plains. They hold only a few crime-filled subterranean cities within their filthy paw. Ratfolk mostly are scattered to the winds and prefer to live in nomadic caravans that travel the world. A majority of them are seen as merchants, although thieves are a more common viewpoint. Their one obsession in life, much like many, is wealth and material possessions. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as its shiny.

Spoiler: Tieflings 

Tieflings: Simultaneously more and less than mortal, tieflings are the offspring of humans and fiends. With otherworldly blood and traits to match, tieflings are often shunned and despised out of reactionary fear. Most tieflings never know their fiendish sire, as the coupling that produced their curse occurred generations earlier. The taint is long-lasting and persistent, often manifesting at birth or sometimes later in life, as a powerful, though often unwanted, boon. Despite their fiendish appearance and netherworld origins, tieflings have a human's capacity of choosing their fate, and while many embrace their dark heritage and side with fiendish powers, others reject their darker predilections. Tieflings are exceptional at magic since magic blood flows through their veins. Tieflings hold no land, and are spread out across the world. There are scarce tiefling only villages, but those are few and far inbetween.

Spoiler: Elves 

Elves: Tall, noble, and often haughty, elves are long-lived and subtle masters of the wilderness. Elves excel in the arcane arts. Often they use their intrinsic link to nature to forge new spells and create wondrous items that, like their creators, seem nearly impervious to the ravages of time. A private and often introverted race, elves can give the impression they are indifferent to the plights of others.

Spoiler: Orcs 

Orcs: Orcs are aggressive, callous, and domineering. Bullies by nature, they respect strength and power as the highest virtues. On an almost instinctive level, orcs believe they are entitled to anything they want unless someone stronger can stop them from seizing it. They rarely exert themselves off the battlefield except when forced to do so; this attitude stems not just from laziness but also from an ingrained belief that work should trickle down through the pecking order until it falls upon the shoulders of the weak. They take slaves from other races, orc men brutalize orc women, and both abuse children and elders, on the grounds that anyone too feeble to fight back deserves little more than a life of suffering. Surrounded at all times by bitter enemies, orcs cultivate an attitude of indifference to pain, vicious tempers, and a fierce willingness to commit unspeakable acts of vengeance against anyone who dares to defy them. Their lands are a constant battlefield with various Orc Warlords attempting to dominate the other warlords.

Spoiler: Humans 

Human: The most mundane and numerous of the races, they are a staple to the continent. Ambitious, sometimes heroic, and always confident, humans have an ability to work together toward common goals that makes them a force to be reckoned with. Though short-lived compared to other races, their boundless energy and drive allow them to accomplish much in their brief lifetimes. Some wield abilities to use magic.

Spoiler: Satyrs 

Satyrs: Living in the open plains and dense forests, Satyrs are a race of friendly and merry goat-like people, or so they believe. Their territories are one of the largest in the world as they constantly seek to expand their lands through whatever means necessary. They would be a fairly beloved race if it weren’t for their natural urge to expand and overtake through war and diplomacy. Their leaders are powerful druids who possess powers over nature. Bows are the traditional weapon of Satyrs due to their naturally exceptional eye sight. Any army attacking Satyrs are often faced by volleys of arrows before getting charged by a mob of fast angry Satyrs armed with scimitars and sharpened horns, as well as cloven hooves.

Extra Lore

Spoiler: Hellion Lore by LiveVoltage 

Hellion Lore

Hellion is a kingdom located in the far northern reaches of the land. Home to various races, the most prominent and notable races being Human’s, Light Elves and Dark Elves.

They are an isolationist kingdom, shunning and refusing most outsiders into their land’s.

The most notable royalty and high houses of the Kingdom are the Van Baselar royal line, House Moldega, House Hauchefert, House Estinion and House Miserab. While not one of the major houses or royalty, the chantry of Hellion, the Dark Knights and the Pope of the faith are also widely known outside of the gated city. Anything else about internal affairs of the city however and ongoing developments are hardly know to outsiders.

The Van Baselar family has ruled Hellion for the last thousand years, leading the city in maintaining the peace of the northern realm. The current reigning King, Marcus Van Baselar, is the current King and lead member of the family. He has five sons. The Van Baselar family is a Light Elf line.

Hellion is currently embroiled in its own war in the far north called ‘The Lightsong War’, a war that has been raging for the last fifty years between the people of Hellion, the chantry and the Knight’s versus the Harbingers of the Light and Dragons.

The Chantry believes that Light and Dark can be both equally holy and unholy and strive to maintain a balance in both their lands and abroad. The Harbingers of Light believe that the Darkness, regardless of how it is used or who the person is using it is all evil and unholy and seeks to purge it from the Northern lands and wipe Hellion off the face of the realm. They have enlisted the aid of the Dragons of the far northern mountains and Hellion wages a fierce war against the the Warrior’s of light and the Dragon’s, which has remained in a fierce deadlock for a long time.

DARK KNIGHT LORE

The first Dark Knight was a woman named Hellion, who led her people to the north and founded the Kingdom of Hellion, while at the same time, learning to wield the power of Darkness and going on a journey and discovering what it meant to be a Dark Knight. She also wrote the eight tenants or the 'code of the Dark Knight' which most Dark Knights follow to some greater or smaller extent.

Not everyone can be a Dark Knight. They must realize the darkness within themselves as Dark Knights draw magical strength from their ‘Darkside’. A realized Dark Knight will have an apparition always hang around them that they and other fellow Dark Knights can see as well as people who are very sensitive to magic. To them, it appears as a double of themselves who serves to be the embodiment of selfishness and dark thoughts. To other fellow dark knights as well as magic sensitive people, it always looks like there is a shadowed figure over their shoulders.

A realized Dark Knight and his ‘darkside shade’ are one and the same person as the Dark Knight draws power from his Darkside. The Darkside becomes more powerful through meditation and battle against strong foes and when the Darkside reaches a certain level of power, which greatly varies from Dark Knight to Dark Knight when this happens, they are confronted by the joining. The joining is when the Dark Knights Darkside attempts to dominate over them and take control. Usually though the Darkside is very strong as it's the pure manifestation of their power given physical form.

Various texts from past Dark Knights say that after they dominated over their Darkside, they lost their shade that always seemed to shadow over them disappeared or was no longer around or showed itself. However, they could feel the Darkside keep getting stronger, even after the joining. This was theorized that they killed their Darkside but since they were one and the same person, they gained all their power and the ability to become even stronger than before

THE CHANTRY AND DARK KNIGHT RANKS

The Dark Knights of the chantry are separated into four ranks. Dark Knight, Dark Templar, Dark Paladin, Dark Champion.

Dark Knight is the lowest rank of the chantry Knights and is assigned to recently realized Dark Knights.

Dark Templar's are Dark Knights who have participated in multiple excursions with other Templar's or members of higher ranks into territory outside of Hellion under orders to purge the unholy light from the land and their Darkside has begun to flourish and grow stronger.

Dark Paladins are Dark Knights who have successfully dominated over their Darkside.

Dark Champions are Dark Knights who have dominated over their Darkside and have been realized by the pope as the strongest Dark Knight.


The chantry ranks are rather obscured but the Pope of the chantry is a unanimously decided individual with the strongest gift for the Dark Arts and the power of divination. The council that elects the Pope is a council of Bishops that are also elected by the rest of the chantry.

THE CODE OF THE DARK KNIGHT

The Dark Knight’s are unique individuals in Hellion. They are not bound by any code but the eight tenants or code of Hellion that every Dark Knight must abide by in service to others.

*A Dark Knight is Justice incarnate. We are the nightmare that men who abuse their power fear. We do not tolerate their transgressions against those who do not have the power they do, then hide behind said power to get away with said act’s. Thus we shed all honor and regard for status position and title to deliver justice onto them. Any who get in our way of our rightful justice will be struck down by our power and killed for raising blades against and the punishment for atrocious crimes committed by men of power who abuse it will always be death.

*Dark Knights do not fight for other’s. We fight for ourselves. We fight to see our justice delivered and nobody elses. We shed compassion for our fellow man and in doing so, nothing will stay your blade from killing others. No amount of threats of murdering innocents if we continue our campaign of vengeance or any threat shall sway us. We are driven by justice that must be delivered so nobody else will suffer any more in the future at the hands of tyrants.

*If a fellow Knight turns on his kin or begins acting in the very way of the thing he fights and abhors, the abuse of power and the suppression of the powerless, then his fellow Knights are expected to put him down. Those who are dominated by their darkside must be put down as they are no longer the noble Dark Knight but their inner evil taken over. They are demons of the netherworld and are to be destroyed before they can wreak destruction upon innocents.

*A Dark Knight is free to do as he or she wishes. They are not bound by any code or law, except the code of the Dark Knight. This is because Dark Knights frequently break all laws in order to see the peace kept. They are the embodiment of defiance against code or positions of power and the law itself so they can not have a regard for laws.

*A Dark Knight must help the chantry in its efforts to maintain the balance. The Dark can be equally as holy as the light, just as light can be as equally unholy as the darkness. The Dark Knights are duty and code bound to help maintain this balance and offer their aid in times of unholy darkness as well as defy the light when it threatens to purge all darkness indiscriminately.

*Trust is important for Dark Knights. Too few would call us demon’s or monster’s for our dark gift. A Dark Knight must act dignified and noble in front of others and hide their inner monster, though when those they chose to protect or they themselves are in danger may proceed with the blood letting.

*Dark Knight’s are loner’s and wanderer’s by their very nature. They seek singularity and desire to accomplish something that others cannot do, but do not let your desire for achievement cloud your judgment. Even Dark Knight’s are not as strong as they would believe, so seek aid and succor in friends and allies you find as they can aid you when others chose to turn and run.

*Never forsake your friends. Never forsake your family. Never forsake your comrades and allies. A Dark Knight is no true Knight if he cannot stand by his ideals or his friend’s.

Rule 1: No Godmodding.
Rule 2: I am GM, my word is law.
Rule 3: Be kind to each other, and party on.
Rule 4: If you are going to argue with each other, do it kindly and respectfully.
Rule 5: If you have an interesting idea you want to run by me, just tell it to me in pm.
Rule 6: 2 characters per player.
Rule 7: Stay active. If you are going to stay inactive for a while, tell me. I’ll deal with your character, and when you come back, I’ll give them back to you. Uninformed absences for 2 weeks will get your character removed.
Rule 7: Try to have some semblance of proper grammar and spelling. I will understand the occasional mistake, but if you write like an idiot, I will kick you out. Ex:” bob pik u theee bux, lol, yolo.” If you have a huge problem with grammar and spelling, I suggest you try using a spell check program, or you could try using google docs.
Rule 8: Your characters can die. I won't roll a dice for your death or anything. Your death will be influenced by your decisions and your decisions only. If you decide to do something extremely stupid, you might die.

Character Sheet

Spoiler: Character Sheet 

Name:
Age:
Race:
Gender
Personality:
Appearance: (Description or Picture would be fine. No anime please.)
Weapon of Choice: (Don't go overload on magical enhancements)
Powers and Abilities: (What kind of magic can you do?)
Background:
Others:

Accepted Chars


Megilwen - Kallista Incubore

Versace69 - Jack Slade

Live Voltage - Frederick Louisoix

Reaper - Erienna

Avalon Hoef - Yerchakim

Instinctive - Hecran Starsway

2ndGenCreator - Albinnja

[Kicks]

Looking good!

Here are a few resources to help you draw in more players!

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RPG Directory is another great way to draw in more players! Head on over if you're looking to interest more players!

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Last but not least, you can ask any of the staff to feature your game in their signature!

[Bunny Senpai]

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper interested!

[Minkasha]

So the actual plot would be little more tha survival social dynamics and running way/traveling? I don't see what else the characters would do given the circumstances.

[Crazywolf]

Hi, a few questions.

How often can we post?

What is the minimum speed?

Would I be right in guessing that the orcs are hated and mistrusted by other races?

[Low-Budget Man]

@Jhuliet Glad to have your interest!

@Min For the first portion of the RP, it'll be about escaping and surviving the Black Horde. After that, there's going to be more to the plot. I'm just keeping it a secret :3

@Crazy Post as often as you want, as long as you aren't double posting.

What do you mean by minimum speed, I'm a bit confused by that question.

Yep, Orcs aren't the most liked by the other races.

[Megilwen]

Name: Kallista Incubore

Age: 22

Race: Tiefling

Gender: Female

Personality: Like all Tieflings, Kallista is slow to trust. She's also proud of her heritage and tends to distrust those who can't see past her demonic features. However, if someone can get past her demonic past and trusted her for who she was, she can form a solid bond of trust between someone else. Those that she feels close to, she is loyal to above all else.

Spoiler: Appearance 

Eyes look more natural, but are a golden color and she has a non-prehensile tail. She stands at 5'8'' and weighs about 150lbs.

Weapon of Choice:
*Dual Knives

Powers and Abilities:
*Dual Wield - Is effective wielding two long bladed daggers.
*Fire generation - Can generate small amounts of fire in her hands that can be used in various ways.

Background:
Somewhere in her biological mother's past, one of her ancestors had slept with a Fire Demon. When Kallista was born, her mother was afraid of the monster that she'd given birth to and left the child out in the woods to die. Whereas most young Tiefling children in this situation died, Kallista was luck enough to be discovered by a wandering Tiefling who took the baby in. As a wandering mercenary he knew of a lot of secrets in the land, including one of the hidden Tiefling villages.

It was here that she was raised by the village. The Tiefling woman who she called mother was a baker in the village, who taught her how to use the minor fire spells that she used to light the fires of the ovens. As she grew older, the man that she called her father taught her how to fight. At the age of 18, Kallista started to go with her Father on his jobs, gaining experience herself. They made a great team.

Then the Lich King broke free and his undead armies ravaged the country. Kallista and her Father had been on a mission when the army destroyed their home. They'd come back to find the village burned to the ground, but no bodies. It wasn't until a few weeks later that they found the survivors on the road who told them what had happened and the tale of Ironhold, the last safe place in the world. Kallista and her father joined up with the survivors, helping to protect them as best as they could.

Others:
NPCs
Mother - Reita Balorfist, Tiefling, Baker, deceased
Father - Ekemon Incubore, Tiefling, Mercenary

((Let me know what you think/if things need to be fixed.

[Crazywolf]

What do you mean by minimum speed, I'm a bit confused by that question.

I just meant how often you expect people to post (barring vacation and stuff like that).

[Low-Budget Man]

I don't expect you to post everyday. Just a one or two times a week would be cool. If you're gonna be gone a while, just say so and I'll handle your character for a bit.

[Crazywolf]

Ok thanks. I'm not quite certain yet if I'll join due to other factors, but thanks for the replies.