The Barbarian Collection

[TheBarbarian]

The Barbarian Collection

I do not know if this is the right place for this but I thought I'd make a thread for all the RP's I've made and that I am at least somewhat proud of. Feel free to use any of them for your own purposes. Change them if you want. Keep them the same if you don't. You don't have to attribute them to me if you don't want to just the fact of you using them makes me happy.

If you want clarifications about any of these PM me and I'll answer to the best of my ability.

RP's I made when I was younger but are still at least interesting (if not good)

No More Fear [M] An urban fantasy RP set in a high school

Spoiler: No More Fear 

This RP is rated M for sexual themes, violence, swearing and possibly horror.

You were born in the small city of Azlu in Washington near the border of Canada. It has a permanent population of 23000. It mostly survives on ski tourism, campers, hikers and the local collage. Consequently it is also the city with the highest concentration of supernatural activity in the world. More people disappear hear in a year than the whole state of Washington combined but as its such a small place no one notices or if they do they don't care. You however did. At last years juniors end of the year party you saw a girl be drained of blood and you with a couple of others defeated the vampire that did it. You have spent the summer unsure of what happened not knowing if it was your imagination or something else. You are suddenly completely different from the people around you who are unaware of the danger that surrounds them. You begin to fear for your own life as well as those of your loved ones. All in all you feel the need to do something so not knowing anything better to do you decide to meet up with the others that were there that night and talk things out. You want to make things safe again for you and your family's. But most of all you don't want to fear anymore.

Video used to be here but only one is allowed per post

No More Fear



Plot focus

We are regular humans facing a threat that just a few months ago we did not believe existed.

A character driven RP with a monster of the week scenario playing out. We have to handle that situation while still being engaged in other relationships and life in general. The most important element of this RP would be that we would all in the begging be powerless normal human's that have to fight things far beyond their power level. At the begging we will have trouble even taking down one vampire and that's if we work together. Also I would like for our characters to be from different walks of life and with different backgrounds and skill sets so if you see a character that already fills a particular archetype try to make yours different to his/her's. Finally I would like for most of the characters partaking in this RP to be in the Senior Year of the local high school this gives a good reason for our characters to know each other.

The town of Azlu

Spoiler: Intresting places 

Some Interesting Places (more added as our characters discover them)

Azlu Academy of Higher Learning

Spoiler: Layout  

A very average looking red brick high school. It's dreary it's bland and no one really likes it especially not the students.

Azlu University

The building that houses Azlu University was built in 1864 by mad millionaire Jack Lane who also built most of the other older buildings in town. Most of its buildings are done in the Neo Gothic style with lots of spires and towers all around the place. It is the best university to study folklore and the occult though for its age and reputation it is actually quite unpopular considering. The university is also home to one of the best collage roller derby league in the country called the Azlu Asskickers.


Mike Maloneys Bar and Derby

Spoiler: Interior  

Spoiler: Derby rink 

This bar has stood next to the university for as long as there have been Maloneys living in Azlu. Everybody who has grown up in Azlu has some story associated with this bar. It is known to all high schoolers as the place to aspire to get beer from and it is known to all people with a band as the place to get a gig. The roller rink extension was built in the 50s and was a popular attraction of the bar until 80s when it petered off. In the early 90s it was converted again this time into a derby rink and it has only gained in popularity since. A lot big compensations are held there.


The Storm Brew Diner

Spoiler: Interior  

A small 24 hour diner that serves the best coffee in town. Because of it's cheap prices and quite comfortable seating it is popular with the high schoolers.

The Center

The Center is (surprise surprise) in the center of Azlu town. It consists of a huge mall (the only modern looking building among them), the town hall, the police station and the fire station. The three civic houses are in old renovated buildings most dating back to the 19th century. The buildings age and historic value is why they have not been torn down and completely rebuilt.

If you want to add to these you are allowed to PM with ideas. These are just building blocks on which to expand on.

Spoiler: History 

What our characters know so far

The town Azlu was founded in 1864 by mad millionaire Jack Lane. Lane had been a very successful business man back in New York so successful in fact that by the time of his early fifty's he had made close to thirty million dollars which in today's money would be many billions. Lane in the last years of his life was convinced that he had gotten his fortune through deals with "unspeakable creatures" and needed to "repay his debts". To this purpose he constructed the town of Azlu and paid people to come live there. It attracted a lot of folks and soon the town grew. True by the time of his death Lane had lost most of his money to this project but people said he died happy. The town mostly stopped growing after that remaining the same size it is today. No large historical events have really affected it being a quiet and out of the way town.

Spoiler: Supernatural threats 

Supernatural

One of the other important elements of this RP is that our characters would not have no knowledge of the supernatural threats they face. For them this is all new so they would have to research and find stuff out about their enemies. For this purpose I wont be putting the other supernatural threats hear until we face them (and trust me there are many worse things other than vampires) also we have currently faced only one kind of vampire there are others we have yet to face. Anyway hear we are:

1. Name: Unidentified species of Vampire
Sentient?: Yes
Intelligent?: Yes
Description: Hard to distinguish from regular human when not in a violent mood. When angered or about to feed their skin turns granite grey and their fangs elongate.
Powers: Seems to have the strength of many men (strength value 20) and preternatural speed (dexterity value 25). Also has enhanced night vision and smelling capabilities.
Weakness: When in their blood lust have hard time pulling away from their prey, arrogant (might be a peculiarity of the subject), might be more things (?)
How can be killed?: Stake (?) through the heart causes full body paralysis and exposure to the sun causes the body to dissolve into dust. Might be other options (?).
Cant the body be destroyed? Destroys itself when comes into contact with the sun.

Skills and attributes

This RP works with attributes so I will explain them below. I will also explain why I decided to use them.

Spoiler: Why do you want to put attributes in?  

I wanted for our charters to grow better and stronger throughout the coarse of this RP so I thought the best and most obvious way to do so was through attributes. This way when your character grows better you have something to show for it. Originally I planned on having skills as well but decided against it as it made it all slightly too complicated.

Spoiler: Attributes 

Attributes

There are five traits. The maximum our characters can reach in each skill is 10. Five is the average. You are not allowed to have any skill lower than three unless you PM me first and explain your idea and why you want it.

Strength:The physical power and stamina of a character.
Dexterity: The characters speed and finesse.
Intelligence: The ability of a character to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience.
Knowledge: The characters familiarity with different kinds of learning or area of knowledge. (for example pop culture or occult knowledge)
Charisma: The social presence of the character.
Luck: Well luck... sort of self explanatory

So what does having a ten in any of these really mean?

It means that your character is the best he can realistically be in that particular area. Still a strength/intelligence of ten is not the human maximum it just means your character is really strong or smart. Lets say that batman with all of his skills would be a human maximum he would have 15 in each of those attributes (well except luck Batman is never that lucky)

Okay what does having zero in any of these really mean and why cant I got to zero?

A character with zero would be unable to function in that particular area at all. Someone with 0 intelligence would be in a coma and someone with zero strength for example must be paralyzed or suffering from a musculary disorder that destroys muscle tissue.

Is Luck useful?

Yes it is. Luck can save you when you other wise would have failed a check. It is jack of all trades yet while other attributes are consistent luck is not.

Do I need to roll dice in this thing?

No you don't.

RULES

1. As GM my decision is final any questions, suggestions and plans should first be asked of me not anyone else

2. Write at least one good long paragraph per post. More however is always better.

3. As I said in my plot focus don't make too similar characters

4. Only one character per person

5. Try to post at least once every three days (I will hold myself to the same rules)

6. No god modding or mary sueing

7. All other relevant RPA rule apply

8. Have fun!!

Name:
Gender:
Age: (No one younger than 18)
Appearance:
Personality:
Background: (The longer the better)
Skills: (No over doing this part keep it tame. We are weak normal humans not SAS soldiers.)

Attributes: (If you start with five in everything you have three spare points to spend)
Strength:
Dexterity:
Intelligence:
Knowledge:
Charisma:
Luck:

Chronicles of the Fallen [M] A dystopian urban fantasy (not very good execution but interesting ideas)

Spoiler: Chronicles of the Fallen 

"Friends! Practitioners of the secret art! Listen to my call. Too long have we suffered under the hands of our unmagical brethren. We are not the genetic anomaly they claim us to be we are the future. Listen close brothers and sisters too long has the boot of this Homo Sapiens stamped us into the mud, but soon the boot shall be on the other foot!!! Join the rebbellion friends. It will be the only thing that saves you."
- Recent speech by Reginald "Reg" Hower

[/CENTER]

Rise of the Fallen

Video used to be here but only one is allowed per post


Once mages ruled the Earth with lineages that stretched back to the Roman Emperors. This was until the French Revolution and the American Revolution shook the ruling magical monarchy to its core. With the death of the french monarch family and the weakening of the Empire of the British magical elite normal people saw that they needn't be afraid of they're ruling powers any longer. Many revolutions followed some successful others not so much. Many countries once ruled by a monarchy established they're own independence and slaughtered the magical elite. Change began to creep on to the land but it was not until the First World War for that was when the catalyst was sprung that led to the downfall of all mage kind. For in that war Germany and Austria-Hungary Empire together with many other countries that maintained they're ruling magical monarchs (including the British Empire who did not actually join the war but helped it monetarily) fought against the newly established anti magic republics such as: France, Serbia, USA (Who supported France monetarily and a little militarily), Italy, Belgium, Greece, etc. Originally Russia supported the Germans but with October Revolution they're support turned toward the other side. By the end of the war the country's ruled by magical monarchies had almost been wiped out. Many removed their elites from power and executed them. But some still remained, holding on to their petty illusions of power. And for a while there truly was peace but it was more like the silence before the storm than anything else. In Germany a man came to power who suggested a even more radical approach to magic. To stamp it out like a weed not only within the elite but within every man and women who exhibited signs of any magical prowess or at least to be gathered into inner city ghettos and concentration/labor camps. In his words: "... To cleanse mankind of the disease that magic brings out in all of us. We must stamp out all the signs of it in man, women or child born with such a disease." At the same time similar movements happened in Russia, Italy and Spain. Finally even the USA adopted similar if only slightly less severe polices. Finally as a secret pact was made between the USSR and Germany which divided Europe up between them and with that pact made a war was started. In less than a year most of Europe was divided up between the two powers the last pockets of resistance were Britain, Greece, Sweden and Finland. About at that time imperial Japan attacked the USA who promptly allied itself against Japan with the USSR and Germany. About then the fate of the last magical power houses were decided. It still took three years to defeat them all but the defeat came as certain winter follows autumn. Now there are no more countries that acknowledge any magical people as citezens. Smaller country's who otherise would not have followed such rules fear retribution from the four big world power houses of this new world. Currently there's a on going war between Nazy Germany and the USSR which is supported monetarily by both Facist Italy and the US Commonwealth.

Now in the central city of New York a counter rebellion is brewing. One in search of equality for all people, but will this movement be shot down even before it begins or will it bear fruit?




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Rated M for scenes of nudity/sex, graphic violence, swearing and prejudice against wizards. This is a resurrection of one of my old RPs I made when I had less time to run it. Because of that it died but I still really liked the idea so I am resurrecting this one.




The World:

Spoiler: The World 

As you can see the map of the world has changed quite much.

Black represents Nazi Germany and its puppet states.

Red represents the USSR and its puppet states.

Brown represents the US Commonwealth

Green represents Fascist Italy and its puppet states

Blue represents every (other) country that has been able to maintain they're independence.



New York looks much different in this alternate history. The main and obvious differences that the whole of Staten island has been contained by four pylons between which runs the anti magic barrier. Only one bridge still connects the island (that would be the Outerbridge Crossing). Currently the population there is 3 million with everybody living in mostly slum like homes crammed really close to each other. Crime, poverty, disease and hunger are a reality of life. There is no official government control nor law enforcement instead gangs of mages control the streets. Food is dropped in every week but there is nothing that controls its movement nor distribution. Running water is scarce, sewage and piping even less so. A dark magical smog hangs over the island which comes from the magical factories that produce all kinds of magical products that the public at large uses. These produced items are given in exchange for the weekly food drops. Average life expectancy is twenty seven for both men and women.

The laws regrading magic and its uses are quite strict. Some mages are actually "employed" on farms to help with the growing of the crops (as certain magics can help with the growth of plants). This entails that these mages get to eat like normal people but don't have any other freedoms. Normally being forced to wear antimagical shackles while not out preforming their duties. But in most cites as soon as any magical ability appears you are sent to the nearest mages slum which are referred to as Holdings. Magical items and crops on the other hand are very accepted. Quite many smaller humanitarian organisation have been trying to win more rights for mages but with little success as of yet.

Magic:

Spoiler: Magic 

In this world magic is hereditary but can occur naturally in a small percentage of the population (about 0.5%). If a child has been had between a non magical person and magician then 75% of the time it is a mage. Two magical people having a child produce a magical child 99% percent of the time.

This magic is styled more like the Force form Star Wars rather than any usual magic in the way that it does not need any verbal commands to make it work rather it relies on the power of the subjects on mind to shape and control it. This theoretically means there are no real boundaries to this magic other than you're own power, learnedness and imagination. In practice people still study very specialized parts of magic. Like using they're magic to heal, fight or create fire. This is because if you have done any spell for long enough it requires less stamina and concentration from you.

Originally the theory on magic was that it came from all living things that they all give off an aura of some kind that made magic. This was proved to be wrong by one of the last great mage scientists Albert Einstein who crafted one of the most influential theories on magic and its origins. According to his theory magic comes not from living beings but from emptiness itself which we are on a sub atomic level always surrounded by. With the discovery of dark matter in deep space this was reveled to be true. Dark matter itself is pure magic created by the sear emptiness of the sectors of deep space.

Sadly the technology that currently imprisons millions of people also came out of this theory. A group of other influential mage scientists thought that maybe by this theory matter itself would create another field one which expels magic if tuned rightly. This turned out to be quite easily done if slightly expensive. If tuned correctly the very air itself could repel a magic user and magic itself by creating a very thin line in which the air molecules and atoms were held in constant sate of suspension. It was called the Huge's field after the inventor who died of depression in one of the first of these special prisons.

Important Magical Rituals:

Spoiler: Magical Rituals 

Mind Binding - A ritual preformed between two or more people with which they interlock they're minds. With this ritual people can harness stronger magical powers at the expense of they're minds becoming open to the other person. Which is not necessarily a bad thing because this link can be opened or closed at any time meaning easier communication between you and the other person but this link cant be controlled in sleeping state, nor while inebriated or simply when you forget to turn the link back off. As this link transmits pure thoughts it can be quite jarring in seeing somebody's true inner self. This ritual is very popular with married couples.


Taming - A ritual performed when a young mage first learns to control his magical outbursts. It is a simple ritual during which the connection between emotions and magic is redirected to be the connection of mind and magic. A required ritual to go through if you want to go anywhere in the magical community or to have any simple control over your power.


Death ritual - There is no official name for this ritual. This is preformed at close friends/family members funereal. Every funeral attendee helps the body be consumed by flames and when that is finished and only ashes remain a simple sentence is said "May the emptiness consume you." This is in reference to that all magic derives from emptiness. Emptiness in general is used as minor swear "Emptiness take you.", "Go back to the empty.", "Emptiness you're stupid!" etc.

Some other important stuff:

Spoiler: Important Stuff 

There are no other magical beings except for humans but magical construct's like golems do exist. Also talking animals made intelligent by magic are not unheard of but not very common. Sometimes mages themselves transfer they're consciousness to animals.

Money has no meaning in this society as there are really no stores. But trade with food, clean water, items of technology, animals, etc is common practice.

There four big gangs that control the island. The New York government is secretly always keeping them in conflict fearing that united they might actually be able to do some damage. The rebellions goal is to unite all of these gangs. The rebellion is slightly split internally into people who believe that the unmagical are scum and should punished for what they have done while others just want to get mages turned into normal citizens.

Just to repeat if you express any sort of magical ability in the outside world you will be found out. There are a regular blood checks that every person who lives in the outside world must do every year if magic is found they will instantly go to the Holding. If you do not appear at the blood check the authorities will find you and preform it on you forcefully. So no characters who are still secretly on the outside. However in a very small percentage of mages the powers are so latent that they only can be found out in adulthood if that is the case the adult will still be sent to the island but he would have had some time on the outside.

Rules:


1. As GM my decision is final any questions, suggestions and plans should first be asked of me not anyone else

2. Write at least one good long paragraph per post more however is always better.

3. Don't go crazy with you skill you are still human not a super powered maniac.

4. Try to post at least once every three days (I will hold myself to the same rules)

5. No god modding or mary sueing

6. All other relevant RPA rule apply

7. Have fun!!

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You are the rebellions newest recruits your goal is to unite the gangs while undermining the outside regular human government


Name:
Age:
Gender:
Skills: (Magical and non magical can be counted hear)
Weaknesses:
Description:
Personality:
Bio:
Other:

Spoiler: Important NPCs associated with the rebellion: 

Spoiler: Founder 

Name: Ariana Veller
Code name: Longstocking
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Description: Well muscled and toned body, she's quite tall with strange tattoos covering her body. Her hair is flame red and is worn in pigtails. Her green eyes are set in a oval face which is covered with freckles. A constant devilish smile is plastered on it.
Short Bio: Ariana and her older sister were born on the island but their family were originally from a smaller branch of the Swedish and Danish royal families. Her father was a count back in Sweden but on the island he established a middling strength gang which her older sister took over when he died three years ago. This was about the time Ariana started the underground rebellion movement with her lover at the time who currently still works as field agent for the rebellion. Her sister joined and took the helm from Ariana (a point they still fight about) because at the time it was led quite badly. Now she is the main enforcer and muscle for the rebellion.

Spoiler: Recruiter 

Name: Reginald "Reg" Hower (Code name: Preacher)
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Description:

Short Bio: Born in New York he was a case of very late magical awakening. His magic came to fruition when he was 27 after which point he was instantly taken to Staten island. But Reg was quick to adapt and made his food by swindling bribing cajoling which he very good at. The rebellion movement saw his skills as useful and recruited him into their ranks. He has become one of the most important members in this underground movement.

Spoiler: Leader 

Name: Sarah Veller (Code name: Steel)
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Description:

Short Bio: Leader of the Valkyers (gang name) and the rebellion. A born leader if there ever was one, cool in all situations (which annoys her sister immensely). She is currently pregnant with the child of Garth Holden a important north town gang boss.

Spoiler: Gang Leader 

Name: Garth Holden
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Description:

Short Bio: Garth was born in Staten island when the Jesters (Garths fathers gang) were at war with the Nines the most powerful gang back then. Of course they were defeated and absorbed. But when Garth became of age he fought his way to the top of the Nines and established himself as the leader. He and Sarah have been married for two years. Originally this arrangement was designed for the simple reason of alliance but now true affection has developed between the pair.

Spoiler: Field Agent and Trainer 

Name: Kahleed Sheperd (Code name: Agent)
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Description:

Short Bio: Khaleed was born to non magical parents who were broken when he was taken from them when it was found out that he had magic in him. He was taken to the island were most like him quickly died but owing to an affinity for magic like no other and a ability to make knives sink in to hearts with deadly accuracy he survived. He was the man with whom Ariana created the rebellion with. They are not together any more though some spark of the relationship still remains in the hearts of both.

Spoiler: Ally of sorts 

Name: John Windsor
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Description:
Bio: John is the last remaining member of the once powerful British royal family. He was born in this dark hellhole and has never known anything else. His mother died of a overdose when he was five. This also pushed his father off the edge and he committed suicide soon after that event. After that he was taken in by one of the biggest gangs in Staten Island and put to the arena. There every young child who wanted to become part of the gang would fight it out until only ten remained those ten would be accepted. John was one of these ten. Not very good at magic young John made up for it by being excellent at fighting, shooting and stealth. Ten years went by John became one of the main assassins for the gang leader killing many men to get to the top of the ladder. This was until he became 27 the bosses second approached him to kill the boss himself. The money was worth it so John did it. After killing the boss he was betrayed by the second so he had to kill him and his cronies too. When he was finished not much of the gang was left. Now and again he helps the rebellion out.

Spoiler: Information Broker 

Name: Shana Wiona
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Description:

Short Bio: The main girl who runs the prostitution racket in Staten Island. She was made a whore at young age by desperation but a good mind for business and general intelligence has led her to own the biggest prostitution racket. She is also the main spy and information broker for the rebellion.

Road to the East [M] Fantasy RP about traveling to a distant land told through journal entries

Spoiler: Road to the East 

Rated M for possible mentions of extreme violence, sexual situations and vulgarity.

Video used to be here but only one is allowed per post

Road to the East

Thank you F.O.E for the awesome banner!

The kingdoms of Telara are crumbling. Famine and pestilence stalk the lands. Revolutions spread where ever the populace is down trodden and civil wars start when ever there is a disputed succession. Among this storm of death and war there is an island of calm. The city state of Ienna. Thanks to it's neutrality and perfect positioning for trade it has prospered when others are crumbling. But nothing can last.

Recently the trade from the East that has kept the city prosperous and powerful has been dwindling. No more expensive silks, nor exotic spices or even most importantly rice surpluses are reaching Ienna. If things continue this way then there shall be hunger. Hunger will lead to disease and death. Death and diseases will in turn lead to revolution. Which will then wipe the "Door to the East" off the map. Unless...

The city council has assembled a team of talented individuals to go and find out what has happened to the Eastern states. This is the first official caravan from the western world to go and explore the far east so the council has asked all the individuals to record the events of their journey in journals so later a full report could be given at their return.




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Nations

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There are three kingdoms, one confederacy, one theocracy and one city state in the land of Telara.

Spoiler: Marneg 

Name of nation: Marneg
Ruling body: The Renvani family, Civil war between King Elrig the Eight and the claimant King Ulfaar the First "The Bear"
Population: 2.2 million people
Official religion: The Church of Ur

Geography and weather: The northern most of the three kingdoms and the most wild of the lot with the northern part of the country covered in thick woods, deep fjords and tall mountains. It also the biggest of three though most of the land is not useful for farming being either wooded or mountainous. The weather is also harsh with temperatures in winter sometimes falling as low as -25 C^o . The springs and autumns are always wet and windy. Summers are usually warm but never really hot.

Brief history: Marneg was the first kingdom to spring up from the ashes of the Telaran Empire being the most independently governed of the four provinces that became the three kingdom. Despite it's age most think of Marneg as a backwards country. This is probably because of the three Marneg is the most isolationist in it's foreign politics. This isolationism comes from the fact that the inner politics of the country demands most of the attention of the monarch. The only thing Marneng is not isolationist is trade as both of the other kingdoms rely on trade coming from Marneg for their high quality iron, lumber and copper.

Civil wars are common in Marneg as although it styles itself a kingdom it is mostly compromised of many little kingdoms all constantly vying for the grand throne. The army's of the nobles only listen to the one who pays and each noble pays his own army. The peasants as well are only loyal to their own local lords. This creates constant friction between the current king and the nobles who swear fealty to him. Usually one family can last about two or three generations as the royal family before another civil war ousts them. The current family has only been in power for twenty years and already the succession is disputed.

Culture: The people of Marneg or Marns (as they are usually known) are a hardy lot. No stupidity or weakness is tolerated as it can easily lead to death in the harsh north. For this reason tests of strength and agility are very popular. Sporting events are even used to solve some feuds.

Usually the people are very laconic in speech which makes some southerns think they are dumb though in truth they just prefer to get their message across as simply and quickly as possible. Marns place a high value on peoples words and promises. The highest dishonor for a Marn is when he breaks his promise to someone. Blood debts and life debts are highly important to anyone from Marneg so ancient feuds are common especially in the mountainous regions of the country where the old ways are still followed to the letter.

Spoiler: Reinis 

Name of nation: Reinis
Ruling body: Hartswood family, King Roderick the Third "The Sitting King"
Population: 2.4 million
Official Religion: The Church of Ur

Geography and weather: Reinis is a generally a flat grass land land with few forests and some hills. There are also a lot of bogs and swamps around the place. The weather is generally mild though the last few winters have been especially cold. It rains year round though in the winter it turns into snow. The constant rain and the fact that a lot of the country lies slightly below sea level means that flooding is a serious threat.

Brief history: The kingdoms of Reinis and Candria were born very close together in time. Being born so close together both had to fight each other for any all lands that one or the other desired. Wars between Reinis and Candria are so frequent that historians have a hard time keeping track of how many there have been. The courts of the two nations are very closely linked as most peace treaties are negotiated with marriage pacts.

Reinis is a land of mostly agricultural with few huge production mills in the cities and forts. However with the recent cold winters and the failure of crops the once powerful economy is failing because of huge war debts and the inability to trade it's product. This has lead to a huge peasant resistance movement which the nobles are trying to crush. This has proved hard as the resistance has superior numbers on it's side plus the fact that most of the Reinisan army is currently fighting a war in Candria is not helping matters.

Culture:The people of Reinis or Reis are seen as folks with very inventive minds. Being in the heart of the old empire they got to take over a lot of the technology and buildings that were abandoned. Unlike the other kingdoms education (two years when children are taught to read, write and basic maths from the age 8 to 10) is provided to all children not only to those of nobles breed. Maybe because of this the country has produced a lot more philosophers and writers than any other.

The Reis find pleasure in games of chance and skill making card games, board games and dog fighting hugely popular in the country. The Reinisans have an intense cultural love hate relationship with their neighbors the Candrians. This is further complicated by the fact that most families have members or ancestors who are from Candria.

Spoiler: Candria 

Name of nation: Candria
Ruling body: Erso family, Queen Juliana the First, High Saint Finnder the Fifth
Population: 2.5 million (rapidly falling)
Official religion: The Church of Ur

Geography and weather: As the southernmost of the three kingdoms Candria is very warm compared to the other two with hot summers with highs of 28 C^o while the winters are generally mild with minimal rainfall. Candria is the hilliest of the kingdoms's with very little flat ground to go around. It is mostly deforested though two or three forests still remain. Most of the land is either given over to fields or different vineyards.

Brief history: Candria and Reinis share a lot of history. Both have fought wars over the same few miles of land and then made peace with the same marriages pacts and trade agreements. However at their core the two are very different. Reinis is mostly defined by it's educated populace and the absolute power of it's king. Candria on the other hand is mostly known for it's many week long lavish celebrations and the strong arm of the church being heavily involved with ruling the nation.

The main trade output of the Candrian nation is mostly luxury resources like gems, salt, incense and wine. Of the three kingdoms Candria is the most active in trade with a large part of the populace either producing the items needed or trading those same things for profit. About a year ago pone of these caravans brought a foreign plague to the kingdom. As of yet there is no treatment and those who are infected with it die a horrible death within two or three weeks. Reinis has used this opening to initiate another war but the diseases is begging to spread to their soldiers as well.

Culture: The people of Candria or Cands are seen as very religious yet quite fun loving and debaucherous when ever there is a free moment. The church holds a lot of power in Candria being actively involved in secular politics. They have their own private army and are mostly in control of the ratifying process for laws and the courts. This is why in Candria being a priest is quite a popular job. A career in the church can lead a man or woman far in life especially if they are not of noble birth. The only thing that the church does not have power over are the festivals.

While the other kingdoms also celebrate the Festival of Birth in spring and the Festival of Death in winter Candrias celebrations are two week long events known for their lavishness and debauchery. All villages and towns plan their own party's some are smaller others are bigger but they all share a common element: dancing and music. Usually most Cands are taught at a young age to sing by the their local church. Many continue their musical education in the many music schools that can be found in the Candrian capital. Musicians and dance troupes from Candria are a highly sought after commodity in foreign courts.

Spoiler: Orthunian Confederacy 

Name of nation: Orthunian Confederacy
Ruling body: All the clans are ruled over by the “The Four “ which consist of the four most powerful warlords of the most powerful clans. “The Four” change as one or the other clan becomes stronger or weaker. “The Four” only have power when other nations threaten the nation with war otherwise each clan is self efficient and self reliant but when the whole nation is threatened all clans answer the call of war.
Population: 1.2 million
Official religion: Rihilism

Geography: In the far west bordering all three of the kingdoms lie the ancient Demon plains. This is the area that the Orthuns have claimed for themselves. The terrain is quite simple with most of the land being very flat. However there are some mountains dotted around the land. The climate does not much support farming with long, cold winters and short, dry summers.

Brief history: The orthuns, or the bastard race as some call them, are a young race. They have been around for just two thousand years. The orthuns came to being from the union of men and demons. At the time of the Old War when many human women were ravaged by demon shock troops and many human male soldiers took female deoms to they’re beds. Of these unions the Orthuns were born, hated by both daemons and men they grouped together and formed they’re own culture and clans taking elements from both human and demon culture. This has evolved over time to become what it is today.

Culture: The Orthuns are a rider culture forming clans they raise heard's of horses and onehorns for they’re meat, milk and hide. They are a quite a war like culture but they abide by firm rules in war. For example no slaves can be taken in war, nor can one hurt the enemies women and children. Women are not allowed to go to war for women are believed to have a straight connection to the god Cesuul because they bring children in to the world. This means that all the drens (shaman or priestess) are female. The spark of magic is still slightly active in the body's of the Orthuns meaning that if a large group of drens gather and sing the ancient spell songs they can preform very simple spells. Although they never developed a written language they have a extensive oral tradition of songs, stories and riddles.

Most Orthuns practice a form of polygamy where two to three pairs of men and women practice a form of group marriage where all partners live together, share finances, children, and household responsibilities. Monogamy isn't frowned upon but rarely practiced. In these group relationships homosexuality is accepted but it is expected that the individual still have sex with the opposite sex at least to procreate.

Spoiler: Ienna  

Name of nation: Ienna
Ruling body: The Council whom the citizens of the city vote on every five years
Population: About four hundred thousand official citizens and about two hundred thousand slum dwellers and immigrants though this number is growing fast as people from the kingdoms try to escape their current hardships.
Official religion: No official religion accepts temples from all the different religions

Geography: Ienna lies on a thin stretch of land known as the Door to the East. Thanks to this it controls the trade that goes in and out of Telara. Because of the sheer size of the city there is not much left of the original geography of the Door to the East. What does remain is a slightly hilly country with some farms on it and old gold and silver mines that are still in use. It never gets cold in Ienna though in winter it does rain slightly more.

Brief history: Ienna is a young country being established three hundred years after the fall of the old Telaran Empire by enterprising merchants who sought more freedom in their trading. What began as a small trade outpost soon grew to be the largest city on Telaran soil. It's miraculous growth can be attributed to smart placement, good trade relations with the east and the early discovery of the nearby gold and silver mines with which a good force of men could be hired to defend the city against invasion from the kingdoms.

However in recent months the mines have been almost entirely stripped of their riches and trade from the East has practically stopped if things continue in such a fashion then either one of the kingdoms shall conquer the city or the populace itself will turn against their chosen rulers.

Culture: Ienna is a true melting pot of cultures with people from many nations making their home there. This was the goal of the founders of Ienna who saw the pointless squabbles of the kingdoms as detrimental to trade. Thanks to this there is no common culture in Ienna except maybe the uniting belief that if you have the money you are mostly any freedoms.

This freedom to do as one likes is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand it has allowed the arts to flourish in the city with many artist gaining rich patrons who support their work whatever it may be. On the other hand many of the richest people of the city enjoy using the poor and the slum dwellers in violent war games and spectacles.

Spoiler: Kirin Isle 

Name of nation: Kirin Isle
Ruling body: The Ageless God King Anderous whose will is carried out by his priests
Population: 500000
Official religion: To outsiders: The Religion of the Masks To locals: Anderous

Geography: The island of Kirin is small with one city and some farms centered around an ancient sleeping volcano. It lies a few hundred miles off the northern most coast of Marneg making it the northern most of the nations. it is however warmer and rainier than Marneg benefiting from a warm ocean current that flows near it's shores. They still get snowy winters but overall the whether is warmer than their nearest neighbor.

Brief history:The most mysterious of the nations historically. The island was found by the other nations only two hundred years ago. However it seems that the people living there have done so for a very long time. It is unknown when exactly the nation was born as the islands history is protected by the priests who serve their supposedly immortal God King. It is agreed that the island must be at least as old as the kingdoms though if it is actually older nobody has any clear idea.

The people of Kirin venture outside the island very few times and if they do they usually do not stay there. Some diplomats, traders and missionaries have made their homes outside of the island but they always stay in small very closely linked communities. Those few that have had the opportunity to converse with the Kirin on the subject say that they believe that theirisland is true paradise and thats why they never leave it. It is currently unknown if there truly is or ever was a God King or if the priesthood has constructed the idea to keep themselves in power on the island.

Culture: The first thing that any foreigner will notice about the Kirinian people is that all of them wear masks made out of whale bone. These range from simple blank face coverings with eye and mouth holes to elaborately carved and colored pieces that almost look like true faces. They wear these constantly even when sleeping. It is their belief that the mask protects the person against the lost spirits of the dead who they believe stalk the world searching for bodies to claim as their own.

Most people are very superstitious this attitude ingrained by the local religion. Many traditions are observed to keep the God King happy. The most important of these is the yearly theater festival in which both priests and performers enact the great legends and stories associated with their God King. Thanks to these performances actors from Kirin are regularly sought after by foreign courts.

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Races and magical creatures

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Spoiler: Humans 

Humans:

The current average age for humans 42 years for men and 39 for women.

People of Marneg- The tallest people in the land of Telara with the average height being around 1,79 (5.8 feet) meters. Most people are light skinned with either blond or brown hair.

People of Reinis- The Reinian people differ greatly depending on weather they come from the northern portion of the country or the southern. Northerners are usually light skinned with ruddy complexions and brown hair though some blond or red is not unheard of. Southerners are usually olive skinned with almost exclusively black hair. The average Rei stands at about 1,71 (5.61 feet) meters.

People of Candria- Most Candrians are olive skinned with black hair though farther east near the border of Ienna the people are much darker skinned. The average Cands stand at about 1,72 (5.64 feet) meters.

People of Kirin Isle- Very light skinned with most of the population having red hair. Freckles are common though not much on the face as the masks that covers their face does not let the sun in. The shortest of the Telaran people with the average person standing at about 1,68 (5.5 feet) meters.

Spoiler: Orthuns 

Orthuns: Orthuns are either darkbluishly or crimson skinned depending on whether they have more or less human blood in their past. They have large incisors and generally stand 1.8 - 2.3 (6 - 7.5 feet) meters tall. Most of them have black hair but some cases of either blue or blond hair are known. When they get old they’re hair turns white though that happens at age 87 or over. A average Orthun will live for 80-90 years though potentially they can live for 180 years.

Spoiler: Indrans 

Indrans: The ancient people who established the Empire of Telara. Currently thought dead. They were generally smaller than humans with the average height being around 1,50 (5 feet) meters. They also had large feathery wings which enabled them to fly though not for very long distances. They're connection to magic was much stronger than any other races. Because of this connection their blood was sapphire blue and their blood vessels could be seen very clearly on their skin. Most of them were light skinned with completely white hair. If they were not killed in battle they lived for at least three thousand years though they did show signs of aging.

Spoiler: Demons 

Demons: The great adversaries to the Indrans. Currently thought dead. They were an intelligent race though for a long time the Indrans painted them as simple savages. Much taller than humans with the male of the race standing at about 2,6 (8.5 feet) meters or taller females were lightly shorter with the average height being around 1,8 (6 feet) meters. The skin color of the males was a deep crimson while females were blue skinned and much more magically aligned than their male counterparts. Most of them had horns but hair was relatively uncommon among their race though not unheard of. Do not age but live for three hundred years which is less than their Indaran counterparts.

Spoiler: Magical creatures 

One horns: Huge (they usually stand between 4 and 5 meters or 13.1 and 16.4 feet tall) horse like beasts with one big horn on their forehead which they use to dig out roots and tubers. They are naturally only found in the Demon Plains though some effort has been made to grow them outside of that area. Because of their size and hardiness they are mostly used as pack and dairy animals. Orthuns use trained riderless one horns as heavy shock troops.

Wirms: A long serpentine beast with wings and four legs. because they eat a lot of carcasses their bite is quite toxic. A wirm will choose one mate that it will exclusively mate with for the rest of it's life. If that mate dies the wirm will never find another mate. They live in caves in the northern mountains and are very territorial. This causes conflicts with the human population as wirms quite regularly attack miners that mine too close to it's cave.

Quens: Strange beings made of living rock or gems. They are similar in size to mice but in shape they resemble a spider monkey. They do not need to eat nor drink though they do enjoy consuming metals. They live forever (unless broken with hammers or other such implements) but can not procreate. They are only created in places where huge magical battles have taken place and the leftover energy seeped into the bedrock. With the disappearance of magic no new quens have been born for eight hundred years. Most that are left are kept as pets by the rich.

Moon cats: A cat like creature who can only be seen in moon light. They are thought to be created by some ancient mages but no one exactly knows. Because of their invisibility they are more effective as predators. They can only be found in human towns as that seems to be their natural stalking ground. Clothes made of their fur can only be seen in moonlight which makes it a common prank gift.

Leviathans: Large sea creatures who hunt wales and sometimes ships. They are smaller (though compared to humans they are still very big) than whales though much faster and more agile. They are said to look serpentine in form though no confirmed carcasses have been ever been salvaged as the beasts are difficult to hunt and usually stay away from humans unless they are very hungry when they do ram ships and eat the people on board.

Ehaaa: Named for it's distinctive attack call this flying hawk like creature only lives in the warmer climate of southern Candria. It is otherwise physically similar to a hawk however unlike a hawk the Ehaaa can spit corrosive acid that can burn through iron. It produces this substance in glands in it's throat and use this spit to neutralize any attackers. It takes it many days to make enough acid to attack again.

Hell hounds: Made by Deomns to aid in their war effort these wolf like creatures can spit flame if they eat enough bone to kindle the flame in their bellies. Similar in size and shape to timber wolves except with out any fur instead having black skin that is flame retardant. It uses the bones it eats to create truly hot fires in it's belly which it spits out at foes it feels threatened by. These days almost extinct yet a few remain on the Demon Plains some are even domesticated.

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History

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Spoiler: A very brief Telaran history 

Dawn times (~5000 - 3211 BTD*)

The first written Indran records date to this time. The first Indran settlers arrive in the land of Telara from the west. The empire of Telara is established around 4100 BTD. The first cities are built. The Church of Ur is born and starts coming into conflict with some an older religious system of which no record remains.

Coming of the demons (3211 - 2384 BTD)

Demons arrive and settle the Demon Plains. There is as of yet no active contact between the two developing nations only some trade now and again. The Empire of Telara goes through it's first civil war because of religious conflicts. The Church of Ur becomes the Empire's official religion and destroys the other. Tension begin developing between the Demons and the Indrans as both desire the others lands.

The Old Wars (2384 - 983 BTD)

The war that would continue for two thousands years began over a few border disputes. The Indrans have always blamed the demons for making the first move in their history's but it is unclear whether this is true. Whatever the case once it was started it did not want to stop both sides having enough resources thanks to the the power of magic to sustain the war for very long stretches of time. By the end of this period the Indarans were beginning to lose because of weak leadership compared to the demons.

Coming of humans to Telara (983 BTD)

Close to a hundred thousand humans arrived from the east having crossed the great desert. No record remains of what they were escaping but historians think it must have been pretty bad for such a huge number of many different people to leave their homes. Some parts of the Indaran nation thought the coming of the humans a good thing while others thought them only a burden to their nation.

Second Indaran civil war (984 - 980 BTD)

These arguments eventually lead to a brief civil war. It was mostly important because during this time demons gained even more ground and humans entered the war on the Indaran side after the civil war was over.

The Old War continues (980 - 0 BTD)

With the help of the humans the Indarans manged to drive the Demons back to their lands. Soon humans became a integral part of the Indaran war machine becoming important front line fighters. Humans also started becoming more active in indaran politics during this time though their short age made it hard for them to grasp the sometimes thousand year long schemes of the Emperor's council. The priesthood of Ur found most humans to be willing converts to the new religion their previous one dying out quite quickly (this might not have been true but as only Indran reports from the time remain it is impossible to know what the humans truly thought of Ur). Indaran and human mages begin brewing up plans on how to eliminate the demon threat once and for all. The first Orthuns are born.

The Disappearance ( 0 )

It is known today what exactly happened. It is thought that a combined effort form Indaran and human mages tried to imprison the demons in a different dimension however something went wrong with the spell and it took the Indarans along as well. It also completely sapped magic from the whole land leaving people unable to do any spells.

Times of chaos (1 - 276 ATD)

The power vacuum created by the Disappearance therw Telara into chaos. Many different rose and fell during this time. A lot of knowledge and technology left behind by the Empire was lost during this time as people burned and looted many palaces and universities. The end of this era is considered to be the forming of the kingdom of Marneg.

Modern history (276 - 885 ATD or today)

Both Reinis and Candria were created as countries around the year 282. Small scale warring and peace making between also began around then as well.

The first civil war of Marneg happened in the year 300. This is also the same year as enterprising merchants founded Ienna as a small trading post.

In the year 684 a few lost sailors from Marneg discover Kirin Isle. It was another year until trade opened up between the nations. It was another ten years until the other kingdoms began to show interest in the country.

*BTD - Before The Disappearance ATD- After the Disappearance

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Religion

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Spoiler: The Church of Ur 

Name: The Church of Ur
Core Ideas: The followers of the Church of Ur believe that the world was created from nothingness by Ur. Ur has three faces each representative of a different realm he has control over. These are the Face of Life, The Face of Death and the Face of Creation. These Faces are in turn split into three Aspects each representing a realm the particular face looks after. These aspects are which the average person prays to on a daily basis. The aspects are as follows:
The Face of Life- Aspect of Plenty, Aspect of Love, Aspect of Healing
The Face of Death - Aspect of War, Aspect of Law, Aspect of Burial
The Face of Creation - Aspect of Craft, Aspect of Knowledge, Aspect of Magic
The believers in Ur think that when anyone dies they go to be judged by all of Ur's faces and if they are found wanting they are sent back to earth to give another shot at living life. However when the person is seen as good and faithful to Ur he/she is sent onward to a heaven like place within which they are one with Ur for the whole of eternity.
Recently (meaning some two hundred years ago or so) there have developed some religious splits that think that Ur is actually three distinct gods (these are called Poly Urians by the church). The other heretical split however believes that Ur has only one face and no identifiable aspects they believe that the church should be one strong entity not many smaller ones (this one is called Zoraism as the the creator of the heresy was a priest of the Aspect of Knowledge called Zora).
Organization: The priests of Ur are split up according to the Aspects. Each Aspect is watched over by a saint who is supposed to be the earthly representation of that aspect. These saints form a council that handles the matters of the church. The head of this council is the High Saint who is chosen from among the nine saints on the council. This choice depends on the needs of the church. The priests of the Aspect either come from the many orphans left at the door of the church or people sending their kids who will not inherit to join the church. Priests can marry but they will then have to set aside their cowl for it.
Hear follows the description of all the priests of certain Aspects:

Spoiler: Aspects 

Aspect of Plenty - The priests of plenty handle all things associated with plenty from money to good crop growth. They are taught from the day they join how to add up numbers and how to farm. They produce most of the food that the church gives out in charity events and are responsible for it's economy. Fully ordained priests of this aspect usually either stay at their particular church to grow the crops or travel around helping peasants out with monetary maters and giving them advice about their crop growth. Priests from both genders can be ordained.

Aspect of Love - The Aspect of Love does not only refer to romantic love in fact it deals with all types of love from parental to love found between friends. This is reflected in the priests and priestesses of this order who learn to listen to peoples problems and help absolve peoples souls more than they learn the intricacies of love making. This priesthoods main goal is to help heal wounds of the soul, preform marriage rituals and raising the orphan children that are left at the churches doorstep. Most fully ordained priests either stay at the church to raise the orphan children or travel around the land preforming marriage rituals, talking to people about their troubles and in general just listening to them. Only women can become fully ordained priestesses but male acolytes can still join and remain at the acolyte level.

Aspect of Healing - The priests of the Aspect of Healing are trained to simply heal any physical ailments they come across. Some learn to be surgeons while others deal with infectious disease while yet others try to research more about the human body and different healing techniques. These priests are very active in travel with very few staying at their home church (though those that do are very active in the research department). Both female and male priests can be ordained.

Aspect of War - The priests who learn the arts of war and strategy. These priests the hardiest of the orders breeding strong warriors. This the only order where the death during training is quite a real possibility. However those that survive are truly great warriors. The goal of this order is to defend the church against it's enemies and protect other priests on their travels. The Saint of this aspect usually has quite a lot of power over the others though the misuse of this power will usually result in the Saint being thrown out from the the Church entirely. Only males can become full ordained priests of this order.

Aspect of Law - Involved in making, recording and enforcing the laws of the church and even some countries. They are currently the most powerful of the Aspects because the current High Saint is from there. The priests of this order are taught the laws of every country and how to construct arguments especially in court. The priests of this aspect usually stay more in big city's being quite actively involved in secular politics. A brave few however travel to smaller villages to help with smaller court cases and arguments. Both genders can be ordained.

Aspect of Burial - This Aspect used to only deal with burial rituals and such like but these days the priest of this aspect hunt heretics and nonbelievers. This new approach was initiated by the last Saint and improved even more by the current one who incorporated some training techniques of the Aspects of War. With this new system the Aspects are taught how to find, try and execute heretics as well as doing burial and purifying rituals on body's. This new approach has made it a growing power in the church. Mostly ordained priests are constantly moving round trying to find heretics and conducting burial rituals. Both genders can be ordained.

Aspect of Craft - A very popular Aspect among the developing middle class of craftsmen who send their younger children to this Aspect. The priest hear learn different crafts that they then in turn employ to the service of the church. The choice of which craft to specialize in is left up to the individual. These priests are sent to different churches to do things associated with their craft. Those that stay at the their home church become masters of their craft and make the equipment the church gives to their elite. Both genders can be ordained but some crafts are gendered.

Aspect of Knowledge - Theses priest are the keepers of the Churches and the worlds knowledge. Their goals are many fold. First to save and maintain as much knowledge from the days before the Disappearance. Second to record and maintain new works of art, culture and science so that if a new Disappearance were to ever happen much less knowledge would be lost. Third to spread all of this knowledge and make it available to all who seek it. To achieve these goals this Aspect has three different types of priests: Seekers (those that seek out the items/books from the pre Disappearance age), Recorders (those that record/study all things new and old) and finally Teachers (those that travel the world teaching people in areas where there is no public education). Both genders can be ordained.

Aspect of Magic - The least popular Aspect with very little members. These priests try to study the history's and books to learn how magic was done to hopefully one day restore it. Before the Disappearance it was one of the strongest Aspects with many of the most powerful of the Empires mages coming from there. But magic has been gone from the world for so long that no one really believes in the current goals of the priests of the Aspect of Magic. However those priests that do join the Aspect are very dedicated and believe that the restoration of magic is not only possible but probable. Both genders can be ordained.

Spoiler: Rihilism 

Name: Rihilism
Core Ideas: Named for the original prophet of this religion Rihil who spread it amongst all the orthuuns. The orthun belief system is mix of both demon and human theology’s. The Orthuns believe that the world was created by Uthuul the god of order who sacrificed his whole body to make the world and all the things in it but defying him was Cesuul the god of chaos who spoiled the creation of Uthuul by sowing disorder into his creation like violence, hunger and war. But Cesuul wasn't truly evil for she created things that were good too like love, plenty and peace so Uthuul let her live for he knew that perfect order was not the answer to continued happiness of this world. For once people had known these powerful emotions they wouldn't want perfect order for they would consider it boring. After this Uthuul and Cessul together created a sister who represented the balance of order and chaos. She was named Enu and from then on become the arbiter of all conflicts between the two. This balance is what the believers in Rhilism all seek. In Rihilism death results in the spirit escaping the body and staying to maintain the balance of between order and chaos. They usually stay with their own families helping to guide them through life.
Organization: Rihilism is not a very organized religion. Each tribe has it's own way to interpret the tenants of the religion. The main thing they all have in common is that they employ drens to guide people on the path of balance. Adding more chaos to lives that are too orderly and ordering those lives that are too chaotic. Drens are technically less powerful than tribal leaders but no tribal leader ever does anything truly important without consulting the dren.

Spoiler: The Religion of the Masks or Anderous 

Name:The Religion of the Masks or Anderous
Core Ideas: Anderousians believe that their king is a god who created the island of Kirin to be their paradise on earth. It is their belief that there used be many thousands of gods but Anderous defeated them all in epic battles (a lot plays and legends are about these happenings) at the beginning of time. But as you can not truly kill gods the spirits of these gods are still around and trying to destroy Anderous and the paradise he created for his people. Because of this the wearing of masks is required at all times from the people of Kirin Isle. Because Kirin Isle is a true paradise to those that believe in Anderous think that when they die their souls are consumed by Anderous to strengthen him and help protect the island from foreign influence and attack.
Organization: Bearing out the will of their god king are his priests who can never leave the island unless sent out on a missionary quest. They are the power on the island collecting taxes, establishing laws and enforcing them. The priesthood is ordered very simply. The first and lowest caste are the acolytes who do every small job needed to be done from cleaning to cooking. Then comes the priesthood who collects the taxes, defends the church and delivers the sermons to the people of the island. Next are the Listeners who listen to the orders of Anderous and give those order on to the priests they are also the ones who draft laws and tax amounts. Finally there are the Seers who actually talk to and see Anderous they are the ones who give the orders to the Listeners on what to do. The inter church politics is very violent and back stabby so getting to the higher levels of the church can take either many years or only a year or so if your connections are good.

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Technology level and notes on magic

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Spoiler: Technology 

The Indarans were quite the technologically advanced race compared to the humans that arrived in their lands. Some of this technology has survived while a lot of it has been lost. This means that some of technology is on the level with what would equate to 18th century technology in our world while other things are still not very well developed.

Military Technology

Flintlock muskets are in use by all the armies of Telara these are accurate to about twenty five meters. Officers generally use small pistols also with the flintlock design. These army's are usually supported by 12 pound cannons and cavalry.

Production

Textile mills powered by water have sped up textile production immensely. Metallurgy has also improved by coal. However steam engines nor other steam power has not yet developed. Paper making and printing has improved literary output of countries. The agricultural revolution has also not yet happened.

Transport

Roads have improved for foot and horse travel. Stagecoaches are used but mostly for delivering letters and the like. Trade is still mostly done with caravans. Naval technology is still at the medieval level.

Medicine

Basic hygiene for both doctors and people in general has improved general health. Surgical practices are around 18th century levels with people more often then not surviving basic surgeries. No vaccination has been invented yet.

Spoiler: Magic 

Notes on magic

Currently the world has no magic. However old magical items have survived. These are kept either by the insanely wealthy or by people within whose family's the certain weapon or armor has stayed for quite a long time. These items range from simple things like guns that shoot fire instead of bullets to more complex items like armors that can heal the wearer but only if his heart is noble. Basically the more complex the enchantment the more power it has but also it requires many factors to work.

During the Times of Chaos the main thing that was lost was the books about magic and how exactly it was done. From what remains it can be gathered that magic used a power inherent in people themselves but that energy seemed to have been sapped from almost everyone during the Disappearance. It is theorized that Orthuns still have their very weak magical talent because they are half human and half demon meaning that the sapping of their power was not as complete because it had to take power from both parts of their ancestry.

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How to number the days

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Spoiler: How Telara numbers it's days  

According to the Church of Ur's calender there are 12 month and 360 days in a year. Their week is nine days long each day named after an Aspect. It is thought that the Aspect is strongest on that day which is named after it. The work week is six or seven days (depending on the type of labor you do) the days of rest are the last three.
1. Day of Law
2. Day of Craft
3. Day of Magic
4. Day of Knowledge
5. Day of War
6. Day of Burial
7. Day of Healing
8. Day of Love
9. Day of Plenty
Each face of the Three faced god controls four months out of the 12.

1. Waking - Face of Creation, First month of Spring, Begging of the year, 33 days in length
2. Blooming - Face of Creation, Second month of Spring, 33 days in length, Blooming time of most flowers
3. Birthing - Face of Life, Third month of Spring, 33 days in length, Lot of baby's are born on this month
4. Living - Face of Life, First month of Summer, 15 days in length, Summer Solstice on the 15th
5. Loving - Face of Life, Second month of Summer, 33 days in length, Believed to be the most amorous time of year
6. Harvest - Face of Life, Third month of Summer, 33 days in length, Crop harvest
7. Picking - Face of Creation - First month of Autumn, 33 days in length, Time to pick most fruits
8. Sowing - Face of Creation - Second month of Autumn, 33 days in length, Time of sowing for many crops
9. Withering - Face of Death - Third month of Autumn, 33 days in length, Lot of plants die
10. Dying - Face of Death. First month of Winter, 15 days in length, Winter Solstice on the 15th
11. Surviving - Face of Death, Second month of Winter, Coldest month of the year
12. Burying - Face of Death, Third month of Winter, End of the year

Both followers of Rihilism and Anderous use the smae system only in Anderous the names of the days are different:

1. Day of Birth -The birth of Anderous
2. Day of Growth - The young Anderous grows
3. Day of Learning - The young Anderous lears all the skills in the world
4. Day of Duel - The young Anderous challenges the other gods to duels and wins
5. Day of Conquest - Anderous conquers the many god kingdom of the world
6. Day of Creation - Anderous creates Kirin Isle
7. Day of Settlement - Anderous and his followers settle Kirin Isle
8. Day of Joy - Anderous celebrates his victory and the creation of the island
9. Day of Rest - Anderous rests

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What is this and basic ideas

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What is this?

This RP is about a traveling caravan leaving their home nation to find out what has happened to trade coming out of the east. The world they would be traveling to would be drawing on many diffrent inspirations including Mughul India, many precolonial African states, Ming era China and the Ottoman Empire when it was in decline. It will have minimal magic (magic having disappeared many hundreds of years ago) but lots of magical creatures, items and places will still exist. This RP is focused on adventure and discovery as your caravan is the first official caravan to ever go explore the east.

What makes this special?

Unlike other RPs this RP will have each character relate the events of the day through the format of the diary with no outside interactions happening. This means that all the text you write will be in first person relating the events and interactions of the day.

How would this work?

The GM would give out the general events that had happened to the caravan that day which would make sense to be mentioned in the specific characters post. Then players can among themselves decide who of the other players they will mention in their diary posts and what kind of interaction they had with that person or group of persons.

Example:

Spoiler: Example 

GM: So we are entering the second week of travel. Our caravan just went off the main road. There's something nasty following our caravan some of you can feel it you are as of yet unsure of what it exactly it is. One of the party has been struck down by a suspicious disease. The caravan master asked for volunteers to scout the area but the scouts find no obvious dangers however they do find a wondrous sparkling cave in front of which we decide to camp.

Player 1: Can I be the one to get the disease?

GM: Sure then talk to Player 2 he is playing the doctor so you guys should have some mentions of each other in the diary posts you write.

Player 2: Will take your sickness into account will write in my post what my character prescribed to you and you can riff off of that.

Player 1: Okay thanks.

Player: Hey GM me and Player 4 would like to be the scouts because we think our characters would have interesting interaction we could mention in our diary posts.

And so on...

Why do you want to do this?

In most social situations we do not show all our cards so to speak. We might nicer/meaner than we actually are or just go along with things that we actually abhor. In ones diary however when processing the events of the day we can be our true selves. Usually with the assumption that no one will read it at least for awhile so we do not have to fear retribution for telling the truth. In such writing the concept of the unreliable narrator would be fun to write as in some ways no person has a completely fair and balanced assessment of themselves and their actions. Personally that sort of exploration sounds hugely fun to me. Plus the diary format allows me to stretch my first person muscles which outside of RPing is my favorite and main fiction writing form.

Examples:

Spoiler: More examples 

Player 2 character fancies himself a ladies man and he had a conversation with Player 4s female warrior character during the day. In his diary he relates how he charmed and wooed her with his wit and good looks. However when reading Player 4 diary entry we find out that she thought him a twit and a sexist blaggard just did not dane to say anything of the like to him as she did not really care enough to respond.

Player 1 just mentions off hand in his diary entry how he accidentally dropped a box on Player 3s toe. He relates it as a funny joke not something serious or regularly occurring. Reading Player 3s diary post shows a rant about Player 1 characters clumsiness and plans on how to get revenge on him.

Do I really have to read all that world building?

No but you should read at least some of it to make a good character.

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Rules

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Spoiler: Rules 

1. Join this RP only if you are ready to write in the diary format.


2. Do not God Mod anyone's character into your post always ask them beforehand if you think that it would make sense for them to be mentioned. (even if you want to make your character stalk or secretly spy on the other persons character they still have a right to know that information and maybe mention that they felt that someone was watching them during the day)


3. Be open to other people wanting to talk and mention your character in their post. If they have asked you and you feel that your character could have such an interaction do it!


4. If you have a dispute with another player keep it out of the OOC and take it to PMs


5. No god modding, railroading and powerplaying


6. All characters must be 16 and over


7. Post schedule is once a week and post length should be at least 300 words (more is always better)


8. Me and anyone I recruit to be a CO GM will have the power to change and add to these rules as is required of us


9. Have fun and if you have read these rules put "The Savior of Ienna" at the end of your CS

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Description: (Picture or description or both)

Religion:

Nationality: (If not originally from Ienna describe how he/she got to where he/she is now)

Profession: (Will put a list of professions below that might be needed in a caravan)

Skills: (Learned skills)

Traits: (Physical traits like 20/20 vision and such like)

Equipment: (What does your character have with him or her)

Personality: (it is very important that you mention your characters outward personality hear as that might be hard to find out through diary entries)

Bio:

Spoiler: Profession list 

Scouts (Two spot left)
Caravan guards (no more than two players)
Guard Captain
Scout General
Cook
Kitchen helpers (no more than two players)
Doctor
Doctors assistants (One spot left)
Quartermaster
Animal handlers (no more than two players)
Diplomats (One spot left)
Traders (no more than two players)
Nobles for marriage alliances (Two, one male and one female can not be from Ienna as Ienna does not have nobles)
Servants (for the richer people)
Mapmaker (He/she would/could have a specialized assistant or servant as well)
Scholar (He/she would/could have a specialized assistant or servant as well)
Tracker
Entertainers (One spot left)
Priests or Drens (One spot left)
Caravan master (closed to players)

If you think of anything that should be added or if you want to play someone who is not one of these profession's PM and we can discuss it.

RP's I'm still mostly proud of and I think are good

Awaken [M] An urban fantasy RP set in a strange city full of strange dreams and powerful dreamers

Spoiler: Awaken 

Rated M for violence, swearing, drug use and scenes of a sensual nature

Setting takes inspiration from Mage: The Awakening and the Cthulhu Mythoses Arkham

Original picture by Alicechan





The mind, that ocean where each kind
Does straight its own resemblance find;
Yet it creates, transcending these,
Far other worlds, and other seas.
— Andrew Marvell, “The Garden”



A̖̝̯͓͔͖͇̘̲̭̺̬͖̻͉̫̣͚ͩ͊͆͒ͪ̾̊͌͌͐̀ͦ̓͒̐̓̇ͦ ͙͖̰̠̜̩̳̙̩̰̫̟̱͛̈ͬ̀̊͌̉͐̄̋̀ͅW͍̹̼̭̘͖̫̥̠͉̘͕͂ͦͧ̌͛ͦ͂̀̃̈́ͩͅ ̻̲̜ ̮͇̬̱̰̭̳̗͕̲͍̺̠̫ͧ̾ͦͤ̑ͣͤͅA̟̩͉̦͕̟̱͎̤͙̯ͮͨ̾͊ ͖̭̱̙̬̠̜̹̥̙̣̖̲̱͚̞̼̰ͤ̔̓̓̏̏̅͐̆̀̍̈̽̋ͅK̺͕̫̟ͭͦ̋ͩ̔͗͆̅̊ͬͯ͂ ͚̮̗͉͍̝̘̣͚̠͙ ͔̰̞͕̱̥͈͕͙̮͖͇̯̗̮͖̲̩̅̎͗ͣ̋̄̍̿È̱̗̳͖̊̈́͌̐͊̀̓ͣ͋́͆̈͛͆ ͇͈͈ ̗̬̙̦̠͚͙̬̜̲̃̊̾͗̓͆̚N̪̤͓̘͙͖͙͖̜͉̙̹͚̘͛̃̇̍̎͑̐̉ͩͮ͐͂͛ͥ ̳̹͖̺
̣̜̣̤͌ͣ̋̎́̈́͂̈́ͨ́̒̋ͤͫͧ͊͗̂ͨ
̥͈̰̹̜͙͚͕̘͍̻̘̦̗͕̳͚̟̎̓͐̾̆ͥ͗ͧ̆ͯ͒̌̒ͩ͊ͣ̚A̩͖͚͇͉̠͓ͪͨ̋ͨ̂̓́ ̥͕̹̯̬ ̖̖͙̲͍̭͕̭̳̥̠̣͇̯̘̞̺̪̋̔ͤ̽ͨͩͨ͒͒ͮ̔͒ͯ̔̉̏͗͛̔W͈̬͎̒̎͌͋ͩ ̱̤̞ ͚̠̳͕̰̗̦͕̹̘͙̱͓͙̄̿ͦ͌̈Ā̲͍̣̄̾͒̓̉ͥͭ͌͊̓̐̓̍̀͋̉ͅ ̹̦͖͙̭̖̠͍̝͖ͥ͗ͥ̋ͥͮ̽̄̓ͨ͊̾̊͆ͬ͑K̠̞̫͇͉̥͊̾ͫ̏͆̽ͩ͑̚̚ ̝͎̦͙̩̰͔̜̰̘͓̻͎̥͍͓̥̏ͩ͂͊ͭ͋̇̎ͬ͒ͧͧ͂ͣ̅̈́E̺̥͉̼͕ͯ̂́̿ͤ̋ͭ͒ͧͥ̈ ̗͍͔̺̬͍ ̠̜̘̯̙̻̗͓̥͊͑̍͋N̹͚̬̪̬̳ͪ̂ͦ̔
̲̜͈̗̜͎͈̥̺̀̃ͤ̄̎́̈̈̑̐ͣͦ͌ͮͅ
͚̙̬̤̮̙͕̬̭͇̤̮̥̆̇̒͒̊̈́̾̂̈́͆̎̈́ͭͅ
̣͔͔̣̗̼̇̃ͬ̿̈ͣ́̓ͯ̔͑̚A͈̖̰̤̮̹̖̩͋̇͊͒͒ͮ̑̐͂̋̑̂̈́͐ͪ͐ ͖̹͎̗͔̟͔̮̘͕͓͇͈̠̣̟͈̼͈͌̄̒̈̍ͩ̅̐̍̈́̚W͙̥̻̥̞̫̤̏͑̌ͣͨ ̙͙̭̣̥͖͚̤̣̹̖̲̹͎́̔͋́̍̃̆̈ͮͯ̈́Ȃ̘̺̫͈̝̜̘̪̽̋̾̉̆͌͐̇ͣ͌́̈́̿ͅͅ ̝̳̟̹ ̭̙̱̰͌̊̒̏͌̍̂ͣ̐ͧ̚K̫̞͇̘͍̬̣͎͕̞͈̣ͮͫ̅ͥ͂͆̅ͭ ͍̳̙͚͕̘̓̉̓̉̄ͨ̊́̃ͤ̍̋̇ͬ͒E̥̥͕̳̜͇̳̥̦̳̲͖̪͓͆̐̊ͪͮͧ̽ͤ̌͐ ̹̘͕ ̬͙̘̤̦̰͚̘͕̤̣͔͍͚̗̣̳̱͐̎͛̇̍̈́͂̆ͪ͌̌̾̔ͩͤ̏̒̉Ṇ̬̟̱͖̞̬̠͖̅͒ͤ̾ ͚
̠̯͓͎̩̤̦̺̺̦̺̰̰̰͚͚̝ͬ̿͂̍̒̆͑͂̎ͧ͆ͥ͐ͅͅ
̱͉̝̱̯̣̫̬̣̱̪̠͎̳͇͉͈͙ͫͪ͋͒̃̉̒͛̄̉ͣ̾͊ͦ
̜͍͓͍̞ͪͣ̆̊̎̇ͩd̲͎̬̟̜̙̦̮̮̞̥̠͕͚̩͓̈́̀̓ͮͬͬ͊̅̒̉͆ͦ̉ͅrͤ̑̇ͥ̇ͪ ̝͇̪̱̱͈̗̖͕͍͓̦̘ͫ̌̍ͮ̏̍ͅȅ̗̮̤͚͎͈̯͚̠͙̺̩̄̓͆̀ͥͪ͌̊̓̐͋̓̒͊̚a ̙̬̪̠͕̳̳̺̗͇̺̙̍ͥ̿͊̄ͤ̑̎͛m̯̘̬̫̱̪̩̜̟͑̊͊̋ͤͥͪ͊̍̉͂͐͋̐̒̂ͅͅe ̖͔̻̰͖͓̿̃̀͒͗̓̏̿ͧ͋͆ͫ͐ͯ̄ͬ͒̅ȑ̖̣̗̞̺̭̖̰͎͗̐̈ͮ̇ͦ̒̽͑̈̏ ̰͇̖
̯̖͖͆̎͊ͪ̈͊̐ͅC̰͉̠͉̙͙̻̜̱̫̄̇̌ͣ͊ͩ̏̇ͯ̔̃ͭ̾̊̓̓̽̇̚ ̹̠̯̬̫͚͇̀ͨ̀̀͐̓ͩ̆ͪ̓̑͒̿̄̐ͦL͈̠̻̦͉̤̺͉̼̳̰̝̙͚̜̭̹ͥ̾ͤͅ ͇͇̤̟͈̞͉̺̍̏̓͛̈́́̐͒Å̦̼̮̫̣̦͖̏̀̅̏̈ͩͥ̂̏̈́ͤ̒̊ͅ ̱̩̖̭͉̹͈̲̘͈͙̘̙̤̺̰̌̽̓ͤ̈̍ͤ̒ͩ̎̂I̪̙̲̗̟̮̯̫̳ͧ̐̐ͩͦ̔ͪ͂̈́́̀͂ͅ ̬͓̟̙̣̞ ̯̝̯̮͔̼ͪ̅͛̎̓ͬ̓̔͐͆͒̾̓̿̇̂Ḿ̘̹̜͕̮̻̟̩͕̮̰̗̫͌̀̾̄ ͚̻̝̟̼̯͇̺̯̜̝̭͙͇͐̾̇̉͌̾ͫ̌̇̀ͪ̌̊̾ͫ̚Y̲̻̿͗͗̒ͦ͋ͣ̒ͯͪ̅͐̅ͥ͊̒͒ ̬̥ ͖̮͙̖̥̭̥͎͖̞ͫ̎ͦ̃ͬͣ̽͆̆̓̆̑͐ͦ̄O̯̘͕̼̻͎̪͚̬̩̝̱͙̩̒̆͆ͧ̚ͅ ͇̩̙͔̟̲̳̩̟̹̟̻ͪ͗͌̅ͫ̈́͊͑̂ͤ̀ͥ̀U̩͕̦͇͇̖̟̾͒̊̋͗ͦ̏̀̈́ͪ͑̅ͫ̉̈̒ͨ ̜̪ ̪̱̬͎̻͓͎̝̺̟̟͍̩ͨͩ̃ͫͪ̍̑̂̈́͆̂ͬ̊́ͬ́̃ͣ́R̯̮̱̝͆͊̈̾̎̍͒͑̇ͫ̾̋ͨ ̱̣̭̜̮̗̻̘̞̝̯ ̟̯͚̠̳͇̦̩̳͔͓̟͍̖̖̼͇̤̍ͪ͂͌͗̇̔ͩͧ͑̔̒ͣ̓ͮ̍̊̚B̳̤͎͉̞̥̻̙͂ͣ̃̀̄ ̭͙̩̩͕̼̲ͅͅ ͇̱̮͈͖̹̮̥̬̟͙̤̱͉̙̞͔̼̱̐̀̐ͮͭ̐̊ͭ̎͊̐̓̃̆I͍̙̦̭̻̜̹̳̦̫͚̺͓ͬ̓ͦ ̭̪ ̰͙̣͖̘͓̙̱̪̲̪̲͖͉͚͎̑ͣ̎̄̓ͧͤ̇ͭ̐̐ͮ͒ͦR͖͔̺͚̄ͦͨ̈ͪ̅̔͊͒́̀̈́̓ͩ͛ ̯̮̤̣ ̫̳̥̻͉̼̟̥̺̫͕͎̮͉͓̪̂̉̎̋̿̂͒ͩ̂̈̐T̞̫͈̜̫̟̈́̏̾̆̿ͯ̉͌̃ͭ͗ͫ͊̊̀̚ ̟̳͉͖̤̖̟͓ ̹̦͉̠̟͖̭̼͛̐͑ͯͬ̈́̆̾ͪ͋ͩ̔ͧ̈́H̩̖̟̣̝͗ͤ̾̑̉͊̏͒ͨ̄ͮͯ͗͋ͥ ̥͇̹͉̹̠̥̟͈̪͍̊͑̐̌̆͌̋̎̎ͫ̂̿̒R̹͈̣̖̰ͣͩ͊͆ ̺̼̤̯̐̃̋̓̒ͭ̐I̝̩͈̟̥̻̘̲͙̳̍ͦ̇̈́͊ͭ ̱͇̰̮̟͍̬̼͍̙̰̥̪̇̽͌̈́̈̑ͭ̾Ğ̘̱̩̝̻͔̹̫͗̐̋̅̎̆̓̍̔̿ͫ̾ͯ͌ͅ ͓͕ ͖͇̩̩͇̿̇̔̋͋̉H̲̤͎̪̦̣̖̊̈́̍̓ͧͦ̓ͭ̄ͥͩ̌̔ͥͣ̐ ̬̟̞̰̣͔͎̝̭̲͉̭̰̥͕̩̱̤̥ͦ̆ͧ̽̎ͮ̅̑̃T̥̞͙͐ͮ̉̽ͨ̉͑̀ͬ͆͐͒ͦ̚ ̲͖̻̩

u ǝ ʞ ɐ ʍ ɐ


B̵̷̨͔̤̻̑́ͦ̍͑ͨͨ̃̍̊̍ͥ͒͢ ̫̗̼̮ͭͬ̄ͩͦ̔ͣ̈́͑̈́̃̿̓̎͑ͩͥ͗͟E̷̵̱̩͖̮͍̬̟ͮͣ̔̽̋͋͊̇́͢ͅ ̷̴̢͖̳͉͇͙̮̲ͧ͂̋̓̎ͩ͗̀ͬ͋̍̋̇̚͝ͅF̨̘͓͈̩̞̻̘̝͔̏̄̾ͯͪͣ͌̍͋̇̀͡ͅ ̩̯̥̹̰̠͖̖̱ ̠̺̙̺̭͔̐ͥͭͤ̈͗̈ͫͫ̒́̆͗́̈͛͝O̶̧̱̫̤͉̫̪̹͐̒̈́̃̀́͡ͅ ̢̲͉̘̼̫̻̭͎̬̖̱̖̜͈̳͂̾ͥ͊̓͂̄̄̎ͧ̑̋ͯ͘͢Ŗ͓̻̙̋̾̈́͂ͮͧ̀̏ͧ̒̋ͧͭ͜ ͈̩̱̰̝͇͎̝̜ ̶̢̲̞͎̜̪̲̩̣̺̦ͭͪ̌͋̽̀̾̀͡Ȩ̵̾̊̈͋̋̏̉̀͛͛̿̑҉̣̪̦̠̲͔̭͘͞ ͉ ̶ͩ̊̈ͪͭ̂ͩ͊͊̓̒ͬͣ̎̓͒̀̈́̀͏͇̞͙͙̞̻̭͍̦͇̼͇Y̴̴̨̙̖̩̬̋͒ͭͧ͋ ̥̹ ̢̡̫͔̝̩̣̪̥̤̖͕̟̬ͥ͛̽ͦ̃̓̇̌̃͋̌ͭ̓ͩ̑̆ͥ͝͠Ǫ̺̞͕̹͇̫̤͓͐̐̔͗́͟ͅ ̼̬̞͍̫͇͚̮ͅͅ ̧͇̠̝̪̠̼̙̯̮̳̣̫̠̞͉̂̆̽͊̂ͩ̈́͢Ư̶̵̡̧͈͓̹͚͚̖̯̩͕ͭͮͫ̏̈
̴̮̘̪͙̒̐̿ͫ̕
ͬ̑̾͌ͤ͐͏̷̣͇͎̖̞d̵̜͙͎̻̠̍͑ͨ͆͐́r̵̶̪͙̘̙̫̟͙̠̖̘ͪ̀̋ͥ͋̓̊̃́̚ͅ ̠e̴ͯ͂̾͋̽ͯͦ̈́̚͘͡҉̟̺̹̰̦̣̣͎͓͍̟̪͉̱̺͚a̵̢̝͔̳͖̲̣̭̘̹͉͔̖͌̊̊̀ ̩̪ͅm̩̠̪͎̠̱͈͇̜̣ͫ̏ͨ̏̕͟͠ẻ̡̜̜̗͔̠̙̙͋̅̏̒̋ͬ̒̀̍͐̒̒̃̋͋́̕͟ͅ ͓̗̭r̸͈͕̦͓̬͇͔͇̰̙̺̱̲̄͋̊̆ͧ͒͆ͤͩͨͧͪͨ̍͐̐̅̑ͯ͘͠ͅ
̵̧̛̣̖̜̺̯̭͔̜̝̓ͪ̃ͯ̿͒͒ͥͬ͒ͬͨ̿̀͛͒ͦ̽͘
̶̵̢̩̭̥̣͇̻̹̤͒̈̏̉͌ͭ̋͌̋̈̿̐̂̆́͠F͈̳̮̼̞̈́̎̂̆͗̐̍̄ͩ̌̍̊̓͑̕͠͡ ̥̬͙̭̪̫͎̻ ̛͌̓͋̉ͥ̎̿̉̂ͬ̉̽̀͗̇̑ͧ̓̇҉̧̟̦̬͚͕̻̞̮͞Ȧ̵̌̑ͣ̂ͬ͗̏͆͐̇͒̃̉̎̾͑ ͡͠҉͚̤̭̣͖͎̦̞̣ ̸̧̧͍̥̱͎̺͔̳̤̰̹̝̼̯̤ͧͣ͊͆̀̔̇̿̂ͯ̿ͫ̅ͧ͂͗ͭ̍̽̕͞ͅL̵̶̰͚ͩ̉̐̓̕ͅ ̣͍͙̖͕̤ ̢̫͈͉̺̼̙̣̘̙̯̻̼̙̪ͤ̽̓́̽̏̓̎̐ͬ̒ͫ̽͗̿ͨ͊̒̕͜ͅL̈́͋̂͗͒̉̃͋ͪͥ̓ͪ̒ ͔̮̯̬̩̝̮̗̙̖̼̩̮͙̼̳́̇̽́ ̄ͦ͒͑̔ͩ̈́̍ͪ҉͏͏̼̲̙͔̗̗̞͕̫̥̖̫̮̝̹͓̙͍͕̕̕Ȯͮ͊ͭ̆ͭ̑͑̄ͯ̆͐͛̐̀̚ ̵̯̗̜̝̱̲̺̙̬̘͇̻͉̠̻̗̈̍͞ͅ ̸̗̼̱̞̩̘ͪ̊͗ͩͬ͆̔̍͌͊ͦͨ̉ͤ̇ͦ̃̎͝N̥̣͔̝̐̊ͦ̈͂̋̑͌͜͝ ̡̡̝̤̰̼̘͕̞̝̩̒̒͛ͥ̀͌̈ͨ̉̊ͪ̿̇ͧ̿̎͘͟C̒̾̿̑ͯ̓̉̊̊ͨ͊̐ͧ̑̄̀͒̕͏̀ ̳̻̮͇̩͚̯̹̥̳̰̫̙͙͉͙͔ͅ ̴̵̢̛̘̺͈͕̤̰͕̩̩̲͍̹̟͎͔͔̪ͦ̎ͦͦ̿̉̒͑ͮͅÈ̶̶̜͎͓̿ͬ́ ̶̵̛̫̤̮̹̜̬̝̪̦͎͇̘͔̤͈ͦ͌̇̄̀̔̔̓ͭ̄̍̈̇̑̇̌͆͟M͂͋ͬͫ̐̌̆̃ͦ̃ͩ҉͘ ̯̤̣̰̟̞̱̪ ̸̪͚̲̤͕̮͕̗̳̜̫͔͍̱̩̒͛ͫͫ͌̔͊̅̃̔̉͒ͬ͢͠Ȍͬͭͤ̇̈̾̆͋͊̏ͧ͑̎̏̍ͦͯ ̪͔͙̥̜̘̥̲̪̙̲͙͈̙̜̗̰̱̱͜͞ ̋ͨ̿̾͊͌̿͆ͦ̓͊ͭͨ͐҉͢͏͏̖̦̫̘̪R̡̡̦̗̯̥̯̮̺̬̤͑ͥͫ̊̏̇ͤ̓ͦ̐̊̂̒͛̚ ̪̳͎̯͙͍̟̮̜ ̟̟͇̤͍͍̫̼̎ͬͧ̉̀̇̾ͧ̅̋͋̉̌̋̈́̋͑̑͡͝E̜̎̑͋̿ͮ̓ͩ̑̅ͨͧ̾͑ͯͧ͛̊͘̕͠ ͙̙̼͙̻̦͇͍̮̬̞̤̣̼͔̠͎
̷̵̸͙̻̙̹̣ͭ͋͊̓ͪͭ́͝ͅ
̵̍̔̄ͤͩ̿̐ͩ̈̐̒͑͒̋͂ͫ̇ͯ́҉̗̖͉̺̫͓͔s s ʎ q ɐ ǝ ɥ ʇ o ʇ


You wake up.
You can't move.
You can't breath.

The blankets around you seem intent on strangling you.
You want to scream but your mouth won't move.
This is how you die.

A second passes.
Another.

Your muscles come under your control again and you sit up drawing in a panicked breath.
Another.
In...
...Out

The panic begins to recede.
Sleep paralysis.
It has been with you for so long that you would think you would grow used to it.

Yet every time it happens it feels like it's your first.
The dream is always the same too.
Some distant figure calling to you while you fall.

You lay your head on the pillow once more.
After all tomorrow is an important day.
Would not want to sleep in.

s͌ͧͧ͗̽́͐͆̂̿̔̄҉҉͖̻̹̪̯͙̞̩͈͡ͅ ̢̛̫̰̖̪̂͐̐̆̈́͐̽͐͠͡͞l̡̹̻̬̰͓̯͈̱̺̗̥͉̦̭͔ͥ̈́̇ͩͬͨ̎ͮ́͘͡͡ ̲̰ ̧̙̼̟̖̩̮̹͈̹̗̘͈̝͍͔̱̮̭ͭ̄ͤ́̌͗ͫ͐̊ͪ̑ͨ̓̾͋ͫ͑͐͜͠é̽̿ͪ͐̓͊̓̚̚ ̛͎̞̥̱͆̃̔̄ͦͬ͑̕͟ ̸̶̴̨̛̥̣̩̘̟̣̼͕̭͈̹͇̠̖͚̝̻̿̿ͧ̍e̵̛̥͇̔̂̾̃ͦͨͯͪ͒̓̀ͪ̔ͅ ̉̊̽͂͛̎̽͏҉̝͕͖̯̹̙̜͙̤́͢͡ͅp̙͖̼̳͙̟̖̱ͭͩ͊̆͂͋͐̔̈́ͮ̋̅̀̄̽̀ͤ̕͞ ͓̞̟̮̠̖͔͖͖ ͫͦ̂̾̈ͧ̈̀҉̷̢͚̘̼̻͟f̢̡̙̗̩̞̯͉̼̤͎́ͣͥͩ̊ͭ̒ͤͣ̓͞͡ ͭ̉ͤͯͣͮ̍̎̎ͫ̉ͧ͆̂ͯ̊͑̿͡҉̨̨̼̯̣̜͝o̧̧͓̮̎ͮ͂ͩ̾̃̄ͪ̇̊͛̉̃ͨ͌̆̚͢ ̯̮̤̼̟͎̘̯ ̺͖̫̤̬̯̭̥̩̤̟̣̖̮̈̑ͬ̌ͫͨ̊̊ͬ̑̂̎̾͘͝r̵̸̵͇̟̭̃̿̽͒̊͋̄ͫͬ̿͆̔́͜ ̘͈ ̡̮͉͔̱̙̭̗̤̔ͯͬ̓͂̄̋̀́͝ṇ̵̙̪͙͉͇̥̯̗͇͇̬̓ͯ̈́̓̂͒̽̕͡͞ͅͅͅ ̧͕͇͚͖̖͙̥̹͋ͩ̿ͦ̇͌ͥͥ̉̏ͦ̑̾ͬ͑̔ͬ͘͡͠ͅö͑͆́̾͑̉ͩ͊ͩ̅̇̋ͥ͑̂͛ͮ͘ ̧̝̺̳͓̕͢͢ ̛̻̯̱̪͎̫̜͙̻̬̳͖̲̙ͪͥͬ̈ͣ͛̀̈́͘͢͞ͅw͌͋̓͑̆̈̋̓ͬ̌ͨ͐ͬ̿҉̝͈̻͚̠͖̀ ͇̫̝̙̰͎͎̰͕ͅ ̽̀́́ͭ͋ͩ̾̋ͯ̆ͦ̋̇͋͛͡҉̼͈̗̞̪̣͕̫̤̙̼͇͖̰̲̥̲t̅͂̓ͬͧ̾̓̈́̈́̑͗ͦ̋ͩ ̧̟͉̼͖̮̳͍̇͐̏ͮ̇́͘͟ ̢̛̤̱͓̻̘̼͕͖͕̌̓ͨ͒̄̔͆̒̍̾͑͌ͦ́͠h̶ͪͩ͒ͫ̓̊̍̃͒͊̓͋ͮ͏̸̪̥̫ ̻̦̲̱ ̛̬̩̟̟̭̜͈̳̞͌̋͒̈̏͊̀̕͟͠e̡̱̹̙̽ͮͫͯͯͧ̊͊ͩ̊͂̚̚ͅ ̷̧͇͖͉̠̬̥̼̬̝̞̰̤̠̳̑ͧͬ̀̃͗ͣ̒̔̔̄ͪ̾̾͟n̷̸̛͔̫̪̩̮͖̳̟ͩ̇̄̆̄͝ͅ ̩̜̫͕̯̤̟͙̖
̨̡̾ͯ̈ͩ̉̄ͤ͑̇̓̎̋ͭ̇́͊͟͜͏͙̱̰̰̝͙ḑ̴̵̼̫͚̽ͥ̈́̾͑ͨ͐ͮ͂̿̋̃ͬ͒̚͢ ̝͍͕̣r̵̶̨̛͖̹͉͉̩̘̖̖̗̪͚̟͎͔̱̮̂ͯ͊̽̄ͮ́e̴͕̫̪͕͐͊ͩ̃ͥͩ̑̆̾͢͡ͅ ̩̲̱̰͙̳̥̯̞͓̻aͫ̈ͮ̎ͤ̄̽͒̿ͭ̐ͯͯ̇̐͋́̀͏̼̱͈̺̥͈͓̩̺̩̟̳̖͜ͅmͣ̈́̅ ̨̼̩̖̯͕͖̟̻͍̿̓̈͒ͣ̉͂ͭ͒̊̃́̒̚̕͢ē̎̉ͭ̐̒̌͞͏҉̙̺̖͖̯̻͉̗̗̕̕ͅͅ ̭̞͈̝̫͓r̡̢̩͕͓̼̪̟͚͎͎̥͇̉ͧ͐ͤ̿̌̎̐̂͒͑̀̚
̸̴ͥͭ̃̾̄͒͑ͨ̃̂̌ͫ̇̈́̚͏̞̲̭͖̪͚͎͔̟̭d̵̒͗͒ͬ͑̏͋̍ͯͣ̓͘҉̰̲̥̜̦́́ ͎͇͚̪̖̠͈͍̰̠ ̷̸͗ͩ͐̄ͩͮ̽ͯ̔̎ͫ̈́̈͠҉̞̫̳͓͇̭ṟ̡̡͔̠͖̤ͬ̆̽ͥ͗͐̋ͥͮ̉̅͛͌͐ͤ̚̕͜ͅ ̝̗̯̦͈̹ ̩͍̟̘͖͉̟̫ͯ̀ͩ̀͒ͬ̚͞ḙ̷̵̻̭̣̪̦̥̗͓̿̓́̉̍̌ͩͪ͛ͮ͂ͨ̿̚̚ ̸̺̜̙͖̳̭̳̹̮̓̊̓ͫ̑ͩ͐͋̈́͊͂̋̆̔͋͑̌̓a̧̋ͧ̐͒̄̒ͦͦ͆̐̆ͯ̾̉ͫ͂̋͊̀̚ ̪͎̞̳͈͍͕̟̤̦͎̺̝̬̙ ̶̧̨̘̭̫̘̬͍̗̹̦̦̞̰̩̬̭̌̃̋͒̅̊ͤ͗̽͌̔͘ͅm̢̛̪̲͈̑̆͑͊ͬ͑́̉͒̋ͭ͟͞ ̯͎̭̙̻ ̈͊ͯ̈͌̂ͣ͗͏̣͉͔͔̗͝ǫ̣̲̭̩͓̟̹̗̤̥̣̺̘̪ͤͩ̽ͯ͆̿̂̓͂ͫ̆ͩ̕͘͝ ̦̣̟̜ ̵̧͕̭͙̣̰̥͓̠͇͔͙̳͇̯̟̯͗͌͑ͭ͐͌̒ͯ̑ͥ͂̋̑ͬ̚f̷̢̥̤̗̮̫̩͛̀͗̒̔̀͘͢ ̺͙͚̬ ̵̴̷̝͚͍̠̺̘̥̣̣͉͓͈͖͒̃̋̃͢b̡͙̮̝̀̓ͦ̍ͧ̍̎̿͗̈̾ͨ̎͆̓͒̌ͬͥ͟ ̘ͅ ̵̡͉̬͓̯̮̬͍̘͔̫͈̣̻̉̽̔̂͋͋͂̆ͮ̂ͯe̶͗̄̏́ͮ͂̂̂ͪ̀͝͞҉̱̤͖̬̟͔͓̙ͅ ̘̤̻͖͚̗ ̴͎̥̖̗̝͖̲̟̙̟͔̙̬̪͍͓̗̰̙̎̂̊ͯ̒̉͆́̑̈́̈̅̀ͭ͊̈́́̀͜t̐ͧ̉͑͗̾ͫ̂͗̊ ̡̙̦̞̗̹̻͔̺̺̬ͪ̅ͦ͛̐̿̊̀̿̀͜ ̡ͬ̑̑ͮ̓ͥͧͨͥ͏̷̸̶̪̻͕̤̙͇̘͕̰t̡̛̝̰̻̭͇̮̮̅ͩ̇͊̕͠͝ͅ ̵̢̰̖̮̳̦͇̓̉͐̊̑ͦ̔̍͐ͧͤ̾ͥ̒ͭ̇ͧę̶̷͓̬͉̳̤͇̺͗̏͆͂͐̾͑̅ ̸̨̢̳͉͎͚̰̝̺̠͎͋̽͊͛̀ͨ̋ͩ̑̍ͧ̉̀ṟ̷̶̶̹͓̺͋͐͊ͣ̄ͩ͜ ̨̡̭̫̰ͨ͐̊̆͐̽́̇̋́̕͢t̶̢̧̨̞͓͉͇̹̼̝̭͍̙̹ͫ̊̆͑͜ ̶̲͙̻̤̗̭̹̦̟̜̹͚͖̫̳̱̮ͨ̏̏͑͗ͨ͊ͦͤ͆̈́h͗ͥͪ̈́͌͊̿͛̔̌̍̐̓̂ͭ̚͘҉̴ ̙͚̲͓ͅ ͫ̇ͦ̍҉̴̣̘̳̞̼͖̬̝̘̗̙͓͓͜͢î̈̍́̐́̀͠҉̘̖̪̘͖̫͓ ̸̴̱̜͖̬̳͍̮͈̼̪͍̑ͮ͋ͪͣ͑̎̋͛̈́̈̈́̿̓̿̚̕͝n̵̛͚͈͚̦̠̻̝̪͇ͭ̈̅͗͜͝͝ ͉̦̭̥̜̼ ̵̷̻̼̟̺̙̟̜͈ͦͮ̎̉̓ͮ̉̈́͘ģ͕͔͎̘̝̹̦ͨ͆̉ͪ͊͞ ̷̵̵̢̹͎̤͇̌ͤ͆̉ͮ̅̓͒ͯ̋̊͡s̷̨̖͎̦̭̮͋͌̋ͫ̌̐̑̉͆ͩ̓̈̏ͨ̏ͨͪ̚̚͘̕͟ ̩̲̼̲̥
̡̧̮̪̼̖̙̼̣ͣͣͬ͊̋b̸̢̮͈̙͚̫̲̉̈̚͝͞ ͓͓̦̯͖͇̙͉̰̰͚ͫ̽̋̍̒͟͟é̷̝̝͇̙̳̜̟̳̣̭̞͈̦͙̫̥ͣ͋̿̽͆̑̂̚͘ ̝ ̡͔͕̰̮̬̪̯͕̫̝̲͕͊ͦ̾̈́̃̀ͪͧ́̚f͚̮͚̜̺̫̟̰͓͙̲̱̬͉͓̪͂͊͗͂͠ͅ ̶̳̣͉̗̮̜̝̯̙̟̱̙̦̥̩̙̊̑̔͒̋̈́ͮ̄ͦ́͠o͕̖̯̝̠̠̝͈͎̽͗͌̍̇ͮ͒̀ͮ́͞͝ ̘̰͖ ̛̌̏̈́ͯ̽ͧ̓̌̃͑̋͜҉̴̤̼̮̩͍͕̼̺̖͎̜̠̼̜̟̫͞r̴̓͗̈͊ͣͧ̾̉͑̑̏̽̉͐ͥ͐ ̵͕͉̜̜̭̠̩̗͍̞̮̀͘͝ ̗̗̞̭̭̞͕̘̲̹͍̄ͤ̈̓̄̕͡͞ę̣̤̮͚̜̭̪͚̿ͮ́͛͛͋̾ͣͧ̌̈́̈͊͢͝ ̵̷̻̭͈̥͔͓̰̮̣̫̙̥̫͇̃̀̇͑ͩ͌͒ͧ̀ͫͫ̿͊̾ͣ̓̕̕i̡ͦͤ͆ͭͣ͜͡͏̵̮̪̣̪̻ ͚̲̰ ̶̠̻̼͚̭̣̗̫̻̖̤̪͕̮̹̱͕ͦ̓̽̄̐̿͑̚͟͟t̢̤̭̅ͨ̐̊ͯ̍̿̈̈́̌ͤ̉ͯ̓̀̚͜͠ ̥̖̦͎͇͇̤̪̠̼̲̠͉̗̤̩͉ ͣ͛ͭ́̉͒̒͊ͯ̄̌̍̿̍̌҉̛͈̰̬̝̠͔̘͔̜̖̳č̡̏ͥ̂̅̕͝͝҉̣̬̪̰̥͓̘ ͈͎͓ ̸̨̡̘͕̗ͮͤ͛̒͒͐ͣ͝ô̢̧̤͇͎͙̪͉͇̦͖̜̞̠͎̄̀ͭ̅͌͘͡͞ͅͅ ̷̨̜̗̟̟͙̝̖͖̦̪͚̟͓̫̘̐ͧ͋́̏ͯͦ̑ͥ̓͗̓͡m̉ͦ͛ͩ̔̉ͣ̐ͮ̃͐̉͐̅̓̽̀͜͢ ̪̪̣͍ͅ ̶̛͆ͪ̽̈́̒̎͆͌̍̆͒̀ͭͯ̇͋̌̋͡҉͍̳͍̗̫̗̪e̷͐͒̽̄͑ͬͩ̏͏͚̻͈̤̜͉ ͔ ̸̶̠̼̮͕̮͙͚̬̝͈͈̣̐ͬͨͥ̽͛ͯ͒͌ͩ̅ͩ̇͛̾̃̚͘͢͡s͆̾̄̾̽͒͐ͫ̏ͭ͛̌͂ͦ̾ ̢ͣ̉͠͏̡̲͍͓͓̜̺̲̩̬͇͈̥͖͈̦̞̳͞ͅ

̶̢̩̥͓̜̮̗̜̗͙͚̞͓̲̣͔̺̳̮̓̑̔͜ͅ─̸̳͙͉̥̣̻̯͕͙̝͓̅̈́̈́ͮ͒̑̂͂ͩ̆̕ͅ ̤͍͍̞͖̹┘̷͕̪̜͖̰̩̖̹̦̋́̌ͧ̔̒ͤ̚͘͟͞ͅ█̴̬̳̲͍̱̗̯͍̖̝̱͛ͮͬ͌́̔ͩ͝ ̦̩͕̯█̵̶̎͒̌ͨ̎̎ͩͮ̏̃̿͡͏̼̘̠̤̻͚̪̫͕̗̭͇̗▌̛̛̯̀̐͑͐ͧͣ͐̿͑ͣ͆͜͢ ͇͉̠░̨̢͉̝̺̘͂ͮ͊ͤͩͣͮ̋̏́ͯͬ͠͠░̹͓̘̪͚̝ͬ̓̒̾ͨ̅̈́̐͂ͣ̂ͦ̊̽ͦͤ̒͢͢ ̳̥░̸̡̰̰̬̩̹̖̞͈̰̱̦̹ͮͨ͑̄ͯ͑͝░͖͍̼̠ͧ̓̊ͭͥ͊̈́ͭͤ̿ͦͪͭ̈̒ͧ̚̚̕͢ͅ ̥͕͎̳̱̼̯̻͔̻░̶̴̢̹̪͕͙̹̟̞͔͉͔̜̮̦̠̩͋̾͌̔͞░̸̡̨̙͍̦̠̹͖̜͌ͦ̓́͘ ̥̮░̸̠̮͓̙̙̞̯̲̺̞̽̈́̔ͭͮͭ̉̂͛͘▐̵̷̷̣̮̘̬͗ͧ̃̇̊ͩ͆̏̋ͯ̌ͬ̚͟█̄͐̋ ̛͊̋͛̚͏̘̟̤͍̳̘͓̘͝͡█̧̌ͦ̎̔̚͏̡̫̖̮̻̳̜̻͕̰̹͠└͑͌̈́̊͐ͤ͋̽҉̨͎ͅͅ ̞̤̺─̸̛̗͙̜̩ͦ̈́̈́ͬ͑͝
͓̰̘̼̟̦͉̻ͯͣ́̇̄ͦ̆̽͑̾ͮͣ̂̐ͭ̓̓͗́̕͢͝͠░̨͋ͫ̽͋̃͌ͮ̅̋̑̏ͨ̇̒̆̚̚ ̪̳͍̩̥̮̜̲̠̤͉̪̪͞░̶̸̖̜̻̜̦̿͗̏̏̏͑̔▐̵̅́͌̏͑̓̈̌̏ͦͯ̓̓̽͒̔̈́͂ͯ ̷̷̶̥̘̙̤̞̼̩͓̯͘█̷̵̴̨͇̣̹̫͖̗̞͍̪̳͓͋̍̎̓̿̈́̈ͣͭ̾̓̉̒̚─̆̍͆̃̈͏ ͏̸̻̣̼̦͕̪̰̯̟̰̲͍̳̫͜ͅ┬̧̖͉̰͖̰̝͚̝̬͈̼͖̘̿̒̈́ͭͫͯ̈́̚̕͡┬ͣ̊̓̋͋ͧ ̷̶̙̫̳͍̳͍̟͈͚͖̈͂┬̶̭̻̭̼̘̋̐́ͪ̄͑̾͒̋͋̚͘͟͞͡┬͗̌̑̈́͛̓̓̚͏҉̮̤͘ ̩̳͚̞̱̦̬̟̞̰͔͚┬̛̪̲̥͓̹̗͙̜͚̥̳͈̜̦̹͖̽ͮͤ͒ͫ͑̇̆̏͑ͮ̍ͥ͑ͭ̍̌͘͘͡ ͉┬̶̞͈̲͈͕̬̪̰̺̬͉̤͉̹ͦ̾͐̃ͥ̑͛ͮͯ̍ͣ̌͛̀̇̒┬̇̌̓̒͗ͪ̽̂̆ͦ̓͐͑ͭ̽̚ ̛͇̩̖̬̼̓̏̈́͟͡─̷̢̲͎̯̪͚̯̘̝͎͇̼̩͖̯̺ͦ͒̐̔̉̆ͦ̿͒ͮ̌̀ͪ̔̏͟͟͡█ͩ͋ ̴͒̈̏͊ͮ̑͛͟͞҉̩͙̞͈̪̳̣̻▌̷̧̨̰͚̯̖̜̺̗̯̞̈ͤ́̈͛̓ͩͥͦͬͧͭͥ̇ͩ̎̐͞ ̞̣̦͚̭̲͉̱̣░̨̛͉̙͇͖̬͕͉̝ͯ͆̑̏͊ͬ́░̢͙̳͚̃͛̍̇̈̋ͩ̍ͯͣ̒ͥ͊̒ ̖̞̟
̒ͯ̍ͯ̋̓̿̋͞҉̗̳̙̯̟̰̼̫░̧̟̯̠͍ͭͨ̄ͩ͊̾̾̐͐̀ͅ░̢̖̩ͮ͌̓̓ͭͣ͋̒́͋̕ ̲͙̟̩̗͓̦͇͔̠̠░̴͚̯̙̜͎̜̬͚̼͊ͤ̉ͩ̈̒ͭ̃ͤ̃̕͡ͅ▀̶̡̤̰̞̰͌́̄̅̓ͦ̀́ ̮̞̲̼̤͕̻̩̜̤͍̯̖┬͚̼͔̲̞̱̮͍̱̦̰͔͚̥̣̳̮̐͒͊̐ͫ̑̈́̊ͬ͛͟͢┼ͭ̊̐̏̈ ̨̧̰͉͎͖̘͕̩̖̙̮͔͎̘̝̝̓┼̢̢̭̖̳̺͙̺̫̹̺̠̼̹͚͖ͤͨ̑ͪ̏ͫ͒̉͂͆̓̚┼͌͒ ̺̝̲̬̭̭̖̺͕̒ͧͯ͊͘͢͡͝┼̛̅͂͆͊̉ͣ͒ͬ̇͛̓̏̃͑͆̎̀ͣ̕͜͠҉̻̭̙̼͖̭̖̲̞ ̥̮̥̤͚̖┼̸̘̼͍̍̓̒̍́ͯ̂̔̿ͮ͆̃ͦ̍̋͛͐̚͞ͅ┼̴͆ͦ̓̋͒̓̉̅ͣ̓̅͊͂̾̐͟͟ ̲̣̭͓͙͉┼ͦ͂̒ͨͯͮ̆̎ͬ͗͆̿̑̈͏͏̢͕̭̟͕̪͚͝┬ͨ̑ͫ̒̆͋̽̆̃̄͛͋̂̄̈҉̸͜ ͔͔͈̜͖͙͖▀̴̨̡̙͓̘̦̠̻̖̫͙̰̉ͧͪͨ͊ͨ̏ͧͥ͋͌ͮͩ░̵̧ͪ̅͗͐ͯ̆ͭͩͧ̒̓҉̶ ̘͇̙͈░̡̰̘̯̯͈̳̭͙̖̝͕̗͐ͨͭ̅̑ͨ̂͊́͡͡░̷̴ͪͥͧ̀͏̟̺͇̻͎̟͓̰͍
̴̨͍̟̖̹̮̗̝̳̜̺͇͍̻̫͒̍̎ͮ̽̀ͤͬ͋̒̑͊͌̄ ̵̡͓͎̝̗̬̹̭̘̿ͥ̈̏̈́̏ͪ̂̏̚͘͟͝ ̴̵̛̤̥͕͔̼͍͕͉̖͍̞̘͚͖̱̗̥̽͆ͧ̅̓͊ͩͧͤ̕͠ ̖̜̙͙̠̞̹̰͓͋ͬ̽ͦͨ̓͌̉ͯͩ̏ͪͬ̈́͘͢͝░̵̪͓̘̞̩̙͗̓̇̂̄́̋̎ͪ̍ͪ͌ͦ̍́͜ ͈̝͍̜̬̯░̢͕̳̰̯̘͇̦͚̭͙̀ͫ̈́̈̊ͧͤ̓͒̾̌̿́͘͞░̴̢͌͑͛̒̄̕҉̗͈̰̠͖͎̣ ̲̻̣͇͇̖̣͙̬̻̫ͅ└̵̛͉̯͇̮͇͊̓̋ͨ͛̄ͬ͌̈̓̑͌̎̇̋͆ͦ̀̕┴̐ͣ̈͊͊ͬ̋̃̓̋ ̸̻͖̜̝̖͙̜̬̺͓̪͉̙̦̖͍͇͛͊̇̊̀̀̕͠┴̾̊͒ͯͣ͏̵͕̫̝̝̳̦̮̯̘́́┴͗́ͦ̿ ͑̒̇ͦ̔̆͑́͆ͨ͐͒͋ͥ͡͏̢̡̡̭̭̻̬̺̮̺̬̙̳̦͈̝̦͎̟̺̯┴͌ͬ͌͌̉̄ͨ͌͋̆ͤ̚ ̵̻̯̥͌̔͟┴̸̷̱̟͎͙̝̩̣̺̱͆́̒ͣ̒ͬͦ̏̏̋͋ͥͧ̕͜┴̋̌ͭ̽̿̀̊̒ͦͨ̃ͮ͆ͮ̽ ̧̽̍̉҉́͏̠̜̹̖͍̜̹̰̯̬̠̤̺͔ͅͅ┴̶̧͈̖͖͔̼͎͗͛͆ͧ͒̓̿́͡┘̊ͧ͆̋ͦ̀̽ͣ ̡̟͈̫̬̥͉̱ͬ̆̂͗̍̾̍̉͆͑́͢͞͠░̸̤̺̗͓͙͇̦̏͋̂ͨ̂̄̀̾̚̕͢͞░̐̍̓̇̓ͨ ̢̢̗̬̼̼̱̮͇͓͚̠̟̬̯░̆̎ͭ̾̉͛̐̓҉҉̱̱̻̠̹̮̪̰͚͎̫̫͕͔̼̺̣̻͢͝
̷̨̲̣̞̦̗̤̰̥̞̻̥͌ͨ͊̆̃̓̌̏̿̒͒̃ͦ̈́́͗̿̇͘͝͞ ̢̢̮̱͕͔̝̫̖̱̤̤̜̣̭̈́͛̈ͫ͒̀ͅ ̸̡̜̺̫̮̤͓͉͉ͤͪ͐̂͞ ̨̄͌ͦ̉̓ͨ̍ͥ̓͗ͪ̚͏̷͈̗̯̦̝̤̲̪̜̬̹̫̞̭̼̲͍͕ ͐ͪ̑̾̀͑̓̂͆͆̾̚͏̛̫̹͙̠͙̘ ̘͇͙̺̠̣̱͓͇̫̩͔̥̫͙͙̯͛ͥ̽̋͗̂ͫ̀̉ͣͭͮ̅̇͊͛ͣ̚͟͞͠ͅ ͧ͊̃̋ͨ͏̴̢̲̹̫̖̜̰̥͚̝̟̤͡ ̷̧̲̲̫̠͖̫̺̗͈͈͇͋̓̑̈́̇̆̉̾͋̉̿ͥ̅͊ͫ̀ͣ̂́̕͠ ̸̹̠̳̗̰͇̪́͒̀̈̒͌͌ͪ͌͌͂̋̄̈́͛̄͘̕░̶̧͚͇̪̱̗̙ͮ̈́̉ͫ̀͂͊͌͊ͯ̎̎ͭ̋̀ ͖̱̳͓ͅ░̳͔̲̩̠͖̠̤̭ͩ̌̓̏̑͜░̞̫̻̱̤͔̩͕͍̍̆ͯ̒ͯ̏̐̄̔̑͒̉̍̍̀̚░ͭͯ ̸̷̭̞͚̩̼͇͔̏́͆ͩ͂́̅̐͑̀̓́͟͜░̷͍͈͉̘̯̫̰̠̭͈̱̣̩̣͌̑͐̔̆͗̀ͅ░ͭ͌ ̲̞̦̘͇̪̦̫͎̫̹̪̙̤͍̱͆ͨͨ͑ͮ͌ͯ̅͌̃ͬͭ̚͘ͅ░̈́̍̂̋̂͌̋͛̇͗͋ͨ̐̆̓͗̂ͮ ̷̨͎̼͈̙̭̞̪̖͠͝ͅ░̨̻̲͈̜͇ͭͤ̎ͪ͗ͪ͋̈͛̎́ͤ̒͋̾͗̂͟͞͡ͅ░̑̿̑ͤ͊ͬ́̓ ̸̷̢̛̞̬̪̪̥͉͓͇̙ͣ̉ͨ░ͭ͐͒͋ͩͮ̃͑͂̄҉҉̵͇͚̪̼͍̪̬̜͕̳͔̞̪̫̮̲̀░̇̿ ̷̝̹͍͔̻͕̭͕͎̤͓̳̻̟̋͛̎̅̾̾̒͆̑ͣ͊̾̎̓̓̚͜͢ͅͅ





You and three other students have begun their first year of study as undergraduates in Azlu University. For some reason you felt a compulsion to come study at this university.That very same compulsion made you all sign up for a small after school club dedicated to dreams and interpreting their meanings. Although you four do not know it yet you are all mages whose powers have yet to wake. The plot of this RP revolves around two phases one is the Day Phase where the playstyle is similar to a character based slice of life RP. Hear characters deal with university life and general real life problems. The other phase is the Night Phase where your characters complete dream quests to begin to unlock their magical powers. After your characters have Awakned other threats will become known to them but it will be awhile before we reach that point I think.

Spoiler: The Town Itself 

The Town Itself


The town of Azlu, Washington lies near the border of Canada. It sits among the Northern Cascade mountains near a national park which also extends to the nearby Abbdon forest. It has a permanent population of 23000. It mostly survives on ski tourism, campers, hikers and the local university though logging and copper mining are still important industries to the locals.

Interestingly it is also the city with the highest concentration of supernatural activity in the world. More people disappear hear in a year than the whole state of Washington combined but as its such a small place no one notices or if they do they don't seem to care much. This has a lot to do with the towns history and placement. It was founded in 1864 by mad millionaire Jack Lane. Lane had been a very successful business man back in New York, so successful in fact that by the time he was fifty he had made close to thirty million dollars which in today's money would be many billions of dollars.

Lane in the last years of his life went quite publicly crazy. He was convinced that he had gotten his fortune through deals with "unspeakable creatures" and needed to "repay his debts". For this purpose he began the construction of the town of Azlu even though at the time there was a civil war going on. By the time the town was complete Jack began paying people to come live there. This policy attracted a lot of folks and soon the town grew to grew to it's current size.

By the time of his death Lane had lost most of his money to this project but people who had been with him during his last days said he died happy. The town mostly stopped growing after that remaining about the same in size and population as it has for over a hundred years.

Azlu has always been strangely diverse for a small Washington town. Some of it can be chalked up to it being University town. Yet that is not entirely it. People from different beliefs and cultures all seem to flock to the town as if the city itself wanted diversity in it's people. And once people start living in Alzu they do not want to leave...

Spoiler: Places of Intrest 

Places of Interest

Azlu University

Spoiler: Orne Library 

Spoiler: Map of the Grounds 

The buildings that house Azlu University were built in 1864. They were one of the first buildings commissioned by the founder of the town. These days the university is one of the most prestigious schools for learning about the occult and folklore. Though both it's science and language departments are also well regarded. The medicine portion of the school is slightly understaffed and underfunded still the practical parts in the nearby St. Mary's Hospital are good. Overall it is strange why it is not more well known considering it's and relative prestige.

Two things set this university apart from most others. The first is it's library which houses the largest collection of books about the occult, folklore and magic. Need a first edition of Barret's "The magus" or get your hands on the expanded Enochian alphabet this library has got you covered. The second strange thing is that while in other American university's the most important sports are usually either American football or basketball then in this school it is roller derby. The university's derby league The Azlu City Rollers is one the most prestigious in the country with three victories in Division 1 of the WFTDA Championships they have a huge rivalry with the Gotham Girls Roller Derby with whom they are in constant competition. Currently the league is made of four home teams and three away teams in the professional level. There's also a popular amateur league that many high school and less serious college girls participate in. The sport is so popular in Azlu that roller rinks and derby apparel/gear shops are quite numerous around town.

Mike Maloneys Bar and Derby

Spoiler: The interior 

This bar has stood next to the university for as long as there have been Maloneys living in Azlu. Which as Mike will happily tell you has been for almost a century now, thank you very much. Everybody who has grown up in Azlu has some story associated with this bar. It is known to all high schoolers as the place to aspire to get beer from, to all people with a band as THE place to get a gig and to university students as the place to relax after their studies and have a beer.

Spoiler: The Derby Rink 

The roller rink extension was built in the 50s and was a popular attraction of the bar until 80s when it petered off. In the early 90s it was converted again this time into a derby rink and it has only gained in popularity since. A lot big league compensations are held there. One WFTDA Championship round was held there.

The Storm Brew Diner

Spoiler: The Diner 

With it's close proximity to the nearby St Mary's Hospital and the University there are usually two types of people in the diner. Doctors tired of hospital cafeteria food and hungry university students who want cheap food and coffee. For it's price both the food and coffee are good plus the fact it is open 24 hours does nothing but help it's popularity.

St. Marys Hospital

Spoiler: St. Marys Hospital 

Old and too big for it's own good this learning hospital is the city's oldest and only hospital. It used be a combined hospital and sanatorium but was converted to be only a hospital in the mid fifty's when the sanatorium closed because of patient mistreatment and death. The hospital has not gone through significant renovations since then and has that feeling of sanitary sadness and death about it that most old hospitals have.

More will be added as they come up.

Spoiler: Questions 

Didn't you use this same town in one of your other RP's?

Yes I used Azlu in "No More Fear" but as it's one of the first RP settings I created when I first got into table top role playing with the WOD setting I think I am allowed to use it again.

If you know this town so well why did put so few places of interest in?

Because the best thing about Azlu is that it is malleable and ever changing. In my old WOD (Or to be more exact Vampire the Masquerade) campaign it had a Little Haiti and Chinatown in the same campaign. In one of the later campaigns it had cathedral. So I try to define Azlu as little as I can to allow for more freedom. The only constants in Azlu have been the university, the bar and it's love of roller derby.

How many players are you looking for?

Not including me: three. Maybe four if there are too many great submissions but no more than four.

How will you do recruiting?

This is not first come first serve. All characters have to be PMed to me and I will select from those that I like. Though feel free to show interest below then I know I should wait for you to send me something.

What's the longest you are willing to wait for posts?

Every ten to twelve days would be nice. However I can wait much longer if given prior notice. Overall I appreciate quality and length over speed.

You mentioned Day and Night phases will there be more of one or the other?

I would say the RP is split into 60% Day and 40% Night.

Why more Day than Night phases?

Because it will make the Night phase feel slightly more precious and I am hankering to do some more slice of lifey things.

I see below that you have included traits in this RP. Why?

I really liked them in "No More Fear" and was sad that they could not come to full fruition. Basically the reason is the following: I wanted for our charters to grow better and stronger throughout the coarse of this RP so I thought the best and most obvious way to do so was through attributes. This way when your character grows better you have something to show for it.

Will this mean there is dice rolling in the RP?

Nope.

If you have any more question I will answer them below.

Spoiler: Explanation of Attributes 

Explanation of Attributes


There are five traits. The maximum our characters can reach in each skill is 10. Five is the average. You are not allowed to have any skill lower than three unless you PM me first and explain your idea and why you want it.

Spoiler: Explanation of Attributes 

Strength:The physical power and stamina of a character.
Dexterity: The characters speed and finesse.
Intelligence: The ability of a character to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience.
Knowledge: The characters familiarity with different kinds of learning or area of knowledge. (for example pop culture or occult knowledge)
Charisma: The social presence of the character.
Luck: Well luck... sort of self explanatory

So what does having a ten in any of these really mean?


It means that your character is the best he can realistically be in that particular area. Still a strength/intelligence of ten is not the human maximum it just means your character is really strong or smart. Lets say that batman with all of his skills would be a human maximum he would have 15 in each of those attributes (well except luck Batman is never that lucky)

Okay what does having zero in any of these really mean and why cant I got to zero?


A character with zero would be unable to function in that particular area at all. Someone with 0 intelligence would be in a coma and someone with zero strength for example must be paralyzed or suffering from a musculary disorder that destroys muscle tissue.

Is Luck useful?

Yes it is. Luck can save you when you other wise would have failed a check. It is jack of all trades yet while other attributes are consistent luck is not.

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Nationality:
Appearance: (Picture and text both would be appreciated)
Academic major: (Choose whatever you like)
Personality:
Major Skill: (One thing your character is REALLY good at)
Secondary skills: (Other skills your character has no more than three)
Bio: (I know this unusual for me but do not go into too much detail hear discovering each other characters back story's will more fun if they ave some mystery to them)
Example Post: (You can either write me something new or provide me with a good writing example from some other RP)
Theme Song: (Highly optional)

Attributes (If you start with five in everything you have three spare points to spend)

Strength:
Dexterity:
Intelligence:
Knowledge:
Charisma:
Luck:

Second Chances [M] Weird science fantasy RP where the GM collaborate with players when making their characters

Spoiler: Second Chances 

Rated M for creative freedom within the allowed lines of the RPA Rules



Original picture by Mzag

A cool wind wakes you. All around you there is only an infinite looking expanse of white nothingness. There is no up or down. No ceilings, no floors. You know you should feel afraid about this but you feel too disconnected. From everything. Like your not hear, really.

Finally after an indeterminate amount of time, darkness begins coalesce. At first it is just a blob of indeterminate something. Yet the longer you look at it the clearer it becomes. It looks humanoid in shape but you can tell it only chooses to take this from to give you two some common ground.

"Little one. I see that you are hear before your time. It seems the Other has gotten their hand on you. I can feel their presence all around you..." Their eyes seem to blaze for a second and you feel their gaze penetrate the whole of your being looking for something. "I think you deserve a second chance little one. The Other stole your freedom of choice. So I will give you a choice. If you want you can go on see what comes after me or... You can go back and do a job for a town beset by the Other. It won't be easy. You might be subjected to pains that would make the stars weep. The Other might corrupt you. Yet you would get a second chance. To go for a second round. To try again"

You blink and then nod you head.

"The second option."

The world lurches.

Darkness.


▂▃▄▅▆▇█▓▒░Questions░▒▓█▇▆▅▄▃▂

Okay looks interesting where is the setting description?

There isn't one.

What do you mean there is no setting description? How will I make my character?

I am glad you asked that actually. This RP works differently from some others you have joined. First off there is no setting written out because you will not make characters in the usual way. You will only give your characters name, description and your class preference. No background or personality. The rest will either be revealed during the RP or given to you by me. What I can say is that the setting is a combination of sicfi fantasy similar to the tabletop game Numenera. The rest is to be revealed.

Wait what? What do you mean you will give me stuff about my character? Are you making me play some characters you created before hand?

No. I will not give you any stuff about how to play your character (as in I won't give your character a personality or bio). All those things you will reveal at your pace in the RP. However I will give you three things that affect your character. These three are: Character class, Character connection and The corruption.

Okay then what are character classes?

So as I told you, you can choose a class preference. These will be either a rouge type, magical type or warrior type. However an exact description of what kind of person of this type you are will be described by me. These won't be the traditional fantasy fare (like Assassin, Wizard and Barbarian) they will be weird and have a weakness attached to them that you will have to deal with through out the game.

What about character connections?

These will the relationship your characters will have to each other. Basically before the begging of the game I will PM you to give you a connection between your character and one other character. These can range from Long lost brother to Killed your family and everything you can think of in between.

So I guess what is the corruption?

The Corruption is a choice the Other forced you to make thus altering the true coarse of time. These might things that sound evil and bad or things that on the surface sound good. The point is they eliminated your choice and thus created a disturbance in the world as you were supposed to have a choice in that moment but did not. That is why you got a second chance. This is the only one you have to keep secret from others though you can include references to it in your writing of course.

Okay. I think I get it. Anything else weird?

One other weird thing. This RP will most of the time be written in the usual third person way. However every in game week or so each character will have a diary style post where they reflect on the events of the week. If you want to know what this might look like in action I suggest you check out my old Road to the East IC.

Are those parts optional?

Nope .

So now I get how this RP works but tell me why should I even join this?

Why I created this is to challenge myself and others as writers. If you are interested in developing and playing characters whose creation were not entirely under your control then you should join. If you like the idea of fantasy scifi setting that is developed cooperatively by me and you all through the writing in the IC not necessarily through any OOC interaction then you should join. If you think that adventures where you by design don't know everything are interesting then you should join. If you just want to do something different from the usual style of things then you should at least give it a try.

Spoiler: Rules 

▂▃▄▅▆▇█▓▒░Rules░▒▓█▇▆▅▄▃▂

And lo there was the GM and he told the world that his word would be law in this land and all those who opposed this should not join his cause.

The GM issued forth another ruling that there would be only five spaces in his RP. Five no more. Though if there was to be a drought of players then he could get by with at least three.

To his players the GM said that they should be able to post at least every two weeks. If however players have problems in the realms personal and they share this with their merciful GM he would extend this time.

The second commandment the GM had for his players was that they should all post at least three paragraphs with about five sentences each each time they posted in the IC.

The third commandment was thus: All players were forbidden from Railroading, Mary sueing and Godmoding. If such things were done then the players could expect exile from the RP.

The Final commandment said only to Have Fun for the wise GM saw that Mandatory Fun is the best kind of Fun.

Spoiler: CS  

Name:
Description: (There is no gender or age as you can keep these secret. However what age or gender your character seem to be have to be public.)
Class preference: (Warrior type, rouge type, magical type. If you want something more mixed put two in there with the thing you are more like first. So if you want a warrior only with a few spells then put Warrior magical type if you want a mage with some warriory abilities then put Magical warrior type)
Example writing: (Give me three paragraphs with five or more sentences each of original writing. Do not use the character you just created. I do not want you to develop preconceptions on how you play them before you get the class, connection and corruption. You can use whatever other character you want so long the writing is original)
Example posts: (Now post one of your favorite posts you have made in any RP around this site)


Copy from hear:

[FONT=Book Antiqua][CENTER]Name:
Description: 
Class preference: 
Example writing:
Example posts:[/CENTER][/FONT]

Vampire: The Winds of Change [M] Civil war era vampire RP about politics and complicated family relationships

Spoiler: Vampire: The Winds of Change 

Rated M for violence, blood sucking, swearing, drug use and scenes of a sensual nature

Setting inspired by Vampire the Requiem and Vampire the Masquerade
Story inspired by Choice of Vampire

This RP is reserved for the following players: TheBarbarian, Mysteria, Elizabeth16 and Breggo13

Video

And as softly thou art sleeping
To thee shall I come creeping
And thy life's blood drain away.
And so shalt thou be trembling
For thus shall I be kissing
And death's threshold thou' it be crossing
With fear, in my cold arms.

An excerpt from The Vampire (1748) by Heinrich August Ossenfelder

:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:

...Your maker is dead...
His death echoed through your blood like lightning from a clear sky. The pain of it woke you despite the earliness of the hour. His old dour face swims before your eyes and you shiver. He had been one of the most powerful vampire on this continent and now he lies dead. You feel the subtle power that connected you with him break.

With that the spell breaks. You start to grow calm again. After all what good had the old man ever done for you except make you a creature of the night. Even then he had only taught you only enough to survive before kicking you out of his house. He had never much liked you anyway so why should you care about his death. He certainly would not have cared about yours. With these thoughts going through your head you fall back to sleep waiting to wake again when the moon is high and the stars are out.

Yet when you again awaken to again hunt your prey through dark and winding streets you feel your blood calling you home. You try to resist but it is hopeless to fight against your own blood. So you find yourself slowly trekking back to that town of your vampiric youth: New Orleans.

:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:_-_:

The date when our story begins is January 19th 1862. The American Civil War a conflict that was expected to be resolved quickly shows no signs of stopping. The city of New Orleans along with many important ports of the Confederacy are suffering from Union blockades. The city yet teems with thieves, war profiteers and prostitutes all seeking to strip the soldiery of their money. Among the regular citizens fear and excitement both rule over their hearts. No one yet sees the tragedy of the coming war only the nobility of it.

Yet there are other conflicts brewing inside New Orleans itself. Recently the city's vampires have suffered a loss. The Prince Quaestor who had ruled the city since its establishment was killed in a mysterious assassination. His death has upset the very precarious political balance he had maintained through sheer force of personality. Now the various vampiric factions are gearing up for a civil war of their own. Into this turbulent city return the two prodigal children of the Questor seeking to sate the power of the blood call.

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On the nature of Vampires, A treatise

by Professor Abraham Van Helsing

First published in 1854 all copies of the Treatise were bought up and destroyed by a Transylvanian count. Attempts to republish the treatise have been met with little successes. Professor Van Helsing has also come under fire by his university colleagues who believe the entire treatise based on legends and hearsay not scientific fact. Van Helsing has withdrawn from the scientific community mostly concentrating on the medical profession. He however stands by everything he has written.

Spoiler: Chapter 2: Myths and facts about the vampire 

Excerpt from Chapter 2: Myths and facts about the vampire

/.../
Vampires must sustain themselves on the blood of the living: Fact. For the Vampire, the act of feeding becomes highly sensual. The feedings I have witnessed are not unlike sexual congress in their intensity and privacy. The vessel from which they feed show symptoms similar to an opium addict partaking, and the feeding vampire undergoes a similar heady rush though their reaction is more similar to an orgasm rather than a drug high. Certain vampires are capable of sustaining their undeath by drinking the blood of animals, but rarely for long, as the needs of their cursed bodies seem forced them to seek human blood.

Vampires are “immortal”: Myth and fact. Although vampires do not appear to age, and some survive for centuries,the word “undead” rather than “immortal” fits their kind better. As the word word "immortal" implies life which certainly is not the case among the cursed. Vampirism is still a sickness not a blessing.

A vampire’s prey becomes a vampire: Myth. A person does not necessarily become a vampire if bitten or killed by a vampire. Indeed it takes a conscious act of will on behalf of the creature to create another of it's kind. They call the act of creation the Embrace. Indeed, most vampires I have observed leave little to no mark of their passing if they are careful. All a vampire must do to hide the wound left by the feeding is to lick it when finished with the prey.

Vampires have every manner of supernatural power, such as turning into animals, flying and wielding the strength of a dozen men: Fact. While only superhuman healing and toughness are universal to all vampires the other powers still exist. There are many different vampire species (they prefer the term Clan) some of them are able turn into animals or drive others insane. These powers are called Disciplines. The different vampire types are discussed in more detail in chapter five of this book.

Vampires can have sexual congress: Fact. While the act of feeding replaces all physical urges, vampires can still indulge in the act of copulating and even take pleasure from it. Curiously, however the subject I have observed have no understanding of the emotional aspect of this act. A vampire might enjoy the physical sensation of sexual congress, but no more than she enjoys a particularly savory smell or the touch of a luxurious fabric.

A wooden stake destroys vampires: Myth. Vampires aren't destroyed upon being staked, they're held in stasis. A vampire’s body slowly withers and turns inward while trapped in this state, desiccating and becoming ever more corpselike. However upon the removal of the stake and providing them with a pint or so of blood they revert to their usual monstrous state.

Vampires don't show up in mirrors: Fact. Vampires either don't show up or show up with their features obscured in mirrors. After a few experiments same goes for the new photography technology. They can temporarily counteract this effect with an effort of will but the image will become blurry or completely disappear after a few minutes unless the vampire keeps concentrating on the picture.

Sunlight burns vampires: Fact. As part of their disease, vampires recoil at the touch of the sun, its vital rays scorching their undead flesh. Vampires typically spend the daylight hours in the cold sleep of undeath, and only the most resolute can shake off the weight of the day’s forced slumber for even a short time. There are however rumors of ancient vampires who can walk in the sun if need be.

Garlic and running water repels vampires: Myth. Such notions are nothing more than old wives’ tales, cultural biases or weaknesses of very specific vampires. My vampire contact told me he knew of a Transylvanian vampire count who had aversion to garlic. Yet I have found none who are affected by running water.

Vampires are repulsed by crosses and other holy symbols: Fact. If a person truly believes that the symbol of his faith can protect him then it will. However the belief has to be absolute. By themselves articles of faith do not harm vampires in any way.

Vampires can drink as much blood as they want: Curiously a myth. While it is true that a vampire can drink a LOT of blood in a day there is a limit. Vampires that have drunk too much blood start vomiting it back up and their powers take more effort to work. Their mind also becomes clouded and thinking becomes more difficult. This limit seems to be different from vampire to vampire but usually draining two humans completely is about the limit. Young vampires who have not yet developed the ability to know when to stop drinking are the ones the most easily afflicted by this.

Vampires are soulless creatures: Unconfirmed. Although I am a man of science I have been a good Catholic for all of my life. Subjects of souls and morality have always fascinated me. This was what first drew me to these creatures. Yet having spent almost a year among them disguised as a ghoul to one who supported my cause I have come no closer to an answer. They are predators whose prey are humans and some of them treat humans as such (or sometimes even worse than that as the hunter prey relationship entails at least some mutual respect). Yet there are others who seem to truly care about the ones they regularly feed upon. Still it seems as a general rule of thumb that empathy comes harder to them than it does for the average man. These lapses in empathy proved to be the hardest part of my time spent among these creatures. Seeing a vampire laugh as it's prey cried and tried to escape from it's grasp might be some of the most harrowing images my hash had to tolerate. /.../

Spoiler: Chapter 5: The Species or "Clans" of the Vampire 

Excerpt from Chapter 5: The Species or "Clans" of the Vampire

/.../ During my time with vampires I soon came to learn that the generic term vampire although fitting them all included some very diverse creatures. From what I came to learn from my guide when a vampire is Embraced s/he goes through a change based on the worst aspects of his/her personality and thus becomes apart of a certain clan. I originally asked if the aspects mapped to the seven deadly sins but it seems they do not. Instead they seem to map very well to the Five Poisons of the Buddhist tradition. Why this is no one seemed to be able to satisfactorily explain. Whatever the case six distinct clans are to be found among vampire kind. The following is a list and description of all the vampire clans (the latin names are devised by myself not the vampires):

Colloquial Names: Venture (most common), Blue Bloods, Patricians, Warlords
Latin name: Hominin succo nobilis
Poison that leads to the change: Pride/arrogance of nobility and those in power
Physical changes suffered: This clan seems to suffer the least from the Embrace. No outward physical changes seem to affect the clan. One thing that changes is their physical presence and voice which seem to gain some power of command even if they missed it before.
Disciplines: Animalism, Dominate, Resilience
Personality: While all vampires I have met have their own unique personality within clans there are similarities between the members. The Venture are no exception. It seems that all Venture desire to lead or command be it as a leader of a group of warriors or the political head of a city. They prefer and seem to rise into positions of command. Most of them are also polite to a fault very much caring about rules set by the general society. They also seem to very prideful and arrogant believing themselves to be right whatever the circumstance.

Colloquial Names: Brujah (most common), Rabble, Rebels, Agitators
Latin name: Hominin succo rebellis
Poison that leads to the change: Pride/arrogance of those of low station and those oppressed by power
Physical changes suffered: When Embraced these vampires skin turns slightly grey and their muscle mass grows visibly. Otherwise like the Venture their physical presence and voice gain power making intimidating to argue with.
Disciplines: Perfidy, Vigor, Resilience
Personality: The Brujah are almost reflections of the Venture. Only where the Venture aspire to leadership and power the Brujah aspire to destroy all such things. They have a hard time following rules or commands of any kind. This makes them get into conflicts quite easily especially with other vampires. They are also very prideful always believing that their way of living lawlessly is right.

Colloquial Names: Toreador (most common), Epicureans (Renaissance) Torries, Pretty boys/girls
Latin name: Hominin succo formosus
Poison that leads to the change: Desire/passion/lust/attachment
Physical changes suffered: The second most through physical change. Whatever the humans previous physical shape the Embrace leaves them as perfect physical specimens or at least it seems so to me whenever looking at one. That might a quirk of their power. They also seem to have some sort of power of seduction inflaming sexual desire purely through speech.
Disciplines: Celerity, Vigor, Majesty
Personality: Toreadors are slaves to their passions and desires. If they want something they will do all in their power to gain it. And if these desires are appeased they can seem to be one of the friendliest and most loving of their kind. If however rebuffed they can become frighteningly cruel and devious worse than even the other clans.

Colloquial Names: Nosferatu (most common), Sewer Rats, Lepers (archaic), Crawlers (Renaissance), Nossies
Latin name: Hominin succo monstrum
Poison that leads to the change: Jealousy/Envy
Physical changes suffered: The most affected by the Embrace. Their skin turns gargoyle gray no matter what their original skin color. Their ears elongate and become pointed. Their faces become pointed and rat like. These are the most monstrous of all the clans.
Disciplines: Nightmare, Obfuscate, Vigor
Personality: The Vampires who are cursed to become apart of this clan usually form very tight knit communities apart from the regular vampire society. I personally only met one of these broods and was surprised at the close links between it's members. They are also very secretive and stealthy as a rule jealously guarding any information they find. In general while dealing with them it soon became apparent that jealousy about wealth, physical appearance and power of others is a common occurrence among the Nosferatu.

Colloquial Names: Gangrel (most common), Animals, Bêtes, Outlanders
Latin name: Hominin succo fera
Poison that leads to the change: Wrath/anger
Physical changes suffered: Slight lengthening of the arms and shortening of the legs allowing for better movement on four legs. The gangrel are the only clan that can change their shape completely into that of an animal or bird. Apparently older gangrels also start to gain the traits of the animals they turn into like fur and other things (only rumors can not confirm at present).
Disciplines: Animalism, Protean, Resilience
Personality: Gangrels are as whole very similar to tigers. Predatory hunters who on the whole prefer solitude to pack dynamics they are the vampire clan who most enjoy the thrill off the hunt. My own contact among the vampires was a Gangrel and watching him I always felt like I was in the presence of a true predator. With all the relationship entailed. That aside they also seem to be as a general rule easy to anger (though my guide certainly did not).

Colloquial Names: Malkavian, Lunatics, Madmen, Clan of the Moon, Malks
Latin name: Hominin succo delirus
Poison that leads to the change: Confusion, bewilderment, delusion. That said this one of the only poisons that does not quite track as Madness (temporary or some more permanent affliction) is what really leads to the birth of a Malkavian. Though my contacted said that deep seeded irrational or delusional beliefs have been known to lead to the birth of Malkavian.
Physical changes suffered: None to the body but any madness they had before the Embrace worsens ten fold after it.
Disciplines: Auspex, Obfuscate, Dementation
Personality: The only unifying trait among this clan seems to be that there is nothing unifying about them. As they are all mad in their own strange way it is had to find anything unifying to say about them except that they are completely insane. /.../

Spoiler: Chapter 6: The Vampire Powers or "Disciplines" 

Excerpt from Chapter 6: The Vampire Powers or "Disciplines"

/.../Blood powers all the vampire does. From the simple act of walking to healing wounds they receive in a fight all expends the energy of the blood. Disciplines are what powers are born from harnessing this energy and shaping it to fit a purpose.

Resilience grants Vampires unearthly toughness, one of the only abilities that does need to be "activated" to be of use. This toughness adds to the already super human toughness of the vampires body.

Dominate is a Discipline that overwhelms another person's mind with the vampire's will, forcing victims to think or act according to the vampire's decree. Older vampires can also dominate other vampires.

Majesty is a Discipline of preternatural charisma and charm. Its applications allow the practitioner to impose willing submission, to elicit the confessions of dark secrets and more. It is a subtler and less powerful version of Dominate that can also affect crowds rather than single targets.

Vigor is a Discipline that grants vampires physical strength beyond mortal bounds. This Discipline is responsible for the legends of vampires possessing the strength of 10 men. Vigor allows vampires to leap great distances, lift massive weights and strike opponents with terrifying force.

Celerity is a Discipline that grants vampires supernatural quickness and reflexes. My experiments have shown that this extraordinary speed violates the laws of physics in that the vampires don't experience any change in momentum, friction, etc. A knife thrown by someone using Celerity isn't any faster, and a vampire moving at incredible speeds will never catch fire no matter how fast they move.

Protean is a Discipline that gives vampires the ability to change form, from growing feral claws to turning into a full on beast. My guide also said it allowed his master to turn into multiple animals or even mist.

Animalism Discipline allows the vampire to use his Beast to associate with animals, including communicating with and summoning animals, and even cowing the bestial nature of other vampires.

Obfuscate is a Discipline that allows vampires to conceal themselves, deceiving the mind of others, or making them ignore what the user doesn't want to be seen.

Auspex potent Discipline grants vampires superlative sensory capabilities. At the lowest levels, it sharpens a Kindred's mundane senses. As Kindred with this gift grow in age and power, entirely new avenues of insight open up before said Kindred.

Perfidy sows supernatural dissent among mortals, ghouls and Kindred alike, leaving social destruction in its wake. This power can make an honest man cheat at cards or turn a peaceful protest into a riot.

Nightmare is the Discipline of striking fear and dread into the hearts of others. Practitioners learn to manifest their inhumanity in their appearance or by letting unfortunate onlookers peer deep into their Damned souls. The Discipline can have a variety of effects, from shocking even the most jaded individual to literally frightening a victim to death.

Dementation draws on the vampire's own insanity and uses it achieve profound insights or inflict madness upon others. Such powers are one of the primary reasons the Malkavian clan is often considered both insightful and very dangerous. /.../

Spoiler: Chapter 7: Age and it's relation to Power in Vampires 

Excerpt from Chapter 7: Age and it's relation to Power in Vampires

/.../ In the time spent among the vampires I came across a few truly old vampires. My guide himself was close to three centuries and he was not even close to the oldest being I met. We spent many a night talking about the relationship between age and power as it related to vampiric biology. From these conversations it was soon apparent that without long term scientific study we would not truly know how this connection actually worked. However I do have a few theoretical reasons why this is the case.

The simplest reason is that time equals knowledge and knowledge in turn equals power. There is a significant difference between a swordsman who has studied his art for twenty years and swordsman who has done so for centuries. The simple fact that vampires are at their physical and mental peak without decaying for much longer than humans gives them a much longer time to develop both their skills and their vampiric powers. However their undead nature seems to make it hard for them learn anything entirely new as some part of their mind is still stuck at the moment of their death.

The other reason is more esoteric. From my guides description every time a vampire drinks blood they get a rush of rejuvenating life force. I theorize that this rush of power stacks up over time to increase a vampires capacity to use and control his vampiric powers which rely on blood to be used. So the more the vampire drinks the stronger it gets though this effects are not instantaneous more they stack up slowly over long periods of time. This would explain why older vampires are so much more powerful in the use of their disciplines./.../

Spoiler: Chapter 10: Vampiric Society 

Excerpt from Chapter 8: Vampiric Society

/.../ The paradox of the vampire is that they possess both the solitary nature of the predator and the social leanings of humans. They gather in groups, though their competitive and aggressive nature often renders such gathering dangerous, or at least uncomfortable. They compete against one another plotting, scheming, backstabbing — yet they find themselves unable to function in other environments.

That is why vampire society as a whole seems to focus around city's. While there are vampires who live outside this society making their home in lonely castles or far away villages these are more the exception rather than the rule.

The base of this society is the relationship between maker and childe. This is the core from which all other rules, laws and power structures stem from. A maker and childe are connected through blood through this connection the maker can call his childe to him or issue commands. This is called the "call of the blood" and although it can not force a vampire to do something against his or her will it is usually enough to make the childe follow his progenitors wishes. Through this same connection the childe can also call for help or send simple messages (from what I understand these messages take the form of emotions and nothing more complex).

From the vampires I observed I have gathered that they usually either have no progeny or have at least two or more. There are exceptions but this is what generally seemed to be the case. A maker and two or more of his childe living in the same place is called a sidhe or brood. Hear the maker is king and what he says goes. If a similar group gathers only without the ties of blood they are called a coven. Covens are usually ruled over by the oldest and most powerful vampire in the coven. Some few covens elect their leaders but this is rare.

One step above above covens and broods are Prince Questors and their court who rule city's. These vampires usually hold on to their power through a mixture of cunning and power. They enforce the Five Laws, (try to) keep the peace, carve up areas of the city to give covens and broods to be their feeding ground and keep the vampire population in check. They also have other duties like hosting social gatherings and mediating vampire disputes. The court of the Prince Questor usually consists of three important figures who help the prince keep the peace and rule well: the Sheriff, the Spy and the Socialite.

The Sheriff is most commonly a Gangrel or Brujha (though other vampire clans can also get the role). A combination police investigator, enforcer and inquisitor, the Sheriff is responsible for enforcing the Prince’s laws and dictates, for bringing outlaws before the Prince for judgment and — at times — for carrying out sentences. Some Sheriffs truly believe in the rule of law and believe that they serve their society and fellow Kindred by keeping the city as orderly as possible. Others love the position for the power it offers, as they are permitted to bully and push around other vampires, even those who would normally be too dangerous to touch. Some Sheriffs are clever, subtle investigators, while others are little more than bruisers with rank.

The Spy is most commonly a Nosferatu or Malkavian (again other clans can also take on this role) while the other positions are public the position of Spy is known only to the Prince and the Spy he chooses to serve him. This court member is tasked with gathering any and all information n s/he can about the vampiric population of the Princes city. They also makes sure that things run smoothly in the government itself. Being responsible for keeping track of the Prince’s assets and dealing with any problem that does need the Prince's personal touch.

The Socialite or sometimes the Master of Elysium is mostly commonly either a Toreador or Venture. They are tasked with the running of Elysium, making sure the Princes decrees are heard, scheduling appointments and generally seeing that those within the city that need to be kept happy are kept happy. They might seem the least powerful of the three but such estimation would be dangerous to make. The Socialite entirely control who can see and talk to the Prince plus he/she can effect a Questors opinion about vampire before they meet. Not to be underestimated.

The tradition of Elysium is an interesting one. In essence, a Prince may declare specific locations of his city to be Elysium, places free of violence, safe for all Kindred. Most official Kindred business takes place in Elysium. The Prince’s court is most frequently held in one such location, and most young vampires who need to speak with a leader or elder come to Elysium to seek them out. Politics and intrigue are as common here as rats on the street outside, with debate and negotiation heard as frequently as casual gossip. Many elders spend entire nights here, and while young vampires are welcome (most of the time), they are expected to remember their place.

In some cities in addition to these three there is also among the Questors court the Tribunes. Powerful elder vampires who advise the Prince on subjects of policy and other things. The precise nature of that advice varies from domain to domain. If the Prince is both strong and especially tyrannical, the Tribunes might be little more than a formality, a conclave of elders who serve to rubberstamp whatever the Prince wishes to do. In most domains, they serve as true advisors, and most wise Princes try to take that advice into account whenever possible, not merely because the advice might be good, but to avoid angering an entire group of elders. Tribunes are usually vampire elders from different clans and walks of life from around the city. If the Prince happens to die then the next Prince is selected from among them.

I mentioned the Five Laws before. These are the Laws by which all vampires are expected to live their according to. They are all simple and easy to follow mostly which is why the punishments are so severe.

1. Drink not the heart's blood of thy kine, Punishment death without a trial - Drinking the heart's blood of another vampire gives them the power of that vampire yet it decays the humanity of the vampire and once one heart has been tasted it is impossible to stop

2. Kill not thy kind, Punishment death trial first - This law seems to be very malleable and easily broken. Where the rest of the laws are pretty set in stone this is more of guideline than anything.

3. Draw not the eye of the mortal, First offence warning second offense trial usually ending in death - In other words feed and act circumspectly do not draw attention to vampire kind

4. On entering the domain of a Prince present thyself before him, First offense warning second offence trial usually ending in death - When entering a new city a vampire has to present himself to the Prince of that city.

5. Always seek the approval of thy Prince before handing out the Embrace, Death to the maker the childe receives a trial - Making other vampires without the approval of the Prince of the city is a grave offence as overpopulation might lead to vampires being noticed by mortal kind.

There are of course other laws that differ from city to city but these five are which form the basis for any major vampire settlement.

There is still one position higher than that of the Prince Questors. That of the Emperor King of the Vampires ruler of the Imperium Umbrae. From what I gathered from my vampiric guide these so called Emperors are chosen from among the oldest and most powerful Prince Questors in a yearly council that takes place in Rome. He did not know how this council worked or if it decided anything else other than the choice of king. The King's purpose is twofold.

Firstly to make sure that humans do not discover vampire kind. For this purpose they are granted extra powers: Removing Princes from office, executing any vampire regardless of age and station without any need for trial or reason, removing any humans and any of their contacts/friends who threaten the secret masquerade (such as myself), working against the Maskless Society (my contact belonged to this group but asked me to not write about them for he feared for the safety of the organization).

Secondly to maintain general order among the vampire society at large. This duty is much less serious and the Emperor King only get's involved when all out war between factions is about to happen. Otherwise the peacekeeping aspects are more in line with the duties of a Prince. On occasion however the Emperor has to send out his force to maintain order in places where the Prince is either dead or away on some important business.

Each Emperor King is granted control over a force called the "Prima Legio" or "The First Legion" that is best described as a cult composed of both mortal and vampiric agents whose singular purpose is to serve the Emperor. For mortal agents the positions within the structure are hereditary passing from parent to child in the primogeniture fashion. The vampiric members are however very carefully selected based on both their loyalty and power. However like with the council the activities of this organization are very secret and I have not managed to find out much about it. /.../

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Urgent Prima Legio report only for the eyes of her majesty Irina Orus, Emperor King of the Vampyr
- Prima Legio, Primus pilus, Herr Ernst Strauss

Spoiler: The political factions of New Orelans 

The political factions of New Orleans

It is as you feared your majesty. After the death of Prince Questor Ivar Ragnarson the city has devolved in to all out conflict some of it violent some more subtle conflicts. The dead Princes court is trying to maintain order but without Ragnarson there it's a fool's effort. If we don't act soon we might lose the city to either the Anarchists or the Reformists. Here's the rundown on the different factions and their goals that you requested.

Les Lions de Vieux Carré - A group of Creole and Spanish vampires who have banded together under the banner of a young upstart Toreador leader calling himself "The Lion". They seem to desire for New Orleans to declare independence from the Imperium and establish a system of democracy and justice based on a mixture of the French and American political system. I tried to find out more about the leader but his past is a mystery. Apparently he appeared on the New Orleans political scene a year or so ago and began to gather popularity among the younger crowd in the French Quarter. Currently ignored by the bigger players but I think that might be a mistake they will soon regret. Currently has a hundred or so vampires at his side all less than a century old but his numbers are steadily growing.

The Admirals Boys - One of the two loyalist factions vying for the position of Prince Questor. They are a mixed bunch with a good mix of younger and older vampires. They are led by a Venture who is a former British Admiral Sir George Rook though he usually goes by simply Rook to avoid mortal discovery. He and two of his compatriots (William Fennick and Arthur de Wesret) held positions in the Tribunes before the death of the Prince Questor. He generally seems like a vain and brash man though with a good head for tactics and politics. It has allowed him to carve out a strong presence in the river front over which he has established his rule. His main efforts are concentrated on his loyalist rival Madame Lafayette. They are numbered around a 150 or so.

Défendre l'honneur de madame Lafayette - This group did not seem to have a official name but when I asked what their purpose was they were pretty clear: "Defending the honor of madame Lafayette." According to madame Lafayette the erstwhile Socialite of Ivar Ragnarson she was to inherit the role of Prince Questor after the death Ivar. She backed this up with a document that said as much. The Council of Tribunes was split after that with one half believing her story the other half calling it untrue. Her force is mostly made up of the richer vampires mostly the plantation owners and others who live in the City of Lafayette from where she runs her operation. Her force is also a good mix of ages and clans I would say that the loyalist forces are about equal as both number around 150.

The Anarchist Movement - Made up of a strange mix of young vampires of every clan and old Brjuhas this faction is the largest (numbering around 200 or so) but very disorganized. There seems to be no clear leader or even hierarchy. Yet to call them true Anarchists (even though they themselves do) would be wrong as other philosophy's are also prevalent among the ranks. Basically anything that stands against the current government system and laws. In my time spent among them I could not determine any sort of goals they might have nor what exactly they were doing with their time except for arguing. Apparently the faction has existed for a long time in the city but Ivar left it be only interfering when someone broke any of the laws. This approach seems to have been effective as the faction as it is currently is really more focused on internal conflicts rather than any outside threats.

The Sheriffs Boys - The smallest of the factions but not to be underestimated the Sheriff and her retinue have remained neutral throughout this conflict. Their only goal has seemed to be to restore order to New Orleans and keep the law while the next Prince achieves power. Led by Sherriffe O'Sullivan these fifty or so vampires seem to be only thing keeping the mortals in the dark for now. I also suspect that the Sheriff is being helped by the Spy of Ragnarssons court but I have no proof of this as in my time spent in the city I could not find out who exactly the spy was in court.

In conclusion I would suggest your majesty hold off sending the full force of the Prima Legio into the city as the situation in Europe is currently more dire. However we should hire some agents that could do some wetwork for our cause. I think this Smoke fellow my colleague recommended would be a good fit.

Your trusted servant,
Herr Strauss

Spoiler: The Map of the City 

Find enclosed the geographic layout of the factions of the city.

1. The Sheriffs Boys
2. Les Lions de Vieux Carré
3. The Admirals Boys
4. The Anarchist Movement
5. Défendre l'honneur de madame Lafayette

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Name:
Apparent Age:
True Age:
Nationality and Race: (I think this will play an important role in the plot New Orleans is an interesting melting pot of cultures during this time)
Description:
Clan:
Skills:
Weaknesses: (Aside from the obvious ones I mean)
Personality:

I would leave the Bio out for now as I think that would be fun to discover through play? What do you guys think?

Also since I lost the draft I really did not have the energy to remake all the full NPC sheets but I threw together some short ones to have some general idea about them:

Spoiler: NPCs 

The Dead Prince and our Maker

Name: Ivar Ragnarson
True age: It is thought to be around a thousand years exact dates are unknown.
Apperent age: 40 someting
Clan: Gangrel
Appearance: Here

The Ghoul

Name: Nancy (definitely not her real name)
True age: Three hundred years younger than Ivar
Apparent age: 20 something maybe younger
Clan: No clan she is Ivars ghoul.
Appearance: Here

The Sheriff

Name: Morrigan O'Sullivan
True age: Close to five hundred
Apparent age: Late 20s
Clan: Malkavian
Apperance: Here

The Madame

Name: Madame Angelique de Lafayette (An ancestor of the famous Lafayette)
True age: Somewhere around three hundred
Apparent age: Late 20s
Clan: Toreador
Appearance: Here

The Young Lion

Name: The Lion
True Age: Unknown
Apparent age: Early 20s
Clan: Toreador
Appearance: Here

The Admiral

Name: Sir George Rook
True Age: Slightly over a hundred
Apparent age: Mid 40s
Clan: Venture
Appearance: Here

The Turbulent Priest

Name: Father Samael "Sam"
Apparent Age: 26
True Age: 123
Nationality: Half Portuguese Half Taíno
Description: If someone were to describe Sam in one word it would be fervor. He burns with it. Other men look lost and with out purpose next to his straight backed fervent purposefulness. This is of course helped along by his copper skin combined with a tall and muscled frame that even without a singleness of purpose would still be an impressive sight.
That all said his most striking features are his deep blue eyes that seem to be almost angelic in their purity. However those who are more perceptive might see that in those sky blue eyes lurks a madness barely contained. And when he speaks, his priestly robes flapping, then you can hear it. Pouring out of a broken mind inside of a broken man.

Spoiler: Sam 

Clan: Malkavian
Skills: Oratory skills, knows the whole bible by heart, swordsmanship, deep faith, outwardly charming
Weaknesses: Truly mad, thinks he can hear god and does as he is told by the entity, only drinks the blood of sinners, whenever he drinks blood he always kills his victims

Reapers on the Trail [M] A post apocalyptic western RP about a cult of travelling young law men meeting out justice

Spoiler: Reapers on the Trail 

[FONT=Courier New]Rated M: for scenes of violence, swearing, drug use and sexual situations
Inspired by Pretty Deadly, Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary, Dogs in the Vineyard and Legacy: Life Among the Ruins

Original picture by Mike V. Derderian

Video

Here at least we shall be free;
the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
to reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.
"Paradise Lost", Book I, Lines: 258-63
John Milton

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Spoiler: What happened? 

There was a time where the world still worked. When the skies were not broken by the battles of angels and demons. When the earth was not made infertile through the blood of the divine and the fallen. They both promised to defend us but in the end they both failed. Now God is dead and the devil is missing. So blinking, refined by apocalyptic fires, we have emerged into the light again. With remembered lore, keen blades and fierce loyalty we'll will retake the world. Be it from the demons below or angels above.

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Spoiler: What am I? 

You're a Reaper a young man or woman called on by Death itself to bring justice to the lawless west. A company of sober and brave people. You know your duty and you do it. You do what's right because it's right not for any other reason. Your authority is greater than Gods, Devils or Mans for you carry with you the authority of Death the thing we all must face someday.

Or at least that's what they tell you. Because the reality is scary and complicated while the certainty of the righteousness of your cause is something that can give the doubts that plague you a rest. Plus usually you don't stick around long enough to become jaded. Most of you meet your master after a year or two of service.

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Spoiler: Where am I? 

You are in the Western Territories the last holdout of humanity in a crumbling world. People from all walks of life and different parts of the world made their way out here to find safety no one really knows how long this lasted. They set up their small towns and eked out a living. Now this was the way it worked for a long time disparate towns all with their own laws, religions and petty hatreds. That all changed when the Tarots came to power.

No one really knows where Harry Tarot really came from nor where he got the idea for the Tarot faith. What matters is that through shrewd strategy and negotiation he managed to subjugate the whole of the Western Territories and create the Empire of Tarot. He declared himself Emperor and his wife the Empress. He built roads and churches to spread his new religion. He connected towns by spirit rail and made militias to strike back the invading celestials.

Yet all men die and when Harry Tarot felt death creeping closer he called his three daughters and two sons to him. He told them that he would be splitting his empire between them. Thus he created the suits.

• To his first daughter strong in magic and a passionate artist he gave the lands next to the northern sea. She started the suit of Wands.
  
• To his first son strong in faith and a devout priest he gave the lands of the southern plains. He started the suit of Cups.
  
• To his second daughter strong in body and a powerful warrior he gave the lands next to the eastern mountains. She started the suit of Swords.
  
• To his second son sharp in mind and a powerful businessman he gave the lands of the westernmost scrublands. He started the suit of Coins.
  
• And to his final daughter he gave the capital in the center of it all. From which the Reapers of law would go out and keep peace in all four of these new lands and make sure that they did not wawer.

That was many hundreds of years ago now and if Harry thought that his offspring would live in harmony forever he was wrong. There's bad blood between every suit nowadays

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Spoiler: Deeper world description 

Spoiler: What is technology we use? 

Before the celestial war humanity built wonders unthinkable. Ships that sailed to the stars. Limbs of metal and plastic. Buildings that towered over mountains. We don't have any of that anymore. The fastest way to get around is by train and the best way to kill a man is with a bullet from a trusty six iron. Still sometimes we find the tech of the old world and fix it up still those sort of artifacts are rare and expensive. Not for the likes of Reapers.

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Spoiler: What are the Wands like? 

Political overview: The suit of Wands is a strange bunch. They've become mostly isolationists in the last twenty years. Some of it might be due to losing land in the long wars between them and the Swords. Even us Reapers have a tough time getting in these days. The only thing they let in easily are artefacts of the old world. Science and progress is the driving force behind most of their actions as a nation.
Population: 14000 - 17000
Goverment: A strange form of early greek democracy where those who speak the loudest and with the most interesting ideas usually end up top.
View on magic: A gift of the ancients to be treasured. Magical people usually rise high in the ranks of the Wands.
Culture: The people of Wands are a passionate and self centered lot. They value good conversation and especially good argument, it is their opinion that this is how progress happens, by ideas being questioned and looked at from all angles. This creates a family structure where from a very young age children are encouraged to question their parents and think for themselves. Schooling is usually either done through self learning or "knowledge gatherings" where people with a specific skill or idea present it to the community. All of these things together create people who are highly intelligent and don't regard authority very highly valuing personal freedom much more. So when out on patrol in Wands lands keep that in the back your mind. These people will blank faced lie to you if it suits them.

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Spoiler: What are the Cups like? 

Political overview: Cups are currently engaged in a war with their long time allies the Swords. They probably still be allies if the Swords had not accepted the new kings heresy. Politically the Cups have always been the most politically predictable steadfast friends to the faithful and terrible enemy to the heretics of the world. Us Reapers do get respect there whatever our religious leanings. Protecting religious interests is the main driving force behind their actions.
Population: 16000 - 19000
Government: Ruled by a council of religious leaders that are chosen from the church hierarchy.
View on magic: An evil thing for it is created and used by the celestials and the half breed runts. Children who shows signs of magic are shackled with magic deadening gauntlets and are castrated or made infertile in other ways. They usually remain working in the church after that sometimes even rising quite high.
Culture: Cups as a whole are a private and faithful people. The Church of Tarot makes itself known in all parts of most people's lives from education to marriage. Most respect physical boundaries and are quite polite even towards people they obviously dislike. Nights spent in quiet prayer and contemplation of card readings is the norm. Yet they can be quite warm with close friends or family it is however true that upon first meeting them most people find them cold. That said you won't find a more faithful friend then a Cup. Unless you completely betray their trust because then you have made an enemy for life. So be careful on who exactly you bamboozle or betray while making your way through Cup lands.

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Spoiler: What are the Swords like? 

Political overview:The suit of Swords has recently gotten a new king who believes that the restoration of the Tarot Empire and setting himself as the Tarot Emperor above even the church in authority. Which is why their long term allies have abandoned them and are now attacking them. That's the problem with monarchies it gets you stupid people as often as it gets you brilliant thinkers. Then again who knows maybe the plan will work. I doubt it though. When it comes to us Reapers it entirely depends on the lord of the area whether our work is easy or not. Expansion has always been the main driving force behind their actions.
Population: 22492 (census before the war)
Goverment: A feudal system with a king that can trace decent all the way back to Harry Tarot.
View on magic: It is fine for the nobility to practice such arts but seeing it rise among the lower class is worrying. Lower class magic users are usually exiled, killed or made to wear magical dampeners.
Culture: Coming from the warm mountainlands the Swords are probably the most lively crowds you'll find. Highly sociobiol and talkative they love three things dearly party's, war and drink not necessarily in that order. Also unlike the Wands they are also very community centric. The success of the whole is much more important to them than the success of anyone specific. The nobility of course encourages this view on life. It is however hard to make them do something they don't want to do and cards help you if you plan on hurrying a Sword they exist on their own time schedule. Probably the most important thing to keep in mind is when questioning the community is that they might be protecting someone or something from you, if you feels that's the case try your damndest to find out what that as it usually puts you on the right track.

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Spoiler: What are Coins like? 

Political overview: While others make war the Coins make a profit. Supplying both sides with all that is required to kill each other. The Coins have always been smart about that. They know how and when to manipulate the right market forces to come out on top. They don't really care about us which is both a good and a bad thing as no one really stands in our way nor does anyone really help us when we need it. The main motivator behind their action is always money.
Population: 16000 - 19000
Government: Democracy where the richest and most powerful seem to rise to the top. Strange that.
View on magic: None. A person born with magic isn't favored or hated here.
Culture: The adjective that comes to mind for most of them is serious. Coins take most things in life quite seriously, there's after all that classic joke about Coin wedding nights. This description isn't of course entirely fair but no cultural stereotype is. Whatever the case when it comes to jobs, family and money the Coins do take things seriously. Now this is not to say that under all that feelings don't exist after all some of the best poets and artists of our age have come from Coin. What is discouraged however is showing emotions even in private with friends and family. This is probably related to the very harsh and cutthroat business world that surrounds most Coins where anything you do can and will be used to against you. Makes it hard sometimes to get folks to open about why exactly they called on a Reaper to help or what exactly happened.

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Spoiler: What's magic like? 

Magic is the enactment of a person's will upon the world. Now how you enact your will upon the world depends very much on the sort of person you are. Some use book learning and complex memorization to break down the mental barrier that blocks magical access to most people. Others use drugs to achieve the same effect. What matters however that whatever way you do it it ain't easy. It needs to be so hard that it's almost impossible then finally your brain will allow you to grasp the swirling power around you to change it.

Most people think that you have to born with the gift but that isn't true you just have to work hard and awaken to the magical world around you. Anyone can do it and we Reapers try to teach to all new recruits now most still fail but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that you know what it looks like so when you need to hunt a mage you'll know what to do.

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Spoiler: Who are the supernatural creatures who make their home here? 

Now to you angels and demons are distinct terms and entities. To us they ain't. Their both the reason our world is fucked up so to us their all celestials and all only good dead. In fact a lot of your time as a Reaper will be spent investigating reports of them and rooting them out. Their smart bastards though so be careful. Can take many forms and none of them pretty.

Aside from that there are the half breeds. Now ain't got nothing against half breeds myself but most people and nations do. The Reapers are one of the only places they are officially accepted as citizens. They might have celestial blood in them but their still human where it matters. Still most of them organize themselves in nomadic horse tribes passing from nation to nation being hunted hated most place they end up in. You might face a few during your travels but when people want you to hunt law abiding ones tell em no and that's that we ain't about killing folks who don't deserve it... I mean at least not yet anyway.

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Spoiler: Elevator pitch 

A small group of traveling Reapers, a cult of travelling law men, explore the world and solve small town crime. Mix of road movie, western and noir police drama. A more character focused story with an underlying plot to be discovered.

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Spoiler: CS 

So the CS works sort of differently for this one instead of writing out a full bio you draw three tarot cards. The first one is a metaphor for you age 0 - 10. The second is you from age 10 - 15. The last is always the card Death which signifies change and you age 15 - to now. Every Reaper is recruited from among the people whose third card was Death. In the game's lore those cards were actually drawn as well the first one at your birth. The second one "The Change of Fortune" when the two cards are tattooed on your back and the final one when you're officially of age in the eyes of the law it also gets added to your back tattoo.

Finally the only other thing we draw a card for is to establish a character relationship with one of the other players. This card could signify an event that happened between the two characters in the past or it could signify what their relationship is like.

And here's a good tarot site to use if you don't know any.


Name:
Age:
Look:
Nationality: (Cups, Swords, Wands, Coins or Reper Town)
The three cards that define your history:
The card that defines our history from your point of view:
Ghosts from your past: (NPC's who crossed your path)

RP's I'm very proud of and think are great

The Charon's Coin: Relaunch [M] A scifi sandbox RP meant to be played like a mix of traditional forum RP and a tabletop RP

Spoiler: The Charon's Coin: Relaunch 

The Imperial Media Board has rated this piece of entertainment as MATURE. May contain intense violence, blood and gore, instances of drug use, sexual content and/or strong language. Selling this content to minors will result in a fine.

This is a relaunch of an older RP I made awhile ago.



Original poster by Adam Flynn
Inspired by FTL, Rollplay: Swansong, Star Wars: Legacy and Stars Without Number

Video

O I've sailed the midnight sea from Earth to Alpha-5
Seen flame gems on Aldebaran, met rocks that were alive
But soon I came to realize as worlds world I roamed
That nowhere in the galaxy could really be my home

So call the Navigator, set the course and go
We've stars and planets to explore - my wild heart tells me so
Beneath the metal decking I can hear the engines sigh
And all I need is a mighty ship and a star to guide her by

"Call the Navigator"
Ancient spacer song sung by the first Terran colonists

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Spoiler: The Setup 

Ha! You want ME tell you the fucking story? You sure kid? Seems like everyone wants me to tell it but once I start no one wants to listen. It isn't as pretty and romantic as they would have you believe you know...

Fine then but we do it my way. We start at the dam begging. History is important. People forget that sometimes.

So the year was 1761 ASI. After Spike Invention encase you didn't know kid. Never know what they teach in school these days.

For almost a thousand years the blight we call humanity had expanded from its ancient cradle to fill the sky with its worlds. At first the expansion came by way of the enigmatic “spike drives” that granted humans the ability to skip between stars. Countless nations, faiths, and ideologies sent colonists to the darkness above to find new homes where they could live free from the oppressive rule of Terra’s calcified masters. Like all roads to hell this one was well paved with good intentions.

New cultures were born and flourished. We met alien races and carved out a place for ourselves among the great races of the galaxy. From these disparate planets an unified planetary federation grew. Historians still argue over whether this Federation was a force for good or an ineffective mess. Whatever the case a Rebellion was born in the heart of this interstellar nation.

After that there was war.

A war on such a grand scale that something like it has not been seen before or since. Planets burned, alien races went extinct, atrocities were wrought. However at the same time the progress of technology accelerated. AI, nanobots and psytech were all developed to get one over on the other guy. In the end the apocalypse occurred pretty much as we predicted. The hows and whys of it all are trivial. The reasons self evident and utterly human.

What matters is this: because of some unknown event all the beacons that connected the starsystems went down. The next few hundred years were chaos. Cut off from the rest of the galaxy most planets became feral places. People turned on each other. As they are wont to do. Civilization was almost extinguished.

Yet whether it was because of "the human spirit" or some other such bullshit we prevailed. From the ashes of once great space faring civilization rose new planetary powers. Using jury rigged spike drives we set off to again explore the vastness of space and found that we had not been alone in our plights. Although things would never be like they once were they were at least stable. Or at least that what we thought.

But this isn't what you came for is it? Well don't worry kid were getting to the meat of it. Two hundred years after this mild equilibrium was reached, before it all went wrong, a woman was looking for a crew...

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Spoiler: The Catalyst 

You have one new message...

10:23 SST 23.05.1761

Subject line: Looking for crew

From: Megan Isabella Gunn via. The Charon's Coin

Open?...

Y/N
y

Processing...

Hey,

This is going out to all my old contacts or acquaintances I find somewhat competent. I recently aquired a ship and really need a crew to man it. The ship is called the Charon's Coin. Come fine me I'm in the Oedipus system on Naushad-ali. I'm docked in the capital's spaceport Dock 9 come find me if this peaks your interest.

Gunn

There is an attachment to this message...
Would you like to open it?...

Y/N
y

Processing...

You have new coordinates added to your map...
Set as new destination?...

Y/N

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Spoiler: The Short of It  

This is a sandbox style RP for four or so players set in a late 70s early 80s scifi (ala Alien, Blade Runner and some parts of Star Wars) inspired sector of space that is populated by many powerful disparate factions. Our characters will go on mission for many of these factions. We'll be smugglers, mercenaries and maybe even heros. Although there is some sort of overarching plot most of the plot development will be player driven. As each time we finish a mission there will be an update to the Missions Board from which you can vote on our next mission. This RP also features stats, skills, exp and dice rolling. These will be used to add a dose of randomness and progerrison into the story.

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Spoiler: The World 

This link will direct you to a .html file I uploaded to google drive download and open it to view the Sector

It has the full Sector map, all of it's political entities and the alien races that inhabit it.
It's an edited version of a Stars Without Number random generators space sector.

However if you have some specific question about this world I tried to answer it here. If you don't find the answer to your question feel free to ask and I will answer you and add to this thing.

Spoiler: Tech questions 

How common are spaceships?

Not TOO common but not exactly few and far between. I'll explain. In some regard this future is in many ways similar to the Age of Sail. Spaceships are really expensive meaning that privately owned ships are less common than corporate or publicly owned ships. The average person unless he or she is spacer will not leave their home planet or if they do then it's a big decision. As travel between stars takes a long time (a ship with a spike drive 1 takes a week to travel between hexes) even in high tech ships so casual travel between planets although not unheard of is still uncommon. So no not everyone has a spaceship nor probably even left their home planet. That said similar to sailor culture of 16th, 17th and 18th century a spacer culture has developed among the men and women (or sometimes even families) who make their living sailing the stars.

How does space travel work?

The spike drive allows for space travel through a delicate gravitic twisting of the universal substrate beneath a ship, the spike drive drives it “upward” through a spectrum of dimensional frequencies. The ship vanished from mundane, “luminal” space and gets thrust into the metadimensions.

These inchoate realms of vast energy currents and formless masses are extremely hostile to unprepared ships, but their gravitic currents propel a ship at speeds impossible in the mundane universe. Suitably massive objects such as stars cast a “shadow” into these metadimensions, forming both navigational beacons and anchor-points that enable transit up and down the dimensional spectrum. So long as a spike drive had a star to launch from and a star to bring it down, it can ride the metadimensional currents in a headlong rush of superluminal speed.

What sort of weapons are there in this future universe?

In terms of personal arms the most common personal arms are still projectile weapons that would be familiar to 21st century eyes. However on the higher tech planets professional military outfits or mercenaries mostly employ energy weapons be they laser rifles and guns or plasma projectors or even some more impressive guns that manipulate sound to vibrate a person into tiny bits. Neither have melee weapons gone entirely out of style things like mono and plasma blades have made the act of fighting in close quarters entirely possible.

Shipboard weapons are even more varied. Most common weapons are simple burst lasers or beams. Some ships employ missiles or bombs as well that penetrate ship shields. Ion class weapons do similar things but instead target and damage shipboard systems. There are other more dangerous weapons but those are heavily controlled and distributed.


What about armour or shields?

While most of the populace won't be shielded or armored by much of anything security personnel and soldiers all usually have some sort of basic armor. The most common armor to come across are different forms of woven body armor similar to our Kevlar vests. After that in the more elite parts of the security and military employ combat field uniforms with strong metplast overlays or if they are even more powerful they employ different forms of power armour (think less Warhammer or Halo and more like this: the sleeker version and the jury rigged version). However a few select rich individuals and bounty hunters carry personal shield emitters that provide the most protection of them all.

Are there any kinds of tech that are forbidden?

Yes illegal tech in this world is called Maltech. Things that are counted as Maltech are: True AI, nanobots, weapons of planetary destruction, heavy gene modification, bioweapons (especially diseases). Getting caught researching, using or owning any of these technologies will result in pretty serious repercussions. However for some these risks are worth it.

Does this means that there are no robots in this world?

Robots and android in the style of Star Wars, Alien or Blade Runner are very rare. One of the factors is that AI even if it's braked to not go beyond human level intelligence still requires immense computing power to run. Meaning that a simple humanoid body could not usually support it. However drones and robots designed for a single simple purpose are pretty common sight on TL 4 planets.

What do the different tech levels mean?

This one is taken straight up from Stars Without Number Free Edition as I really like how they explain it.

Spoiler: Tech Level 0 

Tech level 0 represents a world with technologies similar to neolithic era humanity. Very few worlds collapse this far without dying out completely, and so a world this primitive is very rare in human space. The world is so profoundly devoid of useful resources that the natives may simply not have anything better to work with than rocks and native vegetation.

Natives of a world at this tech level might retain elaborate cultural artifacts and a very sophisticated society. Existing resources tend to be exploited to the hilt, with large populations producing massive stone cities, human-powered engines for irrigation, and vast displays of foodstuffs and craft work for the ruling class. Despite this, the lack of metal, domesticated beasts of burden, and petrochemicals puts a hard stop on the technological development of most of these worlds. Responses to free traders and other interstellar travellers will vary with the local culture. The lack of quick communications methods tends to result in large populations breaking up into numerous smaller regional cultures, and the friendly prince of one domain might neighbor an implacably hostile sage-king. Most “lostworlders” have a keen appreciation for the benefits these strangers from the sky can bring them, and will bargain accordingly.

Some worlds might retain crisply rational records of their colonization and downfall. Others might preserve tales of a starry origin in legends and story. A few might have forgotten their origins entirely, and view sky-born humans as gods or messengers of the divine. Such awe rarely lasts very long once the merchants or pirates who landed make their purposes clear.

Spoiler: Tech Level 1 

Tech level 1 worlds have managed to find and exploit metal deposits and likely have imported or domesticated beasts of burden. Those worlds with easy access to fossil fuels or a similarly energy-dense substance can advance to greater things, but a culture trapped at tech level 1 is unlikely to have access to such helpful resources. A few worlds have enough plant matter or other combustibles to make
steam engines feasible, but those with very much of such a resource usually make the leap to the next tech level eventually.

As a consequence, tech level 1 worlds tend to be caught at much the same general level of development as their tech level 0 cousins. They may have elaborate social structures and cultural development, but they are unable to mechanize without some energy-dense resource to serve as fuel. The scavenged hulks of their ancestors’ fusion plants may stand as mute temples to the achievements of their forebears, but without the tech necessary to repair and rebuild such edifices the world is dependent on purely local fuel sources.

Tech level 1 worlds tend to respond to visitors in much the same way as tech level 0 planets. The ruling class of these worlds is liable to be able to muster larger cities, bigger armies, and all the other perquisites that come from being able to work the available agricultural land with fewer hands.

Spoiler: Tech Level 2 

Tech level 2 worlds are blessed with the presence of fossil fuels. Internal combustion engines are crude things compared to the power of a fusion plant, but they can be built with primitive tools and a basic degree of education. The mechanization that results from this resource vastly increases the efficiency of local farming, the speed of travel, and the productivity of factory workers. Most tech level 2 worlds are “knockdowns”; planets that once had a much higher degree of sophistication but were recently crippled by disease, disaster, or invasion. The natives tend to be keenly aware of the glories of former generations, and work fiercely to redevelop lost techniques and reclaim old knowledge.

Few tech level 2 worlds produce much that’s worth interstellar trade. Most foodstuffs are too bulky and cheap to make it worth a captain’s time. Some worlds have rare ore deposits, but the natives have no reason to dig them until a merchant makes it worth their while to set up a whole new industry for export. Some such worlds barter the relics of their ancestors in exchange for educational materials or rare resources necessary for advancing local industry. Others feel forced to trade native work contracts for dangerous, dirty labor.

Spoiler: Tech Level 3 

Tech level 3 worlds are those that have developed to a level much like that of the more advanced nations of late twentieth-century Earth. The main difference between tech level 3 worlds and level 4 worlds is the lack of fusion power or spike drive manufacture. These worlds come in two major varieties.

The first is a “knockdown” world that formerly had tech level 4 technologies before some catastrophe or pirate attack destroyed their knowledge and industrial base. Some of the wrecked infrastructure might have been irreplaceable, and the world must struggle to regain its former level of technological production. Worlds in this condition tend to have rather small populations that are susceptible to the loss of a few concentrated groups of experts.

The second major variety is a world that suffered a severe disaster shortly after colonization and has been forced to painstakingly build up their technological base ever since. Some of these worlds date back to the First Wave of colonization a thousand years ago, driven into near-neolithic conditions by some outside pressure before slowly and painfully rebuilding their technological base through purely indigenous efforts. These worlds tend to have very large populations if the world’s climate permits, as they have been colonized for quite some time.

Simply providing a world with the necessary technical data for advancement doesn't mean that advancement will be quick or even. Even if a tech level 3 world has the necessary resources to build tech level 4 devices, it may take as much as a generation for a world to build the necessary infrastructure and resource extraction enterprises. The time may be longer still if the dominant cultures are uneasy with the new technology.

Spoiler: Tech Level 4 

Tech level 4 worlds are the most common in human space, and their technical expertise is the baseline for modern post-Silence “postech”. These worlds can create spike drives rated up to drive-3, fusion power plants, grav vehicles, simple energy weapons, and medicines that extend human life to a hundred years of vigorous good health. They can manage sophisticated gengineering on simple life forms, and some tech level 4 worlds have even attempted to improve the genetic structures of human life itself. These attempts have yet to produce results without severe drawbacks, but some such worlds remain populated by altered humanity designed to cope with local conditions more perfectly than baseline humans.

Most worlds with regular interstellar contact and the necessary raw resources eventually gravitate towards this level of technological expertise. It may take decades, or even centuries in the case of more retrograde worlds, but this tech level is the highest that can readily be achieved by most planets.

Spoiler: Tech Level 4 with specialties 

Tech level 4 with specialties is an unusual case of a normal tech level 4 world that has retained some pretech industries or has developed their own local technical expertise beyond baseline postech in certain disciplines.

Most such specialties are relatively narrow in scope; grav tech, medicine, hydroponics, force field generation, or some field of roughly similar breadth. These specialties are usually either the product of a few, unreplaceable pretech manufactories or the result of some unique local resource that serves amazingly well for the purpose at hand. In both cases, the world will jealously guard the tech, and much local conflict may relate to control over these resources.

These worlds tend to have substantial amounts of interstellar trade from neighboring worlds interested in their tech. The ruling elite of the world can be ostentatious about display of this wealth.

Spoiler: Psionics questions 

What is Psionics and who can do it?

Psionics is the word used to describe a set of innate abilities that certain individuals are born with. It is unknown what exactly causes these abilities but it is theorized that exposure to spike drives is what allows for them. However if this is true it does not explain why some planets long divorced of their space faring origins still retain powerful psykers among their population. As for who can do it Humans, Slugs and Zoltans all can use psychic abilities. In humans about one in every 10000 births result in a psychic being born. Every slug is born with psychic powers though not all develop their abilities and it seems slugs can only use either the Silencer or Empath paths all other forms of psionics are locked to them. With Zoltans only about one in a million children have accesses to these powers, however zoltan psykers are the most powerful out there capable of much more than any human or slug psyker.

What kind of psychic power are out there?

There are four kinds of psychics Psykers, Seers, Empaths and Silencers.

Psykers are mental warriors that use the power of their minds to move objects and strike powerful kinetic blows against their opponents. Some can also use their mind to speed up molecules to create fire. These powers are hard to control and untrained people have been known to kill friends or family members in fits of anger.

Seers are people bestowed with the power of feeling the forth dimension and sometimes gaining insight from it. They are granted visions of futures that could be, of pasts that were and of presents that are. Most with these powers can see only things that are going to happen a few seconds from now but for a few these visions can stretch to far off times. Naturally these psychics are most prone to madness.

Empaths are psychics with the power to communicate mentally and affects other people's emotional or mental state. There is a misconception about empaths that they can read thoughts. This is not necessarily true it is more that they can read and affect brain chemistry. They can't tell you what number your thinking of but they can affect you to think of a number by manipulating certain stimuli. What must however clarified is that in no way Empath truly control someones action they can only push and prod them in a certain direction. Good empaths are subtle creatures that plant emotions and thought into you that you won't ever notice bad empaths however get killed pretty quickly no one likes to be manipulated.

Silencers are the only people with the ability to completely stop any other psionic in their tracks. All their abilities revolve around mentally blocking or "silencing" other psychics making them unable to use any of their abilities. The more powerful Silencers can also do damage to other psychics using their power. Silencers are in some ways the true outcasts of the psychic community. Regular humans don't like them because their still psychic and as such to be distrusted. Yet other psychics also hate them because their powers make them dangerous to be around.

Spoiler: General questions 

Why has english become the lingua franca of this world?

It was government mandated during the times of the old Federation. Everyone was taught it. After society collapsed it sort of continued playing an important role because a lot of cultures with different languages were abandoned on planets together. So when space travel was restored it again became important to facilitate trade and diplomacy. What is important to note though is that most aliens you will meet won't be able to speak english unlike most humans.

Why did you decide to leave this world so vague in terms of cultures and planet information?

Two reasons. The problem with a hugely well built world and setting is that it does not leave a lot of wiggle room for you as players or me as a GM. This is not to say that I think well built worlds are bad. Hell no I love building huge complex worlds and playing in them. Just for this RP I feel I need to keep that wiggle room a loose setting grants me. The second thing is that it allows us to retain that feeling of wanderlust and curiosity that is important to tales that rely on discovering the world you live in.

Why late 70s early 80s scifi for the aesthetic?

Their nice and dirty with the right amount of hopelessness to make them beautiful. Plus films from that era have a certain color scheme and look that I love. Tone wise they also fit the world I have in mind.

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Spoiler: The Systems of Play 

This system hack is a VERY cut down version of Dungeon World. It was originally going to be much more complex but I decided that I should just simplify for forum play. Though I will still continue to develop the more complex system for IRL group play. Anyhow here's the system:

Spoiler: Dice Rolling 

So as you might have guessed this game requires dice rolling. How often your characters has to roll is determined by what kind of character you have defined them to be. If you have made your character to be a huge streetfighting bruiser then I won't ask you to roll when you face two guys in an ally. However when you try to hack into a computer or talk someone down from conflict you will definitely have to roll (probably at a disadvantage). Still difficulty is a thing of degrees. I mean if you are a pretty good streetfighter you usually should be able to take two guys down in a streetfight but taking four or more will definitely require a roll as that fight is hard even at a high skill level. This system is designed to minimize the amount of rolling while stilling holding on to the core benefits of rolling. When you finally do roll you will be rolling two six sided dice adding or subtracting skill and stat modifiers.

6 or lower is a failure. The GM gets to define what happens.

Example: GM: So what's the plan? Player 1: I think I want to set up an ambush for the crime boss while the party hits his headquarter. GM: Okay roll your tactics plus Int. Player 1: Dam I don't have tactics so thats a minus one. [Player 1 rolls and gets a five] Well shit. GM: Indeed. Well I think you set up the ambush fine but just as you settle into a comfortable firing position you feel the cool touch of a gun barrel against your neck. Work that into your post when you go to write it.

7 - 9 is a partial successes. The GM will offer you a worse outcome (compared to what you wanted), some sort of bargain, or hard choice.

Example: Player 2: Well this isn't going as smoothly as I hoped. Still I try and engage the guards on the outside of the complex to draw the rest of them out and get their attention. GM: Let's see what happens roll Guns plus Dex. Player 2: Here goes nothing [Player 2 rolls and gets an 8] GM: With an 8 you have choice either you manage to distract the guards for the whole time giving your companions a clear shot for the extraction however you sustain some damage in the fire fight and become wounded giving you an ongoing minus 1 until you get it fixed. Or you manage to keep yourself intact but not enough of the guard is drawn away so you friends take a minus 1 to their roll to extract. Player 2: I guess I will take the first option that roll is too dam important to flub.

10+ is a success. Your character get they were after and usually get to what exactly happens.

Example: Player 3: Okay while that is happening I think me and Player 4 will try to sneak into the headquarters and extract our target. Player 4: Sounds good to me. GM: Okay Player 3 roll stealth plus Dex also take another plus 1 for Player 4s help. Player 3: Awesome. [Player 3 rolls and gets a 12] GM: Well, well I guess you guys just write out what exactly happens in your post but you definitely succeed in the extraction.

Spoiler: Stats 

All characters have the following stats:

Strength: The character's raw physical power.

Dexterity: The character's litheness and agility.

Constitution: The character's ability to take physical punishment.

Intelligence: The character's mental acuity and speed.

Wisdom: The character's breath of knowledge and life experience.

Charisma: The character's natural presence of personality.

Luck: The character's inherent luck.

You can distribute the following points among these stats.
14 (+1), 13 (+1), 11 (+0), 10 (+0), 9 (+0), 8 (-1), 7 (-1)

These stats add or subtract from tests you make with your skill. Though sometimes pure stat tests are also used.

Spoiler: Skills 

Skills are things your character is good at doing. There is no list of these you can write your own though the GM can ask you to change a few of them if he does not think they fit the game or setting. There are three categories of skill. Primary skills, Secondary skills and Culture skills.

Primary skills are skills that define your character. The things you want your character to be truly good at should be put under primary skills. They allow you to get a +1 when rolling based on them and you won't be usually asked to roll on them as you are great at these things already. Only two can be taken at character creation.

Example: Player 2 wants to play a grizzled war veteran with a gambling problem. He takes Guns and Gambling as his Primary skills as those two skills represent his character concept very well.

Secondary skills are the rest of the character's skills that they have picked up during their life. These should still be integral parts of the character but represent things that aren't as obvious about them. Who knew that the engineer with the heart of gold could practice taekwondo? It is a good way to add depth to the character. These skills add no bonuses to your rolls but as not having a skill in something gives you a -1 they're still a good deal. Three can be taken at character creation.

Example: Player 2 wants some other skills to pad out his war veteran with. He chooses Storytelling, Intimidation and Brawling. These complement his primary skills while also reflecting on his character.

Culture skills work slightly differently than other skills. They functions as the mechanical base to reflect your contacts and general life before this adventure. When you're looking for contacts, friends, information or hard to come by knowledge you will roll these skills. Foreign language knowledge also fall under this umbrella, by default you will get your home planet's local language plus English (sometimes those are the same thing) . The cultures you choose should broad groups like Spacers, A Specific Planet, Criminals, Soldiers, Engineers etc. You can distribute three points (you need 1 point to raise a culture skill to zero) among these chosen culture skills.

Example: Player 2 wants his character to be from somewhere that has suffered some sort of war recently. After discussing this with the GM he decides to make his homeworld the planet of Naushad-ali and takes Japanes as his second language as that's one of the languages of the natives. As his character is a war veteran he takes Culture Soldier and spends 2 points on it for +1. He then spends 1 point to take Culture Nushad-ali at +0.

Spoiler: Connections 

What are connections?

Connections are the feelings, thoughts, and shared history that tie you together. They're what make you a crew rather than just a random assortment of people. The things that make living with people the strange, wonderful and sometimes devastating thing it is.

How are they earned?

Through doing coposts with other players. The first two coposts in a mission you do with someone you both gain a connection on the other. You can ofcourse do more but you won't earn anymore connections.

What are they used for?

• You can spend 1 connection with a character to give them a +1 or -1 onto any roll.
• Getting four connections with a player character restores it back to 1 and you mark experience.
• You can spend one connection to look into another's player character's heart and ask them 1 question they have to answer truthfully.
• You can use two connections to make a PC do what you want. If they do what you want they will mark an experience.

Why did you decide to use connections in this game?

I think giving mechanical weight to the relationships and connections you develop in play with each others characters can do interesting things to the game. When in D&D my character dislikes what your character is doing I can't in anyway affect the rolls associated with that decision. I mean generally there are aid actions you can do in combat but none that hinder the other character. With connections you can show that dislike with your player actions not only your words.

Spoiler: Rewards, EXP and Levelling up 

How do you level up?

When you have downtime (hours or days) and XP equal to (or greater than) your current level + 5, subtract your current level +5 from your XP, increase your level by 1.

How do you get experience?

The most common and easiest way to gain experience is to fail a roll by getting a 6 or less. If your character's belief or instinct get's you into trouble during the mission you mark experience. In addition if you raise your connections with a character to four you put it back to one and you both mark one experience. Also if a character spends two connections asks your character to do something and you do it you mark experience.

What does leveling up get me?

You gain 1 skill point that can be used to advance skills. It takes 2 skill points to advance a skill to zero, 4 to advance it to 1 and 6 to advance it to 2. You also get to increase one of your stats by 1.


What do we get as rewards for missions?

Money (the form this money comes in isn't always credits) and reputation. The amount of both depends on the mission.

What is reputation?

Reputation score is a numerical representation of how well the Charon's Coin is known in the universe. Helps you keep track of how badass you all are becoming. Also helps determine what sort of jobs you get and how much notice factions take of you.

Spoiler: Wound's and character death 

What are wounds?

Representation of the damage you take in battle. Think of them as hit points if you prefer though I wouldn't call them that. As they have slightly more mechanical impact and there are less of them then most games have hitpoints.

How many wounds can I take and what do they do?

A character who has +0 in their constitution has three. Those with a -1 have two and those with +1 have four and so on.

Surface wound - This one applies to characters with a +1 (or higher) modifier in Constitution. It has no mechanical expect getting you one step closer to death.

Light Wounds - Light wounds are the first that have a mechanical impact on your actions. They give a -1 to all rolls you make.

Serious Wounds - Those with a -1 in Constitution start here. Serious wounds give a -2 to all rolls.

At Death's Door - When a character is at Death's Door they also take -2 to all rolls and simple things become harder meaning that they have to roll to do things that they usually wouldn't have to roll for.

So can my character die in this game?

Yes though I am not out to kill your characters or anything like that. I will always discuss the possibility of your character dying with you before I force any sort of outcome onto you. That said you shouldn't always see character death as a negative if well done it can be one of the most narratively interesting moments in a game.

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Spoiler: The Character Sheet to Read 

Spoiler: CS sheet with explanation to what everything is  

Character concept: What's the basic idea behind your character? If you were to describe them in a sentence what would that sentence be?

Belief: This has nothing to do with religion or other sorts of belief structures. Beliefs are things rather that drive your character forward. Your belief can be "I am the true leader of this crew" or "All aliens are murderous bastards". It is my job as the GM to challenge these beliefs and present you with interesting situation because of them. It is also important to note that beliefs can change during play.

Instinct: Instincts are character priorities that help to define how the character acts. What does your character do without thinking about it? What are some life lessons they have taken to heart? Is there a weapon or piece of equipment that your character never leaves behind? An instinct might be to Always shoot first or If someone asks for help give it. Instincts should simpler than beliefs but they are harder to ignore. You can also change instinct through play.

Lifepaths: This game doesn't have a Bio. Instead it has life paths. Rather than meticulously write out the complex path your character took through life put that path into three or so (depending on how old of a character you want to play) lifepaths. Let's say you're playing a character who is a psychic mercenary. Their life paths would be Born to Wealth, Student at Psychic Academy, Psychic Mercenary. This path I have given as an example is very straightforward but yours can be much more complicated. How many life paths you use is up to you but the general rule of thumb is that one equals around ten years of your life. So a 28 year takes 3 and 15 year old takes 2 and so on. Your last life path should be the thing your character did just before joining the crew. As to why I wanted to use this system it was because I liked the simplicity of it (also because I recently fell in love with Burning Wheel but that's a whole other matter) plus by not writing out a full bio you get to be surprised by your own character's background and keep secrets about your past from other players.

Name: The name by which you prefer you character to be referred to as

Age: Your characters age.

Description: What your character looks like. Both a picture and some text would be appreciated but if you can only manage the one then text would be appreciated more.

EXP: Your character's experience starts at 0/6. For more info read the Systems of play section called EXP and leveling up.

Wounds: A place to track how wounded your character is becoming. For more information refer to the Systems of Play section Wounds and Death.

Stats: Your characters physical faculties. Also determines modifiers during rolling. For more information refer to the Systems of Play stats section.

Strength: The character's raw physical power.

Dexterity: The character's litheness and agility.

Constitution: The character's ability to take physical punishment.

Intelligence: The character's mental acuity and speed.

Wisdom: The character's breath of knowledge and life experience.

Charisma: The character's natural presence of personality.

Luck: The character's inherent luck.

14 (+1), 13 (+1), 11 (+0), 10 (+0), 9 (+0), 8 (-1), 7 (-1)

Primary skills: The skills you think essential to who your character is put here. Pick two. For more information refer to the Systems of Play skills section (the same for the next two).

Secondary skills: The other skills your character has acquired throughout life go here. Pick three.

Culture skills: Skills that reflect your cultural background distribute three points among culture skills of your choice. Three points to use. Languages spoken also go here.

Gear: The equipment and weapons that your character has. I thought about constructing a list of gear you can buy with some starting money but I think I would rather just have you define what you have and if I find it too much then just tell you.

Connections: Define up to three (but no less than one) relationships that your character has to NPCs or PCs. You gain a connection on them. Feel free to add NPC connection as soon as you make your character.

Spoiler: Character Creation Guide for those lost and nervous 

Step 1: I start by defining my character concept. I write down "Ace pilot with a broken heart."

Step 2: That done I think what is the defining thing that makes my character tick. The broken hearted part of the concept speaks to me so I fill in "Love is a lie that humanity tells itself to function." under Belief. For instinct I take "Always flirt with those I find attractive." as this compliments her belief nicely and I think it should get her into interesting situations.

Step 3: Before I go to Life Paths I PM my GM and talk with him about the places I want my character to be from. We discuss some simple backstory things and I ask about if there is a pirate faction she could have been apart of. After I have gotten the answers to my questions I choose my lifepaths. I take "Born Spacer" as I want my character to have been around spaceships since she was little. As the second life path I choose "Slave to Pirates" as I think that has a lot of interesting character development possibilities to later expand on. "Pirate Pilot" this I choose because I think the jump from slave to a full fledged pilot would be an interesting story to discover through play. I think three is enough for my character as she is still in her late 20s so to add more wouldn't make sense.

Step 4: Now for the usual RP fare. I put down Megan Isabella Gunn as my name. For my age I put 28. I also write out a description of what my character looks like.

Step 5: Time to allocate some stats. I put 14 and 13 into Int and Dex respectively as I want my character to be smart and agile. My 11, 10 and 9 go to Luck, Charisma and Wisdom as in those areas Isabella is pretty average. Finally I put a 8 and 7 into Strength and Constitution as she in neither strong or hardy. This means that my Wounds section will start with 0/2 as my constitution score is so low.

Step 6: I move on to skills. For Primary skills I take: Piloting and Gunnery. These are the skills that I feel my character is great at having been trained in them for many years. For Secondary skill I take: Spaceship repair and Navigation to add to the image of the former Pirate pilot who I imagine had to take care and repair the ship themselves most of the time. I also take Guitar mostly because I just I think that would be a cool skill to have. For culture skills I write up that my basic languages are Spanish and English. I spend two of the three points to raise Culture Pirates to +1 I then spend an additional point to add the Irish Gaelic language to my repertoire as these are Celtic Irish pirates and when I discussed stuff with the GM I suggested it would be cool if a lot of it's members spoke Gaelic.

Step 7: Finally I finish up with Gear and Connections. The gear part is easy for me as my character doesn't have much. I write down guitar, high quality rum, engagement ring and repair tools under my gear list. As the other crew has not been chosen yet I can only do my NPC connection. I write down one for my character's ex fiance: "Alister broke my heart and if I see him again blood will flow." And with that I'm done .

Spoiler: Finished sheet 

Character Concept: Ace pilot with a broken heart.
Belief: Love is a lie that humanity tells itself to function.
Instinct: Always flirt with those I find attractive
Lifepaths: Born Spacer, Slave to Pirates, Pirate Pilot

Name: Megan Isabella Gunn prefers Isabella or Iz
Age: 28
Description: Isabella is a striking looking woman. She isn't very tall or overtly shapely. No what makes her striking is her bearing and stance. Her whole body is always held in a position of relaxed confidence like a predator who has just eaten. This inner fire makes her alluring in so much more than the physical sense. From the outside it is hard to tell whether this is all an act to help cover up some inner vulnerability or if it's what she truly feels inside.

Her skin is the pale white of someone who spends most of their time traveling through space. It is also covered in tattoos. Her biggest and most obvious is a bioluminescent tattoo across her back that depicts a huge Raven in flight descending towards a bloody battlefield. Her hair is a whitish blonde which she wears short to keep from getting into her sea blue eyes during the more complex pilot maneuvers.

Her clothes are simple and practical. A brown leather bombers jacket with a thousand little inner pockets under which a simple white shirt is worn. Her pants are hardy denim jeans that don't break or stain easy.

Wounds: 0/2
EXP: 0/6

Strength: 7 (-1)
Dexterity: 13 (+1)
Constitution: 8 (-1)
Intelligence: 14 (+1)
Wisdom: 9 (+0)
Charisma: 10 (+0)
Luck: 11 (+0)

Primary Skills: Piloting, Gunnery
Secondary Skills: Spaceship repair, Navigation, Guitar
Culture Skills: English, Spanish, Celtic, Culture Pirate (+1)

Gear: Guitar, High quality rum, Engagement ring, Repair tools
Connections: Alister- Alister broke my heart and if I see him again blood will flow. 1/4

!!!COPY FROM HERE!!!

[FONT=Courier New][COLOR="#000000"][B]Character Concept:[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Belief:[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Instinct:[/B][/COLOR] 
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Lifepaths:[/B][/COLOR]

[COLOR="#000000"][B]Name:[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Age:[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Gender:[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Description:[/B][/COLOR] 

[COLOR="#000000"][B]EXP:[/B][/COLOR] 0/6
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Wounds:[/B][/COLOR] 

[COLOR="#000000"][B]Strength:[/B][/COLOR] 
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Dexterity:[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Constitution:[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Intelligence:[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Wisdom:[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Charisma:[/B][/COLOR] 
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Luck:[/B][/COLOR]

14 (+1), 13 (+1), 11 (+0), 10 (+0), 9 (+0), 8 (-1), 7 (-1)

[COLOR="#000000"][B]Primary Skills:[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Secondary Skills:[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Culture Skills:[/B][/COLOR]

[COLOR="#000000"][B]Gear:[/B][/COLOR] 
[COLOR="#000000"][B]Connections:[/B][/COLOR][/FONT]

RULES

1. If you want to play either an alien or a psychic PM before even writing your concept as there's things about those characters I would like to discuss. Also I am only allowing one alien character into this game.

2. If you want to play a regular vanilla human and have finished your Character Concept, Belief and Instinct PM me. I would like charecter creation in this game to be a somewhat cooperative effort between me and you. This does not mean I will be telling you who you should play or anything like that. More that this would help me sow some plot seeds for the future and help you learn and mold this world we will be playing in.

3. In this RP I hope to be a full time GM but if I don't get enough players I will also make a character if needed.

4. If any questions about anything stated here come to mind PM or write into this thread with your question and I will do my best to answer any inquires.

5. I value commitment and quality from my players much more highly than any sort of speed. If you're a slow poster don't worry there's room for you here but please be sure if you join that you would like to stay. Pretty please? With sugar on top?

6. The rest should be obvious. Be civil to each other. Follow the general RPA and Mature game rules. Don't be an assehole. And so on.

7. I am thinking about taking out all the dice mechanics as they seem to put a lot of people off. Not sure about it yet as I really like them. Would love to hear some feedback.

8. Have fun. Or don't. I'm not the boss of you.


TLDR
For those that want a quick idea of what this RP is about but don't want to read the whole thing read the Short of It. When you have read that and it sounds fun to you read the rest.

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The Charon's Coin dossier
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The Charon's Coin is a Generation 3 Imani Free Merchant class ship. It is the collateral for a loan agreement of 830000 credits (the cost of the ship) between Miss Megan Isabella Gunn and the Imani Clan. The contract has been made for 30 years and require minimum monthly payments of 2500 to be made to the Imani Clan every sector month.

General outer description: The Charon's Coin is a slightly sleeker version of the traditional Free Merchant type of ship which are traditionally known for their large roundish or squarish designs to maximize the cargo space available. The Coin sacrifices some of this functionality to instead focus on speed and agility. Most of the original matte black coloring remains though the sides and wing tips have been painted a deep purple that naturally gives over to a bubblegum pink. The ship's name has been painted with the same color on to it's left side with a coin flip design at the end. A simple sentence is inscribed under this name. "And the rest is rust and stardust."

Inner layout: The ships blueprints

Spoiler: Crew Room's 

Spoiler: Description of the ship's main deck 

Description of the Main Deck: The ship is entered through the loading rap at it's back. The first thing anyone comes across is the loading bay. It is a simple metal affair very sparse and empty, unless filled by whatever goods the Charon's Coin is transporting. At the very end of the loading bay two hallways lead off to the rest of the ship. The left one has doors that lead to both the supply rooms and the grav generator that allows for normal gravity conditions on the ship. The right hallway has a door leading to a empty room that seems to have been recently stripped of it's contents.

Following these hallways straight will lead one to a small room with a few spacesuits. The doors on the left and right lead to the airlocks that can be used to exit the ship in space and board other ships if permission is granted. The ship has no boarding tubes for boarding actions.

The door that leads straight in this small room opens up to the common area. This area has a comfortable atmosphere to it with bolted down couches and chairs assembled around a table in the center of which is a hologram projector that shimmers with blue light. The kitchen is to the left of this common room. The cooking implements and stove have a slight layer of dust on them however the food processor seems to be well used. The doors on the right lead to the showers and the washroom. The showers are all separate cubicles that wash a body as efficiently as possible. However there is one old school shower that would not be out of place in 21st century Earth. The washroom has three different cubicles and all have a cheap looking metal toilet.

The rest of the rooms that lead off the common area, are personal rooms. There are seven of these. By default they have a twin bed, a table with a chair and one shelf that is over the table. There is a button on the table that lifts up a console which functions as a quite old computer model that can be customized by the person using the room. Anything else that is housed in the room has to be provided by the person.

Continuing forward from the common room one will find a room with two ladders one leading to the top deck the other to the lower deck. After that there are two room that you'll find before arriving at the bride. The left one houses the medical bay which has two tables and many cabinets filled with medical supplies of different kinds. Although spartan it seems practical and not needlessly complex. The room on the right houses the comms and sensors room. It is filled with about ten or so monitors all showing cameras that are either on the outside or inside of the ship (none of them are inside personal rooms, showers or the washroom). There is also a computer that is much more advanced than the computers in the personal rooms though still nothing really impressive. The computer is used for scanning and routes comm calls through it.

Finally there is the bridge. While all of the other rooms are very impersonal and don't look very used or lived in this room is decked out in all sots of stuff. Posters of different bands are strewn about on the walls which are painted with complex geometric shapes with a lot of pink and dark purple. The floor is covered in shag carpet and all the three chairs are super comfortable looking. There is a simple Celtic cross hanging from the main control stick. And a bobble head pirate sits on the dash. This room also has the only windows that can be found on the Charon's Coin which make it feel much more open and lighter than the rest of the ship.

Weapons: Multi focal laser for ship to ship combat Sand thrower to disable small fighters.

Amenities: Inner workshop for ship repair, Extended stores for longer life support needs, Fuel bunkers to allow for multiple jumps before refueling, Fuel scoops to allow fuel harvesting from gas giants, 1st level Spike Drive

Imani Clan ship ratings:

Speed: 7 (+0)
Agility: 9 (+1)
Power: 6 (+0)
Armor: 4 (-1)

Fuel: 3/3
Hull Integrity: 3/3
Maximum Stores: 35 days worth of air, food and water for six people, 210 days worth of stores for one person

The important thing to know about the sector economy is that it is in constant flux. Very few things have set prices and the availability of items vary drastically from planet to planet. In some planets guns are everywhere and can be gotten with ease while on others the process is almost impossible. Now the one thing that is a constant on every planet is the price of fuel and that is set by the Sector Valhallan Theta Exchange Network. Cultural contacts and knowledge can help with knowing what prices are normal in what planets and what exactly can be bought there.

Space Travel Costs:

Monthly Loan Payment: 2500 credits
Refuelling: 100 credits per fuel missing
Repairing Battle Damage: 10000 credits per HP
General Maintenance: 25000 credits every six months
Resupplying stores: 20 credits per person per day of stores bought. 3600 for six crew members for 35 days.

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Spoiler: Sector Map 

Inhabited Star Systems - Inhabited star systems are represented by the grey circles with names under them. Some of them have more than one inhabited planet.

The Ship - Location of the ship in the sector is represented by the small ship icon.

Job Locations - Red numbers show where the jobs on the board would take place.

1. Viva La Revolución!

• Job issuer: La Sublevación de los Pueblos through Megan Isabella Gunn
  
• Nav Designation: GRID 0607, OEDIPUS, Naushad-ali
  
• Payout: 3000 credits per person (not including Isabella) and transport off the planet
  
• Job Description: The mission is one of kidnapping the leader of the Empire of the Sun's military's Special Operation Branch Tan Shen. For the mission to be successful you have to deliver him to the prearranged drop off point which was agreed with La Sublevación de los Pueblos
  
• Target Information: Important player in the Empire's politics Tan Shen has risen quickly through the ranks of the leadership through cold cunning and a ruthless attitude. His appointment has started rumors that soon the old Nightingale (the emperor's spymaster) will be replaced.
  
  Spoiler: Picture of him in ceremonial armour  

  

Where the Road Takes [M] Urban Fantasy Road Trip RP

Spoiler: Where the Road Takes 

Rated M: for scenes of violence, swearing, drug use and sexual situations
Inspired by Scooby Doo, Unknown Armies, World of Darkness and Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Could not find whose the original picture is, if anybody knows tell me


Video

“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”
"On the Road", Jack Kerouac

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In the summer of 1979 Bethany Petra Roads went missing near her home in Azlu, Washington.
The police search for her turned up no clues and eventually it was thought she had been kidnapped.
Three weeks after her disappearance her friends discovered a letter that lead them on a hunt,
that took them further from home than any of them had ever been.

This is that story.

★ ☀ ★

Spoiler: Evidence Box 001, Item 002: Missing persons poster Bethany Petra Roads 

The missing persons poster Edward and Shelly Roads put together to aid in finding their daughter. Found on the dashboard of the van.

Spoiler: Transcript from the first interview with Robert Paul Dubois 

Timestamp 10:41 - 10: 44

She was what bound us all together I think. I mean I know I wouldn't have become friends with any of them otherwise. We all just moved in such different circles. Yet she somehow managed to draw us all together. She had a sense for these sort of things. I mean it takes a certain kind of person to gather up a bunch of teenagers her own age and give them the drive to fight monsters.

We did not have many rules but those that we did have we followed with a sort of religious fervour: Firstly no matter how deep in shit and afraid we grew we would never tell an adult about it. Secondly fighting monsters was something we did as a group, never alone. Finally how ever cool the things we did were we would never brag about it. Most of these were unspoken of course, a contract made by mutual understanding nothing else. And at the center of all of this stood Beth. Our pillar, the thing around which we built our little group of hunters.

So when she disappeared at the beginning of that summer I was pretty sure the group would just fall apart. It was the summer before we all went our own way in life and Beth had planned on all of us taking the hunt on the road. We would take my van and just drive to different towns kill a few monsters and you know see the world's largest ball of yarn while we were at it. But with her gone that seemed like... Wrong I guess would be the best word.

That's until we found the letter. That sort of changed things.

Spoiler: Evidence Box 001, Item 001: Evience report, the Ford Econoline Van 

Customized version of the 1971 Ford Econoline model. Painted ocean blue with yellow highlights on the sides. Addition of two beds in the back both military cots, the seats also extended all the way back allowing for two other people to sleep in the car. Attached to the back doors there are also simple seats made that allow the other passengers to be seated as well. The rest of it's factory issue though the engine has some work done on it to increase the speed from 0 to 60 Mph. The job is done well and shows that the Mr. Dubois knows his stuff.

Important note: All of Box 1 and 2 contain the contents of this van.

Spoiler: Evidence Box 001, Item 003: Bethany's letter to her friends 

Thought to have been written on the day that she disappeared. First found by Robert Paul Dubois three week after the disappearance.

Spoiler: Archive Document: 1955, REDACTED, REDACTED 

There are monsters in the world. There have always been, even back when humanity were just another species of primate doing it's best to strike the evolutionary jackpot. As we grew so did the monsters tailoring themselves to hunt us more effectively. Some of them even adopted our form seeing the benefits of it.

My point is they've been with us for a long ass time. So you would think considering human ingenuity and our powerful survival instincts we would have driven them to the edge of extion like we did with any animal that pissed us off or was tasty. Yet it seems in this one area we have quite certainly gone backward not forwards.

It used to be the case if you had a vampire nest in town you'd hunt it down and kill it. Nowadays if you tried to gather a mob to hunt vampires you'd be put in the looney bin. Towns that suffer from ancient curses that cause their firstborns to die blame it on gas leaks or mass psychosis or whatever else bullshit excuse they can find.

And that ladies and gentlemen is why we are important. Most of the people out there aren't aware of the supernatural. They move through their lives blind to the secret loss of life around them. This is what these monsters are the best at. Making you so afraid than rather deal with reality you believe they aren't real. Our goal is to stop them. At all costs.

Taken from meeting REDACTED, minutes 23 - 24. Speech delivered by head of the CIA's REDACTED project 1955, REDACTED, the project was ceased soon after this.

Spoiler: Evidence Box 001, Item 005: Torn page, Zine "The Arcane", Issue 105, with notes by Bethany 

Original picture by Bryan Ray

The Edwards Supernatural Entity Power Scale: A Guide
By Josh Harsh, 1977, April issue

First found in the latter part of the 1950s the Edwards power scale has seen pretty consistent use for the past twenty years. It is used for referencing and cataloging supernatural entities. It classifies them based on power taking as its baseline a regular civilian. Each stage represents a step up in power with creatures of the same stage being pretty even in an one on one fight but creatures of different stages would be very unevenly matched in an one on one battle. It is unknown for exactly what purpose it was made nor who exactly this Edwards was. (Some have speculated it to be Edward Kelly however as the scale contains Wendigos this is unlikely) Whatever the case the scale started filtering into the Aware community and has been passed down through word of mouth ever since.

	-2	-1	0	1	2	3	4	5	6
Human			Civilian	Unaware Soldier, True Faithful, Wolf Born, The Gifted	Aware Soldier, Apprentice Magician, True Faithful Priest	Journeyman Magician, True Faithful Soldier	Master Magician, Skinwalker	The Chosen
Cursed				Ghoul, Changeling	Nephilim, Young Vampire	Werewolf, Old Vampire	The Endless, Wendigo, Ancient Vampire	Vampire Prime, Father Wolf
Created		Homunculus			The Pygmalia	Sons of Ulgan	Golems, Children of Adam
Fae	Small Folk (Pixies, Gnomes, Fairies), Brownies	Hobgoblins, Satyr, Kobold	Goblins, Grimcat, Faceless, Doppleganger	Ogre's, Trolls, Grimwolf, Hags, Centaurs, Minotaur	Giant's, Cyclops, Unicorns, Gruffs, Riders of the Hunt, Ghast	Fetch, Elder Gruff, Kelpies, Courtiers, Gugs	Minor Princes of Fae	The Autumn Prince, The Spring Princess	The Winter King, The Summer Queen
Spirits			Ghost, Zombie	Poltergeist, Black Eyed Beings	Shade, Banshee	Wraith, Daemon, Draugr	Reaper
Beasts		Wolpertiger		Pegasus	The Black Beast, Cockatrice	Basilisk, Drake	Cerberus, Griffin	Dragon, Phoenix, Hydra	Echidna

___________

The list is full of scribbles with some creatures circled while others crossed off. The pattern is unclear but it is assumed that it represented what creatures the kids had contact with. Under the list the following note is written:

Most of these are western centric examples. No African or Asian mythology is represented. This does not mean that those creatures don't exist or aren't scalable more that when this Edwards designed the Scale they were thinking of Western Monsters. Otherwise I think this scale should be quite useful to us help to see who we're facing.

The handwriting comparisons reveal the writer to be Beth.
Made an unknown amount of time before she disappeared.
____________

Now to some of you most of those words in the scale will seem meaningless. And that is why me and the editors of the Arcane have decided to put together this handy guide to those that are just entering the Aware community.

First let us talk about the categories and what exactly they mean:

Humans: This one is probably the most obvious. This includes everyone who is still essentially human regardless of whatever other abilities they have.

Cursed: Any human that has suffered a curse that has changed their essential being. Some of these curses originate from other humans while some are ancient, meant to be a scourge on humanity from the outer realms.

Created: The unifying factor in all of these is that they were created by human hands. Everything from the body to the soul is created by a mage or a religious practitioner. Yet they have a hard time ever truly functioning as human as they are too different and leave us feeling strange after seeing them.

Fae: These cover all the creatures who inhabit the Dream realm. They all feed off of human stories and dreams. The one found in the original list do not even begin to cover all of them. These all differ country to country mythology to mythology but one constant remains they're powerful and not to be messed with.

Spirits: These cover all the creatures who inhabit the Deathly realm. They feed off of the soul energy released at the moment of death. From this energy they construct pale reflections of a person that they use to affect the world. The more powerful the emotions that surrounded the death the more clear and powerful the spirit. The important thing to be remembered here is that they are not the persons you rember from life. They are just creatures who are using their memories and soul stuff to make themselves a body.

Beasts: These cover all the creatures who inhabit the Primordial realm. They feed off of the fear and hatreds of people. Unlike the Fae who they resemble the Beasts are not intelligent creatures they are for the most part like animals only with the violent tendencies of humans. Probably the ideas and fears that created them were more primal than those found with Fae creatures. As with the Fae those found on the list just scratch the surface.

Celestials: These cover all the creatures who inhabit the Celestial realm. They feed off of the faith and hope of people. To also clarify these contain within it both the forces of heaven and hell as well as all the other beings tied to the numerous other worlds faith. They are not added to the list as it has been made clear that it is hard to exactly pin down power levels as they rarely meddle in human affairs, unless brought into things by humans themselves. Further it is unclear whether these creatures are just the reflections of our faith or the real things so to speak.

The rest of the issue could not be found in the van, this page seemed to be the only thing they needed.

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Spoiler: Plot 

Four or five friends set off on a journey to find their kidnapped friend Beth. Most of the RP will be focused on the characters and the journey through different parts of America looking for clues. Each town we stop in however will have some sort of supernatural problems that we get mysteriously embroiled in. Some of them will be real towns and cities others will be made up for plot convenience.

Spoiler: Our home 

The town of Azlu, Washington lies near the border of Canada. It sits among the Northern Cascade mountains near a national park which also extends to the nearby Abbdon forest. It has a permanent population of 63000. It mostly survives on ski tourism, campers, hikers and the local university. Logging and copper mining are still important industries to the locals.

Interestingly it is also the city with the highest concentration of supernatural activity in the world. More people disappear hear in a year than the whole state of Washington combined but as it's such a small place no one notices or if they do they don't seem to care much. This has a lot to do with the town's history and placement. It was founded in 1864 by mad millionaire Jack Lane. Lane had been a very successful business man back in New York, so successful in fact that by the time he was fifty he had made close to thirty million dollars which in today's money would be many billions of dollars.

Lane in the last years of his life went quite publicly crazy. He was convinced that he had gotten his fortune through deals with "unspeakable creatures" and needed to "repay his debts". For this purpose he began the construction of the town of Azlu even though at the time there was a civil war going on. By the time the town was complete Jack began paying people to come live there. This policy attracted a lot of folks and soon the town grew to grew to it's current size.

By the time of his death Lane had lost most of his money to this project but people who had been with him during his last days said he died happy. The town mostly stopped growing after that, remaining about the same in size and population as it has for over a hundred years.

Azlu has always been strangely diverse for a small Washington town. Some of it can be chalked up to it being an University town. Yet that is not entirely it. People from different beliefs and cultures all seem to flock to the town as if the city itself wanted diversity in it's people. And once people start living in Alzu they do not want to leave...

Spoiler: Note about the time this is set 

So this RP is set in 1979. When I created this RP I knew that I wanted to set it in a time before cellphones, the internet and high grade surveillance equipment. More than that however I wanted to set in a time that was not our own to give it that certain distance that allows us freedom to write what we want. The past is a fictional world after all albeit with much more world building than most fantasy books .

A thing to keep in mind while writing characters then is that this RP is set in a time just after some serious social upheaval in the late sixties. The Stonewall riots and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. happened only ten years ago from this point. The Watergate scandal happened only five years ago and the last G.I left Vietnam about a year after that. We are also just passed a recession and economic slump in the mid seventies and just entering into the Energy Crisis thanks to the Iranian Civil War. All these events have happened within our characters lifetime. What effect it had on them is up to you however I wanted everyone to at least keep all of this in mind.

Spoiler: Important charecter notes 

So the first and most important thing is that our characters are friends already at the beginning of the RP. Friends actually might not be the best word more like comrades in arms. Teens who have fought monsters together for the last three years yet never actually gotten to know each other on a deeper level. There's a fun duality to this that in some ways we know each other better than probably anyone else but on the other hand we don't really know each other at all.

After you fill in the character sheet and we have a set cast I will send out questionnaires that explore what exactly these friendships mean to each of us, but for now keep that in the back of your head when you create your character.

The other thing important thing is that while yes you can play supernatural characters there are a few limitations. Looking at the Edwards Supernatural Scale choose from the human or cursed category from 0 - 1. So you can't be a vampire or a werewolf but you can be a wolfborn or a ghoul and so on.

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Spoiler: How the van looks like inside 

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What is your name?: The name your character goes by.

What do you look like?: The outward appearance of your character

What's weird about you?: There is something about your character that is off. This can be a supernatural or a mundane thing.

What's something you do that you are great at?: A skill you are truly the best at.

What's something you wish you could be better at?: Something you are middling or bad at, that you wish you could be great at.

What's something you do purely because it gives you joy?: A skill you practice because it makes you feel better about yourself and life.

Tell me a story about the last time you saw Beth?: A RP sample of your character out and about doing something.

Why do you think that Beth is worth saving?: The answer does not have to be positive nor does it have to be negative what is important is being honest to the character you're playing.