Rated M for violence, gore, drug usage and sexual references.
Be prepared for a long post. Lot of info for this one.
Helthus, City of Beasts
“We built this city with the blood of our ancestors, whose bones now guard their gift to us. The tides of chaos throw themselves upon our walls, only the watchers and the power of our ancestors keep them back. We are a strong people, but ignorant. So much has been lost, so little recovered. We cannot live like this; we must reclaim what was ours. We were something once. Let us be something again.”
-Avelus IV at the founding of the Reclaimers
“Let his vision continue with us.”
-Jerath the Seer at the funeral of Avelus IV
In an unnamed forest on Kiroth a single city pushes up from the greenery, Helthus. A city of man … the only city of man. The only sign of civilisation on the world. Surrounded by a forest of death, where beasts of nightmares tear apart those foolish enough to enter, the city is the only safe haven. Protected by the souls of those who died to bring it into being and the Watchers the people eke out a miserable existence.
Then Avelus IV came and changed it all. He forged the watchers into a united force for the first time in recorded history, he trained new recruits as soldiers and amassed an army of workers. The Reclaimers were born, with the drive to take back the land in their hearts. Pushing outwards they slew thousands of beasts under Avelus’s flag. But before their gains could be consolidated and turned into a real change, Avelus was struck down by a great and powerful Wyrmbeast. Without his leadership he reclaimers fractured, the watchers left and no leader rose to reunite them all. The generals refused to co-operate and the Hethus council refused to intervene.
With their advance stalled the beasts struck back. Drawn by the fighting hundreds of new beasts entered the fray and crashed into the reclaimer’s lines. The Wyrmbeast who slew Avelus killed hundreds alone and the reclaimers buckled. They fell back to their last line of defence, the few forts they had built closest to the city, and abandoned the rest. With no conquest to sustain them and riddled with shame over their loss they entered the city, overthrew the council and instated themselves as the new council. Now they rule Helthus divided as they are, the generals trying to outdo each other and eliminate the other leaders to cement their rule. The beasts have retaken all but the last few forts and, with the hundreds of new beasts replacing those who were slain, the watchers are outnumbered worse than ever before. Helthus teeters on the edge of falling into the chaos itself. And then … then beasts will march unopposed.
(Yes, Caliban from 40K was the main inspiration for this world)
The factions of Helthus are divided into 3 main groups. The Reclaimers who rule the city, the Watchers who defend it, and the civilians who live it.
Spoiler: Factions of Helthus
Reclaimers
Spoiler: Eastern Strong Arms
Leader: Carlos Gert
Council members: 18
City Hold percentage: 15%
Average numbers:2200
Preferred Gear: Ranged and melee with light armour
Goals: The Eastern Strong Arms are an amalgamation of the original reclaimers who fought in the eastern forest block. Notably one of the densest and most hazardous areas they bonded together through the fighting and have a large fighting force despite their lower influence in the city. However recent battles have drained their numbers and they have resorted to press ganging people into joining. They have built a reputation for executing any who refuse to join or fail to mee their standards in training.
Spoiler: The Iron Aegis
Leader: Brandon Elfet
Council members: 42
City Hold percentage: 39%
Average numbers: 5000
Preferred Gear: Ranged weapons and heavy armour
Goals: The Iron Aegis is currently the largest and most powerful reclaimer faction. They have always been advocates of defence over offence since Avelus died. With the most recent push by the beasts the people have flocked to the defenders with support. With the eastern strong arms supporting them they have a definite majority in the council, and almost have one by themselves, something no over faction has done. They now see Avelus’s mission as against nature, they never should have risked the ire of the beasts. They wish to completely isolate the city from the outside world, freeing the people from the fear of the beasts.
Spoiler: The Dragoons
Leader: Farel Parvor
Council members: 24
City Hold percentage: 24%
Average numbers: 2500
Preferred Gear: Melee and ranged weapons and medium armour
Goals: The Dragoons have consistently been one of the most powerful factions. Normally commanding 30 members only the aegis’s new support has reduced their holdings. During their retreat after Avelus's death they captured a Birdbeast and took it back to Helthus. There they recreated its scream attack and now attach microphones to all their rifles renaming them Wailing or Banshee Rifles. They have earnt a name for terror attacks, striking suddenly and leaving the survivors screaming in terror. They directly oppose the Aegis, stating that the beasts must be weak in numbers to react as they have. Attacking now could free them.
Spoiler: The Death Hand
Leader: Keldon Haold.
Council members: 7
City Hold percentage: 5%
Average numbers: 450
Preferred Gear: Melee weapons and light armour, enhanced by drugs
Goals: The Death Hand has always been a small group. In the original reclaimers this small group organised a drug trading ring within the troops, supplying stimms and drugs of pleasure. Upon returning to the city the few put their talents to use, taking over any existing drug syndicates and pleasure houses. Of all the reclaimer groups they were the ones that abused their power the most. The leaders have little interest in politics, and this combined with their drug powered warriors are make them not worth the effort of eliminating. They would rather live out their last days in a drug fuelled coma than try to fight back.
Spoiler: The 81st
Leader: Roger Arsmith
Council members: 9
City Hold percentage: 17%
Average numbers: 900
Preferred Gear: Medium armour and ranged weapons
Goals: The 81st are the only group to keep their designation from when the reclaimers were united, rather than take a new name or use their unofficial one instead. They kept in power for a long time through sheer numbers and the brilliance of their generals, but after multiple assassinations of high ranked members, they have lost over half their territory and hundreds of troops. Their initial goal was to reunite the reclaimers and venture out once again. However they are currently more focussed on keeping what little parts of the city they still hold and keeping their new COs alive.
Watchers
Spoiler: The Angels of Karth
Leader: Kelgor Furth
Members: 350
Specialisation: Hit and run attacks, never allowing themselves to be hit. They have developed a special weapon coating made from the leaves of the Karth tree that lights their blades on fire in fiery retribution. The flame reacts oddly with the flesh of the beasts, likely explaining why the trees are so populous and avoided by the beasts, causing a massive eruptions of boils around the wound and black blood, rather than green or blue, to pour from the wound. The wounds caused by the flame are also more than purely cosmetic. The wounds do not heal and cause more damage as the residual oil penetrates the beast’s innards. The discovery allowed Luth, the previous leader, to break away from the normal watchers and establish his own group.
The angels are a fiercely religious group. They believe they are literally angels sent to Helthus to save it from destruction. They often kidnap young children and babies to indoctrinate and join their cause.
Gear: Melee weapons and light armour
Spoiler: The Sentinels of Hell
Leader: Harkett Lysil
Members: 1500
Specialisation: The Sentinels are the most defensive of the watchers. They are the ones who man the wall, looking for beasts that sneak in close. They work with the wall their entire lives, building an affinity with the spirits within. They can direct the spirits and the spirits can transport the around during battle. Some believe that they were the original watchers, not a breakaway group like most others. This would certainly explain their age and independence.
Gear: Heavy armour and melee weapons.
Spoiler: The Crystals of Pain
Leader: Garnet Drevam
Members:220
Specialisation: The crystals are the only major faction led by a woman in Helthus. Garnet was only able to claw her way to leadership when she discovered the reaction that can distil crystals from blood of the beasts. She was then able to make the crystals into ammunition. By diluting the blood with their faeces she found she was able to manufacture large quantities with little loss of hardness. With her crystal ammunition arming her warriors her watcher band was formed. Garnet’s breakaway from the watchers clashed with a previous group the Tribals who used the beasts blood as a drug. Unable to collect enough to supply both sides a small battle was fought where the Tribals were crushed from a fort away and the Crystals emerged.
Despite the Tribals being wiped out their blood drugs have yet to cycle back into the main watchers group. The crystals keep the recipes secret and use then for pleasure.
Gear: Ranged weapons and medium armour
Spoiler: The Watchers
Leader: None
Members: 2600
Specialisation: Other than the specialised watchers there exists a much larger group of ordinary watchers. These men and women use any weapon, any armour and any tactic. They don’t specialise in one way or another. When a member within the group makes anew discovery on how to combat the beasts, they will often split away with their supporters and form a special group. Most of these groups do not last and eventually recombine with the mass, where their secrets are shared around and the group profits.
Civilian
(Note: This faction cannot be joined by PCs. I have only included it as it is important to the story.)
Spoiler: The Wall
Leader: N/A
Description: What keeps Helthus safe is more than its watchers, more than the technology of its forgotten era. More than anything what protects the city is its Wall. Built centuries ago the Wall is an entity of magic, a relic from the creators of Helthus. The souls of those who died in its construction are trapped within the Wall as spirits. They are able to manifest into the real world around the wall and their bodies carve through the beasts with ease. They attack as a whole, flying into the beasts and shredding their bodies. But when they attack they disappear, their energy dissipated for a time. The spirits harbour deep hatred for the beasts and cannot control their fury when presented with them. They are powerful but undirected, needing the sentinels to command them to mount a proper defence that doesn’t waste their energy. When they attack they are not lost, but must regenerate inside the wall before they can re-emerge. Thus the other watcher factions must prevent too many beasts attacking the wall at once and overwhelming it. If that happened the wall could be completely drained, leaving the city without its best defence.
During the RP the strength of the wall will be measured in the percentage of spirits able to attack (i.e. not regenerating). It takes ~2-3 in game days for a spirit to regenerate.
Spoiler: The Seers
Leader: Jerath
Members: 43 + ~1700 militia
Description: The seers were the leaders of Helthus before the Reclaimers overthrew them. They were the council that governed the city. However when they were deposed from power they became a group of men and women with no large holdings and no army to protect them. They originally went into hiding in case the reclaimers came after them to finish the job. They lost dozens to assassinations in the first few weeks, before the reclaimers became bored with them and turned on each other. Once they realised they were relatively safe the seers re-emerged and began building a power base. By the time the reclaimers became aware of the new threat the Seers were too large to take head on and had the support of the people. Now they fight a war to take back their city through the Helthus underground. They hold no above ground land but own the earthworks.
Spoiler: The People
Leader: N/A
Members: ~ 165,000
Description: The people of Helthus. The rich, the poor and the invalid. Every day they witness a hundred atrocities. People shot in the streets for resisting, reduced to tears as bystanders or forced to work for those they hate. These are the folk with nowhere else to go but death, but who prefer their pathetic lives to the alternative. They struggle to survive against the tides of chaos. As one of the people you have a dozen choices before you, but all but a few lead to death.
Helthus Technology
Power Sources
Unknown reactor: A reactor of unknown origin fuels most of the city. It is largely autonomous. The inside conditions are deadly to humans and a group of machines restock the reactor will fuel when it gets low from inside stores. Current estimates say there is enough fuel inside to last 3000 years. Which is odd considering a decade ago there was only enough for 2900.
Karth Leaves: Along with the wall the Karth tree has kept Helthus alive. An odd plant its leaves store a tremendous amount of energy and they are harnessed in every technology that doesn’t use the reactor.
Weapons
(Note that these weapons serve as a baseline for what is allowed. You can create your own, just PM me about it first)
Spoiler: Melee Weapons
Chain Weapons: Chain weapons are weapons which replace the traditional sharpened blade with a series of rapidly spinning teeth on a belt which acts like a chainsaw. The weapons are far better at tearing through lightly armoured foes, but can be easily damaged on more heavily armoured ones. It large groups they can deal heavy damage to a beast, but one on one they are relatively weak. The weapons use a power pack which burns Karth leaves in order to supply power to the motor. Favourites of the Death hand.
[img]https://api.ning.com/files/-b*9TLLxBYXw4BwATNbaVaN1jViFVuwrU242oo2z0K9-ZeESptMO0P-DYzU770GkUVDwPD3tc8wIU4*8qqN2I7t*3Gsd0SSf/Chainsword.jpg[/img]
General Melee weapons: Swords, Axes, Spears, Polearms (if you can think of it it’s in here), Daggers etc.
Spoiler: Ranged Weapons
All ranged weapons use karth leaves in the bullet casings for propulsion.
MKIII Pistol:A slender pistol with a focus of range over accuracy, favoured close range gun of the crystals it carries a magazine of 8 shots, has a medium firing sped but is accurate to 30 ft.
Arc Revolver:A compact gun with a large barrel going for power over accuracy. It has a magazine of 6 bullets with a fast firing speed, but it is only accurate to 10 feet. Favourite offhand pistol of the Dragoons.
The 81st Longshot: A favourite weapon of the 81st, renamed after them when they continued to use it after the split, and the staple weapon of the reclaimers under Avelus it is a cheap, mass produced rifle. Easy to learn and shoot it is best for large volleys which pepper an area with shot. They are relatively accurate out to 100ft, but are never really useful on their own. They carry a magazine of 12 shots and have a medium firing speed.
Crystallum Hasta: The current pinnacle of ranged weaponry technology the Hasta is a long range rifle designed specifically for use with the Crystal’s unique ammunition. It has an accurate range of 300ft but an extremely slow fire speed and a magazine of only 3 shots. It is used for beast hunting and is very effective. https://fxb.worth1000.com/contests/17181/17181-phone
Vehicles
Spoiler: The Transport
Named the Transport due to the lack of other vehicles, these massive trucks are heavily armoured but slow moving. They are useful for moving troops between forts and can take a large amount of punishment. However the technology behind their engines and strength of their armour has yet to be replicated and the years of war have taken their toll. Few remain in service and they are only used for important missions now. Capturing one from a rival faction is one of the greatest victories. Oddly enough they are often avoided in firefights, as damaging one could cost the attackers more than they gain by destroying it.
The trucks run on karth leaves like everything else. The engineers have managed to learn enough about the engine to change its fuel source. They are all terrain vehicles, able to travel through the forests with ease, crushing anything underfoot and destroying anything stupid enough to be in its way. While they have no weapons themselves collapsible shutters can be lowered to create firing points. The biggest killers of these vehicles were the largest of beasts, which live in the thickest areas of jungle these were often sent to clear out. These days however, with the reclaimers stuck inside Helthus, more fall victim to mechanical problems, dying a quiet death.
Spoiler: The FRU
The FRU (Fast Response Unit) is one of the few technological advances made in the history of Helthus. Using the wheels derived from the Transport this pilot only vehicle attains a maximum speed of 40km/hr. Its useful for getting messages delivered quickly during battles, and is well armoured. They have also been used as escorts during troop marches. Despite their speed they have poor manoeuvrability.
Locations
To come
The Monster of Kiroth
The beasts of Kiroth are monsters. Even the citizens of Helthus can see that, they are unnatural perversions of nature. They resemble animals once seen on Helthus or recorded in books but corrupted by the land. They are far stronger and far more deadly than their normal counterparts, often with strange abilities like the birdbeasts shriek or the lionbeasts quill-mane. Be careful when fighting them, few but the watchers can face one alone and live, and even then the odds are against them. (Feel free to make up your own beasts in the RP, these only serve as a guide. There are hundreds of unique beasts out there)
Spoiler: Examples
You may have up to 2 characters.
Character Sheet
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Faction:
Weapons and Armour:
Personality:
Bio:
Other info:
Picture:
Still to come, NPCs and important Locations
Last edited by DoughGuy; 11-25-2012 at 12:08 PM.
Reason: Because nothing went right!
On indefinite hiatus. I remain purple only for technical support, please direct queries to Scottie or another staffer. Thank you RPA for being my second home for so many years, and every member who makes this the wonderful place it is.
Weapons and Armour:Mikhael has been trained to use and fire a variety of ranged weapons, all of which he is decently proficient. He has also trained to use a few minor melee weapons, such as a combat knife and short sword.
Personality:Mikhael is quiet often preferring not to speak with those around him. When he does speak he is often sarcastic, depending on the individual that he is talking to. The man is loyal to the 81st, and believes that a united group of Reclaimers are required to retake the jungle lost during the last age. Though sarcastic to most, Mikhael is kind to those who are less fortunate than him, believing that at any point in time he could be put into the same situation.
Bio:I'd preferably like to work this out as the roleplay goes on. Sometimes a character can be fleshed out better as you write, as opposed to writing down the information before hand. It also gives others something to read and discover about your character as the roleplay goes on. Though if you'd prefer me to post this now, I'd happily comply.
Sorry I missed this saint, not checking it as often anymore. That's fine about the bio, the personality is enough to start with. Now we just need a few more people.
Yeah I'm curious why more people haven't signed up. The story behind the RP seems pretty interesting, and I would think that others would think the same. Hopefully we get some more people in soon. If not would you want to make this a 1x1 roleplay or something smaller?
Helthus, City of Beasts OOC (M)
Originally Posted by Bee Bear
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