Faceless [Fantasy, Freeform, LGBTH friendly]

[Roen]

T'is the song of the Faceless, fathers be my witness, truest rhymes never spoken.

First there was One, then came Two,
Three and Four to follow, Five and Six last for the queue.

One by one they woke in their beddings,
Some shared, others drawn apart
One by one they woke, watching their story start.

The skies bare above them, the earth barren below,
At the middle of yonder they woke,
Ignorant of whence they came, and where they go.

The world unknown to them, as strange as the silver's gaze
Lost and confound, anger fills the gaps, all part of the new-man's craze.

The song of the Faceless starts at dawn, mothers of mine. Let them be awoken.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Faceless!

As the title stated, this will be a classic fantasy game in a dynamically original setting. What does that mean? Stay tuned, it will be explained soon enough. This game will be GMed by Kingmaster1 and myself, in the systemless logic-is-our-rulebook method (AKA Freeform). Ok? Good.

WHAT IS FACELESS?

So, what is the concept of the game?
Pretty simple, the concept itself is based on a sci-fi TV series named Dark Matter, but only in the sense that it revolves around the theme of amnesia. Plainly put, the game is about a party of fantasy-times characters that wake up one morning with their memories missing. They have no idea where they came from, where they were headed, who their companions are or even themselves, they don't even remember their own names.

The amnesia will only affect their background related memories, they won't forget the basics, like how to speak, the use of a chair or how to rent a room at an inn for the night. We found it to be an interesting theme to explore, how characters with wiped memories form their new identities, how would they differ from their past ones, with the new experiences they would go through, bits and pieces of their muscle memories and traits leaking in, while being haunted by people and unresolved issues from their pasts. Would this wipe change them for the better or worse? Can villains become heroes? Cowards find their bravery? Could the devout be corrupted sans the memory of their faith?
If you're curious about that as much as we are, we want YOU.

The psychological medium is only one exciting aspect of this game, as hinted above- their past can't be erased so easily, and their mistakes, enemies, commitments and relationships will be on their heels, each and every one offering thrilling new plots and interactions. Side plots and main plots galore. Why am I being so vague? Soon to be explained.

So, we've got forming and evolving personalities, dynamic interactions, side plots, main plot and a journey through a fantastical world. All we need is players, which brings me to the next section:


WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
Right now we're thinking of a small group of 4-6 dedicated writers, that have the patience and the time to invest in this. It will probably be a very long story, and we'd like to recruit writers that can be reliable about their dedication to a game and stick to it through the thick and thin. The expected posting rate would be, once the initial hype has past, reasonably one post per week (exceptions can and will be made, but communication is a must).

We don't care about post lengths, we prioritize rhythm, dynamics and quality over your ability to make a person scroll. We want you to be respectful of others, good natured and engaging, to help us create the niftiest gang of writers ever. When we can have fun together OOC, the IC only benefits from that, so, yeah, let's do that.

Also, of course, as the title suggests, we invite – nay – encourage players of all sexes and persuasions to join us.


THE WHERE
Well, now, this is probably my most favorite part of this project!

I am, however, going to let King tell you about that.

[kingmaster1]

Hello, everyone! I'm kingmaster1, just call me King (or your highness, if you're kinky)

I'll be the co-GM of this game alongside Roen as the two of us go out of our way to mentally scar you and your characters with every trick in our devious little books!

Anyway, down to business!

THE WHERE

The setting of "faceless" will be quite different from its inspiration, that being the TV show "Dark Matter". The setting for this game will be a more medieval, Skyrim-esque fantasy world. Think magics, sword fights, rogues, dank taverns, busty bar wenches, some monsters (thatcouldorcouldnotinvolvelargetentaclemonsters), you know, fantasy.

So, a fun time for all!

The biggest aspect of the setting, however, is that we are going to build the world around the character bios that you all submit to us. That means we'll need to know things like where you're from, who your characters work for, nobles that you're aligned to, things of that nature. What we'll do with that information is take those bits and pieces, connect the dots and develop it into a whole new setting. It's a nice, creative practice so you can all really feel connected to the world around you, since it was basically tailored around your characters.

Now, we will be giving you some foundations to start from- a map, which include the basics: the continents of the world, the different kingdoms, the very bare concepts of each area and the type of races one would find there, but the rest is up to you: whatever serves your characters' bios best.

Roen and I will be here to aid you in the process, make suggestions according to what we've already got going with the other players, and basically brainstorm with you.
CHARACTER BIOS

The one caviot that some of you may see is that, if we included character bios, surely the whole lot of you could just read each other's character histories whenever you like! Well, that's where you're wrong, you dirty cheat!

The character bios will be fairly standard, but there will be 2 versions: One version, the public version that all players will see, will involve only things about a character that are apparent: IE. Hair color, eye color, your clothing or whether or not you're naked, etc. etc. This will, obviously, also include an assumed age, race, and maybe sexuality, if you'd so desire.

The full bios, however, which will include your character's full history, personality, family, and other such longer matters, will only be shared with the GMs (That being Roen and myself). None of you will be allowed to share such things with each other during the course of the game, these details will only be revealed IC. Gotta keep the mystery between each other, after all!

Now, there is ONE exception to this rule: If two writers want their characters to have a shared background, like family members or couples, they may share that aspect with each other. Keep in mind, however, that, while you two will know of these ties, your characters will not and will have to deduce such things in the meanwhile. Of course, you can keep details from your 'partner' about your character, and redact the bios you share with them.

Anyway,
That's it for now!
Waiting to see how much interest this idea gets before we post more info.

[Kadigan]

I love Dark Matter, and would like to throw some interest at this game.

[Carly]

i have not seen dark matter but this does sound interesting i love it that its lgbth friendly - does that mean intersex/hermaphrodites are permitted ? And how much sexual content will be expected ?

[kingmaster1]

i have not seen dark matter but this does sound interesting i love it that its lgbth friendly - does that mean intersex/hermaphrodites are permitted ? And how much sexual content will be expected ?

Intersex and hermaphrodites are definitely welcome ^_^

Sexual content will mostly be left up to the players but story will take precedence as this is a story driven game and concept :)

[vastowen456]

I'm definitely interested in this one. Probably got a character up my sleeve that I could use for this one, too, should I join :P

[Guancyto]

Could be interesting! Usually amnesia is a fairly cheap narrative trick in service of something else; I'm curious how an RP that makes it a centerpiece will turn out.

I've got a couple of ideas that might work for this, as well.

[la dame en noir]

I haven't seen dark matter, that won't be an issue, would it?

[Roen]

Hey everyone!

Thank you all for your votes of interest.
No, not seeing Dark Matter won't be an issue. Aside for the concept, the game and the show are unrelated.

King and I will soon post instructions to create your characters and basic info on the world.

[Carly]

what forum will it be in - exotic / light etc ? Just curious how hardcore some of the sex can be (or not)

[Roen]

Well, although this isn't conceptually a sex game, sex may occur- as with all mature content stories.

We'll put it in NC-Exotic, just to keep our bases covered.

[Anouk Daae]

I love Dark Matter! I would be so into this!

[Roen]

Heya, people.

Sorry for the long wait, I'm currently at a family vacation, which is due to end on Saturday. Once I'll get home, we will be posting the character sheet template and the basic settings info.

[Caelia]

I would love to join if this is still accepting. I've recently been approved and I'm looking for a roleplay to help me slowly dip my toes in, so to speak.

[Haibane]

Hello all. I often struggle with fantasy settings because a players concept of the world might not mesh with the GMs concept without lots of explanatory work by the GM, but in this case there seems to be a neat system in place to overcome that.

I have a question - are you looking for human characters or would something fairly outlandish (I am thinking a humanoid bipedal equine - see pic) fit?

[Fredasce]

This game looks pretty interesting! I hope that when it's available, I can make a character before all the spots are taken D:

[kingmaster1]

Hello all. I often struggle with fantasy settings because a players concept of the world might not mesh with the GMs concept without lots of explanatory work by the GM, but in this case there seems to be a neat system in place to overcome that.

I have a question - are you looking for human characters or would something fairly outlandish (I am thinking a humanoid bipedal equine - see pic) fit?

While he is handsome we're hoping to keep the cast human in this.

I'm super glad we're getting more and more interest in this, like Roen said we'll have the character sheet templates and all that good stuff up in just a little bit ^_^

[Haibane]

Hi kingmaster1, thanks for that. Also good to bump into you again!

[kingmaster1]

Hi kingmaster1, thanks for that. Also good to bump into you again!

Yeah, definitely, it's been a while since the naked school game :P

[Roen]

((This will be added to the first post on this thread, as well))

THE WHERE
So, as mentioned above, we will be building the setting of this game by piecing it together from bits and pieces mentioned in your characters' bios. However, since we don't want you to get too lost, there is a map, and a VERY basic informational framework for you to work out of.

Welcome to the world of-

Maridion (click for the world map)

Madagasken- Humans, Knights, Paladins and High Priesthood

Madagasken is probably the oldest human continent in Maridion. Its history is rich with a long line of interesting and meaningful events that could possibly be considered as a trusted study of the human race's evolution in Maridion. Some historians go as far as to say that if you look back enough, you could probably discover the secrets of the human origins of creation there.
It's a beautiful continent; the most northern one in Maridion, its entire northern end is scenery of snowy-white mountains, rocky rises thick with evergreen woods (mostly great ancient pines) and ever-flowing and mountain streams of glasslike icy waters. It is the home for various cold-weather wildlife, especially during the long winter, where the entire continent is colored stunning white.
The Madagasken humans are pale of skin, stern and strong, with the sort of 'rough around the edges' mentality and a high resistance to cold. They are the Northman, Sons and Daughters of Winter.     

Maneheim -Alliance-
This would be the oldest, the greatest and most culturally evolved human kingdom in the known world. In modern times (which means the game time), Maneheim consists of 9 great cities, the most eastern one being Maneheim Capitol. Each of the cities is like a small kingdom in its size, political system and utilities (aka the city guard, temples and so on), but they all bow down to the will of the king, who still belongs to the long Maneheim bloodline. The way this works is that there are 5 high-royalty families, which are titled as Dukedoms (some dukes rule more than one great city). These dukes get to have their own guards to train, which in theory belong to the great Maneheim army, so they will all assemble into a great crushing force on the king's call. That, however, hasn't happened in more than twenty years. Maneheim was historically created by these 9 human kingdoms and/or tribes, which joined forces willingly or have been conquered.

As for the great cities, here they are by order of wealth and importance, the richest are arced around the capital, and then it goes down in wealth and statues according to how far the arcs are from the capital, east to west:

-Capital of Maneheim

First arc (high nobility)-
-Tolando (dukedom: Arkham)
-Firestone (dukedom: Bravil)

Second arc (lower nobility)-
-Scarlet (dukedom: Scarlet)
-Bladefort (dukedom: Kadghar)
-Tieroler, port-city (dukedom: Bravil)

Third arc (these are the poor cities that rest against the great black walls of Maneheim, mainly for lowly field workers, wall maintenance workers and some less savory folks)-
-Stoneguard, mountain-top (dukedom: Kadghar)
-Ironguard, this would be the poorest of them all, since it has a king's road passing through it (dukedom: Devens)
-Seaguard, this is also a port city, but strictly for military use (dukedom: Devens)


Old-Evergreen -Alliance-
Along the history of Maneheim, a branch of the royal Maneheim bloodline had a dispute with the family core and aspired to lead a rebellion against the king, starting a very short-lived and desperate civil war. Those of the rebels that survived decided not to bow down and left Maneheim with the goal of settling the more central part of Madagasken. Soon enough, even though they managed a port and a couple of small towns and villages, the barren land, which was often flooded by the mountain streams, failed them and- along with Maneheim closing their gates at their faces- brought them to the verge of starvation. At a certain point, one particular wizard led an exploratory expedition across the icy sea to the south, discovering the continent of Avalon, and later laying the foundations to the current prosperous kingdom of New-Evergreen.
Some, however, have been left behind, by choice or political reasons. They are the most bitter and fowled mood people in Madagasken.

Order of the Green -Alliance-
Order of the green is a multinational military and religious institution. It's basically an order of knights, priests and paladins, who protect the morality and political balance around the kingdoms that have signed the peaceful treaties and have agreed to acknowledge and abide by the laws of the true gods. The assembly of those kingdoms is also referred to as 'The Enlightened Alliance' (much like the pantheon of the true gods, which is named 'The Enlightened Ones')

The Cold Approach
That's how the locals call the mountain belt along the north side of Madagasken. It is the home to several factions of bandits, quirky eccentric wizards and a distant monastery of druid-like monks. It's a rocky, icy, steeply terrain of mountain tops, fissures and cliffs.

Avalon- Humans, Wood-Elves, High Elves, Hay-Elves, Nabats, Barbarians and Dwarves

Avalon is probably the most diverse continent in this setting, you have everything there: humans, high elves, woodelves, halflings, dwarves, barbarians and desert nomadic people. The terrain around Avalon is very versed as well; you've got the wild flats at the northwestern end, the ancient forests to the north, the sandy desert at the center, the silvery mountains belt to southeast and the volcanic lands beyond them.

New-Evergreen -Alliance-
New-Evergreen, or just Evergreen for sake of comfort, is enjoying the privilege of having the only operating port in Avalon, this fact alone has contributed to the relatively speedy structural growth and ascension in wealth of the kingdom;

Evergreen is mainly a human kingdom, but it might as well be an airport to every living humanoid in this setting, especially the ones that can appreciate wealth, interracial socializing and every single depravity their mind could fathom.

The Still Lands
The still lands are located north hand of Evergreen; these are grassy wild flatlands, which are home to the barbarian clans of Avalon. The barbarians are mostly humans, only way bigger and more savage, and some halfbreeds might occur, as for their tendency to kidnap women, rape and enslave them.

Rootscabin (High Elves) -Alliance-
Your basic fantasy-built-in elves, they are vain as they are beautiful, stubborn, conservatively closed-minded, racist and pretty zealous about keeping their territory their own.

Rootscabin (WoodElves and Halflings) -Alliance-
The ancient Rootscabin forest is where you can find a different faction of elves- the wood elves. Some say that they are the descendants of a faction of High Elves, who have left the land of Rootscabin due to ethical disagreements. They've built their kingdom on the tree tops, with bridges and the use of wood-shaping magic, keeping the peace from above.
The Rootscabin Forest is also the home to the forest Halflings. It's a cheerful and kind bunch, peaceful by nature, building their homes at the base of the giant trees, between the great exposed roots, using dead roots, moss and leaves as construction materials.

The Dead Desert
As its name might insinuate, the Dead Desert is not a pleasant place to visit. It's a huge desert located at the heart of Avalon, approximately taking two weeks to ride through. The landscape is of an endless sea of sandy dunes, and even the best of rangers would find it almost impossibly hard to find an oasis without the help of a Nabat. Without a proper convoy and the permission of the Nabati tribes, entering the dead desert can prove to be quite deadly.
Nabats
The Nabati tribes are clans of nomadic desert people. Nomadic being a quite relative term, as they usually pick one of their clay walled bases, which are called Khans, put their tents and mobile structures up, and stick to it for weeks and even months at a time. They are pretty the shrewd merchants, although they're very selective about whom they would trade with, they have a list of old known merchants they work with, and if you're not on that list and you dare enter into their domain- you might never come back. Some say they take those who trespass into their territory and enslave them, keeping them drugged and submissive so to serve them and their authorized guests.

Silvervale -Alliance-
That's the gray belt around the Desert (the green part is a couple of settlements belonging to Evergreen). Silvervale is a range of tall mountains, stretching from the southern Rootscabin border, all the way down to the southern end of the continent. Silvervale is the name of the Avalonian Dwarven kingdom, these peaceful dwarves live mostly in the one giant crater at the center of the ridge, but they have other underground cities inside some of neighboring mountains.

Fields of the Blind Seer
It’s a strap of volcanic land to the feet of the Silvervale mountains- on the eastern side. Not much is known about them, the dwarves won't dare enter that domain and intensely advise against doing so.

Heliopolis
City of the sun. It's a ghost kingdom, completely empty. The city is said to be cursed, and there are no scholars to dispute that hypothesis.

The Isles of Ina'a
These exotic isles, located to the north east of Avalon, are home to the Hay-Elves. The hay elves are nothing like the elves of Avalon, they are dark of skin, usually black of hair, and they're mostly as cheerful as the common Halfling. Hay elves love their family and their little close community, but some of them also like to travel and explore the world, their favorite occupation is that of a Bard.

Vermilion- Magic users, Orcs and Goblins

Vermilion is the continent of magic and green-skins, it's very unstable in the field of weather, natural occurrences and even the terrain itself can twist and turn, all thanks to the hundreds of magic users that have taken the heart of the continent as their home and personal laboratory.

The Twisted Wilds
Once an extraordinarily vibrant and bountiful land, it is now a place for anyone who wishes to see the atrocities that unrestrained and irresponsible usage of magic can have on nature. The land is bare and practically dead, being this very unpleasant color of pale red, much like discolored flesh. Powerful nether storms often outbreak across the land, destroying and/or twisting anything and everything in their paths. To the once peaceful Orc tribes that used to live there, that was a tragedy.

The Lilac Order -Alliance-
That would be the high order for all the cooperating magic users around known Maridion. It is not a place for measuring one's morality, nor is it a place to judge one's past actions, it's strictly a place where warlocks, wizards and mages can gather, perfect their crafts and explore new and sometimes frightening unknown territories of the supernatural.

Ceria
Ceria is the home land of goblins. They are peculiar green little creatures, who could even adapt to the disastrous changes the magical order brought to their continent.

Tzur- Organized Criminals and Tzurians

The relatively southern continent of Tzur was once a wild and exotic place, populated by the Tzurians- dark skin tribal humans, living in villages and focusing mostly on sustaining themselves through agriculture and hunting. It has recently (about 40 years back) been chosen as a good distant hideaway for pirates, bandits and other criminal factions.

The Bloody Principalities
These five outstandingly ambitious crime monarchies have divided their territories along northern Tzur shores, each 'prince' with his own faction and his own specialty in the fields of land and sea piracies.

Adamma
Once a peaceful assembly of Tzurian natives, not much is known about how many villages survived around that beaten and looted nation.

Isle Gray- The Gray

Isle Gray
About 50 years back, a terrible war spread like a disease on multiple fronts of Maridion. Eventually, the Order of the Green was able to push their forces back. The gray forces have retreated to a continent formerly known as Tiranous, but now simply known as Isle Gray.

Azaraw- Asul humans, Lao Humans and the Issaky

Asul-
Asul is somewhat of a south-America inspired kingdom; think more in the way of Brazil- a vibrant tropical land, filled with people that are halfway between tribal and culture.

Isakar
(*inspired by a good friend of mine, named Guy)
That's probably the home of the only Anthro race in this settings: feline people. Yep, cat people. They're called Issaky (or Isski for an individual) and they have a tribal kind of culture, and they are considered very wise and peaceful.

The Black Woods
There's a huge crater in the dead center of Azaraw, and it is filled with black and green from one edge to the other. A giant tropical jungle, very wild and old, is considered the territory of the feral Issaky, and of the rumored spirits that haunt the center of the jungle, where many old and unrecognized ruins of temples can be found.

Empire of Lao
Asian inspired culture. Think dark-age feudal rural japan.

[kingmaster1]

((This will be added to the main thread as well))

CHARACTER SHEETS

So, since we've got the interest I'll be putting up the 2 character sheets.

As stated previously you'll have 2 character bios, the first, longer format one will be the one you PM EXCLUSIVELY to Roen and myself. The second one will be the sheet you post here and any other player is allowed to see.

Long form character sheet:

Code Select Expand

[float=right][img]((Appearance picture))[/img][/float]
[u][b]Name:[/b][/u] ((Full name))
[u][b]Alias:[/b][/u] ((nickname))
[u][b]Race:[/b][/u]
[u][b]Age:[/b][/u]
[u][b]Origin:[/b][/u] ((Where do you hail from))

[u][b]Occupation:[/b][/u] ((What is the job you held))
[u][b]Training:[/b][/u] ((Sword skills, thievery, magic, etc. etc.))
[b][u]Notable Abilities/Skills:[/u][/b] ((Make sure to list them all))
[list]
[li][/li]
[li][/li]
[/list]

[u][b]Background:[/b][/u] ((Tell us your story. Remember, the more detailed and creative it is, the more the settings, and the plot, would feel like it was designed for your character.))))

[u][b]Personality:[/b][/u]
[u][b]Fears:[/b][/u] ((Could be rational or irrational, whatever makes their skin crawl))
[u][b]Sexuality:[/b][/u]
[u][b]Notable Connections/Relations:[/b][/u]



Short form character sheet:

Code Select Expand


[float=right][img]((Appearance picture))[/img][/float]
[u][b]Name:[/b][/u] ((Leave this blank for now))
[u][b]Apparent race:[/b][/u] ((What do you look like you are?))
[u][b]Apparent age:[/b][/u] ((How old do you seem?))

[u][b]Notable equipment:[/b][/u] ((What do they currently have on them))
[list]
[li][/li]
[li][/li]
[/list]

[u][b]Sexuality:[/b][/u] ((This is optional, your character can figure it out as the game goes on))

And, one last hammering in of this point:

The long form character sheet is to be seen by Roen and kingmaster1 only, no other player is allowed to see them

Also, we'd prefer appearance pictures to be real life models or very realistic paintings. Roen isn't a fan of anime themed character portraits :P

[vastowen456]

Name:
Apparent race: Human
Apparent age: Upper twenties, lower thirties

Notable equipment:

• Two hammers, one on each side of his waist
• A brown backpack
• A golden cross necklace

Sexuality: Straight

[BehindYou]

I'd definitely want to join this, if you guys are still accepting players.

[kingmaster1]

I'd definitely want to join this, if you guys are still accepting players.

Certainly, feel free to make and send us a sheet ^_^

[Ziya]

Name:
Apparent race: Human
Apparent age: early to late twenties

Notable equipment:

• One 4 pound Cross-Pein Hammer at her right hip
• One Hand and a Half Sword in a Leather Sheath on her left hip
• One Long Teardrop Shield with a Vertical Grip (Think a much plainer version of this)
• One Black Leather Backpack

Sexuality: Pansexual