We're not in Kansas anymore... OOC (Open, please inquire within)

[Dys Astyr]

(Also working title, subject to change.)

America: The Great Depression

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

The early 1930's saw millions of American's out of work. Times were hard and people were in need of any work they could come by. This surplus of willing, desperate workers flooded through the country, seeking any employment they could find, often not evening earning enough to feed their families. The hardest hit among these were the farmers, especially after the start of the drought in 1934. Droves of people migrated west, searching for hope and stability. They lived out of cars and tents, burying their dead on the roadside, camping where they could. Often they were driven out of towns, as desperation makes men into enemies as often as it does friends.

It is among these desperate souls that Dr. Herman Burns sought workers for his project. Disgraced and shunned in his field for being a quack and monster for conducting experiments with no regard to morals or law, the doctor had turned his attention to his second passion, archeology, in search of a way to be free of the constraints his contemporaries placed on him. Enamored with the civilizations of old and their unflinching acceptance of the fact that some people had to be sacrificed for progress to be made he was ecstatic to find a ruin of an unknown civilization within the United States, practically in his own backyard. He noticed early on in the excavation that workers seemed to disappear, at first he thought it was them just running off to get drunk, but the trend continued and none returned. He knew they couldn't afford to pass up the work, so he set out to find out just what was going on.

After studying several more groups, all of whom also disappeared, he realized what was happening. The ruin was moving them somewhere else. Which was beneficial in that it prevented him from needing to pay out their wages. He simply would wait until all the workers had disappeared, and then get a new batch. He was often tempted to see what lie on the other side of the ruin, but couldn't risk depriving the world of his genius.

Or'Kyscha

On the other side of that strange ruin lies the empire of Or'Kyscha, a wealthy and wide spread kingdom that had flourished under the stern but just rule of the Empress Naadrine IV, who just days before announcing her heir fell ill and has not awoken. Now her daughters vie for power, and it widely regarded that they are responsible for what happened to the Empress, if only the Hands of Justice knew which of the three committed the act, or perhaps they put aside there differences for a fleeting moment and were all three responsible.

The Blood Princesses no longer even try to hide their life long feud and hunger for power now that their mother is out of the picture for all intents and purposes. Their struggle for power is saved from growing to outright fighting in the streets only by the fact that the high generals still control the military, and those generals remain loyal to the Empress, even as she wastes away in illness. While they are most actively engaged in political maneuvering and the occasional assassination, their fight has trickled down through various followers and interests, effecting people on a day to day basis. Almost all the craftsman's guilds are in the pocket of one of the Princesses and so inflict the strife of court upon the common man. Even the street gangs and certain mercenary groups have become embroiled in the conflict. With each day remaining neutral grows into more of a struggle.

The Empire awaits apprehensively for news of the Empress's passing, knowing that the minute life leaves her body the three Princesses will turn the kingdom over in blood until only one of them remains.

[ADoggett]

(Also working title, subject to change.)

Mundane setting: Great Depression era, suspicious rich man comes to hire workers for excavation, essentially trolling the shanty towns for people who cannot say no to work. This man is trying to excavate an ancient site (possible with an artifact or maybe just a gate). This site leads to another dimension (Fantasy setting). Rich man is aware and is using the expendable work force as guinea pigs/or as sacrifice (to be determined).

Fantasy Setting: Generic fantasy world, flavoring to be added.

(OOC: A depression-y waste land with lots of camp sites? This plane seems fitting: )

[Dys Astyr]

I like.

What sort of flavoring do we want for the fantasy side of this? Forest, jungle, frozen wasteland?

I'm gonna try to get up the start of this tonight. No promises, but I will try.

[ADoggett]

I like.

What sort of flavoring do we want for the fantasy side of this? Forest, jungle, frozen wasteland?

I'm gonna try to get up the start of this tonight. No promises, but I will try.

OOC: That's fine, I am not going to be online for a while until about 5:00 tomorrow. Perhaps something like this?:

[Dys Astyr]

Posting it now. Its a bit on the short side, but I didn't want to have it get too far in before we actually see the actual stars of the show.

[Dys Astyr]

Jo
Human (America)

24

Female

5'10ish, honey colored hair, grey eyes, boyish/athletic build but malnourished, plain features other than the eyes. Somewhat pale/farmer's tan.

Jo was the youngest of her family, mother died when she was young. Didn't get along with her sisters, and the last one moved out of the house years ago. Close to her father who was killed by men who came to steal their food. Until that point Jo was pretty naive and trusting, now while still fairly naive she has seen more than enough to make her distrustful and suspicious. She still clings to the dream that everything will be okay in the end though. For the sake of both safety and to have more opportunities to make honest money she passes herself off as a teenage boy, keeping to herself as much as possible to prevent anyone from finding her out. She keeps her hair tucked into her cap and wears clothes that are too big, which given the malnourished thing, isn't too hard. Having grown up on a farm she is pretty handy and outgoing. She is more or less your average Midwestern farm girl, sturdy, dependable, prone to smiling and laughing under better circumstance. Jo is very self conscious about her appearance having gown up being compared to and teased by her sisters.


Kahz-Gruul
Orc

31

Male

6'6, slabby/muscular build (typical orc), grey skin with green undertones, tattoos, piercings, orange eyes, black hair worn in an elaborate topknot and braid. Ugly.

Orphaned as a baby he was taken in by a temple to the goddess of beauty, raised and cared for by the priestess. He remains a devout follower, though he left the temple to seek his fortunes else where, mainly due to the fact that he is ugly, even by orc standards, and didn't want to pollute the sacred atmosphere. This makes him very concerned with his appearance, he bathes, grooms and adorns himself with care. Wearing the hair styles, tattoos, and piercings common to the order. He is very encouraging, bordering on, but not actually becoming, preachy, of others to join the following the goddess. He carries with him the instruments with which to mark others that do choose to follow this path, or whom simply wish to make themselves more attractive. For an orc he is uncharacteristically patient and moves with grace and purpose. His calm demeanor often causes others to underestimate him. He is however still an orc, a capable fighter, and when he loses his temper a fierce foe.

[Dys Astyr]

Some ideas for flavoring the fantasy setting, since I am guessing that is where a bulk of the story will take place.

Gold isn't valuable over there, which causes some commotion with the Depression area Mundies who are naturally flummoxed at the thought of something they consider so valuable being an everyday material. Gold is considered a decorative metal, and has a value similar to what jewelers bronze would. Currency is instead crystals. Possibly sliced and mounted into metal coins. (Kr'sdols ???)

If we chose to add more Mundie characters further down the line they can pop up at slave auctions. This may also be a way for them to get an idea of what Dr. McCrazypants is doing on the other side.

I was thinking that a cold war type situation would be happening, so far the elf and orc duo have managed to stay out of it, but having two outsiders draws a lot more attention then normal, getting them tangled up in some pretty dangerous games between the two three sides.

[FierceChaos]

Chaos

Male

6'5 , Black hair, Deep blue eyes, Massive brutish build.

Chaos used to be a warrior of renown, willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Loyal to very few and to the coin. A man who has seen many battles and revels in the thrill of killing others. Since the depression no one is paying to have others killed and there are n o major wars going on anymore so he is effectively out of work for the moment. Still training every day to keep in tip top shape.

Well I am hoping you can find a place for me in the rp.and i really hope this pic works its confusing to me not to be able to copy and paste.

[Dys Astyr]

Ahem, well. Firstly, do you want him to be a Mundie character or on the other side? We had established up to 2 characters per participant, so you can have one from each side if your interested.  (There is some more info on this in my request thread https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=208657.0 )

Things are a little disorganized for right now and I am still waiting for ADoggett to post his addition before moving the story farther along. However the jist of things being, they get hired to excavate, shoved over to the other side, havoc ensues. Its gonna be pretty unstructured to allow things to develop organically.

[FierceChaos]

I do not know, the other side is fantasy right? so how long will it before the other side is introduced, I dont know if I really want a mundie lol

[Dys Astyr]

Should be pretty quick (I could kinda tell from the little blurb he wasn't really Mundie material  ;) ). They get to the work site, and will probably skip over a few days of working, then have the incident. I don't think it will take more than half a dozen posts tops, seeing as its not really gonna get too exciting until they get to the other side.

[FierceChaos]

That is fine Ill be waiting and watching for my time to enter ,and i just thought about it, is the fantasy side having a depression as well? if not i need to edit my chars story..

[Dys Astyr]

Nah more of a cold civil war thing. I will post more on that sometime today or tomorrow probably. Once we get approved we will be able to edit posts so you will be able to go back and tweak whatever you need.  ;D

[ADoggett]

Nah more of a cold civil war thing. I will post more on that sometime today or tomorrow probably. Once we get approved we will be able to edit posts so you will be able to go back and tweak whatever you need.  ;D

HEY! Sorry for the late response. CONGRATS ON BEING APPROVED! :D

So, here are my characters:

Name: Cyrus Valdez
Species: Human (he's pure American)
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Height: 6'0"

An orphan who set out on his own to find work in the prairie lands of the United States, Cyrus worked on rail roads and on farms ever since he was 14. Now, he simply has been wandering around living where people will let him and working for barely nothing. He has no known family, yet now he is currently working alongside a band of others for barely nothing unless it's for food or shelter. He is a bright young man who oddly enough has a lot of smarts inside of his dusty mop of blonde hair, however being an orphan with no where to go has left him without very much. However, he perseveres and strives on to be the best that he can be. He is a bit suspicious of people naturally and has a bit of a chip on his shoulder towards the depression, yet Cyrus tries his best to see the light in most situations. He's not that much of a good fighter and relies on wit to survive, yet he's making it somehow!

Name: Arioch of the house of Maenad
Species: Half Elf, Half Troll respectively.
Age: 170 (an equivalent to being 30 in human years)
Gender: Male
Height: 6'3" (taller than average as his father was also half Elf, half troll)

Arioch is a traveling mercenary who has a past of working as an iron smelter's assistant and warrior in his town of Lecruz in the low lands of Or'Kycha. However, when the current power wars being waged from the Blood Princesses', his home town has been subjugated to constant pillaging and murders. Enraged, Arioch left his home and sought out to defend his people's honor with his training as a warrior. With the current strife going on in Or'Kyscha, Arioch has taken it upon himself to go out on his own and defend those who need him the most; the common man who has currently been under an intense scourge due to the Blood Princesses' hand. He has spent months traveling aimlessly working for those who need his services as a warrior, but more importantly as a mercenary. His position has garnered him many victories and a word-of-mouth reputation for being brash and sometimes even reckless in combat. His troll blood causes him to be brutish to some degree, yet in retrospective Arioch is simply filled with passion and a will to live and let others prosper. He is sure that he has sometimes helped the wrong party, yet he continues to march on with quiet confidence. As Arioch is a free lance mercenary and explorer in his own right, his current traveling partner is Kahz-Gruul, an orc who he has come to befriend while passing though a rowdy town. As Arioch is handsome and rather poised on the outside, he is also a fierce warrior who is all but willing to slit the throat of anyone he considers an enemy. He has also had a past with dabbling with the dark arts yet hardly uses this magic as it further adds stigmas to him as an elf. He wears stately armor, a warm smile, and a hand ready to enact swift justice by the hands of his sword. He has some gruff attributes to his face from the many battles that he's been in, yet the most obvious is his missing left eye.

[ADoggett]

Chaos

Male

6'5 , Black hair, Deep blue eyes, Massive brutish build.

Chaos used to be a warrior of renown, willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Loyal to very few and to the coin. A man who has seen many battles and revels in the thrill of killing others. Since the depression no one is paying to have others killed and there are n o major wars going on anymore so he is effectively out of work for the moment. Still training every day to keep in tip top shape.

Well I am hoping you can find a place for me in the rp.and i really hope this pic works its confusing to me not to be able to copy and paste.

This guy looks rad! :D

[Dys Astyr]

Yea I had meant to ask where he got that picture at.

Also, elf/troll. That's a combo I have never seen before.  ;D Cool.

Edited to add the following:

Fierce, how do you feel about playing a mercenary/privateer/bounty hunter type? I am brain storming how you stumble upon the group.  ;D

[FierceChaos]

Sorry I didn't answer soon I swear I had already answered and I was just looking and my reply wasn't here maybe it didn't post last time, anyway I am fine being a bounty hunter sell sword my char is def that.

[Dys Astyr]

Sorry I didn't answer soon I swear I had already answered and I was just looking and my reply wasn't here maybe it didn't post last time, anyway I am fine being a bounty hunter sell sword my char is def that.

Haha, I was just starting to worry about you! I can't message you yet so I was kinda at a loss. But its all good.  ;D

My thought about how the characters run into each other is this: the doctor had already let several groups of people through, some of them would have encountered the residents of the other world. Now in most cases what is the first reaction to finding a new species/people? Nothing good that's what. I figured that the mundies that had crossed over had become prized as collector's items more or less. Somewhere between a slave and a pet. Since they all come from one area, people not averse to doing somewhat immoral things and looking to make some money would capture the disoriented workers as they straggled their way through the woods near the initial point of crossing, taking them back to the cities and selling them.

Your character could possibly be one such person. When he runs across the group he realizes that its a mountain of coin just waiting to be made, especially since Jo is the only female to cross over (I swear I did not do this on purpose, I just realized it yesterday >_>). Anyway, unwilling to part with the chance to make that kind of money, he convinces them to let him join their party all the while not having honest intentions. Will he decide to be nice and not sell them out? That's up to you!

So that's my idea. If you don't like it let me know and I will start working on something else.

[FierceChaos]

Haaa thats great yea I am ok with that , a female slave is more useful than a male slave in certain markets haa.

[Dys Astyr]

I was thinking more for the super rare collectors value.  :P Though the idea kind of reminds me of Dancers At The End Of Time, where they collect the time travels that come to their time (in the future) and keep them in zoos. But that's something we will work out as the story progresses.  ;D