His Days are Numbered

[Euphoric Fiasco]

Looking for at least one person, preferably a literate male, to embark on an adventure RP with some light romance.  More characters are welcome, especially later on, and the male should pref errably be willing to play a mercenary/fighting type role.  The setting is pre-modern with fantastical concepts like magic and such. 

It has been said Tyrants always have some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.  This was the case even in the distant land of Kyre, where the wicked “Siax the Heinous” lay his throne. 

Once upon a time, Kyre was a large merchant country and peninsula to the great empire of Tambia.  It’s rich soiled in lands provided abundant food for the people and crops to sell.  It’s beautiful – practically tropical shores provided the perfect trading routes from other nations and a failsafe fisherman career for any strapping young boy.  It’s Northern borders even boasted the highest mountains, upon who’s miles and miles of snowy ice caps any monk could find enlightenment.  All in all, Kyre was a peaceful nation that minded its own business during violent affairs and rested contently under Tambia’s powerful wing.

However, thirty years ago, Tambia was thrown into disarray.  Unhappy with the gap between wealthy and poor, a civil rebellion began in the capitol and the national glue of religion began to crumble under the questions of the people.  Meanwhile, neighboring countries whom envied its bountiful land and rich resources banned together, storming Tambia at its weakest moment.  In one terrible night, the castle was taken and the rebellious citizens soon missed their fallen king.

Kyre, watching in terror from the sidelines, was given to General Siax Branston.  Though the castle’s throne was stained with blood, General Siax promised to maintain Kyre and its peaceful ways.  And for awhile, he did.  His royal guard provided and alternative for war-torn orphans.  His higher taxes went to villages that had been torn apart.  And he even adopted the “Council of Twelve”, his own private chair of magicians who helped train the few gifted enough in Kyre to harness magic. 

…For awhile, the nation was experiencing nothing but prosperity.  The fishermen could barely keep up with their deliveries, the farmers developed more efficient irrigation routes to keep up with the demand, and he even funded the docile monks, their missionaries spreading throughout the country like blood through veins…

But as he saw the profits coming in, Siax wanted more.  His manipulative mind and wicked heart drove him further down the road to tyranny.  Suddenly, the royal guard uniforms began to pop up in cities and towns neighboring the castle – and arming themselves.  The taxes became so high, the people were scraping to get by.  If you could not pay your debts, you could give a son to the Royal Army.  If you did not have a son, you were arrested; rumors of prisoners becoming slave laborers quickly spread.  And should your son or daughter be unlucky enough to have the curse of magic, they would be whisked away in the night by monks, never to be seen again. 

Our story would begin with the male character coming upon a small fishing village South of Siax's castle.  When he arrives, he is welcomed with open arms by strangers and the villagers keep finding odd jobs for him.  He eventually meets my character, a trickster and ace archer who is undergoing a prideful disagreement with her father (who Will not let her take his place as chieftan when he is gone because she is female).  They befriend each other and my character dreams of following him out into the world of danger and adventure.  After a few weeks, the village is raided by bandits and the mercenary realizes why the village wanted him.  They are fishers, not fighters, and these raids have been ravishing their town for months.  During the night of the raid, my character accidentally uses magic (which she can't quite control).  Because of this, servants of the Council of Twelve are sent to request her audience with the king (which most likely means execution for her curse).  After denying them, the servants burn the village and assume both characters dead, only to find out different afterwards and doom them both as felon and accomplice.  The mercenary elects to guide her to the castle and reason with Siax, but as the ebb nearer and nearer, more and more heinous acts of Siax become more and more frequent.  They meet other people who have likewise suffered by his tyrannical hand and all decide to ban together and take him down.

[Wheresmycow]

Well, I'm definitely interested.  Mercenary/fighting roles are usually my thing, I don't normally do magic users all that much.  Since you wanted to play the trickster/archer type, doubling up on the archer part wouldn't be the best idea.  I do have a couple questions I'd like to ask:

1) How fantastical can the mercenary get?  In terms of say combat: is it gritty, maybe a more Conan-style combat or do we dial it up to something say like Final Fantasy?  Would the character be trying to engage opponents one at a time, relying on terrain superiority, or could he be laying waste to a unit of soldiers while flipping around?  When the character is climbing a mountain, does he break out the pontoons and climbing gear or could he be hopping from out-cropping to out-cropping?  I can play either spectrum and anything in-between.

2) How much freedom do I have when it comes to pre-modern cultures and societies for drawing up a background?  I guess this kind of falls under just how big Tambia was before the collapse.  I'm perfectly capable of making stuff up on my own, or falling under a small set of cultures.

3) And as a little fun one: how cliche can I start?  Defying type and being original is all well and good, but a well-executed cliche can also be lots of fun.  As a wandering mercenary who does random odd jobs, this guy screams "Adventurer" and it's fun to play around with that.