Convergence of Worlds (Fantasy/Science Fantasy/Superhero-esque/non-con?)

[Koyume]

The setting: Gholamn (go-lawm) is a generally Earth-like world; a spec of dust coated with a thin film of life, whirling about a modest yellow-dwarf star in a little solar system tucked away within one arm of a vast spiral-arm galaxy. In this universe, though, the laws of physics are a bit more flexible. 'Magic' exists, and scholars of all races have sought to understand its existence for millennia; the study of magic is sometimes called 'arcanology' in civilized places, and occult theoreticians and practitioners work side-by-side with other scientists and academics.

On the continent of Yun (you-n), where the story will take place, steam power is the height of modern technology. But while steam-powered trains travel great distances across the countryside, and various other machines make life easier for those living in large cities, there are still many places not touched by this level of technology. Battles are waged with magic, or with devices of wood and steel, and while a few of the wealthiest might own personal automobiles (perhaps powered by magic or some fictional fuel), the majority of people use horses or other animals for transportation. Many people carry swords, maces, axes, daggers, and so forth on a daily basis, and personal protection is a given if one travels beyond the safety of a town's borders.

Knowledge is widely regarded as the most valuable possession in the world, and books and scrolls are hoarded in a very few, well-secured libraries. New books are often confiscated from travelers on entering a major city, to be copied and preserved. All in all, the world is a dark and still little-understood place, plagued by seemingly unending ignorance, bigotry, and violence. Large cities struggle with unmanageable levels of crime and poverty, and the world outside those few 'havens' of civilization is the realm of monsters and primitive, bloodthirsty, and fanatically territorial savages. Most people live hard, agrarian lifestyles and have little contact with the rest of the world, and many who would otherwise be victims of poverty have turned to banditry.

Yun is divided into several countries, but the divisions seem almost arbitrary in most cases, and maps from one country tend to draw the lines very differently from those of another. Wars are not as frequent as one might expect, largely because the abundance of dangerous creatures and savage races makes war against distant neighbors extremely impractical, but tensions are always high between two countries in particular.

Jentao is an empire known for its powerful military and the greed of its privileged aristocracy; its leaders are mostly human, and their policies are notably exclusive. The majority of non-humans are turned away at Juntao's borders, and those that do live there are largely oppressed and often forced to live in ghettos and scrape together a living by the most menial and physically demanding jobs. Those non-humans who are particularly gifted or attractive can sometimes earn themselves a higher quality of life by selflessly obeying their human masters, often demeaning themselves in the process. Interestingly, the race and genealogy of the emperor himself is not known to anyone except those few in his inner circle, leading to occasional, sometimes dangerous, speculation by social scholars. The emperor and his court are known to despise their closest neighboring country, Lo'mia.

Lo'mia (low-mee-aw), called The Kingdom of Bastards by the Jentai (residents of Jentao) and some of their allies is a very different place from Jentao. While Jentao is a place of great stone walls and iron gates closed to those of mixed or foreign race, Lo'mia is famously diverse and accepting of different races. In fact, Lo'mia has perhaps the most varied and open-minded populous of any country in the world, and its leadership bears the nickname "Kingdom of Bastards" proudly. Humans, elves, faeries, angels, demons- individuals of virtually all races, including unfortunate half-breeds and other people of exotic mixed heritage, all inhabit this pastoral country. It is governed by a large council of representatives elected locally from different parts of the country. In many ways, the government is loose, even anarchic, allowing for a great deal of individual freedom. The country lacks the massive, professional military of Jentao, but maintains strong local militias, and boasts the residency of some of the most powerful, brilliant, and talented individuals in the world. Despite the overall looseness of social structure, the motto of Lo'mia is roughly "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need", and government officials are fiercely devoted to ensuring that every mouth is fed and every body warm.
Lo'mians are also famous for their love of creative arts and philosophy, and the extreme diversity in background makes for frequent, heated, debate and ingenious works of expression.

There are other places, beyond the normal universe, which most beings have very little contact with. These are places like various versions of Heaven, Hell, etc; different planes which embody absolute concepts, sometimes physical, such as Fire, and sometimes abstract, such as Good or Evil. People often worship the most powerful entities from these other planes, calling them gods, and lesser beings sometimes cross over into Gholamn from them. Philosophers in Yun frequently debate over whether the planes exist objectively, independent of the existence of thinking beings, or if they, and the beings that inhabit them, are merely the results of the thoughts or beliefs of mortals. One way or another, the planes affect the people of Gholamn strongly, whether through religious lifestyles inspired by them, or by the physical beings (demons, angels, etc) that cross over and taint the physical world with their supernatural existence.

Summary: The setting is a vaguely 'Oriental-themed' (but moreover diverse and fictitious), fantasy, steam age-ish (think roughly steampunk, with Victorian and various eastern influences as far as fashion, tools, lifestyle etc) region inhabited by an enormous variety of intelligent and less-intelligent species all living, working, struggling, hunting, loving, and killing each other. The world is a dark, mysterious, and frequently violent place in need of heroes. By modern standards, Lo'mia and Jentao are probably the most attractive places for a person to live.

The game: Freeform. The players will each control a single character. The character can be of nearly any fantasy race you can think of, including something bestial (quadrupedal, etc), though it should be sentient, in a generally human sort of way. You might be a straight-up angel, deva, fallen angel, exiled demon, devil, dragon (of relatively small proportions), faerie, oni, kappa, unicorn, vampire, werewolf, human, elf, any kind of anthromorph, etc etc etc, or you could be a half-breed of some sort, or an individual with just a pinch of something else. The character's attributes, powers, profession, reason for being where they are, and such are completely up to you, but shouldn't make them excessively powerful. To use superhero analogies, Superman or the Hulk is too much, Wolverine might be just about right. In short, no god-modding, and there's no such thing as being 'too weak', because there isn't necessarily a single, violently obtainable objective that all the players need to strive for. If you want your character to do or be able to do something you think might be 'pushing it' in terms of power over the world, run it by me first.

Character bios should include: name, gender (not limited to male/female), physical description (pictures optional, as long as it's thorough enough), backstory (doesn't need to be long), and Notable Attributes, which is where you can say things like 'superhuman strength, durability, endurance, etc' or 'excellent swordsman and hand-to-hand combatant', 'gifted spell-caster', 'superior athlete' etc. If a character has magical or supernatural abilities, then more specific information should be given.

For now I'm going to assume the role of GM, meaning that I'll control the antagonists and everything else that isn't a player character, but if a player wants to be a villain, or even 'The Villain', let me know. I could just as easily play a single character myself, and leave the job of running the world to someone else who wants to. One way or another, it should be an exercise in mutual story-telling, and the world should become more detailed and more interesting by everyone's contributions as we go along.

One other thing, when it comes to writing, the general rule should be quality over quantity. I'd rather read just three beautiful, coherent sentences, than three bland paragraphs. That said, there isn't really such a thing as too much or too little, as long as the post contributes effectively and carries the story along.

Now, hit me with all your questions, comments, etc. I may come back and add some more details/important information a bit later.

[Koyume]

On second thought, to make character creation a little more structured, let's do this: as (sort of) mentioned in the first post, characters' special attributes should be given in what I call "superhero format", i.e. superhuman strength, speed, durability, etc, and excellent swordsman, acrobat, athlete, etc. There will be maybe three or four different levels of these various attributes: superhuman (significantly, enormously stronger, faster, w/e than a human could ever be capable of), near-superhuman (just what it sounds like; more [whatever attribute] than a normal human could be, but not at Superman or Flash levels), peak-human (as strong, fast, hardy, etc as a human could possibly be; use this if your character is a human or something physically similar, like an elf or a very-human extraterrestrial, who conditions themselves rigorously, with extreme discipline, to attain the best possible physical fitness they can hope to achieve), and finally, average (this is for if the character is human, or something physically similar, with an average level of strength, agility... for their build; if the character falls into this level, don't say anything special in notable attributes).

There could even be a sub-human level too, if you wanted (if you were playing something smaller than a human, for example, you might say sub-human strength). If the character is just a little stronger, quicker, etc, than an 'average' human, you might want to mention it in their description instead.

For a little more clarification, the characters will be essentially superheroes, doing all the things that superheroes do, just in a different sort of setting than DC and Marvel usually take you to. A character could just as easily be an anti-hero as a genuinely heroic one, but if someone wants to play an actual villain, or multiple villains, which would also be acceptable, that deserves some special attention and communication between everyone involved.

[Koyume]

I think maybe I should clarify the "science fantasy" thing too. What I mean is that while the setting is generally a sort of medieval/steampunk kind of place, there may be science fiction elements involved as well. For example, there could be steampunk cyborgs, or aliens from a nearby planet in the solar system. Fictional substances, plants, animals, etc, might come up, and I imagine chemistry or herbalism might look something like this: "I managed to synthesize five yoles (fictional unit) of celestium using a shard of hellstone as a catalyst," or "She made me some kind of medicinal tea... think she used witchleaf." In other words, make things up; we'll invent the world as we go along.

Also, here's a character sheet template for convenience:

Code Select Expand

[b]Real Name:
Superhero/secret identity Name (optional):
Gender:
Race:
Appearance:
Background:
Notable Attributes:
Special Flaws/Weaknesses:
Sexual Orientation/Preference:
Player Preferences:
Motto (optional):[/b]


*Player Preferences is a place to say the things you want to happen to the character, or are not okay with having happen to the character. Mostly this is concerning sexual 'occurrences', but you could also mention here that you don't want your character to be bloodied, have limbs broken, be tortured, etc, not that I'm planning on a huge amount of gore or permanent injury, unless it's requested or something.

Here's a quick example:

Name: Madelyn
Gender: Female
Race: Demon-blooded Human
Appearance: Red hair, pale skin, wiry build (actual characters need a bit more than this).
Background: Madelyn grew up an oprhan on the streets of Qilao.
Notable Attributes: -Near-superhuman agility, endurance and durability
-Excellent archer
-Able to see perfectly in the dark
Sexual Orientation/Preference: Hetero
Player Preferences: I'd like Madelyn to be involved in non-con scenes, especially if they involve bondage or tentacles.

[NicciKotor]

Whee:

You should also add flaws to the list of details for our characters. That way people have to think about not being all powerful and be more reasonable with their freeforming. Also gives you the DM something to use against us.


Real Name: Ahri
Gender: Female
Race: Fey Kitsune
Appearance:

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Background:

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Unlike other foxes that roamed the woods of southern Ionia, Ahri had always felt a strange connection to the magical world around her; a connection that was somehow incomplete. Deep inside, she felt the skin she had been born into was an ill fit for her and dreamt of one day becoming human. Her goal seemed forever out of reach, until she happened upon the wake of a human battle. It was a grisly scene, the land obscured by the forms of wounded and dying soldiers. She felt drawn to one: a robed man encircled by a waning field of magic whose life was quickly slipping away. She approached him and something deep inside of her triggered, reaching out to the man in a way she couldn't understand. His life essence poured into her, carried on invisible strands of magic. The sensation was intoxicating and overwhelming. As her reverie faded, she was delighted to discover that she had changed. Her sleek white fur had receded and her body was long and lithe, the shape of the humans who lay scattered about her.

Notable Attributes: Seductress. Specializing in enchantment and illusion magicks. Has no idea how proper society works, which results in Ahri having a poor grasp of social functions. This results in her not understanding the point of money or value of objects outside of, "OOOOHHHHHhhhh... Shiny!". Thus she can be easily exploited  by naughty people, right up to when Ahri figures out what is going on and turns the tables with her magicks.
Sexual Orientation/Preference: Bisexual and switch. Only doms girls.
Player Preferences: All sorts of kinks and spanking and such. Lots of bondage and non-con/ sexual exploitation. Body modifications like tattoos and piercings are lovely.
Motto (optional):"Do I have to wear clothes? They are such a bother...."

[Koyume]

I think that's a good idea. Added special flaws to the character template. Feel free to put 'none' or N/A or whatever if the character doesn't have any special weaknesses. An example of a special flaw is Superman's weakness to kryptonite, or a vampire's vulnerability to silver.

Always a pleasure to see you, Miss Kotor.

[NicciKotor]

Indeeds. The only offensive magicks I plan on using is my foxfire, a arcane ball of mystic fire that I can throw at people and hurt with. I would have to throw it, however, so any warrior worth his salt in not dying should be easily able to dodge it. Just think dodgeball but the ball is blue arcane fire.

So I am pretty crappy in fights, as I would rather just try to seduce someone and use him against his comrades. My other big weakness is the mentioned clueless nature of society. So I can be easily ripped off or scammed of what little money I have or just flat out tricked into slavery or forced prostitution. None of this would faze me since I don't have any moral compass right up to when someone wants to hurt me. Then I get serious.

Basically I am terrible at noticing lies.

[NicciKotor]

How many more players are you going to wait on before starting? Or are you just going to slot us in around the world and have at it?

I would naturally be located in one of the larger towns in Lo'mia. If they even have towns.

[Koyume]

How many more players are you going to wait on before starting? Or are you just going to slot us in around the world and have at it?

I would naturally be located in one of the larger towns in Lo'mia. If they even have towns.

Not really sure. Maybe three or four, but I suppose I could start it up without having a full roster, and people could kind of drop in whenever. I was thinking I might like to have everyone fairly close by (like in the same country, at least) to start. Really we could go either way: have the characters working in the same general area so they can meet and interact, or deal with each person individually. Either way though, I think everyone should start in either Jentao or Lo'mia, just because those are the only established places so far.

Lo'mia has towns, and a few cities too, but the country's hands-off organization means that any given settlement could be a great place, or a shantytown, depending on the efforts of the people living there.

[NicciKotor]

Drop me off in a decent enough port town or something. Just a place to live where I can try and fail to adapt my magicks to a business. Mostly just trying to figure out how to make love potions or charms for clients that will just cheat me out of my work. When I am not doing that, I wouldn't be surprised if I was dragged into a brothel to do some "community service".

[Koyume]

I'm considering making this a 'Heroes vs Villains' sort of game instead, perhaps with more of an emphasis on non-consensual stuff. In other words, some players could be villains, maybe hatching big evil schemes, maybe just using their powers to take what they want from the world, and other players would be heroes trying to stop them.

Does that sort of thing sound more desirable to anyone?

[NicciKotor]

We need more players for that sort of story. At your rate of inclusion we would be lucky to get three.

[Ironwolf85]

color me interisted

[Koyume]

We need more players for that sort of story. At your rate of inclusion we would be lucky to get three.

Well, it looks like we've got three, and in my experience interest tends to breed more interest. What's your preference?

[Ironwolf85]

Real Name: Null
Gender: Male
Race: Faun-unicorn based
Appearance:

Background:Null was born from the coupling of a Druid and Fae, making him a fawn, albeit his mother Ella was going for the perfect child and her druidic shifting powers allowed her to try and shape one. She was originally hoping for a daughter. She loathed men, but that same prejudice would not allow her to keep from raising a proper child. She refused to abandon him, yet His mother never quite treated him fairly. His sister’s actions, no matter how small were rewarded with praise, while his actions were always met with indifference. To this end he pushed himself to be a great druid, but Ella would never allow such a thing. When she died, he left the grove, partly due to heartache, partly due to desire to escape.
He found himself as an apprentice to a paladin who rescued him from drowning on his first day. Lady Ophelia was a surrogate mother to him, and taught him the ways of the outside world. While she eventually perished fighting Orc Ronin, it was she who taught him to live and enjoy the world.

Suprisingly he has wandered south and become involved in both Lo'mia and Jentao political circles on some level, having aquired (conquered) a small coastial fiefdom on the coast near the northern borders of both countries. Though what his political motovations are none can yet say.

Notable Attributes: Fae heritiage makes him resistant (not immune) to most conventional weapons. He has a natural grasp of light and nature magic, combined with skill with his silver axe Blitzhod refined from years of slaying northern monsters including trolls, giants, and lesser dragons.
Special Flaws/Weaknesses: Like all northern fae he is vunrible to wrought iron (think industrial iron chain) and Silver. Gunpowder weapons are also bane to Fae-blood. Psychologically his drive to excell and ambition is a major flaw that can be taken advantage of.
Sexual Orientation/Preference: Bisexual, usually dominant, he has attended a few Baccanal's in his political life, and there are few kinks he has not indulged in.
Player Preferences: No bringing blades to bed, assassination and poiltiking is common, but the combat itself does not do anything for me. Also no scat, piss, or any of that stuff.
Motto (optional):Praemonitus, praemunitus "Forewarned (is) forearmed”

[Siereis]

First of all, I wanted to post and say I am interested enough in this RP idea to make a character (which should be available soonish). 

Additionally, in terms of the whole 'heroes versus villains' idea:  I think it is great since all too often people rely on the GM to control everything and that gets slow since there is only 1 GM, boring since there is only one other player that characters are waiting for responses from, and unfair to the GM itself.  So in other words, I think that is a great idea both for the story itself and the general RP.

Now we just need more players :(

[Ironwolf85]

the way I'm doing Null, he's actually going to be osclating between hero and villan depending on his goals.

[NicciKotor]

the way I'm doing Null, he's actually going to be osclating between hero and villan depending on his goals.

Yay, my own pony pet!

[Koyume]

First of all, I wanted to post and say I am interested enough in this RP idea to make a character (which should be available soonish). 

Additionally, in terms of the whole 'heroes versus villains' idea:  I think it is great since all too often people rely on the GM to control everything and that gets slow since there is only 1 GM, boring since there is only one other player that characters are waiting for responses from, and unfair to the GM itself.  So in other words, I think that is a great idea both for the story itself and the general RP.

Now we just need more players :(

Excellent, and I think you make a good case for 'heroes vs villains'. I guess I'll start thinking up a character of my own.

Anyone playing a villain should be thinking 'supervillain'; the character should be a threat to the world in some way or another, and the player should feel free to give them henchmen, elaborate bases of operations, a lot of resources, etc, though they could also work completely solo and be a more minor threat if the player prefers.

[NicciKotor]

"My doctor says that I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre," Ford muttered to himself, "and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes."

[Ironwolf85]

Null is on the side of his own newly formed country, a bit of the Dr. Doom and Latveria dynamic. Seeking to expand it's power, and his own reach, and like Doom he is not a tyrant, but a hero to his people.
I am trying to not play to a villianious trope.
His actual political goal is to build a third power that can keep people safe from the monsters that roam the lands, it is his ruthlessness and ability to go that makes him a villan. likewise he sees cracks in both systems

[Koyume]

Well, I finally managed to come up with something. She's a hero character, maybe a little anti-heroish. Might change a few things later, assuming we actually get some more players.

Real Name: Arden Laeko
Superhero/secret identity Name: Styx
Gender: Female
Race: Half-Demon/Half-Human (born), Undead (currently)
Appearance: Lithe and muscular, Arden stands about 5'4. She has wavy violet hair, lightly tanned skin, and dark eyes. Despite her athleticism her physique still boasts a woman's curves, and her bosom is firm and well endowed. Arden herself dresses quite girlishly, wearing dresses, blouses, skirts, and such when she's in public. As Styx, however, she wears long gloves, thigh length leggings, and a sleeveless leotard, all of which are enchanted to protect her as well as steel mail. She also wears a long, heavy sash, sometimes tucking various weapons or devices into it.

Background: Arden is an orphan and a bastard, the daughter of an anonymous human woman and the powerful demon who ravished her on a whim. She grew up in a Lo'mian orphanage, taking pleasure in few things. By the time she was fifteen, she'd become very proficient at clobbering bullies and thugs with her fists, and it wasn't long before she grew in to her new role as a local hero. She started wearing black and fashioning herself into a nocturnal vigilante. A few years later, she'd finally bitten off more than she could chew when she went after a large criminal organization headed by a mutant with strength that rivaled her own and seeming invulnerability.

She was ambushed, beaten, and murdered; her body thrown into a river and her name quickly forgotten. Her story didn't end there though. She was discovered by an eccentric and powerful witch, who brought her back from the dead by turning her into a unique undead creature. Arden returned with no memories of her past life, save for a sense that the world needed her help. The witch explained that her lifeforce was bound to an enchanted blade, and that she could only truly die if she were separated from the sword for too long. Since then, she's forged a new identity and gained some measure of fame as the mysterious hero, Styx. She has numerous allies throughout Lo'mia, some of whom help by fashioning her magical weaponry, armor, or other devices.
Notable Attributes: -superhuman strength, stamina, and durability
-near-superhuman agility (but not outright speed)
-excellent senses, including night vision
-excellent athlete, acrobat, and hand-to-hand fighter
-possesses a magical, flaming, and nearly indestructible sword called Nightreaper, which she can summon to her hand from up to several miles away with a special incantation.
-if killed, regenerates and returns to life after one day so long as Nightreaper is near her.
Special Flaws/Weaknesses: Discomfort in direct sunlight, vulnerability to silver and magic involving light, loses strength if separated from Nightreaper.
Sexual Orientation/Preference: Bisexual, but with very little real experience.
Player Preferences: No mutilation, torture, extreme bondage, scat, or watersports.
Motto: [to be decided]

[NicciKotor]

Is this starting up soon enough?

[Koyume]

Not sure. With a little more interest it should be.