On a Quest to Rediscover - D&D 5th ed - Recruitment

[Sain]

At the height of their power and knowledge, a magitek society spanning the whole globe crashed. They had opened gates into strange alien places hoping to exploit their natural resources. At first it looked to be the next big thing after the first void ships, something that might boost the society into new Golden Age so vibrant that the current era of prosperity would seem like the hunger years in comparison. New gates were built everywhere without worry, and, as is often the case with powerful magics, it all slipped out of hand. Things began pouring out fast - too fast!  Titanic creatures, quasi deific aliens and demonic races ravaged the world in a war of biblical scale. The planet was shaken to its very core. Mountains rose from nothing and fell into deep sea graves in moments, the sky burned in more colors than mortal eye could comprehend, all was plunged into chaos. One magitek city was lucky to close their gates in time and destroy them all. The mages of  this city of Arcanz channeled all the excess energy of the ley line city stood on into their dome and sealed themselves from the outside world.

Centuries have passed living in the fear of the unimaginable wars that might still rage outside Arcanz. Life in the isolated city has had its problems even with the advanced technology. Shortage of natural water, food, space and the limited mana supply of the ley line have forced them through hard times. There were rebellions, there were times when infighting within the ruling council almost plunged the city into a civil war, but they endured - the people were good at heart. Generations of humans and other shorter lived mortals have known nothing but the megacomplex under the starless dome. Only the oldest of the elves and few who have sustained themselves through magic remember what the world was like. However, this was not to be forever. Without any warning the ley line began flickering and was suddenly quenched almost entirely. Arcanz lost majority of its mana supply overnight - the dome fell.

For the first time in over half a millenia they saw the world outside and it took everyone’s breath away. The beautiful unsullied landscape of fresh waters running through seas of green with rocky peaks pushing through and rising into snow topped mountain ranges. Outside was not the warzone they feared it to be, but...  paradise? Things were quickly put into motion by the high council. Citizens were drafted to defend the city and a good portion of the able and strong were sent to investigate the ley line upstream. Towards the now unknown world spreading around Arcanz were dispatched numerous smaller ships with independent and capable crews on a quest to rediscover this lost world your ancestors once knew as home.

You are one such crew now sailing through the skies of a brand new renewed world aboard the airship Memento. Visiting distant lands, ancient ruins and alien vistas your mission is to explore.

The game

This will be a D&D 5th edition game focusing heavily on exploration of the unknown fantasy world and hopefully on the growth of your characters as individuals and as a group. I heavily encourage making personalities capable of creating drama, romance and all the fun that comes with a well designed adventurer party. The game going to run a little bit episodic, I think, your party finding a new cool area or some ruins and exploring them. You can of course decide where you'll go. I don't have the whole world mapped out (though I do have a map that will reveal itself as you travel) so if you want to look for certain types of areas or some specific ruins or follow clues you find along the way that is totally fine! There may be plots and I have some hooks ready for larger plots, but most of those are to happen in the background as your party explores and adventures. As you might imagine it is not going to be a world reeking of sex. You can make a pervy character and perv around with other party members as you like, but NPCs will have a bit more realistic balance between slutty and prude.

The party

Note: The party already has one wizard, my co-GM Lunar Raven. He will sometimes help manage combat scenes and to handle some NPCs and such things to make sure everything runs smooth.

You have a small flying ship with bedrooms for maybe 10~ man crew and space for a lot more if you get creative. Fuel lasts for about 400-500 miles in average weather depending on the climate (colder areas need more for keeping the place warm). Idea is that ship needs to re-fuel at some magically active locations every now and then, forcing the players to make plans around those occasions. Food supplies for 4 months, though likely a non issue if some are druids. Onboard ou have everfull mug style water supply capable of dispensing 100 liter a day in total (hot water for showers). You will have a way to report back to Arcanz about your findings through a magical journal capable of sending messages across long distances, but need not divulge everything. I think the only magitek city NPC that there will be at the start will be your contact back home.

You will be a small crew of 5-6 characters total. No NPCs in your crew so don’t make passive observers or the ship and story won’t move. You’ll be all lvl 7 at start, so quite experienced in whatever field you have focused in. Your characters should have some motivations for coming on-board and they will all know each other beforehand, but don’t focus on those bonds before we know the whole party. You won't have a leader so make sure you will be OOC fine with the party not agreeing to always go along with each individual's decisions.

Character sheet

This is the first character sheet that I'll use to pick me players and characters that will have some synergy with personalities and playstyles. You can fill it in here or send a filled version to me via PM. This isn’t first come first serve. You can add more details  to this mini sheet to it if you like. Character pictures are encouraged to be more in the anime or comic-style or some other artwork. I'm going to be using pictures from that spectrum myself too.

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[float=right][img height=300]picture url here[/img][/float][b]Name:[/b] and possible titles and aliases.
[b]Race/Class:[/b] All core races and classes are allowed (multiclassing too). You may have to convince me if you want some weirder race. You can refluff the classes as you like.
[b]Sex/Gender:[/b] All welcome. I'll try to make sure there is some balance.
[b]Interested In:[/b] This is mostly what YOU the player are interested in, but not a place to link your O/o (I’m gonna read them anyway and I expect you read mine). What do you want to explore in your character? Romance, some fun love triangles, a particularly fun mental illness? What kinds of plots would you be most interested in to run into whilst exploring - epic battles against titanic dragons, intrigue between new powers that have risen during Arcanz's isolation? What kinda kinks do you want to see if your character has a chance to run into some smuttier fun? This part is mostly just so you can give me more ideas so you can throw any plot hook ideas you like here.
[b]Brief Description:[/b] At least some physical, some personality, enough to get the core concept through loud and clear. You can sketch some background too.
[b]Pace preference:[/b] Daily? Weekly? Constantly but only on weekends? One paragraph, two, three, one page per post? What is your posting preference?

I'll produce a bigger more detailed character sheet once I've picked the characters. Be prepared to explore your character's background beyond what you write in the initial sheet We may be prepared to take one or two newbies to 5th edition D&D too, but then you will need to be prepared to read the book yourself too and some general familiarity with role playing systems is preferred.

If you have any questions about the setting, theme or anything at all please don’t hesitate to post them. The city of Arcanz itself is pretty basic magitek type city and since we are not going to focus on it I’m going to leave its lore pretty blank. You are of course more than welcome to come up with all the cool organizations, cultures and traditions surrounding your character!

[Lunar Raven]

Summary of potential crew:

PLAYER	CHARACTER	PARTICULARS	SEX PREFERENCE
Lunar Raven	Aramil Dholfell	Male [CN] High elf Wizard (Bladesinging)	Omnisexual
CeruleanSerenity	Lyra Hawthorne	Female, Human Bard	Omnisexual
Hopefox	Blackbird of Craftspire	Male, Wood elf Barbarian (Eagle totem)	Bisexual
A Painter	Sandari the Trickster	Male, Gnome Bard	Bisexual
tyr4n02r	Liam Sept’eraz	Male [CN] Wood elf Warlock/Druid	Mostly Heterosexual
Arcannyx	Eldran'Tyr	Male, Tiefling Warlock 3/Paladin 4	Heterosexual
Guancyto	Ratwarden	Warforged Druid
ShadowFox89	Jaya Ballard	Female, Tiefling Sorceress 7	Bisexual
Premier	Rini	Female, Halfling Rogue	Heterosexual
AndyZ	Vix	Female, Changeling Rogue (Swashbuckler)	Bisexual (F preference)

My contribution to the crew roster.  As a note, Aramil is mostly in an advisory/supporting role rather than PC proper - he's there to help or provide direction (maybe complications?), so most missions and exploration will be done by players, with him trying help keep them alive or support them with his magic or words.

ARAMIL DHOLFELL

Name: Aramil Dholfell
Race/Class: CN High Elf Wizard (Bladesinger arcane tradition)
Sex/Gender: Male

Interested In: Mainly adventure and discovering the particulars of the plot and wonders of the world.  Developing romance a plus (three-way FFM or MMF even bigger plus), but not necessary.  Developing an interesting dynamic between crew members.  Developing a (lawless frontier) colony.  Fighting demons and aberrations.  Intrigue/conspiracy plots in Arcanz.  Being something of an omni-sexual, as long as he's pitching, anything is fair game - smut appreciated, but not needed.  Impregnating females (consensual).  Elf x non-elf pairings.

Brief Description: Aramil is a tall elf of lithe build, with dark hair and moody blue eyes.  His role on board the ship is as representative to Arcanz's High Council and his House to make sure their interests and the well being of the mission is kept in mind.  That said, he has a non-interventionist approach and is happy to watch others do their own thing.  The arcane power at his command makes him quite confident of himself, though he isn't afraid to dirty his hands every now and again if he can work up the enthusiasm to do so - reaching close to his 300th year, and a life time of being cooped up within Arcanz has generally brought him to a state of ennui where he craves new experiences.  Furthermore, seeing nature restored to its pristine condition, Aramil would take offence to any powers or factions (not individuals) seeking to exploit/despoil it.

Aramil serves mostly in an advisory role in most instances.

Pace preference: Two or three times a week.  Posting rate less certain on weekends.

[AndyZ]

Very interested ^_^ Just got to figure out what to play for this.

[Sain]

Take your time. I think I'll give this a week or so until moving onto the full character sheets and PC bonds and such.

[CeruleanSerenity]

Definitely interested... I've been wanting a 5e game for ages, and now that I'm getting back into RPing, I'll have to come up with a character if I think I can handle it on top of my other responsibilities. Though it might take me a few days to settle on an idea finish the initial sheet, so it's good we have time...

I'll probably end up submitting a character who's at least a little pervy because I like to do that, but I'm fine with the game not being heavy on sexual elements, outside of whatever the players get up to.

Do you have anything planned for the deities of the setting, or are we free to come up with whatever suits our character?

[Sain]

Sure you can come up with your own deities. I'll probably have a mix of those that walk the world and those too removed from the affairs of the world to care. The aforementioned are likely more common for citizens of Arcanz who have been isolated, though I'm not against making some funky cults in there that worship some mortal close to ascending, or just gain their powers from their faith in a set of values.

[Countdown0]

How do you feel about a Wild Magic Sorcerer who REALLY wants to hep... but you know, sometimes his spells don't really go how he'd hoped?

[A Painter]

Interested.  May make a gnome character that likes to tinker, maybe a mechanic type of character.
Hm.  So many possibilities.

[HopeFox]

This looks great! I'd love to play a character who's all about exploration and survival - maybe an eagle-totem barbarian? How would wilderness-based characters have learned their skills while they were all confined to Arcanz? How about someone who spent their life on the rooftops of the city, living as a sort of urban survivalist? They would definitely have a good motivation to get out into the world and explore.

I think they're a wood elf - a forest creature who had never seen a forest until the dome came down. I like that motivation.

[Sain]

Wild magic sorcerers are fine Countdown They are played way too little.

Gnomes are also good. All the gnome variants from other books are fair game as well.

Hey hey Hope. Wilderness based characters have a few options for how they learned to embrace that lifestyle. You could say that there were some domes within Arcanz, some ghetto areas that had degraded to pretty much wilderness or they learned from books or mentors. Urban survivalist works fine too. Yeah, I can imagine such such nature loving characters being pretty crazy about finally getting out.

[Chulanowa]

Intrigued! Sad that a wild mage sorcerer has already been picked up, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

[CeruleanSerenity]

"It might take me a few days", I said...

I'm a little pressed for time right now, so hopefully this is all right... I'll fix it later if there are any mistakes or I'm missing anything.

---

Name: Lyra Hawthorne
Race/Class: Human Bard
Sex/Gender: Female

Interested In: I love exploring, so I'll be happy as long as we have the chance to investigate ancient ruins, meet unknown civilizations and species, and uncover secrets about the world. Action is always fun, and I'd like opportunity to interact with the PCs and NPCs in more relaxed situations too. On the smutty side of things, I'd welcome any chance for sexual encounters with exotic creatures on the more or less humanoid side of things (nymphs, werewolves, merfolk, and centaurs come to mind), as well as societies and individuals with unusually open views on sexuality. Nothing required, though. I'm not into non-con, but Lyra is something of an omnisexual, very open and prone to teasing and seduction. PCs and NPCs welcome, of course.

Brief Description: Lyra is a raven-haired beauty, with ruby lips, emerald eyes and a curvaceous figure that she enjoys flaunting in revealing garb. Though her appearance is easy on the eyes, there's something of a hard edge to her too: a history living on the shadier side of society has taught her that the world can be a cruel and unfair place. But she can be downright irresistible when she turns on the charm, and doesn't hesitate to use that talent for her own benefit; Lyra has a particular love for luxury and carnal pleasure, enjoys teasing those less confident than herself, and has a reputation for being even harder to handle than she is easy to get. Recently, however, she has been making a semi-respectable living as a storyteller and author of adventurous (and often bawdy) tales. While in no hurry to make an upstanding citizen of herself, the outside world's siren call of adventure and profit is too strong for her to resist - and it ought to be a font of inspiration besides. Though she may often seem self-centered (and would hardly deny it herself), Lyra isn't heartless, and has something of a soft spot for those unfairly suffering or oppressed. Of course, if she can get something out of helping them, who is she to complain?

Pace preference: 2-3 times a week sounds ideal. I tend to write mid-length posts (a couple of paragraphs), but I'm fine with adapting to shorter... less confident in my ability to write very long and detailed posts, but I'm willing to try. Writing practice is always welcome.

[ShadowFox89]

 Looks interesting! Have a couple of ideas

Sirona - Elf Barbarian, prefers running around in the buff, loves the thrills of combat
Jala- Human Sorceress, is looking at building up a part of the wild into a nice little realm for herself.
Zitka Matveev - Shifter rogue, has nothing for her in the cities beyond a couple of wanted posters, looking to see what exactly is beyond the walls she grew up in.

[HopeFox]

Name: Blackbird of Craftspire
Race/Class: Wood elf barbarian (eagle totem), urchin background
Sex/Gender: Male
Interested In: Exploring new places! Interacting with new societies and interesting creatures, and surviving the dangers of the great outdoors! I'm vey fond of environmental survival challenges, and of course getting into fights. Meeting the new cultures that have formed outside Arcanz should be very interesting, in trying to fit in with their customs without incurring their wrath. And if those customs involve lots of sex, all the better! I'm also totally down for boning some unusual creatures.
Brief Description: Blackbird is a tall wood elf, with raven-black hair and weatherbeaten skin. He grew up in the Craftspire tribe, a collection of elves and others who call the rooftops of Arcanz's industrial district their home. The core of the tribe consists of several elven families, including his own, who dwell on the rooftops to sate their own wanderlust and escape the confinement of the city streets. The tribe also takes in the adventurous and destitute of all races, for whom life on the ground is distasteful or impossible. They scratch out a living by trapping birds, stealing from supply depots, and hiring themselves out as mercenaries and bodyguards. Blackbird joined the expedition crew in the hope of seeing the forests and mountains that his grandmother told him about when he was young, knowing that something in his blood yearns to find these places. He is quick to trust, quick to aid and quick to love, but feels the sting of betrayal deeply, and never hides his emotions. He rarely turns down romantic and intimate advances, knowing that tomorrow could be the day a guard's arrow finds his throat or his skull strikes the cobblestones below.
Pace preference: I like to post a few times a week, usually 2-3 paragraphs, but more or less depending on the situation. Usually I'll write much longer posts at the beginning of a game or a scene, and shorter posts when deep in combat or conversation.

[ShadowFox89]

 Kinda wondering which of the three ideas I should pick. Zitka is an old setup of mine from way back when I first joined E, and she's had a few incarnations along the years. And it does look like we need a stealthy type character, though with a slot of 10 people it looks like? We'll have plenty of space for overlap.

[CeruleanSerenity]

If I may be biased, I'm always in favor of adding some barbarian nudity to a group... but you would know your characters best, and all three ideas sound like they could work well.

At first I wasn't sure whether Lyra should be a bard or a rogue, and I think either would be fun and easily fit her character, so if the group ends up needing the latter (and the GM is all right with it) I could always go with rogue instead.

I had a cleric concept too, but that would be a different character...

[Sain]

Characters so far looking pretty nice. I don't think a D&D party necessarily needs any type per say so don't worry too much about class balance.

[HopeFox]

Well, Blackbird is going to have the Urchin background, which means he'll have Stealth, Sleight of Hand, disguise kit and thieves' tools proficiencies. That's not nearly as good as being a real rogue, but it does mean that we won't be stumped by the first lock we find. And his clothing priorities are very much "don't freeze to death" rather than "fit in with polite people and their silly modesty rules". He would love to have a more wild barbarian on the crew to get very close to. But from a pure balance perspective, the sorceress would probably be the most useful.

[Lunar Raven]

Characters so far looking pretty nice. I don't think a D&D party necessarily needs any type per say so don't worry too much about class balance.

Ditto

D&D 5 makes reliance on balance a bit less than it did in previous incarnations.  Technically, the GM can help you by tailoring adventures to suit the classes involved, but also it will require a little player discretion to pick their adventures (when they can ) for the best chances of success.

Edit: 2nd post on this thread now updated with table of potential characters and their players.

[Muse]

  Hey all.  I wanted to say that this game looks awesome.  I want to apply, but I'm running some games through start up mode right now, and I'd have to neglect that to get in an aplication on time.  Don't want to let my players down that way.  I'll peak in from time to time and see if I can get done before things close. 

  Kudos on an awesome game set up.  : )

[ShadowFox89]

 Some setting questions-

Government type? Gender equality? View on magic? Destructive magic? Racial views? You mention the airship runs on magic fuel, should we expect magitech ala Eberron levels?

My thoughts on Jalla is that she is the daughter of a duke who has no interest in being married off for political gains of her father, instead intending to carve out her own slice of the wilderness. She's also managed to awaken some old dragon blood running through her, and great great grandpappy gold dragon might be alive and kicking.

[Sain]

Well I do still intend to keep recruitment open for a week since I said so in the beginning, so still 5 days left?

Some setting questions-

Government type? Gender equality? View on magic? Destructive magic? Racial views? You mention the airship runs on magic fuel, should we expect magitech ala Eberron levels?

My thoughts on Jalla is that she is the daughter of a duke who has no interest in being married off for political gains of her father, instead intending to carve out her own slice of the wilderness. She's also managed to awaken some old dragon blood running through her, and great great grandpappy gold dragon might be alive and kicking.

Government type some kinda plutocratic council, but generally the decision makers are in the good-neutral axle. They just can't solve everything. Gender equality would probably depend on sub-culture. Maybe if you want there can be some with more leaning to one side, but for the city at large I'm gonna go with the general fantasy theme of pretty much assumed gender equality.

It is a magitek city so arcane is probably most common type of magic found in the city and would be viewed as technology would be viewed as in any modern society. There would be some backwards groups of course who might deny it, but considering every PC will have to ride a ship based on such tech they're assumed to at least not be anarchistic level of anti magic (you can still be afraid of it and not understand it). Magic is as destructive as in the 5th edition books on personal level, but I think biggest booms will come from some huge magic cannons mounted on war airships and such. If you're wondering acceptance of it, well destructive magic would be just a weapon. Considering the city has survived over 700 years in isolation people capable of wielding great and powerful magic might have registered with some government institution unless they live on the shadier side and hiding their powers.

I think Arcanz will have a pretty politically correct society but of course dwarves might hate elves and on street level there might be racial gangs and such. The middle class and higher ups would be more individualistic and look past race, though elves in particular might have some mixed feelings about other races since they have been pretty much forced to live amongst short lived races for their whole lifetime, and I imagine watching people die of age around you can get pretty tiring after a while. I imagine elven cliques rising would have also motivated other groups seeking to isolate themselves from other races. Overall the racial distribution would be pretty equal among the main core races though.

Well, not exactly eberron flavor, but I suppose similar levels. The city would have elevators, streetlights and common comforts of modern society. Showers produce water from everfull mug type contraptions, wands might be shaped like pistols for better handling, servant constructs (clockwork or pure arcane) could be common in upper middleclass and higher households and so on.Teleportation and long distance communication might not be so readily available however. There will be a limited amount of such gadgets on the ship, there might be some found in the ruins of the old world but the new renewed world isn't going to have anywhere same level of arcane technology as your characters have gotten used to in Arcanz.

Well, character having some dragon ancestor who might be alive could be a reason to go out.

[tyr4n02r]

Color me interested. I have a serious Wood Elf Warlock/Druid that I've been dying to play. Any calls on starting level or point-buy/rolls? All books allowed? Unearthed Arcana? Give me till the end of the day to post my character.

I can post a char sheet w mine, and just change the stats to fit later

Edit: Oooh and expect this char to be pretty personally opposed, and mildly nervous, of magitek, simply because he came from a forest village.

[Lunar Raven]

Color me interested. I have a serious Wood Elf Warlock/Druid that I've been dying to play. Any calls on starting level or point-buy/rolls? All books allowed? Unearthed Arcana? Give me till the end of the day to post my character.

I can post a char sheet w mine, and just change the stats to fit later

Edit: Oooh and expect this char to be pretty personally opposed, and mildly nervous, of magitek, simply because he came from a forest village.

No need to rush for now tyr4n02r, I think there's till the end of the coming week to get these sorted.  No generated char sheets - just get your character concept up and out there

[Sain]

Yep. What Lunar Raven said.

I haven't decided yet which way I want to do stats, but first I want characters and players who might work well together and with me, which is why I don't want stat sheets or too detailed characters yet. I don't have unearthed arcana so gonna judge stuff from that case by case.

Keep in mind though that your characters are from Arcanz, not outside it. The city was pretty tightly packed and completely isolated so there weren't any other villages per say. You could have though lived in some area within the city where nature had gone a bit rampart and grown over and into the buildings (some kinda druid district or something).