- Posting Speed
- 1-3 posts per week
- One post per week
- Online Availability
- 16:00-20:00 US Central
- Writing Levels
- Adept
- Advanced
- Prestige
- Preferred Character Gender
- No Preferences
- Genres
- Cyberpunk, Sci-fi, Fantasy, and other low-tech/fantasy.
Once,
there had been peace and prosperity north of the Wall of the Pass. Centuries ago the great Spellweaver Piersym Thrice-Born had conquered all of the lands north of the Raven's Pass, a wide and sprawling country walled in mountains housing a fertile and blessed land. Its inhabitants, the mighty elves, had long ruled their promised land to the north and left the humans, orcs, and dwarves to scrounge through and squabble over the poorer lands to the south. The war lasted years, and when all was said and done, Piersym had emerged victorious.
The great Spellweaver began to offer safe passage through the Raven's Pass for all that would pay the price, either in coin, fealty, or service. But with the once-invulnerable elves no more, so too did the lands north of the Pass lose their sense of invulnerability. The orcs, having long clashed with the humans to the south, turned their attention north and invaded en masse. Fearing defeat, Piersym opened a portal to realms unimagined using forbidden and ancient magics preserved by the elves before their demise. From the portal swelled demons, monsters, and unnatural beings. They swept across the land, spreading corruption wherever they went. With the help of his demonic allies, Piersym pushed back the orcs but in the process lost his soul, becoming the King of Demons.
Fearing corruption, the Nine Kings of the south sealed the Raven's Pass and declared the lands north cursed, forbidding all from crossing into the once-blessed northern lands. Those left north of the Pass consolidated and erected mighty fortresses and villages wherever they could, constantly set upon by the demonic forces of the Demon King. Only the foolish or the brave, the warriors and the rogues, dared venture from the safety of the sparse clusters of civilization still left in the Cursed Lands.
Scattered throughout the Cursed Lands are still the ruins and treasures of old, guarded by powerful monsters and dangerous magics. The Hollow Knights, empty vessels for the Demon King's spirit, roam the countryside for threats, leaving lesser demons to torment and butcher survivors in their homes. It is believed that out there, somewhere, lie ancient weapons used by the elves of old to defeat the Demons haunting the land yet none can know for sure...
Welcome, brave soul,
to the Cursed Lands. In this RP, you will assume the role of a survivor living north of the Raven's Pass living out his or her days as an adventurer of the Cursed Lands. Whether you seek treasure, fame, fortune, or perhaps for the relics of old to slay the Demon King is up to you. You and your fellow adventurers have taken up refuge in the Hollows, a simple village in the northwestern corner of the Cursed Lands with narrow passageways cutting it off from the dangerous mainland. Your quest for treasures of the old world have led you here, alongside a number of other treasure hunters.
Throughout the course of the adventure, you and your fellow compatriots will be set upon by the plethora of dark and dangerous forces of the Demon King, the wretched and greedy packs of fellow treasure hunters roaming the land, and the harsh and uncompromising wilderness of the Cursed Lands themselves. The world will be steadily unraveled and explored piece by piece as your adventure takes you from place to place, dictated by your own decisions. You will explore ruins of cities whose names have long been lost to history, dwell into dark dungeons crowded with monsters, and venture across the land in service of your goals.
Outlined below are the rules of the RP, guidelines for making a character, and additional world information that might help inspire or guide your character choices.
Part 1 - Rules for Adventurers
1. The world is unforgiving and terrifying, and actions will have consequences - though character death shall only be enacted with consent of the involved player, the outcomes of your decisions are to be determined by the GM and are binding.
2. Attacks and actions against 'mooks' and low-ranking NPCs will pass and fail at your discretion. If you have a question about what classifies a 'mook', let me know. With this power, though, comes the responsibility that your characters do not succeed all of the times.
3. There is no strict posting order, but GM posts will mark the meaningful passage of time. I will try to post a GM post once a week/when everyone is caught up, but will communicate with you all if this expectation can not be met for any given week.
4. There is no posting limitation in terms of length, but what you do write needs to clearly indicate the intention and actions of your character as well as any characters, items, locations, etc. that character is attempting to influence or interact with.
5. If you want to stop your participation, please let me know either in this thread or privately via PM! We can decide what happens with your character and (if at all) when you want to come back.
6. If you are inactive in the OOC and/or the IC thread for more than 2 weeks I will assume your character is inactive and will assume control of them in a limited capacity as to avoid stagnating the story. If after a month you have not communicated, your character will be retired.
7. Though it goes without saying, all Iwaku rules apply.
Part 2 - Adventurers, Scoundrels, and Warriors
Your characters hail from the Cursed Lands and have lived there all their lives as the powerful magics protecting the Wall of the Pass forbid all from crossing. They may have come from small villages dotting mountainous outcroppings in the Cursed Lands, are warriors from one of the various warrior brotherhoods that have erected fortresses around the land, or perhaps even are wanderers born to a life on the road.
Three races inhabit the Cursed Lands - humans, orcs, and dwarves. The elves have long since been eradicated by Piersym, and later the survivors were purged by the Demon King.
ORCS
Orcs were believed to be made from the combination of elf and human blood even though humans did not arrive to the continent prior to their creation, resulting in a creature with the strength and magical prowess of elves but the brutish nature and shortened lifespan of humans. The Source that orcs pull their magic from is less pure than that of elves, however, and so their magical capability is limited to a sort of exchange. Those orcs capable of performing magic may willingly hamper certain physical characteristics (such as strength) for a length of time and store the energy in jewels, pulling on it later when needed. This storage is extremely inefficient, and for every hour an orc operates at half capacity they may double the capacity of that characteristic for one minute. Orcs were used as slaves by the dwarves and elves, and even by the humans for a time.
Orcs stand over 6 feet (180cm) regardless of sex, and are more muscular than humans. Their faces are largely flat, with pointed ears and teeth that end in points. Their nostrils lie flat against their face in diagonal slits. An orc's skin is a pale green, the darker the skin the larger the orc will grow. The tallest orcs stand just below 8 feet (240cm). Though shunned in society by most humans, their strength and combat prowess make them reliable allies and lend most humans to overlook their long-standing rivalries with orcs on account of their capacity to kill.
HUMANS
Humans came to the world after the elves but before the dwarves, born of a purer Source than dwarves, enabling them to access magic. Unlike the magic utilized by the orcs, human magic is elemental in nature. Humans can manipulate existing elements such as air, water, fire, and earth though only particularly skilled sorcerers can manipulate more than one element. Humans, and magically-inclined humans, are the most numerous race of all. It was their numbers and tendency to have a number of magic users made them more than capable to dispatch the elves when unified behind a common cause, and they are just as numerous in comparison to the other races in the Cursed Lands as further south. Humans arrived in the former promised land north of the Raven's Pass but were relegated to the south after the lands were divided by physical barriers.
Humans by contrast to the other races live relatively shorter lives, standing between 5 feet (150cm) and 6 feet (180cm) tall. Whereas orcs and dwarves have few differences between the sexes besides reproductive organs, human women on average tend to develop muscle mass less readily than human men. That said, men and women are equally capable survivors in the Cursed Lands. To be anything else is to make the short lives of humans even shorter.
DWARVESHumans came to the world after the elves but before the dwarves, born of a purer Source than dwarves, enabling them to access magic. Unlike the magic utilized by the orcs, human magic is elemental in nature. Humans can manipulate existing elements such as air, water, fire, and earth though only particularly skilled sorcerers can manipulate more than one element. Humans, and magically-inclined humans, are the most numerous race of all. It was their numbers and tendency to have a number of magic users made them more than capable to dispatch the elves when unified behind a common cause, and they are just as numerous in comparison to the other races in the Cursed Lands as further south. Humans arrived in the former promised land north of the Raven's Pass but were relegated to the south after the lands were divided by physical barriers.
Humans by contrast to the other races live relatively shorter lives, standing between 5 feet (150cm) and 6 feet (180cm) tall. Whereas orcs and dwarves have few differences between the sexes besides reproductive organs, human women on average tend to develop muscle mass less readily than human men. That said, men and women are equally capable survivors in the Cursed Lands. To be anything else is to make the short lives of humans even shorter.
Dwarves came to the world last after the elves and humans, but before the coming of orcs, or so the legends of the humans go. Theirs was the least pure essence from the Source, rendering them unable to use magic. Despite, and perhaps because of, their poor Source, dwarves are rather immune to magics and project a null zone around them that makes magic more difficult to use. Demons seem to be relatively unaffected by this null zone in contrast to other, more mortal races.
Dwarves stand anywhere between 4 feet (120cm) and 5 feet (150cm) with a stocky, muscled build and calloused, tough skin that feels almost leather to the touch. Dwarves have a dulled sensation to pain and a propensity to grow hair; it is not uncommon for dwarves to be covered in arm and chest hair, the men growing large, bushy beards. They live nearly twice as long as humans and are formidable warriors despite their smaller stature, able of carrying many times their weight and fight with heavy weapons as if they were half their weight. They are less numerous than humans, and are valued more than orcs as humans and dwarves have always prospered together.
You'll note a lack of concrete world details upon which to base your character - this is intentional. Feel free to fill in little pockets of the world that suit your character's backstory, fleshing out settlements as you see fit to support their background and how they wound up in the Hollows. If you have any questions or want to run anything by me, post it here in the OOC thread or shoot me a PM! Please limit yourself to one character at this time.
The basic character sheet outline is as follows, and feel free to spice it up as you see fit:
Name:
Titles: If Any
Age:
Race:
Sex:
Appearance: Written required, image optional
Primary Motivation: Treasure, vengeance, adventure, etc.
Brief Backstory: The essentials of who they are and how they got here; save your secrets and more obscure background details to be discovered in-world
Skills: Keep it believable and make sure they are not competent at everything
Inventory: Again, keep it believable and try to tie it to their background. Magic items of any kind are not allowed to starting characters.
Part 3 - A World Rife With Struggle and Strife
Here are some additional notes worth considering when making your characters -
- Human towns and settlements are frequently attacked by demonic creatures and monsters, leading most to settle in mountainous regions with ample natural defenses and access to water
- Most demons or monsters that a survivor would encounter are comparable in capability to humans, forming the bulk of the Demon King's forces - larger beasts take more men to take down than even the best fighters, so tales of monster slaying heroes are just that: tales
- Magic users have no means of formal education in the Cursed Lands - any magic users are taught via tradition, their own exploration in trial and error, or find a traveling magic user to learn from
- Settlements are frequently mixed, containing various races - that said, interspecies coupling is not only impossible to yield a child but highly frowned upon, meaning half-breeds are not an observed phenomenon
- Orcs reach maturity at 20 years, humans at 16, dwarves at 30 - keep this in mind when setting out expectations for your characters' performance and relative skill
- Though crops are difficult to tend in the Cursed Lands, the earth itself ripe with corruption from dark magics, it is possible and farming communities still exist
- The Hollow Knights prowl the land riding large demonic steeds most comparable to dragons of wyverns - few encounter them and live to tell the tale, and they prefer to spend their time searching for artifacts that could prove to undo the Demon King rather than razing villages
- Ruins of the old world are largely elven-built, with humans having taken them later but some might have been constructed by any of the races in the long and colored history of the Cursed Lands
- Though many who wander the wastes have stumbled upon the Wall of the Pass along their journeys, none have managed to get within a mile of it, let alone climb it
Part 4 - Wrapping Up
The soft limit on players at this time is 5 - any more and the RP tends to get messy and veer off. I will edit this limit as time goes on and players come (and possibly go). If you're interested, and the OOC thread is marked "Open Signups" then feel free to leave a message below indicating interest or your character sheet for approval. I look forward to running this RP along with you all!
Roster as of 3/7:
- Blanc Oriz'zon 「 Jamaicanbobslayer 」
- Vardis Le'Trasque Steel
- Arianell Oresh Elle Joyner
- Niowyn Pupperr
- Jaxs @Ellion
- Oryn @Morgan
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