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Asuras
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The legend went as such.
At the dawn of time, men gave their fealty to the gods, grateful of their existence.
In return, the pleased divines bestowed upon few men fragments of their power to use as they saw fit.
All civilizations shared in this power, no one priding themselves in superiority over others.
There was but one that lost this gift.
Within the nation of Baelwill, men and women reveled in skill and power.
To them it was the greatest proof of worth, to exercise their strength in duels and conquests.
They flaunted their heroes and achievements, scoffing at other nations.
As their revelry persisted, their gods began to see only shame in their behavior.
Their gods left them.
Defeated and ashamed, Baelwill nevertheless picked up their spirits and trudged on.
A king arose and inspired his people to return to their former glory.
Why did they need gods to be great?
A great tower was built, a representation of the climb they would soon pursue.
For years to come, through their own force of will and drive, the people of Baelwill attained their own divine strength.
From deep within the souls of men, an unstoppable power was brought forth.
Without gods and gifts, Baelwill forged their own strength to contest with gods.
Then, Baelwill began its first campaign of conquest upon other nations of their world
Even those bestowed with divine strength could not stand against them.
The gods, fearing for their creations' safety, descended upon the world from the skies.
The First King of Baelwill ascended his tower stretching into the skies.
Looking over the world, he cut down each and every god that showed.
Their power lost to them and their gods defeated, the world could only surrender beneath Baelwill's might.
The nation bore an engineer to imprison the world.
The nation bore a cleric that rendered their men immortal.
For eons untold, the story of how they had risen to power vanished from minds.
To know of the late gods was punishable.
To speak of them was to be put to death.
Memory of the strength men could hold was lost, and with it, the will to rise against their captors.
Ten years ago the fourth age of man ended; Baelwill's machinations of destruction were unthinkably reduced to rubble. The arcane cannon that threatened cities with destruction fell from the sky. The arch-priestess that had rendered their knights undying was assassinated. Left with mortal -albeit impossibly skilled- and few knights to control the world as they once did, Baelwill retracted inwards, hiding behind the final weapon left to protect their capital. In those ten years, the world has struggled to retrieve its own sovereignty from the ground where Baelwill left it.
Nations squabble over leadership, land, and power. Without a great empire gripping their reigns, organizing worldwide peace by virtue of force, new rivalries have emerged.
The vagrant Witches of the Burned Nation congregate to discuss their future without a home.
The great Eastern empires debate who they truly owe allegiance to; a child born of Baelwill blood, or to their own leaders?
Ollas struggles to resurface their once proud spirituality as countless startup priests declare differing doctrines.
The racial divisions between Alkrisia and Complies begin to broil without an empire to keep them complacent.
Verdigris presses for retaliation against Baelwill and mobilizes for war, frightening states within Mecrundyr that once belonged to their kingdom.
The werefolk of Mecrundyr rise from the shadows of hiding, terrorizing villages to sate their hopeful quest for growth.
Phantom Knights of Baelwill linger across the world, hunting an unseen enemy down.
And the problem yet remains; what if Baelwill returns to the world en masse? The nations must resolve their problems soon, lest they find themselves crippled and weak in the face of a looming and familiar enemy...
A meeting has been organized between those of the Verdigris Empire, the Mecrundyr Republic, Ollasian Holy State, Alkrisia and Complies, and the Eastern Empires. Great caravans have come together within Mecrundyr to discuss politics, trade, and to mingle its people and cultures. What comes of it will guide the fate of these nations for years to come...
Immortality's End: Return of Gods is a reboot of a former roleplay I GM'd (briefly). Eventually the usage of dice was my downfall, as the responsibility I had created for myself with the dice system I used simply burned me out before I could allow the story to get far at all. With this in mind and with a clearer head, I'm hoping to try this again without the chaos of managing combat systems.
Because I won't have the stress of managing balance, systems, rules, dice, etc... I'll be able to focus on this a lot more than I did before, and hopefully things will be able to progress much faster than normal. I'll be setting a posting deadline for each round as I see fit, but I have yet to decide how long (or short) it will be. Expect a few days at most.
Note that when it comes to biographies (for when I put up the character sheets), players will not be inputting the traditional full bio as they see fit. Instead players will give me three major events in their character's life in minimal detail. Through PM's I will give you some additional facets of their life history to facilitate an easy means of gathering characters together for adventure. If thisis not something you are comfortable with, then please do not join.
In addition, I will be upfront in saying that beyond an initial and straightforward plot-driving event further events and plot will be improvised according to what happened prior, rather than set in stone from the start. I find it much more fun to come with something as things go along, rather than devise what will happen from the get-go. It creates much more opportunity for interesting or unexpected things to happen. That being said, the one thing I highly stress players/characters not do is split up and go alone for extended periods of time. Just please don't. It makes my life so much harder. I don't care for brooding/apathetic characters being snorefests.
THE SETTING
Immortality's End: Return of Gods is set on the continental peninsula of Yismel, some 3 million square miles in area. It is attached at the northeast to a much larger continent dominated by the Eastern Empires (not labeled on map). Yismel is home to a vast array of peoples, including but not limited to humans, elves, orcs, smallfolk, werefolk, and dragons. Humans and elves make up the majority of the continent's populace.
Yismel is divided by 6 distinct nations, with Baelwill remaining the most powerful without question.
A mere ten years ago, Baelwill dominated the world from north to south, east and west. With the power bestowed upon them by "artificially-created" god-like knights and kings of legend and the machinations of the mythic engineer Prollont, Baelwill secured its position as an unstoppable force of conquest. Its knights were literally invincible, their cities unreachable, and their far-reaching might unquestionable. An arch-priestess possessing powers never before seen to such a magnitude could remotely revive any and all Baelwill knights from anywhere on the globe, rendering their forces immortal. An aerial arcane cannon circled the planet, primed to vaporize any city deemed "too rebellious" to waste time suppressing. With these powers, Baelwill dominated every civilization in the world for centuries, despite hailing from but a single nation.
Ten years ago the arch-priestess was assassinated and the arcane cannon miraculously destroyed, leaving Baelwill with far less intimidation to wave about. They retreated to their nation and closed their borders, biding their time in quiet solitude.
To Baelwill's north lies the nation of Verdigris. Verdigris, long ago, was formed of the separation of two rightful heirs to Baelwill's throne. A king valuing camaraderie and brotherhood over worship of historical idols exiled himself from the kingdom, followed by countless citizens who believed in his cause. Verdigris, like Baelwill, is a nation of knights, just as fond of aesthetics and power as their estranged brother nation. Verdigris is a constituional monarchy, presided over by a ceremonial head of state and an oligarchy of nobles, the Council of Ten. The nation is primarily made up of human citizens, with a minimal elven population and an even smaller populace of other races. Verdigrisian lands are boreal and taiga, containing the tallest mountain in Yismel, Mt. Lorelettonne.
Verdigris currently debates the feasibility of organizing an invasion of Baelwill both out of revenge and to cripple any mounting offensives they may be hatching.
At the heart of Yismel lies the Federation of Mecrundyr. Made up of fourteen constituent republics, Mecrundyr is often called the freest country on the continent and beyond. Having access to trade routes stretching to each end of the continent, as well as ports at each ocean, Mecrundyr enjoys an enormous amount of wealth. Being situated in a relatively warm and amicable biome too, helps portray Mecrundyr as a good place to live. It isn't without its problems, however. Werefolk, savage men, have always lived in the forests and fields of Mecrundyr. While once abundant and relatively peaceful with the more civilized populaces, Baelwill's occupation saw a bloody campaign against the werefolk that drove their kind to near extinction. With Baelwill gone, the werefolk have returned from hiding and begun to attack villages for resources to fuel their hopeful future. Mecrundyr has an equally large population of nearly every race.
As Verdigris mobilizes for war, Mecrundyr officials have begun to recall the fact that four of their fourteen states once belonged to Verdigrisian territory prior to Baelwill's border shifting. Without an overarching force suppressing conflict between nations, Mecrundyr worries for its future.
At Yismel's mainland south lies the Holy State of Ollas. As is quite clear. Ollas is a theocracy, presided over by an arch priest or priestess. As history goes, the legendary arch-priestess of Baelwill, Astrane, was born of marriage between a Baelwill knight and the then-arch priestess of Ollas. This knowledge however, is hearsay at best, though the people of Ollas proudly claim it to be true wherever one goes. During the Baelwill occupation, religious exercise was, while not removed, suppressed. Gatherings were still allowed, but only on particular days and for limited time. Doctrines, over time, were not analyzed as much as they used to be, leading to an "Ollasian Dark Age" of spiritual development. Ollas possesses an equal populace of elves and humans.
With Baelwill gone, priests and priestesses have begun in earnest countless individual campaigns to raise their own doctrine interpretations above the rest. Small religious wars are anticipated.
To the south lies an island made up of two bitter rival nations. Alkrisia and Complies (pronounced, 'Com-plea-es') share equal land on the large island, and also harbor a bloody history with one another. Powered by mere racial prejudice, Alkrisia and Complies (prior to Baelwill occupation) fought endlessly over blood feuds, resources, and extra land. Alkrisia features a purely white-elf populace, while Complies is made up of dark elf migrants from the southern archipelago (not pictured, located to the south in the Immacal Ocean). As Baelwill left, tensions quickly mounted between the two nations again, prepared as ever before to return to their old ways. An old wives tale claims that their hatred for one another is so fierce, they mutually agreed to creating a gladiatorial arena for Baelwill's entertainment, merely so they could continue killing each other.
The flames of ancient racial prejudice are growing on the island, and war is soon to break out at a moment's notice.
At the northeast is a land bridge, mostly unoccupied except by hamlets and micronations, that connects to the much greater continent of Ju Ren Kyo, home of the Eastern Empires. Made up of several very large nations, Ju Ren Kyo nevertheless has remained peaceful even since before the times of Baelwill's conquest. Being empires, they are necessarily formed of smaller servant nations, though they remain incredibly unified. Ages of control has led to a practical merging of the nations within these empires, to the point of seeming almost indistinguishable from one another. During Baelwill's occupation, the empires were further given greater governmental hierarchy. Marriage between Baelwill lords and Eastern nobles created the first Supreme Emperor of Ju Ren Kyo. Under the successive leadership of individuals possessing this title, the Eastern Empires were heavily unified, and remain so today.
Despite this, the Baelwill blood remaining in the current child Supreme Emperor has many easterners questioning who they truly owe allegiance to... Warlords and emperors have begun to show their solidarity for their own nations, shaking the peace that has been maintained for so long...
CHARACTER SHEET
NOTES
- Personality section should be just bullet points of positives and negatives. No need to go into excruciating detail.
- Biographies should be only FOUR bullet points detailing (briefly) four individual major events in your character's life that shaped who they are today. Once your CS is accepted, I will be PM'ing you with any number of additional events they (given by me) will have had occur in their life. (Don't worry. They won't be super major things. Just events to help me tie characters together and to have things to anchor to plot!)
- Power level of characters should be as such: Against ten-odd mundane bandits at once, your character will shine. Against a few trained knights of any nation but Baelwill, your character will be challenged but not in significant danger. Any powers that push past this ability is a no-go.
- You may choose from any of the races I have mentioned thus far. That is, humans, elves, orcs, werefolk, smallfolk. I will not be accepting alternative fictional races.
- Werefolk are humans who can shapeshift at will into mammalian beasts (werecats, werewolves, werebears, etc).
- Small folk are dwarf-sized fox-ear-and-tailed people.
Cast:
Vaneil Swordbearer @ERode
Archie Haulden @Jakers
Ohma Ohmadon @Tyrannosaurus Rekt
Nyxia Sarius @Reanimator Bob
Elara Sabrae @Psyker Landshark
Wolfram Kronschmidt @CasketCase
Rue Selvare @Click This
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