Λbsence (pirates, powers, p... pexploration)

[sun.]

Λbsence is an action-adventure roleplay, with a heavy focus on exploring, factions, ability-based combat, and character development. Set in the fictional world of Thalassa; an island planet ruled by MAGNA, a central governing body, and the Divinity, the nobility of ancient times, glory and fame (or infamy) await. In contrast to the world's government are the Rogues and Syndicates; individuals ranging from the common criminal, to law-defying champions of justice, to elusive mob boss, and everything in between. All of them in pursuit of freedom, riches, and power--with various priorities concerning those goals. There are many variables to life as a Rogue, or even life as an Agent of MAGNA, such as the mysterious Moirae abilities, one's species (such as Human, Titan, Meerba, or else), and the allies one surrounds themselves with and depends upon.

Thalassa's harmony is once more shook, as the world wages war against itself. MAGNA's forces ruthlessly hunt down Rogues, regardless of their intentions or deeds. From vile criminal, to adventurous rascal--going against the word of the law is an act of defiance, and will not be tolerated. And though Rogues and the government have been at it for the better part of modern history, about a 100 years ago, a powerful Rogue named Kol inspired a new generation of Rogues with his tales of glory and power awaiting where few have gone before.

The Second Great Rogue Revolution has not slowed down since. In the struggle for power between the government, the Rogues, and the shadowy Syndicates, the world is in uproar--even the Calm World; the majority of the world, explored and familiar. But the most powerful individuals have all set sail towards Ocean Peak, the dangerous northern part of the world. Hard to access, with the only path being the dangerous rock formation known as World's Cradle, and even harder to explore, it is there, where the power and knowledge to conquer the world--and more--awaits.

Hi all, that was a bit of flavor text to hopefully get the creative juice flowing. I hope it gave you a decent idea of what's to come. To get everything across properly, I've prepared a few notes:

- The roleplay will be very anime-esque, in lack of a better term. Meaning graphics, faceclaims etc. will be in that style, and the occasional animu-physics sequence will occur. I DO NOT intend for this to become a run-off-the-mill story, with all the anime tropes and poor writing, but rather take the cool parts. Speaking of cool...
- The rule of cool will probably dominate this roleplay. I have a lot of lore prepared, as well as story arcs, but ultimately I want everyone to have fun. So yeah. If it's not tragically illogical, players will have a lot of wiggle room to be cool. :P
- We will all be Rogues. Former MAGNA agents may be acceptable, but we will all play as Rogues (pirates). Or at least quickly become Rogues after establishing our characters, should you so be inclined to be a rookie.
- There are a variety of races, though most will be more for enriching the world. Due to logistics, characters will be all be human. Or a really tiny Titan, I guess... Other races include Meerba, very large beings that combine traits of humans as well as aquatic creatures, and... others. (psssst, secret so far)
- I aim for a below or upt to 10 people group. I will also be very picky about sheets, mostly because I want to make sure those who are in are really excited for the roleplay, and want to be immersed, and plot with others etc. I am also entirely okay running this with only 4-5 people, and adding people as we go along. This roleplay is very flexible.
- Speaking of people, there will be different roles to fill out. Because it makes it the easiest to move the group around, I'll play the captain, so to speak, though I fully intend to keep everyone on basically an equal level. (unless you specifically request otherwise), but there will be different specializations that would be neat to have, such as navigator (gotta know where to go), cook (gotta eat), doctor (gotta not die), and then everything after that is more or less open and can be whatever you like. Could be a simple fighter, spy, entertainer, engineer, scientist... It's pretty open, really.
- There is a Discord chat, which will serve as an OOC spot. It isn't technically mandatory to join, but it's 100% encouraged, since you'll likely miss out on plotting and stuff otherwise.
- The world is very much open to player creations. I currently have about 60 islands prepared, but I will allow everyone to create an island of origin, and I'm very, very open to arcs submitted by players.
- If you have questions, pleasepleaseplease ask me, I'm happy to work stuff out whenever you need it. :)

The Sign Up + Info thread is here:
OPEN SIGNUPS - INFO DUMP - Λbsence Info + Sign Ups

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[Jakers]

Lookin' good! Will definitely be waiting for the OOC version of this, and I'm happy to help you out a bit with GM'ing like last time if need be. Before we begin, I'll throw a couple of questions out there to get things started:

>What's the 'max' tech level for the RP? I imagine different cultures will have wildly different types and levels of technology, but what would the most technologically advanced people be considered capable of? Or is that a secret.
>How does the magic work in this RP? Or, rather, how will it work for our characters when it comes to making CS'es? Would you prefer our characters to start off completely non-magical/relatively weak, or is it sorta freeform in that regard?

 

[sun.]

Lookin' good! Will definitely be waiting for the OOC version of this, and I'm happy to help you out a bit with GM'ing like last time if need be. Before we begin, I'll throw a couple of questions out there to get things started:

>What's the 'max' tech level for the RP? I imagine different cultures will have wildly different types and levels of technology, but what would the most technologically advanced people be considered capable of? Or is that a secret.
>How does the magic work in this RP? Or, rather, how will it work for our characters when it comes to making CS'es? Would you prefer our characters to start off completely non-magical/relatively weak, or is it sorta freeform in that regard?

> The technology will essentially be "pre-industrial" (not really, but that's about the closest term for it), with "magic" based stuff peppered in. There will be a sort of telephone substitute, for example, called Link Shells, which are the shells of the pets of the Meerba. The most accurate response would perhaps be a slightly toned down steampunk-esque level. So no big electricity power plants, but there may be a steam-fueled machine gun for a big baddie. It's pretty flexible, really.

> Magic comes in the form of Moirae powers, and to a lesser extent some other forms. All characters will start relatively weak, but that doesn't really limit the options of what we can potentially do. To give a short preview:

Power #1 Moirae Cards, which grant an almost limitless array of magical powers, some of which are incredibly useless, while others are godly.
Power #2 Suntsumei, an ancient martial arts form, which can stand toe to toe with most, if not all, Moirae powers, depending on the mastery.

There are additional powers, but those will be revealed later and won't be relevant at the start either. Moirae Cards are pretty rare, so if we start of with, say, six people, I'd rather not have six people with Moirae powers, BUT everyone will be comparatively weak the start and then build from there. Whether you're character's primary fighting style is based around their power, their weapons, their Suntsumei, or perhaps something else, everyone will be able to contribute, I'll make sure of that.

 

[Nav]

This project has evolved beautifully. (:

 

[indiquilli]

I'm very interested in this idea, it looks very cool and I've been itching for a pirate roleplay. Question though; how do religions/superstitions go? My first thought is to play some sort of priestess, diviner, or wise woman role if gods exist, or otherwise a more herbalist doctor if it's possible (as impractical as that can be).

 

[sun.]

I'm very interested in this idea, it looks very cool and I've been itching for a pirate roleplay. Question though; how do religions/superstitions go? My first thought is to play some sort of priestess, diviner, or wise woman role if gods exist, or otherwise a more herbalist doctor if it's possible (as impractical as that can be).

The two most common religions are the schools that believe in the Cardinals, and the Omnal Church. The Cardinal Mythos, in short, tells the story of six beings that have defeated the evils of the world, and have shaped the world so that humans could live in peace. That version is the most common one, seeing how humans are the most common species. The Cardinals exist in other religious scriptures as well, but usually, versions differ somewhat greatly.

The Omnal Church is perhaps most like gnosticism in the real world. They believe that Omnal is the all, and that existence itself is a microcosmos of all beings. They're kinda like a crosssection between hippie culture and nihilism. Sounds weird, but... No, it kinda is weird. There's a lot of different spiritual beliefs in Thalassa though. The Titans are one of the oldest species to exist, and their beliefs are quite different. Meerba have their own cultures. Some religions speak of literal undead rising and living like normal humans. You are more than welcome to create a religion if that suits your needs, also.

Herbalism is also pretty legit in Thalassa, since there's many fascinating and wonderful plants, so that could work well for a potential doctor role.

 

[Jakers]

Oh, there were some more things I wanted to ask too, more towards the 'pirating' sides of things. I'm imaging our characters are going to spending a lot of time on a ship, so it'd be cool to know more about what's basically gonna be our home.

Will it be a high quality sort of ship, or will it be kinda cobbled together? Does it have any crazy features on it (such as, as a wild example, a button that allows it to fly) or is it mostly 'normal' when it comes to boats? Is there any particular history with the thing?

...And, most importantly, does she have a name? c:

 

[sun.]

Oh, there were some more things I wanted to ask too, more towards the 'pirating' sides of things. I'm imaging our characters are going to spending a lot of time on a ship, so it'd be cool to know more about what's basically gonna be our home.

Will it be a high quality sort of ship, or will it be kinda cobbled together? Does it have any crazy features on it (such as, as a wild example, a button that allows it to fly) or is it mostly 'normal' when it comes to boats? Is there any particular history with the thing?

...And, most importantly, does she have a name? c:

I imagined, at least for the start, our vessel be fairly modest, since we're all more or less rookies. It'd be sorta weird of amateur pirates had a luxurious ship, right? But, as we gain infamy and wealth, perhaps the crew decides to upgrade along the line. :D Provided the sentimental connection isn't too strong. :P

As for the ship itself, I actually imagined that to be more or less our first proper arc--getting a ship! I'm taking name suggestions though. ;P *noboatymcboatfacepls*

 

[Nevix]

Oh, I'm down with this. Pirates are badass, and so are rich fictional universes, so this is...double badass.

 

[sun.]

Oh, I'm down with this. Pirates are badass, and so are rich fictional universes, so this is...double badass.

Hell yeah, all the badass! :D

OPEN SIGNUPS - INFO DUMP - Λbsence Info + Sign Ups

There's some info up on the thread! It's not finished yet (and a lot of stuff will be revealed during the story) but it's a good peak into good stuff. :)

 

[Shavynel]

@alaska YAY! You're back. ^___^

I'm just here to note interest, and that I'll be back later to take a closer look. :D

 

[Giltine13]

This sounds pretty amazing, so you can count me interested!

 

[indiquilli]

*waves @Giltine13* hi again! this is going to be fun :D

 

[sun.]

@alaska YAY! You're back. ^___^

I'm just here to note interest, and that I'll be back later to take a closer look. :D

Sounds good. :)

This sounds pretty amazing, so you can count me interested!

Thank you, I'm glad you're interested!

There's more information available now. I added a timeline (albeit a very incomplete one, but still helpful for some information) as well as more information in general.

 

[Sketching101]

Is the quota full? ^^'

 

[Jakers]

Is the quota full? ^^'

Far from it! Feel free to check stuff out / make a CS if you're interested.

 

[sun.]

For those who asked (and those who didn't, but are just interested), the captain sheet is almost finished, just have to finish the history section.

Also, a very important NPC for our first arc will be teased soon, so look out for that. :P

 

[sun.]

Alright, the captain's sheet is up. It shouldn't really massively make a different either way, as I want everyone to make the character they want, not what "fits" the captain or whatever, but for those who were curious, she's up.

Now... I'll get to work on the aforementioned important character, so stay tuned for that. :P

ALSO FOR EVERYONE PEEKING IN HERE the roleplay is still happily accepting, and pretty much all spots are still available as of now.

 

[Mehsik]

Hello, I would be interested in participating. However, I am new to role playing in general. Is that a problem?

 

[sun.]

Hello, I would be interested in participating. However, I am new to role playing in general. Is that a problem?

No, we all have to start somewhere. If your sheet is up to par, then that probably means your writing will be generally good. :) Feel free to make a sheet, make sure to read all the rules, and welcome to Iwaku! :)