The HellFire Plague | OOC | Character Freedom!

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Lady Sabine

The Legendary Sabine-Toothed-Tiger
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
Preferred Character Gender
Genres
Fantasy is number one. Steampunk, sci-fi, alternate history, and everything else that isn't boringly realistic are also fine by me.
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Terra Cina. The Land of Ash. Once known as Marthador, back in an age where Elves were lords and Men were low creatures. But that age is long past, and the golden age of men is also drawing to a close, ushered in by the HellFire Plague.
More specifically, this will be taking place in Smurr's Bluff, a port city located in the kingdom of Eutharre. Smurr's Bluff is separated into five districts: Vintage Hills, where the wealthy live; The Twining, where the middle class resides; The Blackwater Slum; The Sirloin, where the finer shops are located; God's Thumb, where the temples and houses of business reside.



CURRENT EVENTS

The main problem affecting the known world is the HellFire Plague. It is a terrible illness, eating its victims alive with a combination of magic and disease. For a better summary, please click here.

Another social issue is taking place in Blackwater. For years, the two main criminal organizations have been Mail Fists, which specializes in brutality, and The Velvet, which specializes in more subtle jobs. Now, however, a third group has recently displaced both of them. It is known as Smoke, and is a grassroots organization that involves a huge number of individuals. Prostitutes, thugs, thieves, beggars, orphans, fences, pickpockets... everyone is welcome in Smoke, and Smoke cares for it's own. The Lady of Thieves leads Smoke, and she has every intention of turning the city upside down, seeking prosperity for "her people".

On the opposite side of the law, a new Captain of the Guard has been selected. On his way up in another city, he got on the wrong side of a powerful baron and was sent to Smurr's Bluff as a punishment disguised as a promotion. The City Guard is a blasphemously corrupt organization that has done anything but enforce the law for the past decade, and now it's his job to get it back in order... one way or another. He has never seen corruption like this, and only wants to give Smurr's Bluff the peace and order it deserves.

Meanwhile in Vintage Hills, a young merchant is turning heads. He's made his fortune in the chaos of HellFire, selling tonics and cures (all fakes), selling precious commodities for exorbitant prices, and generally setting a ruthless business model. Now rich enough to retire, he is starting to experience the first traces of doubt and regret. What he has done cannot be undone, but perhaps it can be... atoned for. He certainly has the resources and power to make it happen, if he only knew what it was.

Even in the religious order, there is upheaval. When the old High Priestess contracted the Plague, the Head of the Church immediately declared the church corrupt and sinful, for no pure soul contracts HellFire. In a panic, she has appointed a new High Priestess fresh out of her schooling, still young and untried, but with an eager mind and generous heart. She wishes to wipe the disease from the face of the world, and restore faith and morality to her newly appointed flock, no matter how rough and wild they may currently be.


PLOT
All four influential figures mentioned above have just received mysterious letters. Letters from an unnamed source, left on their beds while they sleep, stating that there is a way for them to end their problems. They will meet three old friends one Tuesday morning at a small pub in The Twining, three old friends that can help them with all their problems.
Indeed, coincidence upon coincidence, all four figures were children together, in the same apartment complex in the capital city of Eutharre. They played together for years, forming a tight group they swore would never be split by anything.
Well, anything except the HellFire plague. All four were forced to move, but in a remarkable twist of fate, all four have wound up in Smurr's Bluff. It's been sixteen years, and they've all become very different people. Not too different to help each other, though... hopefully.



REGULATIONS

  1. Ok, guys. Don't be stupid. This should cover just about everything.
  2. There isn't a character form you must follow, but don't just slop it together, since I will be determining whether or not you get the position based on your form.
  3. Speaking of positions, right now I have claimed the Lady of Smoke. The Captain of the Guard, The High Priestess, and the Merchant are all taken, so you have freedom to play whatever (relevant) character you can come up with.
  4. The level of tech is somewhere between medieval and steampunk. No gunpowder and no electricity, but city planning and medicine have taken leaps and bounds. Healing and other minor forms of magic are acceptable, but rare.
  5. Non-humans will be permitted on a case-by-case basis only. Elves and halflings are not permitted. Demons and Angels are plausible but you must convince me you will not use them to violate # one.
  6. Sex, Drugs, and Rock'N'Roll may happen. HOWEVER, be aware of Iwaku's restrictions and do not use this board to violate any of them. No sexual activity may be written out here, though it may be implied. Death and violence will probably occur. If you have any triggers, please make them public. I'd hate to bring up dead babies or drug use or something and cause anyone distress.
  7. Please write posts that are easy to reply to. I don't care if it's three sentences or five paragraphs, but if it isn't useful, why bother? It's the responsibility of every person here to move the plot along. Introduce a new romance or rivalry. Random event? Sure. I can't keep the ball rolling all by myself, after all.
 
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WIP


Anna-May Redfield
Lady of Smoke
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Like this pic? Check out the artist! http://edrice.deviantart.com is the artist responsible for this. I take zero credit for the nonprofit use of this image.



Age: 24
Height: 5'1
Build: Thin, but more flat than narrow, with wider hips than she'd like.
Hair: Mousy brown, down a little past her shoulders and vaguely curly when not pinned into a bun, which it usually is.
Eyes: Very dark brown, appearing black without direct light.
Countenance: While she isn't beautiful, there's a certain allure about her. Some combination of power and pity cloak her unmistakably. She has a small but round nose, sensuous yet suspicious eyes, and lips that usually seem a bit pursed.

Anna was raised by both parents, the eldest of two daughters. Her father was a city guardsman; her mother took in washing. It was a simple but comfortable enough life, and she was quite happy, surrounded by her friends and with no worries bigger than staying out of trouble with her parents. Even back then she was a bit of a rule-breaker, always the first to snag an extra cookie or steal the bully's toy, though never with any malicious intent.
When her father died and the three females moved to Smurr's Bluff, she grew up quickly, helping her mother with the washing and eventually falling in as a burglar with The Velvet to earn a little extra cash on the side. Eight years later, when she was sixteen, her mother and sister both contracted HellFire. Under the advice of her tutors in The Velvet, Anna left them behind, not wanting to contract the sickness herself.
However, when she was nineteen, the term "no honor among thieves" proved itself true. She was raped by one of her mentors after rejecting his advances. He was one of the top cat burglars; she was just another new arrival. Her complaints were dismissed, and when they found out his seed had found fertile ground, so was Anna.
Taken in by a poor house, she nursed an infant, a burning desire for revenge, and a newfound respect for the power of interpersonal bonds. As soon as her daughter Penelope was weaned, a dagger found it's way into her father's back. With her status with The Velvet firmly established, Anna started looking into how she could give back to the house. She contracted other freelancers and a few smaller bands, eventually drawing them all together into an organization she named Smoke. They were everywhere and nowhere at once, in brothels and stores and squares and sewers, and they are still growing by the day.
Smoke takes care of the poor, operating numerous soup kitchens and other organizations, as well as offering protection for the orphans and cripples that beg on the streets. They have very tolerant policies with maternity leave and switching from criminal to non-criminal enterprise, making them a highly competitive employer, outcompeting both The Velvet and Mail Fists in benefits if not in pay. And, at their head, Anna-May, the Lady of Thieves and Saint of the Slums. She's earned quite a name for herself, including quite a bounty, but the way she looks at it, it's all for family... of course, the entire slum population is her family.

Her morality is perhaps a bit skewed, but quite solid. The rich have too much, and the poor don't have enough. There's a way to rectify that, and she's going to do it. She is a genuinely caring person, having learned a harsh lesson from her earlier sins, and is a doting mother to her five-year-old Penny, who looks almost exactly like her mother did.
Though generous towards loyalists, she is not inclined towards second chances. Everyone is welcome into Smoke, but if you scorn her once, she'll slit your throat before you'll have a second chance. Harming any of her family is a capital offense, down to the lowliest orphan, and she's been known to execute her own men if they abuse any other members.
In keeping with her style, her own belongings are no more lavish than those of her people. She has only two sets of clothing and one dress, shares a tiny room and bed with her daughter, and eats with the others out of a communal stewpot. She has no extra jewelry or luxuries, selling them all for the benefit of Smoke. Her organization is her life, and so far, she's managed to get far without any major consequences. Things have been strained recently, though, and there are rumors that The Velvet is plotting revenge... and now this meeting of old friends business. She has no idea what the letter is talking about it, but is impressed enough by the fact someone was able to sneak into her bedchambers that she's willing to give it a shot.
 
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I haven't been involved in a fantasy RP in a while. I'd be game to either play the new priestess or the cheating merchant. Not sure which.
 
Well, it's all up to you. ^^ If you want to wait and see if anyone claims the other role, that would be fine, or if you want to flip a coin or roll a die or something.
 
[MENTION=3204]Quiet One[/MENTION] To make your choice easier, I'll take the new priestess. ^^
 
So that leaves one role needed. ^^Sweet!
 
Name: Randal "Lucky Bag" Lucern - Purveyor of Potions, Charms, and Random Luck
Age: 23
Height: 5'9"
Build: Round, but fast. He's been eating well since his scams paid off, but he's learned to keep himself lean enough to make a hasty break in case things turned sour.
Hair: Wildly wind-blown, with a few locks colored green on the right side of his head. If anyone asks, he says it's a fairy's charm that protects him and gives him good fortune, but really it's just plants mashed into a dye.
Eyes: Look deceivingly honest. They're a light earthy brown, and make one think their owner could never tell a lie.
Countenance: Has a tendency to fall back into old habits, trying to sell and cheat even after he's changed his ways. He usually catches himself, but only after he makes the person want to buy. After seeing some of the worst effects of the Hellfire Plague firsthand, he started searching for legitimate cures for the disease, but grows increasingly perturbed at how quickly he's burning into his ill-gotten fortune.

He started out on the unlucky side of the coin, in a family destitute and hopeless to change it. He quickly became adept at pick-pocketing, and started out his criminal career as a small-time thief. His returns were limited, though, and there was often trouble with the law. Running away from them kept Randal quick. But he decided there had to be a better way, and then it hit him: rather than sneaking up on people and taking when they weren't looking, why not have them give him their money?

So Randal went into making fake magic charms, grabbing water from dirty cricks and mixing in berries, claiming they were powerful elixirs. He started doing much better for himself, always being smart enough to get out of town before someone's beauty spell didn't work, or when someone got pregnant despite his abstinence charms. His success really started with the Hellfire Plague. People were desperate for anything to save them, and he had anything and everything apart from an actual cure. He traded his phony tonics and demon repelling charms for gold, silver, family heirlooms - anything of value. And this time no one came after him when his things didn't work as he'd claimed.

Still, after amassing enough wealth for him to start his own village, he started to have misgivings. Everyone he'd sold to ended up dying, and much to his surprise, towards his last sales he found himself praying that his useless things somehow would work. Randal decided then that he would try to find a cure, a real one. He went to some of the best medicine men and alchemists he could find, never doing things precisely their way because they hadn't been successful either, but trying some of their ideas. He's now halfway to being an expert on herbal medicines for all his work.
 
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OOH~!
This looks intriguing...

I shall look into this~!
 
Looks awesome, [MENTION=3204]Quiet One[/MENTION]! Me gusta. :3


Any questions, [MENTION=3495]Yuuka[/MENTION]? We only need one more role filled before we're ready to begin~
 
I'll take the Captain of the Guard. I'll try to get a character sheet up tomorrow.
 
Name: Celeste Alejandra Fulton
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Age: 24
Height: 5'11"
Build: Physically unfit yet appears to have decent eating and exercise habits with a normal, slender appearance of a typical adolescence. The multiple layers she wears underneath makes her breasts look a tad bit bigger than they really are; she's slightly flat-chested yet possesses a humongous bottom that usually makes her the target of dirty fantasies and ridicule.
Hair: Celeste focuses more on her religious rituals and practices day in and day out rather than to spend time, tending her hair and maintaining something so trivial as that - in fact, over the course of time, her previously shoulder-length hair now has grown all the way down to her mid-thigh.
Eyes: She possesses a pair of golden amber eyes that slants ever so slightly at the end, suggesting Asiatic descent.
Countenance: W I P
I'll finish this sometime tomorrow I swear.
 
Sweet! Looks like we have all the needed characters. ^^

All of this is looking awesome so far~
 
https://www.iwakuroleplay.com/threads/the-hellfire-plague.33415/

The IC thread has been created! When our final character sheet is up I'll start us off. ^^ I might create a character to double as, though I'm not quite sure who yet. Does anyone have a good idea for some sort of a foil or good combination with their character?
 
What do you mean Sabine? Like a partner, or some way for characters to meet up? I am a little uncertain of how we all get together. And do we have to wait for a more formal post from you before we get started in the IC?
 
As I stated in the first post, the characters are meeting in a pub.
Secondary characters could really fill any role- a partner/second in command would be a good choice for interaction, though.
I'd appreciate you waiting, yes. I want to have all four of the primary character sheets up before we get the RP going. Hopefully that shouldn't be long.
 
WIP

General
Full Name: Jonathan Harper
Nicknames: Jon; Johnny, a nickname that hasn't been used for over a decade
Profession: Captain of the Guard
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Race: Human


Appearance (I'll try to get an image up soon.)
Jonathan is always observing, whether he be working or engaged in simple conversation. His grey eyes and alert ears are very sensitive to stimuli. His attention is very easily gained, but it's lost just as easily when something else catches his eye (or ear).

He stands at six foot four with a lean build. Jonathan has dark brown hair shaved closely to the head, giving off a general look of a professional. He tends to put his weight on one leg when idle.


Personality
He's serious and dedicated, in work and relationships. If something goes wrong, he'll work on it until it's right. His sense of duty wrapped him in the belief that those above him are usually right, and that their laws are reasonable and worth being upheld.

Strengths: +Loyal +Hard-working +Good memory and recognition skills +Leader
Weaknesses: -Underdeveloped social skills -Dismisses emotional needs -Can be domineering

Likes: +Honesty +Devotion +Pine trees +Tea
Dislikes: -Wordy or long-winded conversations/speakers -Seafood


Background
Sixteen years ago, when Jonathan and his family moved away, they traveled to live with an aunt who lived out in the country. They stayed there for half of the year...
 
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Looks great. ^^ I'll start us off on the IC thread!
 
Posted! How's that?
 
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