[SU&D;Interest Check] Fantasia

[Valkyrur]

It's been quite a while since my last role play, so my writing skills may have gotten somewhat rusty. Nevertheless, looking at these few lines is a start for you, reader.

This role play is still in the stages of infancy. I've some generic ideas, but I'm not sure how interested people would be in them. Either way, I'll present them here and leave it to the interested parties to express their interest and feedback.

That said, I'd like to emphasize that there is no need to hold back on the feedback. Of course, please do mention if you're interested. I'm hoping to get about 3 to 7 participants, but whether that happens or not would depend on you.

Fantasia

The Idea

Well, it should be obvious by now to any role player that many role plays would not reach it's intended end. Likely it'll start out with high interest and fanfare (to the players, I presume) then slowly reach a plateau and the decline. This role play idea I have here is an experiment, in a sense.

For this role play, I hope that it can be completed by the first few weeks of April... So, in a sense, this role play is intended to last about a month or so. I realize this may sound unrealistic, but with the right people and a sufficient amount of enthusiasm, we might just finish it!

The People

This is going to be one hell of a ride. One role play. One month. Naturally, this requires a dedicated team of role players... So do bear this in mind when deciding to express interest. By now, this concept is confirmed, so we have a deadline that is the first two weeks of April. Anytime within that frame would be best.

Background


Fantasia is a castle city renowned for it's aesthetic beauty. Yet even the most beautiful city in the region is not free of political intrigue. It's King, Edel the White, is a mere puppet of a much more powerful organization named "Final".

Final had been in power for almost a decade, controlling all aspects of the city. Be it in the areas of finance and foreign affairs, or in the areas of city development and cleanliness. That said, they are a crime syndicate after all. Crimes do occur but these are usually swept under the carpet to maintain the pristine facade that the syndicate had painstakingly created. To be fair, Final has done a commendable job at maintaining the city thus far.

King Edel was helpless throughout this time. He had all the rights, but he had no say. Useless, but well fed. That is, until he coincidentally comes into contact with the mercenary group named Genesis.

Genesis is a well known mercenary group that works for anyone who could pay. An idealistic group; Genesis believes strongly in upholding moral integrity at the cost of life. Their feud with Final stems from the firm belief of the association of Final with crime (and stereotypically, evil). They approached King Edel with the promise of a successful revolt that would help the King regain his political powers. Whether or not they succeed is another matter.

How Things Roll

Players may choose between the side of the mercenary group or the crime syndicate. There is little difference between the two, aside from the ideology and control of the city.

Characters for this role play is not restricted in any way. I'd greatly appreciate if it were kept to the medieval age, but I won't mind guns.... I probably won't mind cyborgs from the future either.. >.>

Magic exists in this setting, and is in fact part and parcel of every citizen's life. Magic is split into two types: combative and basic. Combative should be self-explanatory. This is the type that many role players would go after, I'm guessing.

Basic magic is like a harmless version of combative magic. Almost every citizen is provided an extremely basic level of magical skills. For example, starting a simple fire, collecting water from the surrounding air to drink... Basically anything survival related and that is not able to seriously harm anyone.

Feel free to go creative on character design. Of course, the usual rules still apply (no God-modding, meta-gaming... etc).

Rank

You can choose any position in either the mercenary group or the crime syndicate.

Both factions do not have any specific names for their rank and file. They merely call their members by "rank number". Zero is the most powerful, reserved for the bosses... And unfortunately not available to players.

Possible ranks for players start from 1 to 10. Each of the ranks have a corresponding number of possible places. This means that only one person can be a Rank 1, and two people could be Rank 2, and three people could be Rank 3... etc. These ranks are ordered by combat strength, with 1 being the most powerful. However, this does not mean that 10 is the weakest in the organization.

There are still Rank 11 to 15, and the number of possible places for those are unlimited. Feel free to choose any of the ranks. To be fair, this position taking would go by a first-come-first-served basis. Though, it might also be interesting to note that these positions are "earned", meaning that anyone can challenge the person for his Rank.

IE. Rank 2 challenges Rank 1 for his position. Rank 2 wins, and is promoted to Rank 1. Rank 1 is demoted to Rank 2.

It's almost an exchange of position should the challenge succeed. There is no real loss for losing a challenge... Aside from a blow to a person's pride, I suppose.

Approved Characters

Bosses:

Genesis: Lisette de la Fenêtre, aka "The Window"
Final: Enigma

Solidjuss

John "Craven" Vadok
James Black

SpoonyBard

Patroklos Sonata

Tipsynaruto

Clyuue en Celle Zwihander en Quowjaz oz Soleire YEqeiyu

Noblesse Oblige

Elvire Orleans

Template

Name
Age
Race No restrictions here either, to those who may want to create non-human characters.
Gender
Faction
Rank
Abilities Magic counts. Anything combat-related
Weapons
Personality
Appearance
Brief History You would mention here where your character is at the moment as well.

Reminder

The ideas remain open to suggestion. While the end is somewhat definite, how events would veer the plot towards that may differ depending on how players play it.

[Noblesse Oblige]

Well you have me interested, count me in.

[Cyberdelius]

I'm interested, and I've been wanting to RP actively for a while now.

[Naoto Shirogane]

I'm interested!

This is really interesting Idea!


....Department of Redundancy Department, Much?

[Solidjuss]

I'm interested for two reasons. First of all I have only participated in 4 RP's that have made it over the finish line. Add 1 more and I could boast with 5 =D

Secondly, I read a few books of A Song of Ice and Fire series and that got me hooked to the game of thrones thing. And this seems like a game for the throne indeed.

Anyways, one question. If you would create this RP, would I be able to create 2 characters, one for both factions?

[Valkyrur]

Wow! 4 interested participants in a matter of hours..! Thanks for the interest. I'll probably revise the first post in a bit...

@Solidjuss

Feel free. I don't mind you having two characters.

EDIT:

Added a small basic character template. Feel free to make characters now. I'll definitely give the first post a bit of "decorations" later..

EDIT2:

First post edited. Ready for action now. Feel free to create your characters as and when you feel like it! Hoping to start the role play as soon as possible... Latest by the end of this month

[Exoskeleton]

Oh wow reserve me a spot! Ahaha I like the setup you have going here! The fact that it's short makes me want to participate even more :3

[Solidjuss]

Hope you like it =D

Rank: 9
Name: John ’’Craven’’ Vadok (Vadok means Death in Orcish)
Age: Looks in mid twenties, actual age 44
Gender: Male
Race: Half-elf, half-orc. Member of the highly infamous Vadok clan/race.
Faction: Final
Abilities: Extremely capable swordfighter ( Has reached the rank of Warder (4th ranking) in Fantasias Fighters Guild, has the diploma of graduation from Royal Highgarden Academy of Swordmanship. A decent sharpshooter with both a crossbow and the rather rare and exotic gnomish guns. Dimploma of Highgardens High Elves Academy of Markmanship. Is unaware of any combative magic, but quite decent with basic enchanting spells and poisons. Thanks to his ancestors, he has the general Elf special treats like improved hearing, sight, sense of smell and agility while orcish traits grant him physical strength and endurance matched only by the strongest and most muscular men and warriors of Fantasia. Although at times he can be very clumsy with both the blade and the crosswbow. He is quite a well educated man in the fields of lore, history and technics (explains his knowledge about gnomish guns).
Personality: Long story short: Craven. His nickname has been given to him with a reason, he is as craven as a man could be. Rather ironic when thinking of his appearance and physical abilities. While he can be very cocky and arrogant at times, even frightening, he is afraid of dark, mice, fighting against anyone who’s at least decent with any weapon, death, killing, blood and so on. In addition he is rather paranoid, afraid of being followed by spies, ghosts and/or assassins. He loves running away from his enemies as much as he loves eating tons of meat. In fact he eats vegetables only when he is forced to. Veggies are for the weak he says. On the other hand, there are a few likeable and useful traits in his character. He has been taught the manners and courtesies of the elves, which can be useful when socialising with lords and lordlings. At the same time, he gets the occasional Orcish rages or just the Orcish ill-met ways of communication. For example one moment he might be the most likeable customer in the shop, but if the price happens to displease him, he might tell you how he will rape you while cooking your family in a pot and then eating them in front of you. Shall you have the guts to say anything back to him, the odds are that you will scare him and he will buy everything for whatever the price you ask for. If you get scared though, which makes perfect sense thinking of his rank and appearance, he will get more and more turned on and angry. So he could be considered a tad bit unstable. But in the end, he is someone who you could easily socialize with as long as you know how to avoid him getting one of those rare Orcish rages. Last but not least, he does enjoy lore and conversations about science and knowledge. Something he might have gotten from the Elvish lineage.

Appearance: 100 kilograms of pure muscle standing at 1.90 meters makes this half-elf look pretty much as scary as elves can get. Due to his half-orcish blood his skin is gray with various subtones and he lacks a proper human nose. Its more like he has two nostrils ( small holes for one of the Orc kind) pointing up on his face. All of the figures on his face are strict and distinctive.High and rough cheeks, wide dark black eyes surrounded by red instead of the human white, huge and almost perpendicular forehead with a oddly almost straight angle transition to the rest of the skull. He has no hair and he has the traditional elvish pointy ears, making him look like an oddball. Yet this freakish look even for an Orc makes his face even more frightening than that of a common Orc. In addition, his jaw is heavily muscled and much heavier than that of a human. It remind one of a gorilla and the muscle structure is a mixture of that between a human and a gorilla, making him capable of heavy bites. His tooth are as fierce as of any of the orc kind, pointy and sharp iron claws. Surprisingly small hands for his size are a great benefit for his sharpshooting skills. There are only a few small scars on his huge body. If there wasn’t for that huge scar on his back, starting from right hip and going all the way up to the left shoulder, one wouldn’t believe him to be a fighter. Considering how craven he can be, his rather untouched body makes sense. Most of the time he wears a chainmail under a leather top. On the leather top, the symbol of the Vardoks family stands. In addition, he wears a longsword which he uses as a one-handed blade. What’s weird about John is though that he tends to carry a rather small black umbrella with him. The umbrella, if opened, has the crest of the Vardoks on it. Unknown to the masses and even to many members of the crime organisation is that the umbrella is in fact one of the finest gnomish guns and used to belong to his father, the great dragonbane of Vardoks. The umbrella gun can have a total of three bullets in it at a time ( It doesn’t have a separate clip, so the gun has to be reloaded bullet by bullet after every 3 shots. It’s magically enchanted and some unknown magical power is necessary to shoot with the umbrella, making it useless for everyone else). The barrel of the gun/ stick of the umbrella is made from the finest materials and smithed by the most skilled of dwarves and gnomes and therefore can easily be used as a second shortsword, perfect for dualwielders as the defensive blade.

Brief History: Born to the fierce and frightening, extremely infamous lineage of the Vadok clan, John has been raised to become the ultimate killer. The Vadok clan has its origins traced back a thousand years, all the way to the unholy marriage of two bloodthirsty warlords, the pureblood drow elf, supreme ruler and commander of then ravaging Highgarden, home of both the peaceful high elves and the battle hungry drow elves , and the king of the biggest and most dangerous orc clan of the time, Vadok Morgush. Their children became the ultimate kiling machines and commanders of the kingdom of Highgarden. Even Fantasia fell to their might. But all of the four sons of the unholy marriage where so blooodthirsty that they started fighting against each-other, all aiming to gain the leadership of the clan. Eventually, one of them killed all of his brothers and his parents. He was also known as the one who forced elves to marry with the orcs and therefore is referenced to as the creator of the ultimate warrior clan/race/family of the Vadoks. But by the time the fighting stopped within the clan, it was too late to save the empire. The drows-elves lost their rule in Highgarden and the remnants of the orc clan were butchered by the might of Fantasia. It is said that no more than a hundred of the ’’Vadok’’ elf and orc offsprings survived. From that point on, the mighty lineage of the Vadok family has been feared in every corner of the realm as the fiercest and most powerful of sellswords, gladiators, hunters, fighters and assassins while their ranks have decreased to that of twenty.
John was schooled in the finest schools and academies of both knowledge and arts of war in Highgarden, the ancestral home of the Vadoks. He excelled in many arts, not just the sword and crossbow, but also with the exotic gnomish guns, spears and enchanting spells. His intellect was surprising within the clan, but nothing too uncommon. After all they all had elvish blood running in their veins. His father, the ex-leader of the clan, was one of the most famous Vadoks of the century known as the dragonbane. It is said that he single-handedly killed a total of 6 dragons. The great Vadok died fifteen years ago, slaughtered by one of his sons, John. It is the tradition of Vadoks to show their individual might by killing their fathers. How John managed to kill his father is unknown to the world as is the fact that it was John who killed him. By right the leadership should have passed down to John, but even back then he was known to be too craven to lead and he declined the position and run. Over time he has become more craven and more paranoid about the spies and stalkers following him.
It was around twelve years ago that John joined the Final, becoming rank nr 1 within days. It is said that one of his acts turned the king into Finals puppet and thanks to that the elder and higher members think highly of John. At the same time, many of the new recruits dislike him and gossip about him as the disgrace of the Vadoks and of the Final. The only reason they don’t dare to say anything to his face is due to the fact he is a Vadok and if it would happen that John would find some courage within his heart, he could slaughter most of them eyes closed. There are some rumours that there is a group planning to get rid of John, but if those rumours are the truth or not is unknown to the officials of the organisation. The citizens of Fantasia know John as a high-ranking member of the fighters guild. Many call him the Fearless Monster. Monster referring to his size and strength and fearless being said out of mockery. A few bards sing of him as of the lady in the body of a giant as he always wears a small umbrella with him, but never uses it.

Over the years, he has fallen down to the rank of nr.9 as he yielded to every challenger. A few years ago though, he was challenged by a promising warrior and he accepted the challenge. To everyones surprise the challenger of the high-elven race was beheaded before he had fully unsheated his blade. A few higher and lower ranked elven companions of the high-elf rushed without much of a thought towards John to kill him, obviously because the kill seemed to the rather lawful elves as a nasty and unfair one. All six who charged at him were killed within a minute. Two of them yielded, John seemingly accepted and turned away. But that was just to lower their guard. Few seconds later both men who yielded were dead on the ground. He removed the ears of every single elf who attacked him. It is said that he ate them as dinner later that eve. While this angered the lower members of the socitety, the corrupted higher ranks loved his deed and saw that as a sign of the return of the good old monster. From that time onward, no-one has dared to challenge him and he remains as a rank 9. But as years have gone by, people are once again starting to forget his strength and its only a matter of time till someone challenges him. It's thought by many that he would yield, but the low chance of him not yielding scares even the bravest.

Only he was aware that all of the elves who rushed at him were on the payroll of Highgarden elves as assassins to kill him and the night before the challenger who he slaughtered had failed with an assassination attempt as when the elves ambushed him, he was too afraid to fight back and jumped out of a third floors (I consider the ground floor being the first) window to escape. Before he had time to reveal their identities to the higher ups, he was challenged by the very same elf.

Edit: Unknown to almost everyone in the organisation is the fact that there have been dozens of assassination attempts on him by the people from Highgarden. The power struggle between the Vardoks and High Elves in Highgarden could be brought to the end by claiming his head from the body as he was the one that slaughtered the mightiest of the Vardoks clan, the great dragonbane.
Another important note is that when one of the orcish rages or berserks takes over his body, he can become extremely bloodthirsty and slaughtering his own kind not to talk about random children would be no problem. Some Vardoks are also known to have eaten humans and incest is also common to keep the bloodline pure.
I hope he is not imbalanced though. He is a powerhouse, but at times so craven that he would betray everyone just to save his life and escape.

Will add the second character here later

[Valkyrur]

Yep. So we have 5 interested players. 6, if you include me... There's still room for 1 more player... or 2, just to even out the numbers. I think for this role play, despite it's shortness, I'll have a tree diagram of possible events and outcomes for to help guide the storyline.

So I suppose how the players decide to react to certain events will influence how the situation changes... Oooh. Thinking about it gets me excited.

Well, there. A gentle reminder. The character template is up, so feel free to think up some warriors, mages, rouges and the like. As mentioned, there will not be any heavy restrictions... Aside from the obvious and self-explanatory, god-modding for instance.

Also, depending on player preference, it is possible for a character to not practice combative magic but know basic magic. Or if you're feeling something against magic, you could have the character not know magic at all. And, to state the obvious, those who know combative magic would definitely know basic magic... That's just the basic concept I have. You do not have to follow, but you will have to explain it.

You can choose any position in either the mercenary group or the crime syndicate. Both factions do not have any specific names for their rank and file. They merely call their members by "rank number". Zero is the most powerful, reserved for the bosses... And unfortunately not available to players.

Possible ranks for players start from 1 to 10. Each of the ranks have a corresponding number of possible places. This means that only one person can be a Rank 1, and two people could be Rank 2, and three people could be Rank 3... etc. These ranks are ordered by combat strength, with 1 being the most powerful. However, this does not mean that 10 is the weakest in the organization.

There are still Rank 11 to 15, and the number of possible places for those are unlimited. Feel free to choose any of the ranks. To be fair, this position taking would go by a first-come-first-served basis. Though, it might also be interesting to note that these positions are "earned", meaning that anyone can challenge the person for his Rank.

IE. Rank 2 challenges Rank 1 for his position. Rank 2 wins, and is promoted to Rank 1. Rank 1 is demoted to Rank 2.

It's almost an exchange of position should the challenge succeeds. There is no real loss for losing a challenge... Aside from a blow to a person's pride, I suppose.

@Solidjuss

Ah. Nice. Could you also choose a Rank for your character? I haven't look through yet, sorry, but I'll look through it soon.

EDIT:

@The Rest

I forget a "Weapons" category for the character template. Edited it in though.

[Solidjuss]

Hmm ... I have no idea what rank to choose. RP combat wise my character could be rank 1 I believe. RP wise I wouldn't like it to be so. It could add a cool twist tho. A high ranking member so afraid of challenges that he would rather hide in his chambers and play that he is ill than battle =D

What do you suggest? After all, it's your RP.

For my second character, I'm planning something interesting for the mercs. A low ranking member with no real combat abilities, but a massive arsenal of basic non combative magic spells. Basically the most powerful wizard in the city when it comes to defensive magic, but due to some deity he worships, he can't use magic that harms or kills people

EDIT: I forgot to mention where my character is at the moment. I guess he would be in the HQ or main hideout, if one exists?