Fandom Monster Hunter: Shifter's War [Interest Check]

The Kingdom

The kingdom of Chivalram has been in a golden age for half a century, with food in abundance and little threat from bandits, and with knights to be rid of rogue monsters, there is no apparent threat even on the horizon for the noble houses. They stand by watching the kingdom flourish, training their young, and hoping that these peaceful happy days last. At least most do, there are a few houses that would love nothing more than a conflict to break out so that they may prove their might, and break their lazy lifestyle. Although the golden age would appear to be a utopia for the royal lineages of Chivalram, tensions are high. Some houses are growing tired of how things are run, and there are talks of civil war breaking out between the lesser houses and their Elder Lords. Though no conflict has arisen yet most fear it is only a matter of time before the first blood is spilled for domination over Chivalram, and it is unclear who will stand with whom. Among this political dissention a mysterious attack befalls the house Diablos, however due to insubordination no defense could be risen for the house and the means of the attack is still a mystery. All that is known is that there have been no sign of the Diablos Shifters since the attack, and the Elder Lords have called all the houses to a meeting in the grand Palisade for a council on what course of action they should take in reaction to the disappearance of one of their own. This meeting may very well be the tipping point that ignites a bloody war between shifters that may very well be the end of Chivalram.
The Shifters

In this world Shifters, or people who can transform into monsters rule. These Shifters have been around since the beginning of recorded history, so no man really knows how these lines came to be. The only thing known is a man or woman who can transform and use the power of a monster is a force to be reckoned with. Most normal humans don't dare raise a fist to these beings of great power. However these powers are not meted out equally, certain Shifters, known as the Elder Lords can take the form of an Elder Dragon. An odd 900 years ago the Shifters came together and formed the Kingdom of Chivalram the lesser lords agreed to bow under the Elder Lords supreme council. Meaning that Chivalram is ruled by a council of Elder Dragon Shifters, though the cities are divvied between these lesser houses. The Shifters are varied and are many in number though there are a few Shifters who are deemed extinct. The Dalamadur, Nergigante, and Gore Magala bloodlines were wiped out after they attempted a coup against the other lords. Today the houses have differing views of each other though normally they are not warm nor friendly.

OOC Info

This is an RP based around the idea that people who could turn into a monster ruled the world in a sort of council. I'm still thinking of a detailed plot for the Rp but I have enough planned for a bit of a fun adventure, and I'm open if anyone has any character related plot-lines they'd like to follow. So throw in a post if you want to join and if I get enough interest I'll make an OOC, and Character sheet. And if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Hi there! I am very interested.

Feralstryker said:

Hi there! I am very interested.

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Well it’s nice to hear that someone is interested. Unfortunately you seem to be the only one. I’d wanted this to be a larger group role play but it doesn’t seem to have garnered enough attention, but if you’d like I suppose I could try to run this as a One x one.

That's entirely up to you, I'm good with either. Though I can try to send a word out to a couple of people I know and see if they would be willing to join if you want. Worth a shot.

Feralstryker said:

That's entirely up to you, I'm good with either. Though I can try to send a word out to a couple of people I know and see if they would be willing to join if you want. Worth a shot.

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I do think this would play out differently and probably better with multiple players so if you think it’s worth a shot send away. I’ll have to try and remember the plot and characters that I had in mind last March.

Consider me interested

Curiousity Get!

Initial thoughts:
Do shifters have traits that make their race mostly obvious?

What exactly is the relationship between Shifters and normal humans? and Wyverians? and Lynians?
Do they live together but the non-shifters tend to be the peasants or slaves? Are there exceptions for particularly high ranking hunters or skilled craftsmen?
Are there even hunters/are there even hunters that are not also Shifters?
Are all Shifters human? Could there be a Wyvern/Wyverian or Narga/Felyne?

How about non-shifter monsters: Do they act as normal around Shifters, or recognize them for what they are? Can a Shifter have special interactions with a monster of the same/similar species? If not, what about the pack leading species (Greats/Dromes)? Can these interactions apply without being transformed?

Are Shifters of a species that specializes in a particular biome gonna find themselves at a disadvantage in many areas of the rp? Ex. Would it be unwise to choose a volcanic creature if the rp takes place mostly in a rainforest, or a leviathan in the frozen mountains, unless one wants the extra challenge?

Any rules against subspecies/variants/deviants? outside of Frontier, lol

so do we get to play as a shifter?

Huntertabbysandshark3 said:

so do we get to play as a shifter?

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Yes you would play as a shifter.

Pocket said:

Curiousity Get!

Initial thoughts:
Do shifters have traits that make their race mostly obvious?

What exactly is the relationship between Shifters and normal humans? and Wyverians? and Lynians?
Do they live together but the non-shifters tend to be the peasants or slaves? Are there exceptions for particularly high ranking hunters or skilled craftsmen?
Are there even hunters/are there even hunters that are not also Shifters?
Are all Shifters human? Could there be a Wyvern/Wyverian or Narga/Felyne?

How about non-shifter monsters: Do they act as normal around Shifters, or recognize them for what they are? Can a Shifter have special interactions with a monster of the same/similar species? If not, what about the pack leading species (Greats/Dromes)? Can these interactions apply without being transformed?

Are Shifters of a species that specializes in a particular biome gonna find themselves at a disadvantage in many areas of the rp? Ex. Would it be unwise to choose a volcanic creature if the rp takes place mostly in a rainforest, or a leviathan in the frozen mountains, unless one wants the extra challenge?

Any rules against subspecies/variants/deviants? outside of Frontier, lol
[/QUOTE/]

They don’t have any traits that make it obvious what they are, save some odd eye coloration, there are special cases of shifters with more monster traits in their human form but not every shifter has them.

When it comes to shifters and other humans they do live together but it’s generally the shifters in top and the normal humans on the bottom. I’m going to say non-shifter hunters do not exist. (Shifters wouldn’t want a bunch of humans adept at killing monsters running around. Too risky). So there would be no hunters at least in the beginning of the RP(foreshadowing).

All shifters I’m going to say are human, Lynians kind of take the same role as helpers but instead of being hunting partners they’re more like servants. Wyverians do not live around the monster shifters.

If a shifter is in human form then a monster will treat it as a human. If in Monster form they will be recognized as a monster which isn’t always a good thing seeing as some of the larger monsters would be territorial and would most likely attack either way. But if a shifter were to be of the Gendrome variety then they could command and control Genprey, for example.

When it comes to being at a disadvantage with what sort of creature you choose. Yes and No. If you choose say a monster that generally never leaves the water then it would not be very smart to turn into a monster outside of water. But it wouldn’t affect their human form very much at all.

And yes Subspecies, variants and deviants are fine.

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Sounds like a good start
Hmm...
How will the Houses be separated? Is House Rathian the closest of allies with House Rathalos, or are they in the same house? Is Monoblos part of House Diablos (and therefore missing?)? Could other similar creatures, such as Arzuros/Lagombi/Volvidon, or some from a similar biome, or even just in good relations, be part of the same House? Or would all this be decided in character creation?

Currently looking at Agnaktor, but since the child form is an Uroktor, would a Shifter at one point have changed to the smaller form? Same with others, like the pack leaders and Basarios/Gravios? If so, is there a lower-middle class of Shifters that shift into small monsters? Or perhaps just the growing monsters would be shifters, though usually as children/squires?

I'd imagine equipment made from Ores are preferred over monster parts for various reasons. Which brings up the question of whether there's any change in tech level.
Are there airships if many Shifters can fly? Are things similar to the games or a little less? Such as none of the transforming/gun weapons, or any other... steampunkish... contraptions.
Not that I'm against that tech stuff.

Pocket said:

Sounds like a good start
Hmm...
How will the Houses be separated? Is House Rathian the closest of allies with House Rathalos, or are they in the same house? Is Monoblos part of House Diablos (and therefore missing?)? Could other similar creatures, such as Arzuros/Lagombi/Volvidon, or some from a similar biome, or even just in good relations, be part of the same House? Or would all this be decided in character creation?

Currently looking at Agnaktor, but since the child form is an Uroktor, would a Shifter at one point have changed to the smaller form? Same with others, like the pack leaders and Basarios/Gravios? If so, is there a lower-middle class of Shifters that shift into small monsters? Or perhaps just the growing monsters would be shifters, though usually as children/squires?

I'd imagine equipment made from Ores are preferred over monster parts for various reasons. Which brings up the question of whether there's any change in tech level.
Are there airships if many Shifters can fly? Are things similar to the games or a little less? Such as none of the transforming/gun weapons, or any other... steampunkish... contraptions.
Not that I'm against that tech stuff.

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Houses are usually separated by species. And to use the example of Rathian and Rathalos they belong to the same house. Females shift into Rathian, and Males shift into Rathalos. I’d say similar monsters would not share houses persay but they may be very close allies, or share common ancestors if you look back far enough. I’d say similar creatures could share a house, whichever lords do share a house would mostly be decided through character creation but house combinations would be more common among weaker monsters.

In the case of Agnaktor the shifter’s form would follow the life cycle. As a child they would be Uroktor but when they reach maturity their form would become that of a Agnaktor. And yes Lesser Lords for Smaller monsters is a thing but they do not occupy their own houses and mostly serve under shifters whose form is that of a large monster.

You’re right about that. Someone using monster weapons and armor is usually seen as an insult. And as for tech level, I imagine it’d be a little lower then the game. Airships exist but are rare, same goes for weapons like the bowguns. Most ranged combat is taken care of with bows, cannons, and ballista.

I hope I’m answering your questions well.

Interested

Here is the Character thread. I will create another page with a list of well known NPCs which will appear in RP. After I finish with that I will create the actual Roleplay.

If you still need another member, i'm more than interested.

Round 3: Answering quite well

Do the humans forms keep any abilities of the monster forms? Obviously, I don't expect them to be flying and shooting lasers, but how about things like resistance to elements? Maybe the poisonous ones can't share drinks or something.
Also, I already asked if there are physical indicators of a shifter, but are there behavioral indicators? Like, would a Kulu-Ya-Ku be a kleptomaniac? A Deviljho a glutton? Tigrex hotheaded? Agnaktor have a habit of fidgeting with things (clacking)?

Do the Houses have a history of fighting each other occasionally? Not to the level of one disappearing, but disagreements and skirmishes? Relatively small attacks or shows of dominance?

Are we to follow a specific set of terminology? Like for Titles, would a House leader be an Elder[but not Lord]/Chief/Noble/Jarl/Sir/Madam/Baron/Count/Duke/Lord[but not Elder]/Lady/Eoldorman/Mirza/Mayor/Master/Headmaster/etc? Depends on responsibilities taken? What about the lower ranked Lords? Perhaps military ranks? Or even a post title, like "ThatGuy of ClanOrLocationName" or "Whoever the Wise"?
Perhaps there's enough separation between Houses that, while still similar, they can have their own culture and terminology, kinda like 40k Space Marine Chapters or something? As long as there is a clear separation between the normal Lord rank equivalent and the Elder Lords.
Any other notable terminology for special things we should know? For people who rebel? For important gatherings? Events? Contests? Challenges? Hunts?

Entity.Eclypse said:

If you still need another member, i'm more than interested.

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Sure we’ve got plenty of room left, feel free to make a character and join up.

Pocket said:

Round 3: Answering quite well

Do the humans forms keep any abilities of the monster forms? Obviously, I don't expect them to be flying and shooting lasers, but how about things like resistance to elements? Maybe the poisonous ones can't share drinks or something.
Also, I already asked if there are physical indicators of a shifter, but are there behavioral indicators? Like, would a Kulu-Ya-Ku be a kleptomaniac? A Deviljho a glutton? Tigrex hotheaded? Agnaktor have a habit of fidgeting with things (clacking)?

Do the Houses have a history of fighting each other occasionally? Not to the level of one disappearing, but disagreements and skirmishes? Relatively small attacks or shows of dominance?

Are we to follow a specific set of terminology? Like for Titles, would a House leader be an Elder[but not Lord]/Chief/Noble/Jarl/Sir/Madam/Baron/Count/Duke/Lord[but not Elder]/Lady/Eoldorman/Mirza/Mayor/Master/Headmaster/etc? Depends on responsibilities taken? What about the lower ranked Lords? Perhaps military ranks? Or even a post title, like "ThatGuy of ClanOrLocationName" or "Whoever the Wise"?
Perhaps there's enough separation between Houses that, while still similar, they can have their own culture and terminology, kinda like 40k Space Marine Chapters or something? As long as there is a clear separation between the normal Lord rank equivalent and the Elder Lords.
Any other notable terminology for special things we should know? For people who rebel? For important gatherings? Events? Contests? Challenges? Hunts?

Ramble Ramble Ramble
Some of this may be made clear in the coming NPC post, or decided as we go, but want to make sure before assuming​

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I could definitely see shifters having a few special abilities in human form. Most are stronger then your average human and hardier but they could have elemental resistances as well. I could also see certain monster shifters having special abilities in human form and I’ll leave it fairly open to people making characters to decide which ones those are so long as they make sense and aren’t too crazy. (No fire breathing in human form for example). And I could see some shifters having behavioral traits in human form but I imagine it would be different from individual to individual.

Every house leader can be known as a lord, they can have other titles Baron/Duke/Count etc. but the Elder Lords tend to have titles like Lord blank the Blank. Lower ranked house members would have different titles, like Sir for example. There are also Magisters as a title which sort of act as doctors. There’s not really any specific terminology you need to follow.

Yahhah said:

Sure we’ve got plenty of room left, feel free to make a character and join up.

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Splendid! I'll get to work on finding myself the right monster ASAP then.

Missed the part asking about houses feuding in the middle. To be fair, that is the part I edited in an hour later. Basically, how violent do Houses normally get with each other?

The given titles imply many Houses would rule over at least a small portion of land, will that play any role? Do we need to be thinking about how we run our own small villages/keeps? Do some Lords have borders to defend? Could we potentially be exploring each others fiefdoms? Would they likely reflect the home biomes of the house monsters? Perhaps some could be producers of specific products which could give that Lord certain contacts?

---
For profiles, would you prefer just post in the Character thread then wait for approval, or send you the profile then post in the Character thread after approval?

If pics for appearance, any rules as far as style of pic?

Affiliation: Did you have some established organizations in mind that you haven't gotten to explaining yet? Or are these more of a player made thing? Elder Lords directly served? Allied Houses? What's expected here?

Weapons: Any rules on weapons (as long as within tech level)? Does it have to be a style of weapon from the series? Limited to so many? I like Lance, but I'd also like to fit through doors while human, so I'm thinking smaller weapons (sidearms essentially) when not warring/hunting/etc.

Pocket said:

Missed the part asking about houses feuding in the middle. To be fair, that is the part I edited in an hour later. Basically, how violent do Houses normally get with each other?

The given titles imply many Houses would rule over at least a small portion of land, will that play any role? Do we need to be thinking about how we run our own small villages/keeps? Do some Lords have borders to defend? Could we potentially be exploring each others fiefdoms? Would they likely reflect the home biomes of the house monsters? Perhaps some could be producers of specific products which could give that Lord certain contacts?

---
For profiles, would you prefer just post in the Character thread then wait for approval, or send you the profile then post in the Character thread after approval?

If pics for appearance, any rules as far as style of pic?

Affiliation: Did you have some established organizations in mind that you haven't gotten to explaining yet? Or are these more of a player made thing? Elder Lords directly served? Allied Houses? What's expected here?

Weapons: Any rules on weapons (as long as within tech level)? Does it have to be a style of weapon from the series? Limited to so many? I like Lance, but I'd also like to fit through doors while human, so I'm thinking smaller weapons (sidearms essentially) when not warring/hunting/etc.

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Oh sorry, I forgot about that one bit. Well Houses do feud on a normal basis, they are lords who want nothing more then to expand their kingdom. As an in RP example which would’ve been first explained in the NPC thread Rajang house, and Tigrex house neighbor each other. There’s a long history of bloody war between them, which was ended when they all united under the Elder Lords, but nowadays the two houses still show a lot of animosity towards each other they just can’t directly fight unless they want to anger the Elder Lords.

Each House does have a territory in which they rule the humans that happen to live in those territories. The amount of effort they actually put into running it differs, but they do run it and I’ll leave it up to the player how detailed they want to get about running their territory.

Honestly I had figured that you could post them in the character thread and I would give them a like if they’re accepted.

I don’t care what sort of pic or faceclaim you use. Whether it be art, realistic, anime whatever they all work just as well.

The Affiliation is more for which Elder Lord they directly answer over. I do have a council of four Elder Lords in mind as NPCs and the other Elder Lords would be pretty much up to if someone wants to play them. It’s perfectly fine if you leave affiliation blank until I put up the NPCs so you know just who they’d be serving. There is another option for affiliation but it’s a bit of a spoiler for me to be exact about it.

Really any sort of weapon is fine so long as it fits with the technology level. And yes sidearms are fine.

And I realize this isn’t a question that’s been asked but i figure it may be seen as an important bit of information I do have quite a few houses in mind to exist most of which will be touched upon in the NPC section the other monsters are really up to the different players on what monster shifter they’d like to play.

Finally got this done

Who's the missing Elder/Lady Tulins father?

Actually, that brings up a question, how do Shifter genetics work? Are they not of the same species? Perhaps the mother was the other species? Could they be subspecies? Are Shifter children somewhat random? Do Shifters only come from Shifters, or can a rare human have an ascended child?

And how does shifting work? What's it look like? How long does it take?
What happens to clothes/items? Hammerspace unless it takes two hands to carry and isn't a weapon? Werewolf rules (Rip/Drop)?

Pocket said:

Who's the missing Elder/Lady Tulins father?

Actually, that brings up a question, how do Shifter genetics work? Are they not of the same species? Perhaps the mother was the other species? Could they be subspecies? Are Shifter children somewhat random? Do Shifters only come from Shifters, or can a rare human have an ascended child?

And how does shifting work? What's it look like? How long does it take?
What happens to clothes/items? Hammerspace unless it takes two hands to carry and isn't a weapon? Werewolf rules (Rip/Drop)?

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Lord Fowrath The Noble another Zinogre lord.

Shifters can breed with other shifters and humans. Usually the child will share the monster species of the father, though in rare cases they will share their mothers. When it comes to breeding with humans it’s a fifty fifty chance of being able to shift and they’re considered filthy halfbreeds.

Werewolf rules. They just sort of slowly grow in size and gain monstrous attributes.