Obsidianserpent
Senior Member
- Hello, folks! After a year-long hiatus, I’m very much looking forward to roleplaying again.
For some time, I’ve wanted to create an RP setting using solely concept art I’ve created over the years. The character portraits, skill icons, concept art, music: everything was created by yours truly. I want to create something we can document and cherish long after the RP has concluded. I hope it goes without saying that I’ve put a great deal of work into this setting: I’m looking for players who will take the RP seriously. A few expectations to establish:
1) This is a dark, light-magic, action-oriented, historical fantasy RP. This a STORY BASED RP. It involves no dice, combat mechanics, and so forth. Character creation details (skills, class, weapons/weapon art, etc) exist solely for aesthetic/lore purposes. I wanted to maintain some creative control over character creation to preserve the lore of the world and tone of the RP, while still allowing players to customize their characters in unique ways. If you dislike my art style, setting, or the character creation process I’ve designed, then this RP isn’t for you.
2) Player characters MUST sustain some substantial injury during each major violent confrontation. Our party, though powerful, will be going up against the princes of Hell; it would be absurd for us to get out unscathed.
2) Player characters MUST sustain some substantial injury during each major violent confrontation. Our party, though powerful, will be going up against the princes of Hell; it would be absurd for us to get out unscathed.
- 3) This RP will not be especially long. It will have a distinct beginning and end. Players can expect to post roughly 4-5 times before this concludes. Think of this RP as something of a one-shot. With that said, I prefer quality over quantity, and posts should be detailed, well thought out, and contain anywhere from 2-5+ paragraphs.
- 4) I don’t expect perfection (I’ll make mistakes too), but players should be well-versed in the English language, use proper spelling/grammar, and write in the past tense from the third-person limited perspective.
- 5) Finally, please be 21+; it’s just odd to RP with people who are more than a decade younger than I am.
- With expectations out of the way, here's the prologue!
Red Sea, 1462
The coven of Alshabah is among the oldest and most mysterious of the near-eastern witch hives. Recruited at a young age, these reclusive eldritch-born forswear a traditional life and devote themselves utterly to the mastery of their psychic powers. Committed to preserving the balance between interconnected yet opposed cosmic forces, they perform two primary duties which they hold to be sacrosanct: tending to painstaking rituals that fortify the realm of Terra against otherworldly intervention, and learning the secrets of the dead through astral communion. For centuries, the coven has worked to piece together a more coherent understanding of the world’s history, hoping to set Terra on the path toward complete independence. They align themselves with neither heaven nor hell, considering an excess of chaos or order within the soul to be symptomatic of the essential malady that afflicts the Realmscape.
From the deepest bowels of the House of the Manticore, hidden within the remote sands of Arabia, Bathsheba the Oracle whispers portents of doom. There is unrest in Hell. The stars speak of an ancient, bitter feud that now threatens to consume Terra in its wake. Regrettably, some occult power obscures the oracle’s sight, preventing the coven from discerning the true nature of this threat and the agents involved.
Across the Red sea, near the port city of Aydhab, grows the Mothscale mushroom. Though dangerous to consume, when distilled into a poultice by a skilled herbalist, the fungus grants a clairvoyant imbiber unparalleled powers of divination. To secure the psychic reagent, Archmagus Sulimain has dispatched several of the coven’s most skilled witches.
Aboard the Wavemother’s Favor, the voyaging party of mystics and mercenaries nears its destination. But a primordial evil stirs just beneath the waves, intent on thwarting the ship’s course and murdering its passengers…
Occult Terms:
Historical Details:
- Mana Weave: A mysterious, spiritual fabric that enveloped the earth and served as home to countless natural deities. The Mana Weave collapsed sometime during the third millennium BC after sacrificing itself to thwart the demon Beelzebub’s invasion of Terra: an event that has come to be known by occult historians as “The Sundering”. Since the Sundering, the natural deities that inhabited the Mana Weave have perpetually reincarnated in human form. Such individuals are known by occult historians as “eldritch born” and possess innate, psychic powers of mind and spirit. Like all arcane practitioners, eldritch born must practice their powers in utmost secrecy, lest they be tortured and executed on charges of witchcraft.
- Realmscape: The known planes of existence, including Celestia, Infernum, and Terra. Celestials revere order above all else, while their counterparts in Infernum embody chaos and destruction. The planes of Celestia and Infernum consist of five realms, each governed by a powerful angel or demon, respectively. Terra consists of both a corporeal and astral dimension. Little is known of Terra’s origin, though its existence is believed to have remained unknown to the other planes until sometime during the 13th millennium BC.
- Verbis Spiritus (Words of Spirit): A primordial tongue used in the channeling spells of eldritch born. This language is difficult to pronounce and requires a natural connection to the shattered Mana Weave.
- Verbis Alchimia (Words of Alchemy): A magical tongue developed by arcanists over millennia. Mimics the Verbis Texere in certain ways but draws power from natural caches of mana within the earth; used in alchemy.
- Verbis Infernum (Words of Hell): A magical language used by devils. Can be used by mortals who sell their souls to a particular demon prince of the abyss.
Historical Details:
- *The Mamluk Sultanate exerts fragmented rule over the Hejaz region of the Arabian Peninsula. Struggle over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina has led to violence and political unrest.
- *War has erupted between Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Vlad Tepes Dracula, Voivode of the vassal state of Wallachia. Tales of Vlad’s cruelty and taste for bloodshed spread through Europe and the Near East.
- *The Peace of Londi has secured relative peace across the Italian peninsula for the first time in centuries.
- *Spanish and Portuguese slavery dominate the Mediterranean.
- *Far to the West, the British Isles remain fragmented by the War of the Roses.
- *The Vijayanagara Empire of India has fallen into decline under the decadent Emperor Mallikarjuna Raya.
- *Far to the East, tensions rise between the Ming Dynasty and the Jurchen Tribes within the region of Manchuria.
- I'm going to include an example of my character's Character Sheet, just so that you can get an idea of what a finalized character will look like.
I hope it goes without saying that I've really poured my soul into this. I've cooked up a clever plot and truly believe this RP could be a lot of fun. If you've made it this far and you're still interested, DM me and I'll send you the character creation details. I'm looking for 2 or 3 (max) players to join me on this adventure.
I look forward to hearing from some of you!
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