Fantasy Guild of Heroes: Eye of the Storm

[Birdsie]

GUILD OF HEROES
Eye of the Storm​

• Stormcrest Naval Academy
• Glossary
• The Location / Plot
• Characters
• Inspiration

• Stormcrest Naval Academy
  
  Stormcrest isn't the most prestigious school in the entire realm, nor is it the kind of place that world-defining Heroes or the cream of the royal family attend.
  
  It is, however indisputably the greatest school for naval warfare in the entire known world: it is the place countless legendary captains, stoic morale offices, scouting specialists, master shipwrights, and deadly marines claim to hail from. The people who attend its halls later go on to form the deadliest sea-faring armies of the Empire, and those who excel are known to almost never receive a posting of less than Vice Admiral.
  
  And then, once-Grand Admiral, many-times Savior of the Realm, the stoic master of Enlightened Sorcery, Lung Feng Zao returned after a hundred-year long foray into the depths of the Underworld. The nine-hundred-year-old Hero came and returned to his previous job as Headmaster last year, and Stormcrest went through a sweeping reformation: for the first time in ages, the school would theoretically allow complete mortals due to its merit-based entry examination, a choice that was opposed by some.
  
  In the corners of the world, however, there are whispers of immaculate thunderings coming to the western coast, where Stormcrest lies...
• Glossary
  
  Hero - The definition of the word, "Hero" in Eye of the Storm is completely different from the modern one, angling closer towards the original etymology in the word's Greek origins. Simply put, a Hero is anyone who accomplishes legendary and impressive deeds, regardless of their moral leanings. Cultural indoctrination and propaganda have resulted in an in-universe merging of the meanings, however.
  
  Being a Hero is usually defined as being one step below a demigod: the average Heroic individual enjoys a host of benefits that sets them square right above mortals in the food chain. A Hero restores their lost stamina and health at an exponentially greater rate (wounds that wound be permanently crippling to a mortal only afflict a Hero for a week or two), and the scars on their body are rarely ugly: if they are ugly, they are usually intimidating. A Hero's lifespan is notably augmented: if a Hero does not live to be one-hundred years old and still look like someone in their mid-thirties, that is considered strange.
  
  In the setting, Heroism is usually an inborn trait, although the rules for this principle are spotty. Heroism is primarily earned, with a mortal ascending to gain it, but a long bloodline of Heroes is far more likely to produce offspring with the traits that would earn Heroism.
  
  The methods of gaining Heroism vary, as do the wielders of the mantle. Great martial deeds need not apply: a high priest is a Hero for the faithful, a great inventor of machines is a Hero to engineers, and the most exalted ambassador in the world counts as a Hero of diplomats. In some cases, a Hero will earn his mantle through bravery or deed, and in other cases, he might assume the mantle through ascension in an organization blessed by the gods.
  
  Heroism is a gift from otherworldly beings, primarily gods who observed these great deeds from Heaven, although, "infernal Heroes" have been known to exist. It is achieved through the act of Coalescence: a singularity of findross, the primal essence that permeates existence. This usually occurs when a mortal performs some great, heroic deed that causes the being in question to consider them worthwhile.
  
  Grace - To start with, each Hero who undergoes Coalescence receives a single Grace: a Heaven-granted boon to start them on their path.
  
  A Grace varies from individual to individual, and cannot be taught. It can be almost anything from the ability to see through walls, the creation of flying crystal spheres that detonate into fireballs when disturbed, or firing spirit-matter lances that temporarily resurrect slain foes as obedient wraiths.
  
  Consider it, essentially, a superpower. Although Graces cost findross to use, their intricacy allows makes this cost extremely allowable. It usually hails as the mainstay of a Hero's arsenal.
  
  A Grace is different from Hero to Hero: for some, it is an aura of indomitable might, while others obtain straightforward hydrokinesis. Some Graces favor sheer dominating power, while some are versatile or have enough applications their user could be mistaken for a Sorcerer who learned to forsake incantations.
  
  More Graces can be earned, but this is extremely uncommon: no recorded Hero ever held more than seven, and the overwhelming majority never have more than two. To earn an additional Grace, a Hero must undergo a meta-Coalescence. If a Coalescence is a heroic deed to a mortal, then a meta-Coalescence is a super-heroic deed to a hero, and the definition of that grows with each Grace. Essentially, Coalescence is another path towards perfection and greatness.
  
  Charm - A Hero can learn to practice what is known as Charms. Charms aren't magic or sorcery, nor Graces, but rather, supernatural abilities that cost findross to use.
  
  A Charm may exist to temporarily allow one to run up vertical surfaces or fire an arrow with enough force to penetrate a stone wall. A Charm may not exist that lets one breathe ice from their mouth or transmute stone into gold. A Charm is the supernatural version of a natural ability: one cannot breathe ice, but one can spit with enough precision to hit someone in the eye and blind them from across the room, and it cannot let one transmute stone into gold, but it may enhance their aptitude for alchemy sufficiently to do it with a poor toolset.
  
  Charms have to trained, in a manner similar to mortal abilities. If you're thinking, "The Hero was so great he could run across the rooftops, seduce the guards, and then climb the vertical wall to the princess' tower," instead of, "The Hero was so great he teleported across the city, fireballed the guards, and then levitated up to the princess' tower," then you're on the right track.
  
  There are rumors that Headmaster Zao has mastered the secret of Charms, letting him use Charms that resemble magic more than anything. Perhaps this is actually his Grace, or perhaps the rumors are wrong?
  
  Sorcery - Sorcery is the middle ground between Charms and Graces.
  
  Spells are learnable and trainable, but certainly do not need to be extensions of anything natural. At the same time, one can study them independently of performing great deeds.
  
  Unlike Graces, spells are incredibly onerous to use even sparingly, requiring enough findross that most casters without a good catalyst fall down unconscious after three castings. Unlike Charms, spells are difficult to use, requiring arcane incantations, mad gestures, and sometimes rituals: usually, a spell takes at least a short phrase to cast; more commonly, a sentence, unlike Charms and Graces that tend to be near-instant.
  
  A spell can do theoretically anything, from teleporting or shooting fire at targeted location or summoning a demon into reality.
  
  However, their cost in findross often calls into question the practicality of such things: any spell that a D&D player would consider, "Level Three" such as water-breathing, calling a lightning bolt, or flying for a minute can usually be cast up to four to six times before a sorcerer needs several hours of rest. Any spell that a D&D player would consider, "Level Six," such as creating a near-invulnerable shield-bubble for a minute, create a feast for a small army, or conjuring a programmable illusion that lasts until dispelled would risk draining even the greatest sorcerers to near-dryness in a single casting.
  
  Furthermore, to learn Sorcery, a given Hero needs to pass the Five Trials of Initiation.
  
  The first trial is humility. The initiate must learn to see beyond his own hubris, often in the course of challenges impossible to finish, deliberate humiliation by a mentor, or contemplation of past failures.
  
  The second trial is tutelage. The initiate must find a teacher - not necessarily a mentor as such, but a person or spirit able to give them a new insight.
  
  The third trial is a journey. The initiate must wander and, through wandering, learn an appreciation for the world as it is. Her glorious works may someday remake the world, but the present matters as much as the future.
  
  The fourth trial is fear. The initiate must learn mastery over her darkest fear - whether a fear of losing her way, of causing others' deaths, of claiming her true power, of finding herself powerless or simply of "spiders."
  
  The fifth trial is sacrifice. To become a sorcerer, one must make a terrible sacrifice. Anything from cutting off a finger, abandoning a brother, losing a portion of one's sanity, or casting aside one's true love: the sacrifice must be truly meaningful to work.
  
  Thaumaturgy - Thaumaturgy is the mortal equivalent of Sorcery, although Heroes can learn it as well.
  
  Thaumaturgy is superbly broad and cheap to use, but the valence of effects it causes is greatly limited and slightly unreliable: even a day-long thaumaturgic ritual won't summon a demon, although a week-long thaumaturgic ritual with enough bunnies as sacrifices might.
  
  The average thaumaturge may light a candle with a click of their finger, animate a grindstone to sharpen their blade manually or fire a spectral arrow from a bow that doesn't exist. The expenditure of findross for each of these effects would be considerable, permitting only three to six castings before tiring out the caster: thaumaturgy is very inefficient. Although initiation isn't required, most Heroes don't bother learning it..
  
  The Realm/Empire - Both are synonymous. The setting of Eye in the Storm is ruled by a verse-spanning Empire, often called the Realm, Realm Empire, or some other combination. Within the Realm are thousands of smaller nations: kingdoms, principalities, theocracies, magocracies, meritocracies, aristocracies, trade unions, barbarian lands, etc. Most of them pay an annual tithe to the Realm and its emperor.
  
  There are only a handful of nations that exist outside of the Realm's bounds. Those fringe cases are usually only permitted due to considerations other than military - such as politics, religion, or distance. For example, one of the Realm's defining principles is filial piety: it would not attempt to conquer a nation that an established deity once declared as untouchable and sovereign.
  
  The Realm's head ruler is the Emperor or Empress, currently Pallav Volter Zephyrdor of the Tremalion Dynasty. The Emperor's power is indisputable, not merely due to politics and religion, but also due to sheer, personal power. Due to good breeding, education, and countless blessings from the Heavens, no Emperor or Emperor-to-Be is known to have achieved less than three Coalescences by age thirty, granting them supernal might and power. Most of them achieve four by the end of their reign, and a handful are known to have gained six: a level of Grace often incomprehensible to even the most exalted Heroes.
  
  The Empire spans a rough surface area similar to the entirety of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with hundreds of fiefdoms contained therein.
  
  Primordials - The Primordials are ancient beings said to have preceded the gods, being the original creators of the world. They are currently sealed in Hell, but their servants, demons, and even Heroes they have blessed: the Infernal Anathema, continue to make regular incursions into Creation.
  
  Their foolish hope is to free their masters. The seals cannot be undone, but that doesn't matter: a being sealed in Hell isn't sealed anywhere, if Hell is everything.
  
  Fortunately, these are mostly whispers. Demon sightings are rarer than murder, and Infernal Heroes rarer still: a once-a-decade event.
• The Location / Plot
  
  His Imperial Majesty's Naval Academy is a towering bastion of salt-pitted grey stone atop an outcropping of the same. Based in the western harbor city of Seacrown, the Academy is home to some seven hundred (mostly) Heroic students attended by dozens of staff and hundreds of menial laborers.
  
  Behind the spartan facade of its fortress-walls, however, the Academy is a cornucopia of sights, sounds, and smells. The aroma of sizzling onions and sea salt wafts from the lower kitchens. Growls and battle cries erupt from the innumerable training rotundas spaced around the building, accompanied by all the sound and fury of Heroic combat in full flare. The pennants and shields of every Noble House of the Realm, major and minor, fly twisting in the wind around the Tournament Grounds. Beneath, the groans of laborers - deckhands, scully slaves, prostitutes, and more - are drowned out by the pounding surf.
  
  Students are recognizable, walking the paths in the Academy uniform. With its burgundy velvet inlaid with sunstone trimmings, buttons of polished gold, and gloves of wine-dark sparrowsilk, even the most slovenly wretch is elevated to a profile of masterful grace and poise.
  
  On the first day of school, as students converged in the Reception Hall and conversed, Headmaster Zao stood in one fluid motion and made a curt slashing gesture. Few saw it, but the hall grew silent anyway. He had, with that gesture, somehow altered the nature of the air within the hall, such that it conducted sound but poorly. Within a few moments, all eyes were on the Headmaster. He cleared his throat and began to speak. His voice, possessed of a rich and easy timbre, seemed not at all like that of a man his age.
  
  "You are all here because you want to be sailors? No, I think not. I think you are here because I have accrued something of a reputation these days, and the courtiers and recruiters and parents around you made a decision to capitalize on that reputation. They cannot be faulted for that decision. The fault lies entirely with you. You, who are savvy and young and smart. You, who know yourself better than anyone. You didn't want to be a sailor! You didn't want to join the Navy! All you wanted was riches and power, and what you walked into - what you got! - was vomit and the storm-tossed sea. You'll grow up, you'll seize power, you'll waste eight hours a day on charts and eight more on decadence, and you'll be miserable."
  
  "Some of you think I'm wrong. Some of you really love these waters. You will stop loving them when they are filled with blood, but it is an admirable sentiment nonetheless. Whether I'm wrong or whether I'm right, however, is immaterial." Zao smiled briefly - mirthless, bloodless.
  
  "I don't care whether you'll be miserable. I don't care how much you'll hate it. And you will hate it. The Realm needs soldiers. It needs sailors. It needs officers. And you, sorry fools, have given yourselves to that Realm. When I'm through with you you'll have given it every mote you've got and ten you didn't know you had. And it will still not be enough to save your life. Each and every one of you will die screaming just as the last class died screaming." Silence. Zao, uncharacteristically, dodderingly, picks up a glass of water and sips it once.
  
  "People have asked me for centuries what my 'secret' was. I told them, but they didn't believe me, so they continued to ask. Now I will tell you. We are not Heroes. We are not Champions. Perhaps we are great people, but not if might makes right. We are not the apex predators of the sea called Existence. That title belongs to another creature. Yes, I see some of you whispering it now. Anathema." The last two words whispered with a hateful, bitter intensity. As if they were the only things supporting him, Zao deflated visibly and continued in a gentler tone.
  
  "Since I was… very young, I have never compared myself to other Hero. My point of reference has always been the enemy - for what is the worth of a man's ability if his mortal foe's is greater still? Decades beyond number I've measured myself against them, and not once - not once have I found myself their superior. That is my secret. That is the lesson you will learn, either in here or out there. There is always a greater power."
• Characters
  
  A character is permissible to be of any age and provenance. However, they must be either a student, a teacher or someone involved with either. Any character outside of this limited umbrella requires explicit permission from the GM, although it's not entirely unthinkable.
  
  As a rule, a student of Stormcrest would be in their first year and is assumed to have Coalesced no more than a year before their attendance. This rule can be lifted from specific characters but requires GM permission before writing the character up. Such a starting student cannot possess more than one Grace to start with, cannot begin initiated into Sorcery, and mustn't have more than four, moderately-practiced Charms.
  
  A professor of Stormcrest suffers from far less limitations. A teacher can start with up to two Graces (three if you can make the argument and can come up with a suitably epic situation,) up to fifteen Charms, and can be initiated into Sorcery with basic to intermediate experience.
  
  Exceptions for these limitations are possible, but they are just that: exceptions. Don't rely on the possibility one might be extended to you, unless the idea you are going to present has incredible merit.
• Inspiration
  Exalted
  Fable
  Dungeons & Dragons
  Total Drama Island

"If this doesn't fail, I'll probably shriek." - Birdsie, 2025

Noble Scion Alteras Epiphany Fable Swire Silver Wolf Hanarei Reinhardt June Verles Uasal Inheritance Archdemon Churl Kylesar1 , FireMaiden , Safety Hammer . And for you, LostHaven , should you choose to accept it, I have a special job.

I'm not expecting everyone on this list to attend. We'll be locking this shit down at ~10 players, maybe less. Priority Order: Tagged First > Un-Tagged First > Tagged Last > Un-Tagged Last. First come, first serve, but my friends are more important than my not-friends. That's what nepotism does to yah.

Funfact: This thread could have come out 145 seconds earlier, but the site wanted me to give it a "Tag," that wasn't "action," "adventure," or a dozen other attempts. Apparently, those aren't valid, but "original characters" is.

As a minor act of vengeance, I decided to declare this roleplay a very complicated, very advanced Harry Potter AU crossover with Naruto and Star Wars: I now canonically confirm this setting has a portal to all three universes stashed somewhere beneath the earth. You can also find the Elder Wand on a display case near the Reception Hall, but it's out of magic; as well as a lightsaber but it's all out of power. As for the Naruto part, there's ninja stars everywhere, you just have to look for them. It's definitely not a Pokemon crossover, though: we don't abuse animals by placing them in confined spaces and then forcing them to fight for our amusement here at Stormcrest.

 

[Yuki Akiyama]

Heya! This seems pretty interesting. Still have any spots?

 

[Birdsie]

Heya! This seems pretty interesting. Still have any spots?

Yes, of course. I'll put you down on the list.

 

[Yuki Akiyama]

Thanks!

 

[Noble Scion]

Yeee

 

[Crow]

as well as a lightsaber but it's all out of power

can we at least use it as a beating stick

 

[Birdsie]

can we at least use it as a beating stick

Only if the Headmaster permits it...

 

[Uasal]

If there's room ill take a spot

 

[Archdemon]

I'm in, why not.

 

[Silver Wolf]

Eh, fuck it.

 

[June Verles]

okay.

 

[Kylesar1]

If there's space, I'm in

 

[Worthlessplebian]

yea sure

 

[Birdsie]

Fantasy - Guild of Heroes EotS - CS

GUILD OF HEROES Eye of the Storm

www.rpnation.com

Alright, everyone! It's all ready, go on. Try not to die or kill the RP this time.

Yuki Akiyama Noble Scion Crow Uasal Archdemon Silver Wolf June Verles Kylesar1 Worthlessplebian

 

[Noble Scion]

Bomp, this still hasn't started so there's time for more people for anyone interested

 

[Xlos]

Bomp, this still hasn't started so there's time for more people for anyone interested

Thanks for the info, I'll join. I assume that for now, I should go to the character sheet thread and make a character?

 

[Noble Scion]

Thanks for the info, I'll join. I assume that for now, I should go to the character sheet thread and make a character?

If you want to, then sure!
I'd recommend joining the discord too to use for OOC, if you want it I'll PM you it because I forget if you're allowed to post discord links in public xp
That goes for anyone else too

 

[Xlos]

If you want to, then sure!
I'd recommend joining the discord too to use for OOC, if you want it I'll PM you it because I forget if you're allowed to post discord links in public xp
That goes for anyone else too

No need, I found it in the OOC thread.

 

[Noble Scion]

No need, I found it in the OOC thread.

Ah, perfect xp

 

[HighSanguinaryPriest]

sounds interesting. Every group needs an evil guy that just hangs around for "Entertainment" or "Boredom"

 

[Kobe Nathan Wade]

Is this all out of spots?