Lyro
Errant Chronicler
Riptide
It is a time of great unrest. On the planet Isyn, a god is being born. What form shall it take? What will its tenets be? Who shall name it? These are the questions each warring faction seeks to answer. For whomsoever is present at the moment of divine manifestation shall permanently etch their convictions into the deity's mind. Through their new god, the believers shall wield power unlike any others, altering the laws of the universe as they see fit.
Or so the legends say.
It is a risk the People's Republic of Tiffrel are unwilling to take. Get past the front lines, descend into Isyn, and steal its needle before it punctures our world once more. The status quo must be preserved.
May you ride gentle currents.
Or so the legends say.
It is a risk the People's Republic of Tiffrel are unwilling to take. Get past the front lines, descend into Isyn, and steal its needle before it punctures our world once more. The status quo must be preserved.
May you ride gentle currents.
The Premise
The laws of physics are never set in stone, but in clay, ready to be reshaped and remolded as seen fit by beings beyond our understanding. Such is the world of Riptide, a universe in which gods the size of stars can change the parameters of the universe as they see fit within their spheres of influence. The faithful are rewarded for their devotion with divine abilities no ordinary mortal could possess - in other words, magic. The stronger the belief, the greater the god's reward for such devotion. With enough faith, such powers are even accessible from within other gods' domains, though they will weaken over long distances.
The gods are not eternal, however - at least, not in the mortal plane. They are physical, conscious manifestations of something much greater than any single one of them. They can fade, merge, split, grow, and even, when all the conditions are met, arise where there was nothing before. This roleplay is about one such event - the first of its kind in millennia, and players must prevent it from unfolding.
The planet Isyn has always been hotly contested, being at the junction of several major interstellar nations, but only over the past decade has it become the scene of a perpetual war between the powers, as each seeks to control the new god's birthing place. It is home to an ancient artifact called a needle, a curious device created by civilizations which have long since vanished. Their true purpose remains unknown to this day, but one thing is clear: wherever they are active, the boundaries of the universe weaken.
Given enough time, the boundary breaks, and the Stream comes rushing through.
The Stream
The Stream is life itself, though that doesn't mean it is inherently good. The Stream is vented through the universe by means of the Gods, starlike beings whose very existence was a result of too much of the Stream leaking through the universe in one place. They are not inherently good, but neither are they inherently evil. They are individuals, each with their own opinions, temperaments and ideals. Individuals who are the embodiment of life, able to give themselves to create life and light to the domains in which they inhabit. Some exist with goals of only expansion, while others simply want to have a place and followers in small nooks of the universe.
All of the mana in the universe originates from the Stream, where it is pure and uniform: raw power unburdened by the constraints of our universe. The lenses through which one filters it - the Gods, and their aspects - are the only things that differentiate one priest under one God from another. It is the only safe way for mortals to draw from the Stream, as their hubris has shown time and time again: when it comes to the Stream, it's easy to drown when you're out of your depth.
Most civilizations in the known universe worship the Gods of the Stream in some way, more often than not to curry favor with them and be rewarded with access to the Stream. For though any single God's reach rarely extends beyond the galaxy, the Stream is omnipresent, and the Gods' collective influence can be felt everywhere.
With some exceptions.
The Void
Space is cold, empty, unforgiving... but it is not dead. The space between the stars is the domain of the Void, an ancient, unknowable mind whose dominion extends across the entire universe. Wherever matter is scarce, the Void can be found, taking up space like gas filling a room. It cannot be seen, felt or heard, but it is always there, ever attentive to the tribulations of mortals. For a select few, however, its role extends beyond simple witness.
The Void reaches out to its followers if they clear their minds of any and all thoughts, and only then do they feel its will. It is never specific; it simply asks for calmness and stillness. It never speaks to its followers directly - instead, its will is communicated by the emptiness of their minds and the space around them. How this is interpreted by others is up in the air; some extremists take it as their God wanting them to kill others and bring stillness to the universe, while others feel it's an Isolationist calling - to limit activity to a minimum, to stop chaos.
Void mages have access to a set of abilities no Stream god can grant. Powerful mages are even capable of negating the Stream entirely, preventing Stream mages from accessing it. However, just as drawing too much from the Stream will drown its wielder, bringing too much of the Void into one's mind is a dangerous proposition; and yet, unlike Stream mages, Void users have no choice but to bring themselves within a hair's breadth of this limit in order to wield their deity's power. Only by remaining in a perpetual state of near death can they hope to master the Void's gifts.
The Situation
The Gods
While the universe is indeed infinite, the Gods are not keen on sharing and their domains are clearly-delimited. The Milky Way happens to have eight major Gods and at least three hundred minor Gods, each in possession of their own area of the galaxy. As such, only the following major Gods will come into play throughout the roleplay, listed with their associated themes:
- Mizen - God of Appearance: illusions, transformation, beauty, deceit
- Sillis - God of Prediction: prophecy, foresight, calculation
- Imer Dallis - God of Justice: law, control, retribution, balance
- Tekket - God of Industry: technology, energy, willpower, efficiency
- Levraxis - God of Destruction: death, medicine, transformation, fission
- Loreh - God of Communication: speech, mediation, empathy, censorship
- Friest - God of Stillness: concealment, control, sound, time
- Alva - God of Bonding: combination, fusion, paralysis, chemistry
The Players
The planet Isyn is in the unusual position of being at the intersection of three Gods' domains, Loreh, Mizen and Sillis. As such, it has frequently passed hands between the mortal nations in service of these Gods. There are currently seven nearby nations:
- The Hierarchy of Onnedias: an ancient elven theocracy where the most powerful wizards are in power. Onnedias currently has ground control of Isyn and holds the best claim to ownership of the planet.
- The Far Commonwealth: a mercantile association which gained independence a few centuries ago. Formed from descendants of the first humans to escape Earth's Barren zone. Known for forming and breaking alliances frequently. Currently in a weakened position; rumor has it they have begun resorting to more underhanded tactics.
- The Tyranny of Fin Qillis: a totalitarian regime headed by the near-immortal fairy Qillis. One of the two biggest threats to Onnedias, being in control of one of Isyn's moons and a great part of the space armadas.
- The Hegemony of Ko: a forced military union of a small group of neighboring states which were at risk of being swallowed up by Qillis many centuries in the past. Highly diverse ethnicities. Currently the other biggest threat to the Hierarchy, as they are the only other nation to have established permanent encampments on Isyn's surface. An uneasy alliance between them and the Tyranny is currently in place.
- The Dominion of Prak and Corval: a colony of the far larger country of Myrn, located at the other end of the galaxy. A minor player in the war, fighting not for their victory but for Onnedias's defeat.
- The People's Republic of Tiffrel: a small, poor country that has only avoided being swallowed up by making itself essential to all of its neighbors. Currently surrounded by the Dominion and the Hegemony. As such, they are not in a position to wage direct warfare.
- The Informed Republic: a comparatively new player in international politics, the Informed Republic is a nation of gnomes led by computers hybridised with magic in order to create sentient software. They claim to be a neutral part in this conflict, being the farthest away from Isyn of all parties. Their outposts can be found throughout the systems, where they are often found selling Invariant technology.
The Planet
Isyn is one of the Milky Way's four Scarred Planets. Extensive radiocarbon dating processes have demonstrated these planets to be far older than the current universe. Indeed, each of these planets is located in a weakened section of reality where the Stream filters through more often, which most believe explains how these planets were able to survive the previous universe's destruction. The scars themselves manifest as constantly shifting fractures in the sky from which the blinding light of the Stream filters through.
Unlike the other Scarred Planets, however, Isyn is covered in ruins from an ancient alien civilization which is also believed to originate from before this universe. Seven years ago, deep underground, a Needle was uncovered by archaeologists, which precipitated the current political climate. Needles are rare artifacts, a few of them naturally occurring, but usually the products of long-gone civilizations which developed Invariant technology capable of puncturing the barrier between reality and the Stream. While the knowledge necessary to create such tools is currently lost to the known civilizations of the galaxy, some of the Needles which have been uncovered have been successfully made operational. Isyn's is one such Needle, and its location on a Scarred Planet means it can be used to usher in the birth of a new God.
As the roleplay begins, players will be on a stealth ship making its way past the front lines of the ongoing war to make landfall on Isyn. From thereon, they will have to navigate the labyrinthine underground complex of the ongoing archaeological expedition beneath Isyn's surface.
The Rules
This roleplay will be hosted by
C.DEX
and
Lyro
. If you are interested in participating, you will have to obey the following rules:
C.DEX
and
Lyro
. If you are interested in participating, you will have to obey the following rules:- You are expected to post once a week. If you, for some reason, cannot post during the week, let either
C.DEX
or
Lyro
know. Additionally, it's encouraged to post more than once a week, especially if the flow of the roleplay asks it.
- For now, players are limited to one character per player. If it happens in the future that you're seen as someone who posts often and can handle having another character, you may be allowed to.
- No godmodding / metagaming. Godmodding is when a person creates an overtly powerful character in order to usurp others. Metagaming is using knowledge outside of what your character knows to gain an advantage in-game. For example, one character knowing that another character has 'evil' history and treating them as such before gaining this knowledge in character. One exception is when both users have established that the characters know each other.
- Obey all site rules.
OOC communication will happen over the roleplay's Discord. You can also contact either GM by PM. If you are undecided, interested, or any combination of the two, you are invited to stop into the Discord to talk about the RP, ask questions, and hang out.
Once you feel you are ready to submit an application, submit a character application in the Characters subforum. You do not need to be accepted to the HP to create a thread in the Characters subforum.
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