Petroshka
Here and there and everywhere in between!
the lore of Ascerius!
When a player takes a risk or makes an unwise decision, or an event occurs where death is possible, you will see this text with the GM's next post.
After this warning has been posted, every player in the area should be on their toes! Because death lurks right around the corner...
If a character is careful, and either cleverly counters their enemy, uses their abilities and teamwork to their advantage, or takes a risk that pays off, that will be the end of it. You will successfully have avoided a dance with death.
But! if at this point a character makes a mistake, they will suffer something called a mortal wound. Behind the scenes, a die 100 will be cast, and the results will determine your characters fate. Here are the odds for the FIRST mortal wound.
00-50 Death: Your characters suffers a wound too great and perishes, plain and simple.
51-60 Incapacitation/Serious injury: Your character is struck with a near mortal wound and is knocked unconscious, but just barely makes it out alive. A serious injury role could result in a lost limb or heavy damage to a vital organ, these are the types of wounds that leave a permanent mark on an adventure, and could end your career before it starts.
61-70 Incapacitation/medium wound: Your character avoids a significant portion of the damage, but you are still hit and knocked out. A medium wound role is less serious, but still requires immediate attention. These kind of injuries consist of deep cuts that cause heavy bleeding and/or broken bones.
71-80 Medium wound: Your character suffers a medium wound but is still able to hold on to consciousness.
81-90 light wound: The enemies attack glances off of your armor or doesn't land correctly, lucky you. A light wound does not require immediate attention, but should still be checked for infection, poison, or other harmful after effects. A light wound consists of flesh wounds and at most minor bone fractures or sprains.
91-100 no effect: Thanks to an incredible stroke of luck, an attack that should have hit you misses completely! Your character is safe, and may act as normal, though they should definitely find a change of underwear soon.
On the SECOND mortal wound, the chances ramp up quite a bit...
00-90 death
91-93 incap/Serious injury
94-96 incap/Medium wound
97-99 Light wound
100 No effect
There is no third mortal wound, if your character somehow manages to survive both wounds the next will be an instant death. Mortal wounds refresh after a character has had a chance to patch them up between combat.
A shield spell is still mechanically a shield spell be it a shield made of earth, the will of the gods, or your own soul! Though there are subtle differences that you should be aware of.
Arcane: Good ol' fashioned magic! This is your standard fireballs, your levitation spells, Prestidigitation! Arcane magic draws the raw mana from another plane of existence and uses it to shape the world around you to your will.
-What's so good about Arcane magic?: Arcane is the strongest of the casting types in terms of raw power. A good Arcane mage can command the elements to their will, tame animals and charm people, and teleport great distances. Meanwhile the strongest mages have been known to be able to raise the dead, kill their enemies with the touch of a finger, and tear holes in the very fabric of reality...
-So.. what's the catch?: I'm glad you asked! While Arcane magic is the strongest magic, it is also incredibly hard to learn and advance in. A character who invests in Arcane magic should expect to invest long hours of dedication and practice to the craft with very little in terms of advancement. Aside from that there is another con to the use of Arcane magic in how unpredictable it can be at times. Little is known about where mages draw their power except that it is a plane of existence known as Domum, and sometimes when one draws mana from the wells of Domum.. other strange things trickle out as well...
-Well how does it work? What do we know about Arcane magic?: Not very much! Arcane magic is a very mysterious beast and we are still unraveling her secrets one by one with each day. What we do know though is that there is another plane of existence that runs in a strange parallel to our own named Domum. Not much is known about this plane except for the fact that it contains an unbelievable amount of mana. What is Mana you ask? We don't really know what that is either! But what we do know is that with careful rituals of incantations and hand movements, as well as material sacrifices in some cases, we can tap into the plane of Dumom, extract some mana and use it to shape the world around us in incredible ways.
-What are the traits of an Arcane mage?: Arcane mages are well known for their incredibly high intelligence and cleverness, as well as their curiosity and affinity for flair. A true Arcane mage has the perfect spell for every occasion, and just LOVES to show the world just how smart they are. Arcane mages are inventors, scientists, explorers. Their extensive knowledge of the world around them has only left them with many, many more questions that they long to answer.
Divine: Sometimes, the gods that created and rule this world take interest in a single individual, and bestow onto this mortal some of their own power to help them in their quests. Divine mages have been granted great powers through their extensive worship of their god, as well as their desire to carry out their patrons will.
-what's so good about divine worship?: Well, for starters Divine magic one of the easier magics to obtain, because instead of rigorous study you simply gain the magic by gaining the affection of your chosen deity(Though, this is easier said than done). The more you impress your chosen deity, the more powers they will bestow upon you in order for you to carry out their divine purpose. Also, depending on your level of faith with your chosen Deity they may find it appropriate to deliver you helpful messages and grant you luck in your time of need, or even speak to you directly! Plus! A divine being gets stronger as they gain more followers, this means that a more charismatic character will have a better time progressing in this form of magic as they will be able to convert more followers.
-Aaand the bad?: Well.. where to start? First things first the gods are rather clingy ones, and they require a lot of attention, which means you must keep to a strict worship schedule in order to keep their favor. That, and the fact that the Divine that gifts you your powers expects you to use them for their cause. What does that mean exactly? It means that more than likely you will have a loooong list of rules bestowed upon you which must be followed to the letter, and sometimes you may be forced to sacrifice your own personal goals in favor of your deities. Which leads me to the worst part about Divine magic, falling. You see, when a cleric or paladin of their faith strays just a little too far from their deities light, they fall. When you fall you are stripped of ALL powers, favors, and gifts from your god. All of it, just gone in a flash as if it was never there. There is a chance to make things right with your deity again, but the gods are fickle, and it will take a great amount of effort to show your devotion to them once again.
-What are the gods? How are they made? Who can I worship?: In this world many, many gods exist, in fact all of them do! How can this be you ask? Simple! The gods are created, and gain their power from the raw beliefs of mortals. This means that any god you could ever think of probably exists and has at least a small following, which means you have complete freedom towards who you worship and what this god is all about in your CS. Just be aware of one thing, the more people that believe in a god, the more powerful that god becomes and the more power he will be able to bestow upon his/her followers. This means that dieties of concepts such as freedom, security, love, hate, vengeance, malice... all of these dieties will potentially have very large followings, and as such these deities will be much more powerful than say.. The goddess of food and drink. But don't let that discourage you from worshiping gods with a small base of followers. The gods with fewer followers tend to love each and every one of them just a little bit more, and they tend to be more lenient on your duties.
-What are the traits of a Divine mage?: Divine mages are well known for their unwavering faith and devotion. Divine mages are not afraid of death, for after death they will join their deity in the stars. This means that they are not afraid to run headlong into an impossible fight for their deities cause. These mages are your healers, guards and soldiers, the protectors of the people and defenders of what is right. But at the same time, they can also be cultists, servants of vengeful and angry gods that want nothing more than destruction. The choice is yours who you worship, just make sure you choose wisely.
Soul magic: soul magic is one of the most interesting forms of magic. While the other forms of casting draw from the power in the world around us, soul magic comes from, well, the soul of course!
-What makes soul magic so special?: well it is the single easiest magic to learn. In fact, you can use it right now! That's right! Since every living thing has a soul, everyone has the faculties to learn soul magic. Whereas arcane magic requires an incredible amount of study and research, and divine requires complete loyalty to one deity. Soul magic taps into an ancient instinct within us all and requires no proper education on the subject, just lots and lots of practice. Another boon to soul mages is the consistency. While arcane is unpredictable in nature, and divine requires you to follow a deities holy plan, soul magic asks nothing of you and works reliably every time. Building on this, soul magic is the only magic that cannot be silenced, while you may be cut off from Domum, or your connection to your god, no one can ever take your soul from you*.
- that sounds great! What are the downsides?: Well... a lot to be honest... you see while soul magic is significantly easier to learn, it is also vastly weaker than the other two forms of magic. For this reason Soul magic is often referred to as "the poor mans magic" because of it's nonexistent barrier to entry and low skill ceiling. Also, because you are using your own soul to power your spells instead of drawing it from another source Soul magic will tire its user considerably if used too often.
- How does it work?: Very simply! Imagine your soul as fire, blazing hot and and bright with your chest as its hearth. Whenever you cast a spell with Soul magic you take some warmth from this fire in order to fuel the magic, and in order to replace it you need sustenance (Food, water, rest, ect..). Soul magic is a very simplistic form of casting that comes naturally to many living things, in fact most people learn about it by accidentally casting on their own.
-What are the traits of a Soul caster?: Soul casters can be anyone, they are hard to identify with a specific trait because they come from all walks of life. Though, the most notorious of the Soul mages are known for their incredible willpower. Great Soul mages though, are the winds of change, they are your leaders, your wanderers, your monks, your rebels, your warriors. Those that travel the path of the soul do so because they seek true strength, they wish to become greater on their own without borrowing power from deities and strange planes. The path of the soul is the path to self realization.
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CHARACTER DEATH
This RP is very death heavy, and is intended to be difficult to emphasize creative and intense roleplay. At the same time, we don't want to just kill people outright without a chance to react, so we've established mechanics in order to make death something that's avoidable, yet at the same time very present and shocking even to the GM's doing the killing.When a player takes a risk or makes an unwise decision, or an event occurs where death is possible, you will see this text with the GM's next post.
warning!
Possible death imminant
Warning!
Possible death imminant
Warning!
After this warning has been posted, every player in the area should be on their toes! Because death lurks right around the corner...
If a character is careful, and either cleverly counters their enemy, uses their abilities and teamwork to their advantage, or takes a risk that pays off, that will be the end of it. You will successfully have avoided a dance with death.
But! if at this point a character makes a mistake, they will suffer something called a mortal wound. Behind the scenes, a die 100 will be cast, and the results will determine your characters fate. Here are the odds for the FIRST mortal wound.
00-50 Death: Your characters suffers a wound too great and perishes, plain and simple.
51-60 Incapacitation/Serious injury: Your character is struck with a near mortal wound and is knocked unconscious, but just barely makes it out alive. A serious injury role could result in a lost limb or heavy damage to a vital organ, these are the types of wounds that leave a permanent mark on an adventure, and could end your career before it starts.
61-70 Incapacitation/medium wound: Your character avoids a significant portion of the damage, but you are still hit and knocked out. A medium wound role is less serious, but still requires immediate attention. These kind of injuries consist of deep cuts that cause heavy bleeding and/or broken bones.
71-80 Medium wound: Your character suffers a medium wound but is still able to hold on to consciousness.
81-90 light wound: The enemies attack glances off of your armor or doesn't land correctly, lucky you. A light wound does not require immediate attention, but should still be checked for infection, poison, or other harmful after effects. A light wound consists of flesh wounds and at most minor bone fractures or sprains.
91-100 no effect: Thanks to an incredible stroke of luck, an attack that should have hit you misses completely! Your character is safe, and may act as normal, though they should definitely find a change of underwear soon.
On the SECOND mortal wound, the chances ramp up quite a bit...
00-90 death
91-93 incap/Serious injury
94-96 incap/Medium wound
97-99 Light wound
100 No effect
There is no third mortal wound, if your character somehow manages to survive both wounds the next will be an instant death. Mortal wounds refresh after a character has had a chance to patch them up between combat.
Magics!
There are three types of magic you can use. Fundamentally the typepe of magic you choose won't restrict you too much, it's mostly for RP.A shield spell is still mechanically a shield spell be it a shield made of earth, the will of the gods, or your own soul! Though there are subtle differences that you should be aware of.
Arcane: Good ol' fashioned magic! This is your standard fireballs, your levitation spells, Prestidigitation! Arcane magic draws the raw mana from another plane of existence and uses it to shape the world around you to your will.
-What's so good about Arcane magic?: Arcane is the strongest of the casting types in terms of raw power. A good Arcane mage can command the elements to their will, tame animals and charm people, and teleport great distances. Meanwhile the strongest mages have been known to be able to raise the dead, kill their enemies with the touch of a finger, and tear holes in the very fabric of reality...
-So.. what's the catch?: I'm glad you asked! While Arcane magic is the strongest magic, it is also incredibly hard to learn and advance in. A character who invests in Arcane magic should expect to invest long hours of dedication and practice to the craft with very little in terms of advancement. Aside from that there is another con to the use of Arcane magic in how unpredictable it can be at times. Little is known about where mages draw their power except that it is a plane of existence known as Domum, and sometimes when one draws mana from the wells of Domum.. other strange things trickle out as well...
-Well how does it work? What do we know about Arcane magic?: Not very much! Arcane magic is a very mysterious beast and we are still unraveling her secrets one by one with each day. What we do know though is that there is another plane of existence that runs in a strange parallel to our own named Domum. Not much is known about this plane except for the fact that it contains an unbelievable amount of mana. What is Mana you ask? We don't really know what that is either! But what we do know is that with careful rituals of incantations and hand movements, as well as material sacrifices in some cases, we can tap into the plane of Dumom, extract some mana and use it to shape the world around us in incredible ways.
-What are the traits of an Arcane mage?: Arcane mages are well known for their incredibly high intelligence and cleverness, as well as their curiosity and affinity for flair. A true Arcane mage has the perfect spell for every occasion, and just LOVES to show the world just how smart they are. Arcane mages are inventors, scientists, explorers. Their extensive knowledge of the world around them has only left them with many, many more questions that they long to answer.
Divine: Sometimes, the gods that created and rule this world take interest in a single individual, and bestow onto this mortal some of their own power to help them in their quests. Divine mages have been granted great powers through their extensive worship of their god, as well as their desire to carry out their patrons will.
-what's so good about divine worship?: Well, for starters Divine magic one of the easier magics to obtain, because instead of rigorous study you simply gain the magic by gaining the affection of your chosen deity(Though, this is easier said than done). The more you impress your chosen deity, the more powers they will bestow upon you in order for you to carry out their divine purpose. Also, depending on your level of faith with your chosen Deity they may find it appropriate to deliver you helpful messages and grant you luck in your time of need, or even speak to you directly! Plus! A divine being gets stronger as they gain more followers, this means that a more charismatic character will have a better time progressing in this form of magic as they will be able to convert more followers.
-Aaand the bad?: Well.. where to start? First things first the gods are rather clingy ones, and they require a lot of attention, which means you must keep to a strict worship schedule in order to keep their favor. That, and the fact that the Divine that gifts you your powers expects you to use them for their cause. What does that mean exactly? It means that more than likely you will have a loooong list of rules bestowed upon you which must be followed to the letter, and sometimes you may be forced to sacrifice your own personal goals in favor of your deities. Which leads me to the worst part about Divine magic, falling. You see, when a cleric or paladin of their faith strays just a little too far from their deities light, they fall. When you fall you are stripped of ALL powers, favors, and gifts from your god. All of it, just gone in a flash as if it was never there. There is a chance to make things right with your deity again, but the gods are fickle, and it will take a great amount of effort to show your devotion to them once again.
-What are the gods? How are they made? Who can I worship?: In this world many, many gods exist, in fact all of them do! How can this be you ask? Simple! The gods are created, and gain their power from the raw beliefs of mortals. This means that any god you could ever think of probably exists and has at least a small following, which means you have complete freedom towards who you worship and what this god is all about in your CS. Just be aware of one thing, the more people that believe in a god, the more powerful that god becomes and the more power he will be able to bestow upon his/her followers. This means that dieties of concepts such as freedom, security, love, hate, vengeance, malice... all of these dieties will potentially have very large followings, and as such these deities will be much more powerful than say.. The goddess of food and drink. But don't let that discourage you from worshiping gods with a small base of followers. The gods with fewer followers tend to love each and every one of them just a little bit more, and they tend to be more lenient on your duties.
-What are the traits of a Divine mage?: Divine mages are well known for their unwavering faith and devotion. Divine mages are not afraid of death, for after death they will join their deity in the stars. This means that they are not afraid to run headlong into an impossible fight for their deities cause. These mages are your healers, guards and soldiers, the protectors of the people and defenders of what is right. But at the same time, they can also be cultists, servants of vengeful and angry gods that want nothing more than destruction. The choice is yours who you worship, just make sure you choose wisely.
Soul magic: soul magic is one of the most interesting forms of magic. While the other forms of casting draw from the power in the world around us, soul magic comes from, well, the soul of course!
-What makes soul magic so special?: well it is the single easiest magic to learn. In fact, you can use it right now! That's right! Since every living thing has a soul, everyone has the faculties to learn soul magic. Whereas arcane magic requires an incredible amount of study and research, and divine requires complete loyalty to one deity. Soul magic taps into an ancient instinct within us all and requires no proper education on the subject, just lots and lots of practice. Another boon to soul mages is the consistency. While arcane is unpredictable in nature, and divine requires you to follow a deities holy plan, soul magic asks nothing of you and works reliably every time. Building on this, soul magic is the only magic that cannot be silenced, while you may be cut off from Domum, or your connection to your god, no one can ever take your soul from you*.
- that sounds great! What are the downsides?: Well... a lot to be honest... you see while soul magic is significantly easier to learn, it is also vastly weaker than the other two forms of magic. For this reason Soul magic is often referred to as "the poor mans magic" because of it's nonexistent barrier to entry and low skill ceiling. Also, because you are using your own soul to power your spells instead of drawing it from another source Soul magic will tire its user considerably if used too often.
- How does it work?: Very simply! Imagine your soul as fire, blazing hot and and bright with your chest as its hearth. Whenever you cast a spell with Soul magic you take some warmth from this fire in order to fuel the magic, and in order to replace it you need sustenance (Food, water, rest, ect..). Soul magic is a very simplistic form of casting that comes naturally to many living things, in fact most people learn about it by accidentally casting on their own.
-What are the traits of a Soul caster?: Soul casters can be anyone, they are hard to identify with a specific trait because they come from all walks of life. Though, the most notorious of the Soul mages are known for their incredible willpower. Great Soul mages though, are the winds of change, they are your leaders, your wanderers, your monks, your rebels, your warriors. Those that travel the path of the soul do so because they seek true strength, they wish to become greater on their own without borrowing power from deities and strange planes. The path of the soul is the path to self realization.
*It is very possible to have your soul stolen in this RP
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