Essence: The Price of Power : An Economic Fantasy Adventure Signup!

"Money is power."

Do not let anyone tell you that the celestial Gods of old are infallible. They are victim to the most human of emotions, just as you are. They feel anger, jealousy, lust, sloth, greed. Oh, do they know the true feeling of greed. The entire ecosystem of the universe is powered by the movement of magical energy. It slides and shakes with it, and the pure power breathes life into all things. This magical energy makes its imprint on all living things, and from them comes an Essence. An Essence is a small amount of magical energy created from the life and energy of a living thing. It is shaped by the emotions, exploits and reputation of that living thing. The power you hold when you have Essences is almost indescribable.

The Gods love this power. They literally bathe in it, lust after it, and an Essence exchanging hands is like eating delicious candy to a God. But they had too much. All the built up energy of their Land of Essence was too much for them. So they created us.

The blessed their creations with souls of their own and gave us an amazing planet to live on. Every human, animal and plant had their own essence. However... having one essence is not a commodity.

How many Essences do you own? Have you worked hard your entire life, living each day Essence to Essence? Or do you live in luxury, throwing away Essences on expensive art and prostitutes? In this world, Essences are the only currency that matters. You want to buy a loaf of bread for your family? 3 Fox Essences. You want to buy a castle to spend your summers? Then I want a very rare monster Essence. The world is truly kept spinning by the exchange of Essence. Children are taught young the value of their Essence and are usually given their first animal Essence around 7 years old. The Essence of small animals are treated like pocket change. The Essence of a retired general that won every battle and conquered lands is worth a whole lot more.

The world exists in a continuous barter system where the person with the rarest Essence has the most wealth.

But the importance of an Essence doesn't just lie in its worth. Having Essence means having built up magical energy, and depending what kind of Essences you have spent your time collecting, you have great power at your disposal. There is truly a large gap between classes, when the wealthy can weave powerful spells and summon monsters, and the poor can’t defend themselves from a mugger because they can’t afford to use up their Essences. I’ve heard strange stories, such as the wealthy aristocrat that grew his fortune from bug collecting, and had amassed so many Insect Essences that he took on the qualities and abilities of a bug. But fret not. You may be living in squalor, just trying to make it day by day, but there is power inside of you. There is power in us all.

But how far will you go for power? What are you willing to do? To sacrifice?

This is a new story-driven RP of my own creation, placed in a fantasy setting of medieval scenery. There are monsters, crazy plants and animals, and tons of magic. The main conceit of the RP is that the planet uses the Essences of creatures as currency, and as the source of power. I will explain Essences in depth.

Essence: An imprint of pure magical energy on a living creature creates an Essence. It is not a physical product, but a source of magical energy of various color. An Essence is given its worth by the emotions, exploits, and reputation of the organism it was taken from. It is possible to not have any Essence, and the only known effect of this is not being able to see the world in color. The Essences you own are kept in your own personal Essence gauntlet, which every human is given at a young age. As far as is known, Essences cannot be made. They are created when a creature is given life, and is shaped by the personality, exploits and reputation of that creature. Say a man spent his life training to be the best swordsman he can be. His Essence is shaped by that, and whoever owns that Essence has the skill of a great swordsman. You can buy more to get better at fencing quicker... or you can sell the training you did at that. An Essence cannot change and become more valuable after it has left the original owner. It is possible to take Essences by two means. Stealing an Essence Gauntlet and putting it on, which takes a toll on the wearer’s stamina, and killing the owner of an Essence. The Essence of a dead man is worth more than the Essence of a still living one, because I haven’t met a man alive who wanted his Essence stolen.

Essences give great power and the ability to weave spells of all kinds, as well as change your physical attributes. For example, you could trade Essence with your friend. He has an Essence of fish, and it allows him to breath under water. You’ve got the Essence of your Uncle, who spent his life training as a fencer, and it gives you great fencing ability. Emotions are important to Essences to. If a spellcaster of fire was known for a particular emotion, then the ability of her Essence can usually only be used while under the influence of that emotion. But the benefit is that the ability is more specialized and powerful under that emotion.

In terms of RP technical-type stuff, every player will be affording THREE general abilities, and ONE special ability. This is just to start, and things will most definitely change as your characters become more powerful.

A GENERAL ability is ones like those mentioned above, casting fire spells, breathing underwater, etc. A SPECIAL ability is very important. It usually comes from the essence of a powerful monster and was passed down to you, or an ancestor who was a powerful warrior or super amazing chef or something. While all Essences are shaped by emotion and exploits, the special ability is where it counts. A potential example of this would be owning the Essence of a Giant that your grandfather slayed. In terms of economy, it would be like owning your grandfather’s expensive gold watch. In terms of power, it could bestow you great strength or something like that. Once again, play it by ear and try to be creative.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER FOR ALL ETERNITY:

• This is a VERY story-driven RP. You will a part of a group led by my main PC. Basically, you are in the employ of her and helping to guard her while she solves a mystery, so you will probably have to be someone in need of Essences, who is middle or low-class, unless you have a very good reason for sticking around for the ride. There will be lots of fun and important NP Cs, so look forward to that.
• The story will be broken up by CHAPTERS, and I will indicate a post that is the start of the chapter, and the end of a chapter. You cannot make any post that lies after the end of a chapter, and before the start of the next. If you do, accidentally or otherwise, it will be ignored.
• This RP is mostly serious, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like fun, deadpan snark, strange and insane people, things like that. If you create a character or plot idea that does not fit with the tone of the RP, I will be sure to let you know that you need to change some things.
• Be sure to follow all basic RP rules that we should know. No Godmodding, doing things without player permission, and be sure to play nice. You’ll have to work together a lot in this RP.
• HAVE FUN.

• Name: What do you go by?
• Sex: Male, Female, and anything in between.
• Age: Older teen is probably the most acceptable, unless it is a fantastic character. So around 15, 16.
• Occupation: In this world, how you make Essences is the most important thing.
• Social Class: Upper/Middle/Lower or otherwise. Remember that in this campaign, you are being employed as a crew.
• Appearance: I like pictures, but of course never necessary!
• Clothes, Costumes and Armor: How do you dress, what do you wear, and what do you look like when walking down the road?
• Personality: Everything about your soul, personality, actions and manner of being.
• Weapon(s):
• Essence(s): The most important one! First list the basic amount of money your character has, obviously coinciding with their social class. (Ex.: Carries around a few essences of the squirrels and mice he hunts.) Then list the important Essences that your abilities rely on. Remember, UP TO THREE GENERAL ABILITIES AND ONE SPECIAL ABILITY. Be sure to say what kind of Essence it is, and explain in depth the ability they give you.
• Skills: Tell me amount your other special skills that you’ve got, and cool things you can do.
• Possessions: What other things do you have to your name?
• Bio: What were you before you were here?

Accepted characters:

• The Bird, played by Taco
• The Bard, played by Neoxkais
• The Hunter, played by Replica
• The Prince, played by mrminun
• The Merchant, played by goodisgood
• The Shark, played by Stratofarius
• The Savage, played by Daltar

edited 18th Mar '13 12:11:16 AM by Saturn

Interest!

Interest.

Interested...

So how would someone with lots of Shark Essences work? I mean... would he turn into a half-shark person? I mean, for these more specific animals, how does it work?

In a word, yes. He would become something on the scale of "shark-like". Anywhere from "more human that shark" to "more shark than human" depending on the amount of Shark Essences he has.

Tentative interest here. I'll need to come up with a good concept.

So how about this girl who inherits Shark Essences from her family, a bunch of Steve Irwin-like people, extremely famous, who after years of hunting sharks decide to pass it down in the hopes she'll follow their path... but instead, she turns into this half-shark-like being. Mixing that with the fact her family's heritage is something she doesn't exactly like, all these new advancements make her go into hiding until she can figure all of this out (which is why she's hanging out with the middle to low classes)?

I like that idea a lot. Go for it.

Actually, there is going to be specific chapter that is going to be of shark-related importance...So it might be interesting there.

Thanks. Would she only be able to access the shark form, or would she be able to have some sort of transitional form- like only the jaws, or only the gills, etc?

Definite interest, if one is allowed to make a... lets just say..."bard"

^^ Either is fine.

^ Depends what you mean by bard.

Also, everyone please remember that not everything has to come from an animal...

Bard in the travelling minstrel sense(wasn't sure if you would know what a minstrel was[not meaning to be a twat] so I used Bard, something more easily identified). Singing, Storytelling, and maybe a touch of the Dn D sense of the word

I don't see anything wrong with that. Hope they can fight somehow though.

Interested. I kind of want to play a wandering hobo type who used to be an adventurer, or something. Has the essence of the tallest tree in the world, that he felled and used to build his family a home, or something. On the other hand, what powers would a tree give?

Unfotunetly, I actually have plans for the Essence of the largest tree in the world. So that wouldn't be allowed :(

As for what abilities it would give, I would imagine it could be anything from creating food, having bark like skin, being able to enter a hibernative state...Being able to root yourself in the ground. Stuff like that.

• Name: Arthur Aquila
• Sex: Man
• Age: 17
• Occupation: Arthur is an assistant of a popular Aviary.
• Social Class: Middle
• Appearance: Tall and aquiline, Arthur has started to take on the appearance of a bird. His limbs are long and slender, his hair elegantly slopes around of his head, and he moves with light, airy grace. His stare is inhumanly piercing and examining, which can shift between the cold glare of a vulture or the wide-eyed curiosity of an owl.
• Clothes, Costumes and Armor: Arthur really likes bright colors. That's basically the only rule proper about his clothes; he looks like a gypsy caravan exploded on him or something. He prefers to wear lighter armor if possible.
• Personality: Arthur is curious and open about everything. He isn't afraid to ask uncomfortable questions, and will answer questions asked of him openly. Much as it bugs him that he's so stereotypical, Arthur hates the indoors and gets twitchy inside, preferring to be able to see the sky as much as possible. He views slavery and other forms of compulsion as abhorrent and evil, but has enough common sense to understand that the Law is there for a reason. No domestic terror here! He also is somewhat of a womanizer, using his Essences to eye someone up or peep or... I've said too much.
• Weapon(s): A saber measuring about 4 feet long and an armor gauntlet for his left hand with several crossguards on it intended to catch blades and other weapons in it.
• Essence(s):
  • Carries around a fair bounty of small animals his birds hunt.
  • The essence of an Eagle, allowing him to see extreme distances or fine details.
  • The essence of a massive oak, allowing Arthur to increase his mass and strength for brief periods, and passively gives him increased stamina and vitality.
  • His Special Essence is that of the exotic Cassowary from a hellish land where all the animals are either actively malicious or passively poisonous. This essence gives him an incredibly powerful kick, capable of shattering concrete at the strongest, or running at around 32 mph at his fastest, though it takes awhile for Arthur to get up to speed. This essence, in combination with the Oak, also grants him superhuman stamina.
• Skills: Arthur is good with a sword, though he's very reliant on his powers to beat someone competent. He's also very good with birds, easily socializing with them when he wants to.
• Possessions: A rucksack full of typical travelling gear like food and water, his sword and gauntlet, a bundle of clothes, and really nice, comfortable boots.
• Bio: The Aquila Aviary Garden has stood for a half dozen generations, a bastion of beauty and light and plants and birds. The Aquilas have always stood there, a staple of the community. Arthur is just the youngest here, the youngest in a long line of Aquilas. In fact, next year he's gonna be able to take over, but for now he has an entire year to kill, and he hasn't done anything with his life yet! If he wants to host the Aviary well, he'll need to tell some stories! Oh, this adventure looks good, let's do that!

Very nice character Taco. Accepted!

edited 13th Mar '13 8:23:11 PM by Saturn

• Name: Maxwell Hamellin
• Sex: Male
• Age: 21
• Occupation: Bard
• Social Class: Fluctuates
• Appearance: The Gentleman on the right
• Clothes, Costumes and Armor: Maxwell likes to dress comfortably, and affordable, preferring loose cotton tunics and leggings. He doesn't much care for showy dress despite his rather showy proffession
• Personality: Maxwell prides himself on being personable, able to go from telling bawdy tales in taverns, having a few drinks, having a few fights, and then telling more bawdy tales...to telling Epics in the halls of nobles. He doesn't care much for politics, in the sense that so long as he is getting paid, he doesn't much care who does what or whom. He doesn't talk much about his past, although this is more because he doesn't have much of one to speak of.
• Weapon(s): Bow[yew] and Arrows
• Essence(s):
  • A modest assortment of small and medium sized animal essences(payment for his 'services')
  • The essence of a Hummingbird, bestowing upon him graceful speed and dexterity
  • The essence of a Kingfisher, allowing him to increase his accuracy for short periods of time

  • His special essence is that of a Siren, bolstering his already substantial musical and lyrical prowess to amazing levels, making it difficult for anyone that hears him to not lose themselves in his performance, though the effect is not instantaneous and once he stops, all effect wears off

• Skills: Maxwell is very talented with an instrument, currently a lute. He is also very good at dealing with people, having to haggle and 'argue' over payment and having had to entertain nobility on a few occassions

• Possessions: A Small Bow w/ Quiver and Arrows, A knapsack w/ bedroll, and his lute

• Bio: Maxwell was born in a small city, the fourth of six children of a local tavern girl. He grew up primarily in the same tavern, helping his mother and elder siblings serve patrons and take care of the younger ones. Upon reaching the age where he would have to strike out on his own, Maxwell took the offer of a regular patron, and took up the 'Bardic' life...travelling from place to place, singing and regaling tales to all those that would have him

edited 13th Mar '13 11:03:26 PM by Neoxkais

I'm still not sure about the special ability. It does seem a little broken.

All you'd literally have to do is plug your ears...

But it says that they want to sit and listen. So why would someone plug up their ears?

Word would get around that someone could 'bewitch' crowds with sound, no? But I digress, I'll tone it back some

Alrighty, then. Accepted.

• Name: Orion Sterling
• Sex: Male
• Age: 25
• Occupation: Hunter, normally but not exclusively monsters.
• Social Class: Not really clear.
• Appearance: Orion is most certainly a man affected by his essences. Despite his age, he stands tall above most others and most of that form is muscle. He has certain notably monstrous aspects, his skin being tinged grey and utterly hairless, his eyes slitted horizontally like those of a reptile, small claws emerging from the ends of his fingers and nonfunctional nubs of wings hanging off his back.
• Clothes, Costumes and Armor: Orion's attire rarely changes, generally being his suit of armour. A composite of forged steel and monster scales, the armour does a good job of protecting him and accommodates the bizarre changes to his form but does little to hide his monstrous appearance.
• Personality: Despite the essences he acquires so regularly, Orion is no monster. While he hunts down savage beasts, among men he is a friend. Drunken stories in taverns and camaraderie in the harshest places are his forte. He lives a part of his life for profit, but only a small one. He searches out the great secrets and adventures of life, and every essence he spends has a story to tell.
• Weapon(s): Orion wields a large greatsword capable of cleaving through the flesh of monsters. He carries around a small dagger, but it is for utility and not combat.
• Essence(s):
  • He carries around the essences of beasts and lesser monsters for payment, what he kills giving him enough to make a living.
  • He has the essence of a giant spider, allowing him to move easily across walls and ceilings. His armour is specially adapted to allow for this.
  • He has the essence of a sea serpent, allowing him to breath underwater indefinitely.
  • He has the essence of a great wolf allowing him bursts of high speed.
  • His special essence is from a beast he will refer to only as the great predator, and allows him to sense and track the heartbeats of beings around him.
• Skills: Orion has all the skills that would be expected of a hunter-tracking, combat, maintaining his weapons and armour, taking what he needs from his kills, and the like. He also has a good degree of knowledge about animals and the environment, being experienced with both.
• Possessions: Orion carries only what he deems needed: His armour, sword and dagger and a small amount of objects held in a pack amounting to a bedroll, a tinderbox, food and water.
• Bio: Orion was raised since he was a young boy to be a monster hunter, just as his father had been, and his father before him further back than records existed. He travelled around and was taught how to hunt, his prey increasing in size as he did. Eventually a beast he named the great predator killed his father, and in slaying it he realized that then it was his time to do what his father once had, and had being training him for. And as such, he set out, hunting monsters and finding adventures.

edited 14th Mar '13 12:05:45 PM by Replica

Question: can my character be royalty? I'll justify it in the signup.