Hero's Arms, Hero's Heart Re-Redux

Hey, folks! I'm giving this roleplay a third shot - I jumped the gun last time and posted the signup before I was done making changes to what I was looking for. Some things have changed; if you've posted a character before, I'm glad to see you again, but please read the updated sheet and information under The Arms and The Heart carefully before you rework your character.

You all know the story: A peaceful and idyllic land, full of happy and hardworking people and ruled by kind and just monarchs, is suddenly laid siege by the forces of Darkness, led by a cruel Dark Lord. Dark storm clouds overshadow the land as the armies of darkness march forth from the jagged mountains to the east, pillaging and laying waste to villages in their path. It appears no one can stop them... until a lone Hero rises from humble beginnings to face the onslaught.

Growing ever stronger, the Hero faces challenges that would break lesser warriors, and as he grows so too do his arms and armor, absorbing the power of his conquests and gaining extraordinary strength. With his weapons - the sword, the spear, the bow, and the hammer - the Hero slays hideous monsters and creatures of darkness, resurrected from the myths of old by the Dark Lord's might. With his armor - the shield, the armor, the cape and the amulet - the Hero protects the weak and oppressed from those who would harm them. With every battle, their power grows as well, adding to the Hero's burgeoning legend.

As time passes, the Hero slows, then stems, then pushes back the tide of war. Finally penetrating the heart of darkness, fighting alone to the dark citadel itself, the Hero comes face to face with the Dark Lord himself... and falls, defeated by a single cowardly blow. With no one left to stop him, the Dark Lord redoubles his assault on the kingdom, and in a single short year, the capital falls. The war is over, and Darkness has won.

However... the story doesn't end here. In fact, here is where our story begins. A hundred years later, deep in the now-abandoned Citadel of Darkness, something strange and wondrous occurs. The Hero's armaments and weapons, steeped in a century's worth of powerful magic, are brought to life to carry on the dying will of their fallen owner. Given human forms, and armed with the items that house their souls, these eight - strangers to each other and the world - must work together as they did once before to undo the horrors of the Dark Lord's reign, avenge the Hero, and carve their own tales into the annals of legend.

Hero's Arms, Hero's Heart

Hey, folks! This will be a semi-structured, middling-high fantasy roleplay, with limited signups. Players will choose one of the eight pieces of the Hero's gear, listed above, and create their character based on their chosen item. Playing as these eight unique souls, you will work together to face monsters, overcome challenges, and eventually avenge the Hero by slaying the Dark Lord in the corrupted former capital of the Kingdom. The setting will be a standard high fantasy setting with some personal touches of my own, mostly the presence of Princess Mononoke-style Gods and spirits.

As you may have noticed above, the eight pieces of the Hero's gear aren't elaborated on very much. This is to give you the most freedom possible in planning your characters. When creating your character, you will also create their weapon form and name. These weapons and items began as the basic tools the Hero started out with, and grew and changed with him on his adventure. For example, a shield called the Sundered Wall might have begun life as a basic steel heater shield, no different from any guardsman’s; but when the Hero used it to try to save a wounded God and it split in two, the dying God’s thanks and blessing mended it stronger and imbued it with divine power.

While exposure to the Hero's magic is what animated them, the dark magic of the Citadel has worn them down in power over the hundred years they've lain dormant, and at first you will be limited to pale shadows of your true powers and abilities; that said, every player may choose one magical ability that their innate power gives them access to at the start of the adventure.

I encourage you all to find an aesthetic and power that fits well with your preferred playstyle and your character concept, as well as with the nature of your chosen item. Convincing me that the Sword exudes a magical forcefield will take more effort than a sword beam, but the sky's the limit! I reserve the right to ask for reworks on powers or to clarify or veto the encounters or adventures that empowered your Arm.

The Heart

It's the Hero's dying will that animates the Arms, and as such all of them possess a desire for revenge against the Dark Lord; aside from that, though, your characters are blank slates. The appearance and design of your item should influence your character design, as the characters' souls are actually housed inside their item 'bodies' and will be required to wear or carry them at all times, or otherwise stay within a certain radius of what is, after all, their real selves.

Your characters may 'awaken' at any location in or nearby the city of Lovak, the city built around and inside the Dark Lord's abandoned Citadel. The magic that animated the Arms grasped for whatever it could find when creating their souls, and as a result, the memories and feelings of people the Hero touched along his journey are embedded inside the Arms. This could be a reflection of the blacksmith who made the armor, or a reflection of a fierce spearfighter who trained the Hero as he traveled with her along the sea road to his next adventure. Assume that the Hero traveled across most if not all of the kingdom and met scholars and saints, lords and peasants, foreign mercenaries and so on. This is to give you as much freedom as possible in creating your character backstories. Your Arms believe that they are these individuals; while your backstories may be mere reflections of people who died a century ago, your backstory will inform your character’s thoughts and actions as much as in any other roleplay.

Signups

Signups will be limited to ten, as there are only ten Arms. Priority will play some part in deciding which of two signups for the same Arm I accept, but it's not a deciding factor unless I honestly can't choose short of flipping a coin. If you are accepted, you have a responsibility to your fellow players to stick with them - don't sign up unless you feel able to commit the time.

Accepted Characters
Sword:
Spear:
Hammer:
Bow:
Staff:
Armor:
Shield:
Cape:
Amulet:
Helm:

If you guys have any questions, comments, or suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Hope you all enjoy.

edited 20th Sep '15 11:05:34 AM by RedSavant

I'm jumping on this again. Gimme a sec to read it over and make the character again. EDIT: Should be done now. Lemme know if I missed anything.

• Arm: Bow

• Name (Item): The Hunter's Sorrow

• Appearance: A long, slick black painted bow made out of sturdy wood. A decorative yellow marking runs across it, the string being a simple reversed-twisted cord of Linen.

• Power: Crystalline Arrow(s). In it's reduced form, any arrow put on this bow will get a layer of a tough, translucent crystal on it with a sharpened tip, although to the untrained eye it'll be nearly invisible. Once it's power has been regained a bit more, it'll be able to use various enchantments on the crystalline surface such as flames or something that'd freeze blood.

• Name (Alias): Sarah "Huntress" Damine

• Age: 25

• Sex: Female

• Race: Elven

• Appearance: I totally did not re-use this design, nope. Also the ears are hidden behind the hair... Again. There really isn't anything I should change.

• Personality: Huntress is a very calm, soft-spoken person. She doesn't intrude much on others' problems and seems to mind her own business. They like the feel of warm sun on their skin and would much rather lounge off in the grass for a little while. When she sets her mind on something though she'll get it done, something she's learned from her older brother.

• Bio: She used to be in a duo with her older brother, Nick. Both of them were travelling adventurers, out for little more than their own amusement and fame. They were a pretty unknown duo, though a relatively skilled one for as long as they were together. Nick was a lancer who usually took the frontlines, protecting Sarah as she rained down on people from behind and covered for him. At one point they got into a fight they couldn't win, though, in which her brother died in front of her. A good swing of an axe hit them in the stomach, causing them to bleed out. This was a year ago, and she's been travelling the world solo to continue the "Damine group", just to honor Nick's memory. Not sure if I should have added how this relates to the hero, but gimme a heads up if I need to.

edited 17th Sep '15 12:23:23 PM by Nickpws

Sounds good. Note the changes I've made to the character portion of the sheet, especially.

Changed a sentence of the personality and the entire bio, gimme a heads up if I did stuff wrong. There wasn't much wrong with the previous version, so I didn't feel like I had to edit much.

Looks good to me. PM me and let's talk about who Sarah Damine was, who she was to the Hero, and the creature that gave the bow its power. Your idea last time involved a golem empire or somesuch, right?

Eh, I'll talk to you about it tomorrow. It's actually really late on my end and I'm watching some TV before going to bed right now. It did, and I might go with that again but might also not.

edited 17th Sep '15 12:34:49 PM by Nickpws

Dibs on the spear.

I like the look of this. I liked the idea of the bow (I have always liked bows, even if IRL I am a terrible shot) but there is no point selecting the same as someone else. Especially if that is the first post. I am trying to consider what kind of characters would fit the amulet and cloak.

Also I kinda want to re-watch Princess Mononoke now.

Edit: Heroes Prefer Swords trope is also a burning idea, because swordfights are awesome. Also how much magic is there in this world? Is it like Princess Mononoke in its limited way or more grand like in normal high fantasy?

edited 17th Sep '15 1:57:07 PM by darkdestinysoul

Think more limited, especially in the present time. Back before the Dark War began, there were two general types of magic, both of which were pretty rare - arcane or 'true' magic and wild magic. For arcane magic, think Dungeons and Dragons-style wizards and sorcerers - fireblasts, transmutation, conjuring, stuff like that. The rare people who had gifts for these kinds of magic were brought to one of several mage Towers across the land to cultivate their abilities.

Wild magic, on the other hand, is the sort of magic gifted by the Gods of the land - for these, think Moro, Nago and the other animal Gods, or in some very rare instances, massive creatures of stone and flesh like the Colossi from Shadow Of The Colossus. The Gods can work magic through their very nature, and can gift magic to their followers through blessings or via relics like blood or horn fragments.

The mage towers were either destroyed by the Dark Lord or subverted; a few of them still stand, but they're intensely cursed places - sometimes used as regional bases for demon armies, other times just left to spawn more monsters. The Gods have been hunted down or driven into hiding, with some enslaved and more just killed outright.

...to actually answer your question, though, magic is something that the average citizen will only see being used by a middle-to-high-ranking member of the Dark Lord's army. Children found with the gift are forcibly drafted into the ranks of the dark mages, or killed if they've been trying to work on it in secret. So it exists, it's just rare, or associated with evil.

Arm: Sword

Name (Item): Heavensplitter

Appearance: Heavensplitter is a bastard sword, a blade in the length of a standard one hander and a greatsword. The crossguard is straight, with a small decorative ring circling out from the grip side and blade side. The blade is very obviously meant for slashing rather than stabbing, and the end of the blade, where a pointed tip would normally be is a thin arc. The blade all throughout averages of a width of two and a half inches. The pommel is decorated with a diamond set in a hold. The entire blade is made of Orichalcum, and has an odd sheen to it, as if it can’t decide between shining gold like the sun or silver like the moon. However having been tainted by the citadel’s dark magics, the edge has been dulled, and the shine of the sword is nowhere near as radiant as it once was.

Power: Once a simple steel blade, it was shattered while searching for the elements of a legendary alloy known as Orichalcum. Managing to find it in the old mine he was searching despite the broken sword, the alchemist who had requested this task from him mixed the blade fragments with the mysterious ores he had found to reforge the blade from the Orichalcum. Perfectly made Orichalcum is a material so powerful that a sword made from it gains a supernatural sharpness. This sharpness allows it to cut through space, creating vacuums to draw in enemies at its weakest, and destructive voids not unlike controlled singularities when the weapon is at its strongest. As the weapon has been weakened, it can only cut the non-damaging vacuums to draw in enemies and objects.

Name (Alias): Ciel Orichalos

Age: 20

Sex: Female

Race: Human

Appearance: A well built woman of a height of 5’ 5”. She has shoulder length platinum blonde hair and goldish eyes. Lean and muscular, she wears a sleeveless leather tunic and cloth leggings with black leather boots, and she wears a long white sleeveless coat over this. Finally her forearms are protected by metal bracers. The sheath for her weapon is strapped to her back.

Personality: Ciel has taken the personality of a cheerful mercenary woman. Eager to drink, and eager to fight. She is always willing to challenge what she thinks is a worthy opponent, and will face battle honorably. While she is fighting though, she is calm and calculated, sharp and precise like her Orichalcum blade edge.

Bio: Ciel takes from a swordswoman that was once a companion of the hero. She was a mercenary who had seen her allies wiped out in battle, and had fallen into a depression. The Hero found her drinking away her sorrows, and challenged her to combat, managing to reignite her spirit and setting her on her path again. She then traveled with the Hero for a time, fighting alongside him before eventually parting ways. Ciel herself however takes her manifestation from the time when the swordswoman was still traveling with the Hero.

edited 19th Sep '15 6:08:37 PM by SolusLupus

• Arm: Spear
• Name (Item): Mirage - Leilerenale
• Appearance: A spear whose body is made of a strong, smooth material of a dark blue color, its butt ending on a blunt silvery metal piece. It's head has the general shape of a long thin tear, with a perfectly rounded back which curves into a deadly point, with the edges of it being also razor sharp. The lenght of the edge is carved in runes, though the center is made of a silvery metal so clear that it can be used perfectly as a mirror. While at full power the head of the spear starts to glow with an eerie silver light and air and light around it will start bending and shifting in otherwordly ways.
• Power: Mirage's initial ability manifests itself as a sort of short range teleportation, letting its user 'blink' from one location to another one up to fifteen meters away instantly. As the spear grows in power other abilities slowly become unlocked... stronger teleportation abilities up to longer distances, opening up small or big portals that transport instantly between two places. Another ability of the spear becomes the creation of illusions which eventually, when inbued with magic become tangible, allowing for attacking with phantom strikes and the like. Furthermore, while wielding the spear the user can if they wish walk upon water... and if they sink upon it they can breathe it easily and emerge completely dry from it.

• Name (Alias): Leil
• Age: 126
• Sex: Female
• Race: Elven
• Appearance: Leil is an elegant young woman, standing at 5'8" with a slim but athletic build of toned compact muscle in a flexible healthy body. Her dark hair reaches down to her waist, though it is cut in the front at the level of her forehead, letting the rest of it to frame her face. She tends to let it hang free and straight while out of combat, though in engagements she ties it up into a ponytail. Her skin is fair and unblemished given her recent creation, so she has had not time to accumulate scars. Leil has a face that is more pretty than it is beautiful or provocative, though her sharp blue colored eyes and intense stare give a bit of an edge to her elven features. As for her manner of dress, she feels more at ease using tunics and male trousers. Into battle, Leil wears those underneath her armor, a mixed garment made of hard leather with metal reinforcing the most critical areas. It doesn't fully enclose the body as the armor of a knight might, but still gives a decent amount of protection without hampering her speed and agility. The leather of her armor is strong and fine, while the metal of her armor is silvery blue, with weaving flowing designs carved upon the edges. Her tunics are of a dim blue color and her whole outfit is both elegant and somewhat ethereal, having a flair for the divine and fae of the Old Gods. When she ties her hair up in a ponytail, she does it around a claw granted from an Old God of the Land.
• Personality: Leil's creation was dedicated to some very fundamental values. Discipline, Honor, Duty. She is polite and well educated, trying to obtain delight outside of battle in the beauty of the world and the arts, while putting some of that grace into her ultimate purpose. Above everything, Leil is a proud and dutiful woman, unwilling to compromise on her ideals and far more willing to die than to betray them. She does realize, however, that she does her cause a better service by living to fight another day. She is a deeply spiritual woman, in connection with all that is ethereal and sacred, meditative and thoughtful. She is a woman of nature, the night and the spirits as much as she is a consummate warrior.
• Bio: Leil was born of a spear used by the Hero to hunt an Old God that had been corrupted, suffering terrible agony as he brought ruin to the woodlands. Onto the same hunt, an elven spearwoman, a sacred knight joined the then young warrior... traveling with him to bring an end to the poor thing and teaching the Hero the secrets of spear combat as she sees his poor posture and lack of expertise for the weapon. Finally, after a long and arduous hunt the pair managed to put to an end the life of the monster, giving it peace... and as they did, the mysterious elven woman vanished as if into the mists. Following a glow, the Hero brought his spear to a magnificent pond where the silver moon reflected... and cleaning his spear of the sacred blood upon it, the weapon was blessed by the Gods of the wood, the moon and water, making it a Mirage. Leil believes that she is the ethereal and mysterious elven spearwoman that aided the Hero on his quest.

edited 17th Sep '15 10:48:13 PM by daltar

• Arm: The Amulet
• Name (Item): Regalia of the Radiant Flame
• Appearance: The Regalia is a necklace with three silver segments threaded on a cloth chain. The largest of the segments is a circular loop with a hollowed to make a ring at its center. The other two sit adjacent to the ring upwards along the chain.
  In its advanced form deep engravings of large sacred runes forms upon the two outer segments. The chain turns from cloth to a thin blackened iron chain, every segment becoming slightly runed. The hollowed segment gaining a ring of ruby around its plain silver edge. The chain and each segments later seemingly glow a fiery red and a bright flame manifests in the hollow ring when it was used. The flame shedding light around the wearer and a small trail of harmless embers.
• Power: At its current level the Regalia grants its wearing a ward that protects themselves and those he is in direct contact with (including their equipment) immunity to fire and extreme heat.
  • As the item grows in power it allows the user to not only be warded against flames but to create, extinguish and manipulate them. Eventually able to create walls or blasts of fire. Some rumors even said if only for a short item they saw the hero being lifted by wings of fire, if only for a short time.

• Name: Michael
• Age: 19
• Sex: Male
• Race: Human
• Appearance: I kinda liked what Nickpws did so I decided to do the same.[1] He is a rather young looking man, very lightly built though with some clear strength. He stands at around 5' 6" tall. His hair a deep red and his eyes jade green. In addition to the necklace, he wears a red free-flowing, sleeveless tabbard over his lightweight leather armor. A large ashen black cape, large enough to fully wrap one self in was upon his back and a pair of lightweight black boots. All his clothing relatively flexible and free flowing. Much of the clothing is of high quality, the tabbard especially having a series of religious seals and insignia.
• Personality: Michael carries himself in a practiced refined way, a clear focus on Discipline and Duty. He has been educated both in battle and in matters of faith and nobility. With a fiery passion he will try and protect others, defending them at almost any almost any cost. (In life this might have been what got him.) Despite his passionate disposition and sometimes hotheaded nature, it takes little from someone he recognizes as an equal or superior to make him hold his blade. When his ideals are not in focus he is an otherwise unfettered and relaxed individual though still disciplined.
• Bio: Michael in life was raised to become the defender of a important shrine and its priestess. He grew up alongside her and whenever he could he would be at her side for anything. He was tutored heavily and the training was tough, though he gained both a scholarly and a warriors education to befit him living at the shrine. He never knew of his parents, supposedly he was left at the shrine when he was a baby. Yet he will never know for sure. At one point early on the Hero showed up at the shrine but due to circumstances of the darkness approaching no one was to see the priestess. Eventually the situation degraded into a duel to prevent the Hero from entering. This was abruptly stopped after only a few strikes when the forces of darkness attacked and both of them went to protect the priestess. It was a long fight though side-by side the two of them fought together. Michael getting a deep respect for the Hero during this fight and later aiding him on a quest to find one of the old gods of the nearby mountain.

edited 18th Sep '15 3:33:40 AM by darkdestinysoul

I'm liking all the signups so far! Solus, we've already talked on Skype about the additions I'd like you to think about. darkdestiny, can you think of a way to tie the Regalia's power to the time the Hero spent with Michael - perhaps a blessing from the God they sought together, or from the Princess?

I did give it some thought and would say the Priestess would be more likely devoted to a god or spirits of fire. The amulet getting damaged, such as the cloth string and maybe a segment breaking during the battle. So possibly post-battle as thanks for defending both her and her people from the darkness she used a sacred fire of her patron to reforge the damage segment. Then stringing the pieces on a sacred black chain (as mentioned the material would become). Repairing the broken item but also infusing it with a fragment of her patron's power in the process.

I imagine that being the turning point it went from a memento or trinket into a magical artifact. Of course continuing to grow in power from then on. The hero continually under the blessing of the spirits of fire.

The old god the two went to visit. The Hero certainly needed or wanting something from this old mountain god. I was thinking it would be something separate such as seeking lost knowledge or McGuffin that was lost to time. Likely something the hero desperately needed in order to understand or push back the darkness. The major significance relating to Michael was not the Hero's goal but the journey and how the two fought side-by-side. I imagine the two likely became friends by the end of it despite dueling at the start.

edited 18th Sep '15 4:47:36 PM by darkdestinysoul

^That all sounds perfectly fine to me, yup!

Woo character design! Once I saw someone else wanted to use the sword (which was inevitable) this was the next immediate idea that I had in mind and I thought it was a fun one.

If you have any ideas or thoughts about my character you want to discuss feel free to throw them at me. For now though I am going to bed, it's quite late.

We are trying to do this again? I'd use the Signup I had last time, but I see the Sword is taken. Calling dibs on the Axe.

Axe?

I don't see it on the list this run. Their is the hammer, armor, shield and cloak/cape unclaimed but no axe.

edited 19th Sep '15 7:11:54 AM by darkdestinysoul

Whoops, meant Hammer. Too much Fire Emblem I guess.

Ahh okay then. As I expected though, weapons were claimed way quicker than armor has been. ^_^

I already called dibs on bow in the previous thread, plus I actually really want this character in an RP.

Fair enough, cant deny that archers are awesome. This leaves us the shield, armor and cape which nobody has claimed yet. Of which I am curious to see what people do with each of them.

edited 19th Sep '15 7:47:58 AM by darkdestinysoul

I think I wanna try my hand with the armor.

Claiming the shield.

FUCK IT! BAYLIFE! I'm claiming the cape!