(Interest) Ashes of the End [Souls-Inspired Dark Fantasy]

In the first moment, there was Darkness.

When the world was born, it was born unfinished, a vast expanse of mud and sea and stone cloaked in endless shadow. Faceless and formless creatures writhed across its surface and beneath its skin, blind and unseeing, knowing only emptiness, devouring the world from the very moment of its birth, consuming even themselves in their frenzy.

In the next moment, there was Flame.

Deep in the dark, far below the false sky, the nameless dead discovered the spark. Fire, the essence of life, burned into their breasts, there to dwell, and the nameless dead were thus called:

Lastivan, Queen, First of the Thousand.
Arvess the Beast.
Nuramore, the One Below.
Glainfel of Fered-Ar and his Disciples.

With fire came hunger; with hunger came purpose. With the light burning within them, the Named rose to the surface and drove out the crawling, festering sin. Arvess tore the great worms asunder with teeth and claws of flashing silver; fire dripped from Glainfel's tongue as he spoke words of power to scorch them from the inside out. Nuramore trapped the beasts inside their own rotting corpses. And Lastivan, their leader, raised her hand to the sky and drew down the sun and the stars, bringing light to the surface and allowing the world to be fully born. Thus it was that the Age of Fire began.

Born of the fires of life within the Named, mankind remade the world in his image. From mud was raised fields and forests, villages and towns; from stone was made grand citadels and walls to keep the people safe and to proclaim the glory of the Named. Mankind traveled the world, built great kingdoms and empires, and traversed the sea to lands unknown. In the land of Haelwyd, home of the Named, the Flame burned bright and steady; and in the light and warmth of the Flame, humanity thrived.

But all that was many years ago.

Now, the ancient land of Haelwyd has been long silent, its great gates shut tight. The seas are grey and dead, swallowing all who once loved them, and the land breeds poison underground. The great kingdoms of man have begun to crumble, lost to the sword or the plague. The light of the Flame flickers... And even as hardship draws those who yet survive together, the men and women among the survivors who bear the Brand – the cursed mark of the swallowing Darkness – are cast out as tainted. No longer living, yet unable to truly die, many go mad... but some, a brave few, find themselves called to the land of Haelwyd, over the towering walls, to the rotting village of Gaerlwyn in the west, where a young woman with hair like spun gold awaits. Even now, time enough remains for them to lose their way, or just maybe...

In the first moment, there was Darkness. In the next moment, there was Flame.

What will there be in the last moment?

Ashes of the End

Welcome to a new epic dark fantasy roleplay, Ashes of the End. As you've no doubt gathered from the introduction, this roleplay will be heavily based off of Dark Souls in terms of its general tone and some elements of the setting. That said, this is not a Dark Souls RP - familiarity with the series is helpful, but not necessary, and while I aim to explore many of the same themes, the story may well take unexpected twists and turns along the way. Other inspirations I intend to draw on include Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash and Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight.

The central things I want to emphasize in the game are dynamic, meaningful combat with a real possibility of character death; character-driven decision making and player choice; and a strong focus on character interaction and team action. I'll strive to always keep combat and circumstances mechanically fair - you won't be killed instantly by any skeleton archers - but that doesn't mean that escaping a situation or a fight won't tax you and your fellow players.

The story opens in the decline of the Age of Man, when the power of the Flame that's sustained humanity's many adventures, discoveries and exploits has been fading for almost thirty years. The seas and the land have soured, ancient curses and the unquiet dead have risen from the dark places below, and the pleas of the people fall on deaf ears as the powerful Named turn away from the world they built. Your characters are exiles from their homelands, carriers of the cursed Brand of the swallowing Darkness, and for reasons known only to them, have come to the ancient land of Haelwyd, where the game will begin. Whether they'll find what they're seeking, discover the secrets of the Named and their powers, or simply lose hope and go mad... well, that's up to you.

Sheet
*'''Name:'''
*'''Age:''' 18-35
*'''Equipment:'''
**'''Armor:''' Up to chainmail, shields permitted.
**'''Weapon:''' Up to a bastard sword. Nothing special or magical. Bow allowed with light weapon(s).
**'''Gift:''' One memento or gift left over from their life before. May be purely sentimental or have an effect, subject to approval.
*'''Appearance:''' Be as detailed or sparse as you like. Pictures allowed but prose is preferred.
*'''Backstory:''' Don't fill this section out in your posted profile. PM me to go over your backstory - the outside world is very flexible, but I want backstory to be revealed organically to the other players. Characters must be human, but may come from any walk of life. Where are they from, and who were they before the Brand appeared? Also include why they've come to Haelwyd - what they're seeking, or trying to get away from.

Something else to include in your PM - reading the opening post, what do you want out of this roleplay/what do you hope to get out of it? What would you like the focus to be on?

edited 1st Feb '17 10:44:48 PM by RedSavant

definite interest, will work on a sheet when I can.

interested

For a bit more info, ideally I'll be looking for four to five dedicated players for the game, though if we don't get that many signups we can run with fewer.

By dedicated are you talking daily, semi-daily, weekly postings? Would lower frequency-higher quality R Ps be acceptable?

Ideally daily; since the roleplay is going to focus on character interaction as a major theme, I don't want to let things stagnate. If people are alright with a slower pace, that's fine too, but I don't want to let schedules slip.

I'm fine with a lower pace, quality over quantity and all. That said I might not always make the best quality posts anyway.

Ditto for lower pace.

Yo, I'm interested, I'd be down to go slower too.

I'm still hammering the overall flow and shape of the plan for the RP into place, but currently the plan is to have... eh, call it a 2-1 ratio of combat encounters to downtime scenarios, though that can easily be adjusted according to what the party wants. That said, I plan to be fairly hands-off in terms of moving things along for this roleplay, so keep that in mind when it comes to your own plans.

In any case - anyone have any character outlines for review or questions you'd like to ask? Answering specific questions helps me brainstorm.

Just checking in again in regards to questions about the sheet or the world. Any and all questions are just fine.

So should we look to Souls and Momodora re: worldbuilding and biographical depth? Should we all have cool titles that suggest tragic worldbuilding surrounding vagueness...?

In terms of Souls comparisons, aim more for the other NPCs in Firelink Shrine or Majula from Dark Souls 2. All of your characters are outcasts from their homelands - even if you were a duke before, the instant the Brand appeared on you you were stripped of the title and tossed out on your ear with little more than the clothes on your back. Which isn't to say that every character would accept losing their titles, of course, but your theoretical boss subtitles would be more along the lines of 'Disgraced King' or 'X the Stalwart' than 'Y, Dark Fang of the Abyss', if that makes sense.

edited 1st Feb '17 11:41:45 AM by RedSavant

Character sheet updated slightly with an Appearance line.

• Name: Krelmer the Brown Knight
• Age: 35
• Equipment:
  • Armor: A Combination of chainmail and leather armor. Leather covering his joints, while brown chainmail is draped over his chest. His armor was stripped from him as he was cast out from the order.
  • Weapon:
  • Flail
  • Shield
  • Crossbow
  • Gift: Rusted Pendant- A small, circular pendant formed from molted down armors and thick with rust. In the Eastern deserts, The Brown Knights welcomed a new member by giving them a pendant frm the melted armor of their predecessors.
• Appearance:: A lean wolfish man, with dark hair, dark eyes and an unshaven face. His skin is leathery from exposure to the elements and he bears more than his share of scars. He has the starved yet muscled appearance of one who is used to the many hard nights of a hundred campaigns.

edited 1st Feb '17 11:36:31 PM by TroyandHawk

Here's some more information about the Brand. This information is common knowledge, either from hearsay or from your characters' personal experiences on the road to Haelwyd.

• The Brand strikes randomly and without warning. Men, women and children of all stations have woken up with the Brand, and it cannot be removed by any means.
• The Branded are universally reviled by non-Branded, and are viewed as inhuman. Even former loved ones or family will have a visceral reaction of disgust to the sight of the Brand, and once someone is known to be Branded, the effect can only be lessened, not stopped, by covering the Brand.
• The Brand appears on the skin as a mark that resembles a stylized dark hole. It appears in the center of the chest, right above the heart, and is cold and unpleasant to the touch. A few days after the Brand appears, most of the Branded are struck by a powerful and persistent delusion that it's a hole into their chest, and even direct evidence to the contrary will only lessen the gut feeling, not eliminate it.
• Over the course of several days after being Branded, sufferers grow paler, as though sick, and the sensations of heat and cold, wind, and touch dull. The Branded don't feel hunger or thirst and don't get sleepy or tired, but food has no flavor - it can be choked down, but provides no satisfaction, just an unpleasant feeling of heaviness in the stomach.
• Sensations of pain are greatly limited - even the frailest of people can shrug off multiple mortal wounds after becoming Branded. However, wounds don't heal and the pain remains fresh; even small injuries like a stubbed toe or stepping on a rock never stop hurting.

definitely interested

though i gotta ask, why's 35 the maximum? there's older npcs in the game that kick just as much ass

I can bump that up. It's mostly a guideline.

Alright, thanks for clarifying.

(I was considering signing up as an Aged Sorcered-type person, is why I ask)

No worries - I'll be writing up a few specific rules and considerations for magic use later tonight, but for backstory, what you need to know is that there is an old and well-known sorcerous academy in the Kingdom of Halban some distance from Haelwyd, near the sea. It's a stormy and rough land, with lots of steep cliffs and rocky, rolling hills.

Hey folks, things are progressing rather slowly around here. Are there any questions I can answer for people to get things moving along?

I don't really have any questions, sorry I've been mostly silent. I'll get that sheet up when I can.

• Name: Hytal: The Scout

• Age: 18

• Equipment:
  • Armor: Simple hide armor with some flimsy metal coverings. An emphasis on mobility, might be able to take a glancing blow but certainly not a full strike.

  • Weapon: A Longbow and Dirk.

  • Gift: Wooden Talisman - a gift from his family, shortly before the Brand manifested itself. It was supposed to grant him good fortune, now it only serves as a reminder of the life he once had.

• Appearance: A young man, fit as a fiddle and with a head of hair the color of rust. He bears a scar across his lip from a scuffle in his younger days. His eyes are green like the forests he once hunted in.

Sorry folks, I'll be closing this down due to lack of interest/responsiveness. Thanks for coming out.

Sorry about this, Red. Just couldn't get my heads around an intresting character concept.