Beginning as Guardians Arising in 2013, Rise of the Believers is a jcink hosted site based loosely in the world of Rise of the Guardians. Set a decade after the war in 2012, the Nightmare King is back and ready to begin the war anew - only this time, he's creating an army. The Guardians have started amassing allies of their own, and both sides fight a deadly war for the belief of human children. Humans, of course, are left relatively in the dark and unawares. Sporting a cast that hails from various worldwide folktales, stories and mythos, Rise of the Believers explores belief as a mechanic of power, the uglier aspects of war, and of course, love, friendship and camaraderie.
There are five major groups a character falls in.
- The Guardians, who work for the Man in the Moon and aim to bring joy and light to children around the world, and protect them from harm and fear. For the most part, they require belief to be seen.
- The Court of Shadows, who work for Pitch Black and aim to bring about a world of darkness and fear. Some of them have valid reasons, and despise that humans outcast them simply for existing, so it's not easy to classify them all as villains. Most can't be seen by those who don't believe in them.
- Immortals, who are typically neutral on this whole war thing, but rely on belief to exist nonetheless.
- Creatures, who can range from kelpies and wendigos to pleasant and friendly flowers. Typically they're out for their own gain, like Immortals, only their lives tend to be shorter.
- Mortals, who are, for the most part, just your average clueless humans. Some are Cursed with Awesome or otherwise have magical powers, and some are young enough to believe in magic, but the rest have no idea that there's a war going on around them.
You can find a link to it here.
Rise of the Believers shows examples of...
- Age-Gap Algebra: Some of the ships include characters that are hundreds if not thousands of years apart, though they're within the same mental age bracket.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Haley kinda had this in her return as a Valkyrie. Guardians/Celestials held a very large funeral for Caspian
- Shipper on Deck: It's sort of in the Love Bros job description and Fairy Godmother gets very excited about budding romance.
- Signature Move: Carma's pinning of the new'uns. Shade eating people. Teapot slobbering on people. Tammy nomming people. Nara tackling people. A lot goes on in the cbox.
- Ship Sinking: Not all ships have happily ever afters.
- Ship Tease: Far, far too much. Often used for speculative ships where the members in question are uncertain if they'll get together.
- Straight Man: Gengar has shades of this. Shade, Spotteh and Kat also qualify. Among the characters, there are too many to count on this page alone. Highlights are Arwynn, Antares and Souji.
- The Nicknamer: There are a few on the site, to the point that nicknames are used in place of names.
- Tangled Family Tree: Between the long lost relatives and frequent adoptions there's family connections all over the place.
- Wicked Cultured: Pitch is particularly fond of literature inspired nightmares.