Escape to the Islands

Role Play.

Discussion.

Welcome to the world of Gaea! A distant world much like our own, even populated with a human-like people. Difference is that some of these people have powers. Flight, laser vision, shape-shifting, you get the idea. For a long time these super powered people ruled the nations of Gaea, forming monarchies and a Noble class while the reguler people toiled under them.

That changed when the Earth colonist began to arrive, bringing with them their advance technology and new ideas of equality for all. After some fighting between the Gaeans and the humans of Earth the aliens moved away from the Gaean nations and form their own communities in the far off unsettled lands. However, the humans had subtly encouraged the peasents and surfs of Gaea revolted against the Nobles and when they did, they did so with a vengeance. Paying back centuries of oppression and mistreatment the Gaeans slaughtered many Nobles, whose powers were no match for the sheer numbers of revolters.

That was 30 years ago, and now the Nobles are second class citizens in the nations they once ruled. Still despised but no longer feared they are forced to conceal their powers and heritage from the masses less they spark another massacre. But that's not all! The humans have rapidly set up their own nations and are quickly dominating the land with their growing numbers and technology. Which brings us to 5 years ago, when one of these human nations made an all out effort to conquer the continent, Gaeans and humans alike. A great war was fought and the land was greatly devestated but the aggressors were finally forced back. Out of this mess emerged two superpowers, the human nations known as the Northern Principality and the Island Empire.

And guess what? They don't like each other. Cold war is rapidly settling in on the continent as the Northern Principality sets up puppet governments in the nations its troops are still in after the war has ended. One of these is Serrani, where our story starts.

The Northern Principality does not like Nobles, and persecutes them with abandon. This, added to the NP's harsh reign anyway regardless of race, is making living in Serrani, your home since your earliest ancestors and where your family used to rule almost impossible. You and your fellow Nobles must come to a decision; Will you leave your homes for the relative safety of the Island Empire? And if you do, will you survive the journey through the war torn continent?

Character Sheet!

Name: Note, your family name is related to your power. You have shadow powers then you'd be Bob Umbra, or something like that.

Gender:

Age:

Appearance: What you look like, how you dress and so on.

Personality: General mindset, how do they behave, how do they act, general mood and such.

Power: One power, be creative if you want! But keep it within reason.

Background: Tell us your history!

If you have questions don't hesitate to ask! And have fun!

edited 22nd Feb '11 6:35:50 PM by Parable

Ooh, now this is an interesting idea, I like the setting, and I'm guessing it's going to be... pretty dark? Oh, also, tech level, are we talking modern day-ish? The mention of Humans having superior technology could suggest this, but I'd rather be certain before I get into cooking up a character.

I join tommorrow.

The humans have built back up to 21st century standards while the Gaeans are still trying to get out of the Middle Ages.

edited 21st Feb '11 10:01:46 PM by Parable

So are there seperate Gaean countries and/or are Gaeans integrated within the Northern Principality? How does the tech-level seperate between the two if they live in the same area?

Name: Andrew Redrain

Gender: male

Age: 24

Appearance: True to the name, a red haired young man with dead looking blue eyes, he wears a simple white shirt, a black vest and two large shoulder guards, and fingerless gloves, some formal looking pants, and boots.

Personality: A nihilist, he maintains that Humans Are Bastards with no exceptions, and as such, uses his power to devastating effect. He has decided to see if he can make all of the humans who arrived utterly miserable, and take his revenge for his past as a sex slave for one of those "better" people. He has ascertained that, whatever crimes the Old Nobles committed, it did not warrant this, and now, he has only destruction and death on his mind.

Power: Telekinesis, to the level of making People Puppets. However, he can only maintain his power for a limited time.

Background: This young, nihilistic killer was born six years into the new system brought about by the Earth Colonists. He was left in a neighboring city by his parents, ex-Nobles who might not have wanted to deal with the extra burden. He wound up sold to an underground slave market, and was bought for as low as a dime, giving him the idea that humans valued one another that little. By the time he was ten, he managed to meet with another slave, this one female, and he made a little friendship and planned to escape together with her. However, this plan was not to be. His owner at the time knew all about it, and let them get pretty far before spitefully killing the female slave and then leaving young Andrew alive and taking him back to their "house". This was intended to firmly crush the boy's spirit even into the teenage years.

This backfired tremendously, to say the least. At sixteen, he discovered the full uses of his telepathic powers and slipped into a destructive madness when his owner decided to try to sell him off to a whole gang of men. He used his powers fully and turned the attempted "selling" into a mass murder, his first. Included in his gradual slip into Ax-Crazy were such acts as making a man rip out his own heart from his chest, compacting people into cubes, and making men murder each other with the forks from the house.

He, however, discovered his limits and wound up direly exhausted, and forced into hiding to recover from that night of excess. He actually nearly died. Nowadays, Andrew Redrain is one of the most wanted men in the Northern Prefectures and a damn scary guy. The man himself, though, is one massive Oedipus Complex, he direly wants to meet his mother, who he thought had opposed his sale, but wants to kill dad, who he thought was responsible for it. It was actually mom who sold him, and dad who opposed his sale. He has only recently moved into Serrani, as a way of trying to escape.

edited 22nd Feb '11 6:10:52 PM by NickTheSwing

Hmmm... I think I'll join, but I'll have to sleep on it.

Alright, here's my character. If this RP starts quickly (read: this week or early next) I might not be able to participate much right away, but I figure it'll work out. Anyway, here's Amil.

Name: Amil M. Legion
Age: 24
Appearance: A rather short and thin black-haired man with a rather bushy stubble. Usually wears unassuming clothes, ranging from coarse brown shirt and some rather worn pants to a full dark green hooded cloak he wears when he wants to be inconspicious in a noticeable way. Usually hidden beneath his clothes, there will be a number of throwing daggers or small knives he brings along when he feels the situation is unsafe. Lately, this has become the rule more than the exception.
Personality: Amil might appear to be a bit of a slacker, or at least the one of him you can see. Despite unassuming first impressions he might make, he can be both entepreneurial and cunning when the situation calls for it. Unfortunately, the fact that other people only have one of them seems to be somewhat lost on him, and he tends to advise and expect people he interacts with to be able to take it calm and relax while still getting work done. That said, he's not unreasonable about it, and likes being the resident expert on not stressing when stressing will bring no good.
Power: Self-cloning, the ability to produce copies of himself, all of which share his conscience. Materializing a clone is somewhat taxing, but if that's all he's doing, he can produce one more body about every fifteen minutes, although controlling more than five or six is all but pointless, due to the massive tax this takes on his mental resources. He can reabsorb a clone at will, and although there's no benefit for doing this, it's tidier and less traumatic than letting the copy die.
Background: Amil, being born in the trying times after the Nobles lost their influence, grew up rather quickly. Whereas his parents stuck to the idea that the Nobles were to regain their lost power, young Amil saw a different opportunity emerge. His relatively inconspicious power allowed him to work at least two places at once affording him, if not any level of luxury, at least partially stable income. For a little while, Amil's life was about as good as it could get for an exciled second-generation noble, but the town changed, the cold war led to more uncertainity, more paranoia, more suspicion, rumors about some guy being two places at once. As a result Amil found it harder and harder to ply his trades undisturbed, and on more than one occasion, he had to flee his current whereabouts and settle down in a different part of town for fear of being rounded up and "done all manners of unpleasant things to." Seeing as his half-careless half-well-functioning existence seemed to draw to a close, Amil decided something had to be done.

edited 22nd Feb '11 8:33:31 AM by slowzombie

Neo: The Northerners live in a seperate nation from the Gaeans but have soldiers in these other countries as a result of the war.

Nick: You might want to rewrite that backstory, there weren't any humans in Serrani until recently. They lived in their own countries. And please put some limit on your powers, we're not talking Proffesor X levels here.

Slowzombie: Accepted.

edited 22nd Feb '11 10:28:45 AM by Parable

Sweet. Oh, and while I'm asking about things: Does Christianity exist amongst humans in this thing? Planning out some basic philosophy of my character, and also the entymology of his last name, heh. Luckily it kinda works sans the religious connotations.

Name: Alice Margaret Amsel

Gender: Female

Age: 15

Appearance: A young teenage girl with waist length blond hair and reddish brown eyes. Alice is rather skinny and pale though she has a decent height for her age. She only wears dresses of varied designs and details depending on the situation, though in these difficult times she has been forced to wear cloaks to disguise her identity when going outside. Still, the parasol she tends to carry with her is a dead give away.

Personality: Alice is a very solemn person for a teenage girl. She is overly conscious of proper protocol and manners and boasts an incredible pride. However she can be a bit naive in how the world actually works and she can come off as very sheltered. Most telling is the fact that she knows nothing about cooking, cleaning and that she has never dressed by herself. On the other hand she does have a great amount of knowledge for a teenager and has been thought to be grateful and loyal to a fault.

Power: The power to materialize and control darkness or shadows. The materialized shadows are solid and can take most shapes that Alice can think about. To the moment Alice can produce and control only twice her mass in solid shadows. In addition she can stretch normal shadows and block certain sources of light.

Background: Born as the last daughter of the proud Amsel family. A small clan which ruled a quiet province in Serrani since untold times. While efficient in ruling and fair to a certain degree the whole clan always had a dark reputation and most of the respect they got from their people came out of fear. As suitable for their abilities the clan was always a gloomy bunch, not willing to show their faces in public more than absolutely necessary and rumors of them being monsters not unlike the vampires out of human legends abounded. The most the people of the province saw of their rulers were during the trials, in which the patriarch of the family would apply cold and merciless justice upon those who were judged. The province was many things, but unlawful wasn't one of those. When the time came for the revolution the Amsels lost many members of the family, but compared to most of the nobles they came out fine. They lost their right to rule the province but the ancestral family mansion was untouched by the fire.

And so they lived in their solitude, for decades an ominous but harmless presence in civilized society. Still many were amazed to see them rise out of their haunted mansion to serve their nation on the Great War against humanity. Most didn't make it back home to the point in which the last Amsels were Alice, her father and aunt. The two elder Amsels planned to take Alice and travel to meet with her fellow nobles to discuss the current situation... however things didn't go as planned. As they rode for the meeting city their carriage was ambushed by dark clad men. The two elders instructed one of their servants to take Alice ahead to safety... and that was the last the girl knew of them.

Now, for all she knows Alice is the last Amsel alive, the sole remaining member of her proud family in a country filled with enemies.

edited 22nd Feb '11 1:12:56 PM by daltar

Slowzombie: Yeah, Christianity is present as is whatever else humans brougt with them from Earth. The first colonizers were like our grown-up grandchildren, if that helps as a timeframe.

daltar: Accepted.

Before I forget, Noble powers are inherited through the mother's line.

Name: Selina Fluuyyid-Drakken

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Appearance: A lanky girl with bushy red hair, dark skin, and green eyes. Wears a tattered off-yellow t-shirt and khaki shorts.

Power: A special form of transmutation allowing her (and all the Fluyyids) to turn any fine substance (most often sand) into a variety of forms, this most commonly takes the shape of blowing sand into the enemy's face whilst transmuting it to fire. Giving the appearance of fire-breathing. It is not limited to this, however, and other common transmutes include a deadly frost and acid.

Background: Little is known of Selina. The Fluyyid are a shapeshifting desert tribe, renowned for their ability to blend into the sands effortlessly, but beyond that, information is scarce. And Selina herself, being chatty on every subject but the one people are most curious about, isn't telling.

edited 22nd Feb '11 6:41:30 PM by SpainSun

I edited it, made it so it fits nicely into our time frame, and he does have some limits, like a time limit and that controlling too many taxes him a lot. And I think he is a bit more tragic, and less Complete Monster.

Spain: Accepted, I don't recall mentioning a desert, so I guess she migrated to Serrani before the story started?

Nick: You seem to have missed the part where I said humans don't live in Serrani.

I was deliberately vague. tbh, I only skimmed the opening. I was veeeeeeeery tired when I read it. So....sure.

Make sure you read it thoroughly then! >:(

Okay, read.

I think I could use this to make a portrayal of a privileged noble that's actually positive. A SAND NOBLE.

Name: Orrick Alloi
Gender: Male
Age: 10

Appearance:
Orrick is a very sturdy looking ten year old, with copper red hair and grey eyes. Naked, you would see burns down most of his right side and back. His clothes tend to lean towards function over fashion, being heavy cottons and wools. His standard outfit is made up of three-quarter pants, simple shirts and a woollen jumper if it's cold. His boots are similarly made to last, and are a couple sizes too big, forcing him to wear multiple pairs of socks. On him he carries a few knives (in his boots, armpits and belt), and crude looking metal bracelets.

Personality:
Orrick is a very serious young boy, partially due to his nature, partially his upbringing. A mini-determinator in training, once he decides to do something it takes a lot to stop him. That said he is ten and if surrounded by kids his own age he tends to act more it. He's grown to appreciate any chance to relax and craft things, and much prefers sculpting with his power than fighting with it. He has a fear of fire and frequently has nightmares. So basically he's a Cute Shotaro Boy. Except not so sugary cute.

Power:
The Alloies have control over metals. But it is limited to the transition metals (no Aluminium, Lead, Sodium, etc.). Orrick can only change the shape of metals, he doesn't have any Elemental Baggage. He can only control metal when he's either touching or has a small sample of for 'resonance'. Masters in his family could control any metal at a distance without a sample but Orrick has neither the training nor the experience for that. Similarly, in theory Orrick could commit Bloody Murder but the focus required to grab individual iron atoms is currently beyond him. He can't cause metals to float or fly, but any he lifts become weightless to him.

Background:
As far as Noble rulers went, the Alloies were pretty good. They were Royals Who Actually Do Something, having their own concept of Noblesse Oblige, and it was reflected in their rule of their province Orrvei. They were the heads of the army, and the province's lucrative mines and forges. They were a little Spartan in their mindset, and this was reflected in the harsh training that their children received to prepare them for their duties. They were also rather open by Noble standards, since they seemed to compare their bloodlines to metals, and recognised that sometimes alloys were just better than pure ores. So they'd have yearly competitions where a commoner could win the hand of a Alloi lady. The man would have to give up his own name of course though. And politics did effect the outcome. The Alloies applied their own expectations to their serfs, enforcing the law strictly with heavy punishment for offenders.

When the peasants revolted thirty years ago, the province of Orrvei descended into civil war. The peasants wanted to curtail the Alloies' power but there were differing opinions on how much. Rightly many feared what would happen if the province was left without its strongest soldiers. After a few years of tense unrest, the Alloies surrendered much of their power becoming more of a constitutional monarchy. However that wasn't the end, as the new parliament continued to erode their power until they were demoted to third string jobs and restrictions were placed on their exposure to metals.

Orrvei was one of the hardest hit targets in the invasion five years ago. Both because of the need to rid the Gaeans of some of their strongest fighters but also the rich mineral resources of the region. Had the Alloies still been in power they may have repelled the invaders without too much trouble. However, handicapped by their people's fear-born restrictions, they went to battle ill-equipped. Though they did successfully repel the human invaders, all the men and quite a lot of the women died in battle.

Orrick's mother died in that battle, leaving him with just his father, a commoner who won one of the last engagements, and two older siblings. As the cold war progressed, tensions rose about a family with noble children, who were now feared as being savage, uncivilised warmongers. It escalated three years ago when drunken villages burnt down their house while they slept. His uncle, Farren, managed to save him from the fire and took him in. Fortunately both were declared dead in the fire and so they began a life anew as 'father and son'. Recently, Farren has started to worry about Orrick's safety and decided to try and make their way to the Island Empire.

Note: Farren's only going to live long enough to get Orrick into the roleplay.

Ohh I like Orrick... His concept reminds me a little of what I worked with. Curiously, I flipped a coin to decide between having Alice control shadows or metal... Great minds think alike?

Accepted.

Oh, right, character. I suppose I should make my own.

Cool. It just occurred to me what a wall of text that is.

They must, cause there would be a good chance of me making a shadows character if you'd gone with metal.

Name: Baksas du Pharos

Gender: Male

Age: 16

Appearance: Tall with an athletic build. He has rather longish, unkempt red hair, and unflinching blue eyes. His clothes are generally simple, chosen for function over fashion. The only other article of clothing of note is a dark green cape or cloak of some kind.

Personality: His personality could be best summed up as a being the attitude of a classic paladin. Baksas works keeps a strict code of chivalry and ethics, the only problem is that he isn't sure about what every rule in this code is. He will not hesitate to jump into harms way for the sake of a total stranger, or a kitten, or even a mouse... or an earthworm. He can also be incredibly naive at times.

Powers: Baksas refers to his own power as that of "Mental Construction." He is able to construct and project pseudo-physical objects with his mind; said objects appear as if constructed of a bright sky-blue light. The limits on his abilities are more based on his own will-power, as well as the object's complexity. Trying to construct something like a dog made out of light would be incredibly taxing, and would probably fall apart in mere seconds due to the complexity of simulating all of a dog's most basic motions. Normally, Baksas focuses on simple objects with simple concepts behind them such as "shield that blocks fire" or "sphere with mass and forward velocity."

Raw strength is manifested mostly through his own belief in the concept he is creating. In essence, a shield will only begin to fail once he loses confidence in its ability to block, or if he is unable to focus on the shield for some reason or another. Also, as a side note, I was imagining that due to the fact that his power is rooted in his own will, he might have some resistance to psychic manipulation.

History: Baksas, who had come from a long line of knights, was a squire to another noble, who perished in battle (protecting Nobles who had gone into hiding) when Baksas was young, hence the lack of total memory of the chivalric code he was supposed to uphold. In fact, he barely remembers any of it, most of his life he lived by the one thing that he clearly remembered that his master knight had taught him.

"As a knight of this land, you must not only serve your lord and bear your fangs in his name. Being a true knight means you must also be the fang for those who have none, or those who have long forgotten how to bear their fangs for themselves."

They were the knight's last words to the young boy, given just before the great man assumed his proud lupine form one last time, and strode off to buy time for the rest to escape.

Baksas has since tried to his live his life trying to help and protect the weak, regardless of noble blood. Unfortunately, due to his age, he couldn't really do much of anything. Two years ago, Baksas left the noble group that his master had died protecting, going on a journey to become a true fang for the weak.

You know reading this over again, he sounds a lot like Shirou. It wasn't really intended form the outset.

Also, he could make an interesting polar opposite to Alice.

edited 22nd Feb '11 6:41:45 PM by zzzdragon

Oh, in which way zzz? I can imagine it a little but I rather read it to make sure I'm not mistaken.

Also something I forgot to say is that Alice has pretty good knowledge of medicine and anatomy.

Looking at the ages of most the characters, I should called this "Escape of the Children".