Fullmetal Alchemist: Golden Age

There’s no such thing as a painless lesson. They just don’t exist. Sacrifices are necessary. You can’t gain anything without losing something first, although if you can endure that pain and walk away from it, you’ll find that you now have a heart strong enough to overcome any obstacle. Well, it may have been a long walk, but nearly ten years after the fateful conclusion of the Promised Day, Amestris has found that heart.

It's April 22, 1922. With rise and fall of Fuhrer Grumman but recent memory, the country has stepped into a new and enlightened age under the guidance of Fuhrer Olivier Armstrong, now regarded as the herald of the modern age. With Fuhrer Armstrong at the helm, technology and the sciences began to march forward at an unprecedented pace, filling the world with miraculous new inventions, like flying machines, incredible new medicines, and images transmitted over long distances.

But while these new creations have revolutionized life for Amestrians, they have also begun to present one startling problem. Namely, how they conflict with their neighboring country of Drachma. Now, Amestris and Drachma are engaged in a brutal arms race, inches away from war. The once peaceful country of Xing has also fallen into disarray, having found its way into the middle of the conflict of interest between Drachma and Amestris during an attempt to ally itself with Drachma under the pretenses of "resource exchange", an alliance which Amestris wishes to prevent.

Now, with the war-torn country split between those allied with Drachma and those allied with Amestris, tensions are rising back home as the war escalates. In an attempt to calm the public and reassure them the situation is under control, Fuhrer Armstrong is about to unveil the latest technological developments made by Amestrian researchers in conjunction with the State Alchemist exams, in an event she hopes will tide the public over for the moment, and raise support for the war effort.

However, there is something here far more sinister than a simple war. No, it's what lies beneath that. The truth within the truth. The sudden disappearances, and rumors of a shadowy group of humans who can't seem to die...

Hello and welcome to this Fullmetal Alchemist RP! As you can see, this RP takes place after the events of the Brotherhood anime and manga and, like the source material, aims to deliver a story as well as an experience. Don't take this to mean you'll be railroaded, because you won't. Your character's actions are entirely their own. However, expect events outside of your control to occur at some points for the sake of an overall plot.

Now then, with that out of the way, some ground rules:

• No godmodding. We all want to be Billy Badass folks, but one person can't hog the spotlight, or else no one gets a turn. Try to keep things balanced and fair to the other players, at least to some degree.
• No killing each other, at least not without permission. Unless there's a good reason, I'd really prefer it if you didn't try to off each other, and if you intend to kill someone, make sure you have permission from the person writing that character.
• No dropping out without warning. Every character is vital, and if you plan on leaving, we need to find some way to incorporate that and deal with it in terms of the plot and other characters. So please, for the love of God, don't just leave us hanging.
• A minimum post limit. This isn't so much a rule as it is a request. In order to keep things moving, if you have any intention of joining this RP, please make sure you are capable of posting at least once a day. I won't object to outside circumstances interfering with your ability to fully participate, but I don't want one person dragging down the whole RP by not posting.

Alright, with all the stuffy and formal bullshit out of the way, here's your character sheet!

• Name: Please keep this vaguely region appropriate
• Age:
• Physical Appearance: Pictures are preferred, if at all possible
• Personality:
• Country of Origin: Specifically, Drachma, Amestris, or Xing. Aerugo will be allowed, but only if you give me a damn good reason, and promise not to drag that country into this. It has nothing to do with this, dammit!
• Speciality: Alchemic specialty- fire, rock, etc- or non-alchemic specialty- swords, automail...
• Other Skills and Abilities:
• Bio:

Have at it!

EDIT: State Alchemist positions are closed

edited 6th Jun '12 7:08:18 AM by KSPAM

Your icon looks funny.

FINALLY. FINALLY. FINALLY.

Co-GM, reporting for duty. Can't wait to see your sign-ups!

Would sign up, but I can't guarantee being able to meet the posting requirement.

You bastard! I thought I was invited?! I'm IN!

I talked with KSPAM, what if the requirement is one post each 2 days?

I'm still interested in this, but it's good to see other people showing some interest too. In fact, I'm in.

edited 27th May '12 7:18:42 AM by Dblade26

Maybe. I'm only a volume and a half into Brotherhood, but I might give it a shot.

Well, this seems to be an alternate timeline taking place before brotherhood, so you should be A-OK

It says after in the OP.

Oh...DAMN YOU EYEBALLS! ONCE AGAIN YOU HAVE BETRAAAAAYED ME!!!!!

edited 27th May '12 7:29:26 AM by Dblade26

Hmmm. Count me interested. (Finished the manga; can't remember that much about Drachma, though. Also: would ethnic Ishvalans fall under Amestris for "country of origin"?)

edited 27th May '12 9:31:19 AM by Pyrite

As I recall, Drachma is the country to the north of Amestris. Don't know anything else about it, though.

Also, I'm interested

Also: would ethnic Ishvalans fall under Amestris for "country of origin"?

Yes.

To those that don't remember, Drachma is an icy country to the north of Amestris. The only thing standing between Amestris and Drachma is Fort Briggs (that name may be wrong). The fort was under the command of Olivier Armstrong. At one point, in the series, Kimblee helps Drachma attack Fort Briggs, just so there can be a slaughter- the event needed to move Father's plan forward. After that, Olivier leaves the Fort and goes to Central, joining the military's HC- High Command.

That much I remember, but I don't recall if anything about the country itself was explored.

Apart from that, not much.

Also, just want to mention this offhand, no State Alchemist child prodigies. It's been done before.

Signing up tomorrow.

• Name: Faleria Noah Thatchet
• Age: 19
• Physical Appearance: "I'm fine, really."◊
• Personality: A girl who's quick witted and tquick to act. Puts everyone else above herself and doesn't like to dissapoint when she's given a task. She's also hard-headed and vigilant and kind of dense when being asked about relationships. All-in-all she's a well-rounded girl.
• Country of Origin: Amestris
• Specialty:
  • Alchemic Specialty: Earth and Metal
  • Non-Alchemic Specialty: Swords
• Other Skills and Abilities:
  • Cooking: She's pretty good at cooking! Well, she's mediocre at best.
  • Sword-play: She's amazing with a blade, or as others tell her. She's been described as a prodigy.
• Bio: Her father is a retired State Alchemist and her mother was a home-maker. Her dad taught her everything that she knows and even shows promise even now. She has high hopes of becoming a State Alchemist just like her dad, but recently she's been questioning if that's truly her calling.

edited 28th May '12 8:01:53 AM by RagnaTheSaviour

Uh...

• Aren't Xingese supposed to look Chinese and have Chinese-sounding names?
• Don't they practice Alkahestry and not Alchemy?
• Do they even have State Alchemists? (For that matter, do they even have states? Isn't Xing a monarchy?)

(You could probably avoid all these questions by changing her country of origin to Amestris. Just a thought.)

edited 28th May '12 12:33:17 AM by Pyrite

• Name: Elisabeth Archer
• Age: 25
• Physical Appearance: This mostly. Though probably looking a tad older and dressed more appropriately.
• Personality: Subdued and laid back in attitude, a kind of low energy person in normal circumstances. Has a bit of a temper and can be a tad snarky. On her best moods she can be a tad jovial and happily curious about most things. Though to say the truth she's always curious about stuff she doesn't know, just that when she's in a better mood she tends to be more polite about it. Covets knowledge over all things, though she does have certain limits. She will not let her research bring harm to humans... unless she can be convinced that it is for the greater good of all and unavoidable.
• Country of Origin: Amestris
• Status: Applying for the first time for the test to become a State Alchemist.
• Specialty: Alchemy involving electricity and earth. Though she tries not to limit herself to a specialization, these two elements are the ones she has more experience using which can have military application. A bit of an expert in lightning, grounding and the such. She had a rather long period of interest in electricity after seeing a live demonstration of a rather eccentric scientist walking through a field of artificial lightning. Though still, she mostly prefers to be more a researcher than a fighter.
• Other Skills and Abilities: Very good memory and a high degree of intelligence which coupled with her years of study leave her with a great degree of knowledge in the field of alchemy. Though also, her boundless curiosity makes her try new, useless hobbies quite frequently and to research the most random things. Lately she seems interested in learning marksmanship, probably due to being joining the army. On the flip side, she is not the most physically fit person around. Boot camp would probably kill her.
• Bio: Elisabeth Archer is the daughter of two middle class citizens of Ametris. Since a young age she showed prodigious intelligence and boundless curiosity, which made her naturally gravitate towards wanting to learn Alchemy. At age 14 she managed to find herself an Alchemist to teach her most of the craft and since she turned 20 she started an independent life researching on her own and providing her services to the public to sustain herself. Not the best example of the living for others philosophy the free lance Alchemist spouse, so it wasn't a big surprise that after she started to run low on the research materials she could get on her own as a civilian, she looked into becoming a Dog of the Military.

edited 28th May '12 8:09:35 AM by daltar

• Name: Roderick von Starke
• Age: 27
• Physical Appearance: What can I do for you?◊
• Personality: At first glance, the "Steel Heart Alchemist" seems to be a mild-mannered musician. This could not be farther from the truth. He's the state's number one trainer and is a bit of a sadist. Scratch that, he's VERY sadistic.The soldiers who went through his "training" have been reported to have nightmares about the guy. Off-duty, he is strict,proper and a neat-freak to the point of OCD.
• Country of Origin: Amestris
• Speciality: He uses steel in most of his alchemic works, giving him the title of "Steel Heart Alchemist". He is naturally curious about Xing so he has began research on "eastern alchemy". Not that he can use it.Yet.
• Other Skills and Abilities: He's a maestro with the violin and the piano, good strategist, and is the Amestrian equivalent to the Drill Sergeant from Hell.
• Bio: The son of a rich businessman, Roderick never found any fulfillment in his parent's trade. He tried music and was excellent at it, but he still felt as if something was missing. Then he found alchemy. He spent countless hours into it, eventually becoming a state alchemist. He respects the Fuhrer's strength and likes her methods. He's one of Armstrong's staunchest allies.

edited 28th May '12 5:52:54 AM by DeathChariot

@Pyrite: I think he's implying she was born in Xing of an Amestrian father and Xingese mother, so she's technically Xingese. It's just more of a But Not Too Foreign variety. Admittedly, a more Xingese last or first name may help.

@Death: ... You do know the title "Iron Blood Alchemist" is taken, right? XD

@daltar: As a personal suggestion (no need to take it), maybe she studies lightning specifically? It would make for good reasoning as to why she uses electricity and earth in conjunction. Grounding etc.

Also, it would probably be a good idea to specify whether a character with alchemical skills is a State Alchemist or not. Just for the future. Other than that, everyone looks good so far.

edited 28th May '12 5:52:25 AM by KSPAM

Damn it. Changing.

Man, for some reason I'm having way too much difficulty thinking of a character concept...

edited 28th May '12 7:20:45 AM by Dblade26