The Struggle for Aldaris - An Apocalyptic Fantasy RP - Interest Thread

Given that Eliza's entire family were academics forced to become servants after Lord Karnas took over the capital, I think we can pretty much assume that she can do things like cook, clean and sew. I doubt she'd object to letting other people do that for her, though.

Half of the tensions within the group will be caused by arguments about whose turn it is to cook.

Hello again! Sorry to bug you Daltar, but I want to make sure that I have this completely straight before moving on. You don't want any "lesser villains" in this RP because it will take away from the current villain. You don't want any "usurpers", as you put it, which is completely fine. That had never really been my intention in the first place. The character I have in mind doesn't really want to rule the world; he just wants to be completely free of any form of authority, and to him the Dark Lord is a major hindrance to his work. I'm not sure if this is still acceptable cause he's not fighting the enemy for "noble causes". If we're thinking in black and white my character would be a downright villain, but he doesn't want to grab power as much as he wants to serve his own purposes (in this case, keep the Dark Lord's goons off his back). I completely understand if you still don't want him. Just say the word and I'll try someone more...righteous.

Given some of the characters we have in the RP, I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter whether someone is sort of an unsavoury type - just as long as they want to get rid of Lord Karnas, and aren't just trying to do it to grab power for themselves or otherwise make things even worse for everyone else.

Basically, as long as they're not a power-hungry maniac, it could work. Part of the problem with anyone trying to seize power for themselves would be that the rest of the group would really have no reason not to just try and kill them, while if it's a harmless-in-the-general-scheme-of-things ball of sketchiness, then it'd probably be more acceptable.

Obviously, I'm not Daltar, but from what I've seen so far, that seems to be pretty much how it works.

No, but that's very helpful. Thanks for the tip, Kiri.

edited 3rd Jan '13 8:07:04 PM by TheodoreHastings

Indeed, problem with a villain is that most of the players are heroes. So someone that is nasty like the evil that they are trying to vanquish might not get along with them.

Thus, I would prefer no villains.

Also... I might just steal that lovely list and put it in the first post of the Signups Kiri, thanks for making it!

No worries. Glad I could help.

You should also put up the sign up bio on the first page too, Dalt. XD

For the record: "Mak'kal" will suffice. The rest of the names are just epithets, and anyone caught using all at once is not only going to sound contradictory, but is also liable for a roasting.

I'm looking forward to the reunion of the Three Dragons. You see, I already like the ring of that. The Three Dragons.

How are things going to start, daltar? We should probably move to a discussion thread for this.

Ah, so many people know how to cook, but I think I made the only Lethal Chef, right?

Never know when a sadist DM will leave you in the wilderness with nothing more than grubs, poison mushrooms and a weekdead skunk to eat. Might as well have it on your character sheet that you know how to season.

edited 3rd Jan '13 9:59:45 PM by Fauxlosophe

EDIT: Also, orcs will eat anything.

edited 4th Jan '13 2:06:53 AM by Pyrite

I sort of figured they weren't all meant to be used at once. It sounds funny that way, though, so that's how I chose to write it down.

And done, discussion thread coming up.

• Name: Brennan*
  "Brennan" meaning "gatherer of tribes"
  Dolgain Eingalesh
• Age: 37
• Gender: Male
• Species/class: Human/old hero
• Appearance: A man of great stature and greater presence, with long brown hair reaching to his back, blue eyes and a short beard. Wears studded leather armor and a long cape, split into strips, each strip bearing a varying and intricate design.
• Personality: Dolgain is a man that embodies the wild spirit of the Geldan peoples of the eastern plains. Bold, charismatic and possessing a hearty ardour for the thrills and pleasures of life. His high spirits, however, do tend to make him impulsive and a bit hot tempered; and like any other Geldan, he is highly superstitious, making him very slow to warm up to "Magical types." Nonetheless, there is no man that can say his presence does not liven a fellowship up, either in a battle or a feast.
• Skills: Dolgain is a powerful and tenacious swordsman and a skillful archer. His Geldan upbringing makes it unquestionable that he is highly skilled in horseback riding. He is an experienced (and enthusiastic) hunter, accustomed to catching particularly swift prey. He also has good leadership skills.
• Assets:
  • A steel Claymore of Geldan make. Sharp and sturdy. Little else to say about it.
  • A wooden bow and steel tipped arrows.
  • Dolgain's horse, Tummel. A swift and loyal steed.
  • Is the leader of a number of Geldan tribes, granting him the resources and hospitality of these eastern villages and command of their warriors. While the Geldans are hardy and ferocious fighters, they're not exactly what you'd call a professional army. Still, if Dolgain were to gain the loyalty of all Geldans, the massive size of his force would be nothing to sneeze at.
• Bio: When the Dark lord's forces began to spread across the land, the nomadic Geldan tribes of the eastern plains had no particular reaction to it. Another western warlord had come to brawl with other warlords. Thus, they carried on in their usual divided way; some tribes raiding the borders of the empire, some negotiating in trade. A few tribes even aided the dark lord in some of his greatest battles. Inevitably however, the empire began to encroach on the Geldan lands, devouring the many herds of animals the Geldans hunted and causing them to begin to starve; all the while clashing with the tribes over territory and hunting grounds. All the tribes of the eastern plains, their existance threatened by the rapidly expanding and ruthless empire, united to fight off the invaders. It was a truly massive force, said to be 200,000 strong, united under one great man, Brennan Falos Eingalesh; the father of Dolgain Eingalesh, who had fought the empire since it had first arrived on the plains. The horde marched upon the nearest cities of the empire. As they charged against the empire's much smaller army, it seemed like it would be an overwhelming victory for the Geldans. Until the Demons appeared. With the appearance of giant spindly horrors, and the Geldans' infamous fear of the supernatural, Falos' curb stomp of a battle was suddenly turned into a disastrous rout. Thousands of warriors were slaughtered, either run down and cornered by the empire's legions or devoured by the Demons. Many more were captured, including Falos and his own tribe. The dark army dragged its prisoners to the empire's newest city, the capital for the empire's new eastern province. There, the rebellious Falos was publicly humiliated and executed before his people, as an example to those who would resist the Dark lord's authority. It was a sight that Dolgain and the tribes most loyal to Falos would not soon forget. They were soon after enslaved and forced into the construction of the city's buildings. The empire, however, would soon learn the hard way that the Geldans are not so easily broken. After four years of hard resistant toil, Dolgain led a revolt of the Geldan slaves. The empire eventually restored order in the city, but most of the Geldan slaves had escaped into the plains where the freed tribes reorganized. four years of hard labor and the dishonerable execution of their Brennan had given them a renewed and fervent resolve in Falos' cause, and Dolgain a personal vendetta with Lord Karnas. Thus, Dolgain became the new Brennan, and began his father's campaign against the Empire anew, swiftly raising hell in its various outposts and supply routes and gathering whatever of the Geldan tribes still had the resolve to fight. While his force was not nearly as massive and powerful as the one his father gathered, Dolgain has done well to make to empire's settlement of the plains quite difficult.

edited 3rd Jan '13 11:35:49 PM by SonofMelonHead

Hmm, this RP needs sorcerers? Well, give me a day to look over the rules and I could play one. It's too late for today, but I'd be okay with making a sorcerer type once I've read over the rules and had a good night's sleep

edited 3rd Jan '13 11:51:00 PM by GameGuruGG

To keep up with the "cooking" Running Gag, Arcaros cooking tends to dissolve spoons, forks etc. although he as a Black Dragon can't understand, why the guy who tried his food is now bleeding from all known orifices and a few new ones.

By the way, "Golem Lord" is just a nickname Arcaros uses when trying to be intimidating.

Fair enough. No villain-esque characters. In that case, here's my character sheet:

Name: Prometh

Age: He took the form of a fifty four year old man, but he has only been on this earth for eleven years. This might show itself in his interactions with others.

Gender: Male

Species/Class: Human, Sorcerer, Red Aura

Appearance: Think of Dr. Tulp◊ (the guy cutting up the corpse) from the famous Rembrant painting

Personality: Prometh is very strict about his sense of balance; no one should be unneccessarily oppressed by others, but neither should one go beyond their roles in society. Justice is very important to him, and Karnas has violated his role as ruler for far too long. As a sorcerer, Prometh believes that it is his responsibility to bring the Dark Lord Karnas to justice.

Due to his youthful age (and despite his elderly appearance), Prometh has had a limited empirical experience with many things in Aldaris, although he may have learned about them from a distance in observing the mortal world and (later on) in books. Prometh is well aware of his naïvité, and how it is so at odds with his sagely appearance. This fact embarrasses him significantly, and will often pretend he knows about subjects he's ignorant to in an attempt to save face.

An excellent example of Prometh's immaturity can be seen in his view of the world: there is justice and then there is injustice; balance and imbalance. Prometh's childish simplicity leaves little room for vital heroic attributes, such as mercy. But just like a child, Prometh's personality is ultimately malleable. With the right role model, he might just learn that Aldaris needs love, mercy, and charity just as much as it needs justice.

Skills Prometh's specialty lies in fire magic, specifically in its destructive and illuminating properties. In a fight, he will throw the traditional fireballs and burn things when he needs to, but may also use a spell he invented that creates a painfully bright flame to combat darkness. Of course, he hasn't perfected this spell, and anyone who looks directly at the flame will be blinded momentarily.

Assets: Aside from his magic, Prometh has little to fight with. He may try to fight with a sword or small blade in a desperate situation, but he has no training with any worldly weapons. He has a good deal of money with him from his job as an lawyer, which is an asset that cannot be underestimated in a quest. On top of a lawyer's income, Prometh also possesses a remarkable knowledge of the kingdom's laws, and may be able to use his rational and legal prowess to help the group along in less...violent ways.

Bio: Since he first looked down on the world of man, Prometh adored the concept that the mortals called "Justice". Despite the corruption he saw, almost every rational being believed in a sense of fairness. It was something he greatly admired about the mortal realm, and it was to uphold this fairness that Prometh took on the flesh of a seasoned lawyer in one of the outer cities of the Karnasian Empire. In accompanying the other heroes, Prometh hopes to overthrow the Dark Lord Karnas so that Justice can finally prevail.

edited 6th Jan '13 6:05:41 PM by TheodoreHastings

Icarus and Prometh have surprisingly similar signature moves.

edited 4th Jan '13 2:37:46 PM by biomechtraveler

Also, Prometh uses fire, and Talia is fire.

So the RP is going to end with Prometh just sort of throwing Talia at Lord Karnas.

They do? Sorry Biomech, but I didn't look at your character's profile. If it makes you feel better, Prometh's spell could be considered more like a magical flare than actual light magic. There's nothing holy about it; it's just bright. Bring your sunglasses!

And yes. That would be win.

Nonononono, no need to be sorry at all

Have you seen Icarus' signiture spells? one is a flashbang and the other is a giant laser. Perhaps it would be cool for a fire based sorcerer to turn up since Icarus is a light based one.

yes, Throw Talia at it.

edited 4th Jan '13 3:48:18 PM by biomechtraveler

• Name: Sir Leonard Dire-Shot
• Age: 38
• Gender: Gentleman
• Race/Class: Sacred-Arm bearer/Dwarf
• Appearance: As far as Leonard goes, there's nothing particular in his appearance. Clothed, that is. Standing at about four feet and two inches tall, Sir Dire-Shot carries a deeply tanned complexion in comparison to most of dwarf-kind, a souvenir of his well traveled lifestyle. A meticulously well trimmed black beard and mustache take up his face to the base of his cheekbones, making his yellow-brown eyes the only feature that pops from under his brown-black bush hat whenever he tilts his head down. He has a bit of a paunch, even by dwarven standards, but compensates with tree-trunk like limbs that might leave on questioning how he manages to move, let alone do his job. He wears a form-fitting breast plate over a thick, brown leather jacket, with matching deer-hide pants and boots. A bandolier of shotgun shells is slung around the breastplate. He carries an excruciatingly heavy looking back pack full of provisions at all times.
• Personality: A perpetual thrill-seeker and braggart by just about anyone's standards, but a generally good dwarf none the less. Hunting is the name of his game, a self admitted obsession, but he's a man who likes to share what he loves, and a man with strong personal convictions when it comes to his trade. No hurting women, person or beast, unless absolutely necessarily. No hurting endangered species unless absolutely necessarily. No hunting/hurting sentient beings......outside the context of bounty hunting. Anyone who crosses those lines is, to put it lightly, fair game. Sometimes prone to rambling and reminiscing about how things, from guns, to architecture, to meat pies, were better back in the day.
• Skills: An absolutely masterful hunter, the disciplines of which aren't nearly limited to shooting things. Tracking, riding, meteorology, first-aid, survivalism, trapping, stealth and camouflage , you name it, he's your man. His sacred-arm boosted his physical capabilities to near peak human, but his sensory abilities have advanced well beyond that. His sight could well be considered telescopic, his smell rivaling that of a grizzly bear's, his hearing rivaling that of a bat's, and a drop of poison might send his tounge into fits. He's a really, really nice person considering the little drawbacks of these abilities. He's a marksman like few others, being well trained in most every form of ranged weaponry, from rifles, to shotguns, to bows, to spears, to even the humble blowgun. He's a horrific general, all things considering, but that's a story for another time.
• Assets: His conventional arms include a double barreled shotgun, powerful, though slightly unwieldy, five-shot revolver, a large hunting knife tapered to his hip, another small fighting knife tucked into his boot, and a blowgun attached to his backpack. The contents of his backpack are as such: two medium sized pans, one large pot, a small six-shot revolver (for hold ups), several pounds of dried meat and fruit , a compass, assorted maps, a fire starting kit, two changes of clothes, several more pounds of ammunition in the form of shell-boxes and moon clips, and yet another knife, for utility. He's often spotted on some mount or another, his current one being a horse-sized lizard. As his name may imply, he is technically nobility, but due to tensions with his family, a wealth of resources aren't necessarily at his disposal.
  • Sacred-Arm: Castle's Bane
    • Shape: An over-under double barreled rifle, with a polished oaken stock. The receiver and butt-plate are golden colored, the receiver being emblazoned with the design of a snarling dragon's head.
    • Abilities: Delivers an absolutely incredible amount of force to the target, each round being around an inch or so thick. Any round set into the rifle is automatically converted to the 'inch-round'. The recoil is reduced so the manageability of your average elephant rifle.
    • Enhancement: As mentioned before, Castle's-Bane enhances the physical abilities of the wielder to near the peak-level of his/her species, and the sensory abilities even more so.
• Bio: Born to the upper echelons of Dwarven society, Sir Dire-Shot was introduced to his favorite hobby rather early. No sooner than the age of eighteen, he'd already been sporting a variety of nasty critter's teeth under his belt, which had coincidentally been made of animal's he'd hunted. His obsession over the sport had caught the eye of his parents, however, who'd come to worry that it would get in the way of his duties as a noble. As he continued to grow, Leonard would be visited by a series of scholars and priestly types who would explain the beauty and intricacy of the natural world in hopes to sour him to the idea of hunting another time. It didn't work in the slightest, of course, but he did approach the practice with a newfound respect and consciousness for his game. His sights for his own future were set, but it weren't nearly the result that his family was hoping for. He was promptly disowned for his passion, put into selling his talents with a rifle for the highest bidder. And it was actually good, for a small while. Sometimes, he'd hunt to sell the meats and furs. Sometimes he'd take bounties on criminals. Sometimes, he'd get paid for just keeping an eye on some noble's land. It was only through his encounters with 'hunters' on the Dark Lord and his cronies behalf that he started having problems. Every time he'd worked with them, it was the same butchery; rare creatures slaughtered for no other purpose than sport, females and young animals shot to pieces, entire swathes of forest and jungle burnt down because someone couldn't be damned to put in some effort, villages of people starving because there was just nothing left. With time, and an amazing occurrence, Leonard just had enough. If the Dark-Lord has his way, he and any other legitimate hunter would be robbed of their way of life, the environment completely destroyed. It was kill, or be killed.
• How he got the gun: About ten years ago or so, Sir Dire shot had been called to a human settlement, invited by soldiers in the employ of the Dark Lord to hunt an unnaturally large and intelligent she-bear that'd 'apparently' terrorized the local populous for some time. He accepted, though with a good deal of hesitation; he'd noticed the scores of wild animal that'd been hunted down in pursuit of the creature, counting may females and young things amongst them. Until the third day of the hunt, when the giant-bear had attacked for the very first time, he was doubting the existence of the creature in the first place. It was a surreal experience; it had slaughtered no less than third of the soldiers he'd taken with him in that attack, actually speaking, taunting and threatening them as she barreled through them. Some of her verbal attacks in particular, how she accused them of being the killers, stuck a chilling suspicion in the back of his mind. For a time, that suspicion stayed just that, as he and his rapidly dwindling encountered the she-bear again and again, scoring assorted shots here and there. It was nearly a week and a half in the midst of a harsh winter before they cornered her in her own den, though when they'd finally arrived, it wasn't the she-bear that had his attention, but the cub that'd nestled next to her. It had a diamond shaped, ivory colored marking, located right in the center of it's forehead, just like it's mother. Just like two other bears, just about the cubs own size (which still made the giants around the size of an adult grizzly), that he'd seen strung up at the military outpost outside the settlement. He made his own conclusions as to what had had happened, or rather, chose to finally admit the obvious in his own mind. There were four men left cornering the wounded she-bear, including Lord Dire-Shot. Three shouts, all in rapid succession and loud as thunder, rang out from that cave. Over the course of the next few weeks, many more shots would ring out from outside the military outpost, each and every one followed by a soldier's head exploding like and overripe melon. One shot after another, each one incoming the very moment that some hapless sentry thought he was safe to rest his head. Leonard took special note that it was the outpost that had received the bulk of the devastation from the she-bear, rather than the actual village. A few faces that were declared missing, or rather taken by the bear, apparently made their way into the fortress as well. A funny detail. Eventually, every soldier, guard, sentry, and sell-sword that had occupied the outpost was dead, gone, or some combination of the two. The dwarven noble was just about ready to have his own revolver for a congratulatory snack, when the she-bear broke out from the tree-line, an odd rifle held precariously in her teeth. As soon as she handed (handed?) him the thing, she broke back into the forest, not content to test her fortune a second time. The gesture was clear enough; the forces that be had other plans for him, clearly impressed with his work against the Dark Lord. Lord Leonard Dire-Shot would live to shoot the hell out of things another day, but now, for the greater good of world alongside recreation.

He never did manage to wash the scent of bear-spit from that rifle.

edited 5th Jan '13 1:18:43 AM by goodisgood