Lives Ruled by Hearts (Player-Driven RP)

• Discussion
• Roleplay

Lives Ruled by Hearts is, quite simply, inspired by Kingdom Hearts and Homestuck. Now then, to the point: The player characters are humans who one day suddenly find themselves waking up in a strange realm. This is where the roleplay will start, and the players will navigate through this realm accepting & rejecting specific qualities (like Attack, Defense, and Magic for an example) on the way. This segment ends upon defeating their Unique Boss, and the player will wake up in a kingdom derived from their mind.

This is where the story truly starts, with the players being given the goal of destroying the monsters plaguing this world. Though, since each kingdom is unique from the others (and the fact they all retroactively exist upon the completion of your trial) there will be other things for the players to deal with or do. It should be mentioned, however, that as a player becomes stronger so will their specific line of monsters.

• Name: (Can be pretty much anything)
• Appearance:
• Personality/Beliefs: (Pretty much fit every mental aspect of the character, will very likely affect your abilities)
• Style: (What kind of fighter would they be? This will affect your abilities, and include weapons of choice if you want)
• Backstory: (They don't have to be from an Earth like ours, and as long as they're not augmented they can come from anywhere, like a techno world or magic planet. Of course you can also opt out with stating they don't have any memories)

• Kingdom Name:
• Ruler/Government: (Basically how the kingdom is managed)
• Nature: (Pretty much how it reflects the character's mind, like a fun-loving fool getting party central for example)
• Connections: (Add these in as new applications are approved)
• History: (The monsters would of been attacking for a few "months" before your character's chronological arrival, so just keep that in mind)

edited 14th Mar '15 2:47:24 PM by Kkutwar

Name: Michael "Mike" Langley

Appearance: Medium height, black hair, and since he didn't have any when he came there, wears no armor yet. He has a black T-Shirt with a pair of sandals and grey shorts.

Personality/Beliefs: He's quite calm, collected and extremely loyal and hard working, if a bit stubborn to a fault. He is also naive, believing almost anything his friends tell him. He is also above underhanded tactics, and will never resort to sabotage or other such schemes. However, with that undying loyalty, he gets easily angered, leaving either a cold, calculating killer, or a raging barbarian.

Style: His style is mostly defensive, focusing on magic of all styles. His true strength comes out when he gets angry, which ranges from Tranquil Fury, to Roaring Rampage of Revenge, and each has their own style. Tranquil Fury is most defensive, focusing on not taking a single hit by using keen perception to block it and hit back quickly with a devastating counter-strike, while Rampage relies on sheer force of magic or might. He fights with a simple staff, but is quite deadly with it.

Backstory: Although he came from a parallel Earth with magic, he has no memories other than a few spells.

Kingdom Name: Ashen Empire.

Ruler/Government: It's a democratic monarchy, with someone who handles day-to-day business being elected, while a king/queen has absolute authority. Much like how Britain is run. They will fight to the end, and since the ruler himself is known to step down and help in the fields, morale and loyalty is high amongst the populace, and they can easily recover from a crisis.

Nature: An extremely loyal, trusting people, Asherians never consider themselves above doing menial work. They'll quite often step down from a position of responsibility to merely help those they feel need it.

What they lack in physical powers, they make up for in intelligence and diplomacy, mixed with magical skills. Most of the more elite troops are not knights or warriors, but mages. Most of the physical focused military are armed peasants, who join of their own free will, as there is no conscription except in dire times. Their training is more advanced than most other armies, but they are less numerous due to the non-conscription laws. The select few become Mage Knights, who augment their martial prowess with magical ability, enchanting their weapons and using minor spells.

There are three main branches of the military force. Warrior's Sect, the Mage Corps, and the Healer's Alliance. Each is divided into the Land and Navy branches, and the Mage Corps have the Wind Dancers branch, a pseudo air force of Wind Wizards, flying high over the battlefield.

The Warrior's Sect is all physical combat personnel, from the humble armed peasant and archer-hunter to the highly trained Mage Knight, with the highest rank being Magister Templar, who function as commanders.

The Mage Corps make up the brunt of the Asherian military, acolytes to the Grand Magister. They function as both artillery and ranged support, depending on rank. In general, acolytes and other low ranks function as archers, while the higher ranks function as artillery and heavy support. The highest ranks function as officers and commanders.

The Healer's Alliance is a branch of support personnel, made up of healers, both magical and not. They are lightly trained in combat, but are able to boost, heal and protect the soldiers of the battlefield. In times of war, all those who join that are not capable of combat or healing, are assigned to logistics and supplies, in charge of both providing supplies and delivering them. The highest ranks are Doctor Major for non-magical healers, High Hallowed for magical healers, and Lord-of-Trade for logistics.

Connections: *They have a truce and assistance treaty with the Aleph Union.

History: Giant Bugs. REALLY giant bugs, with the worst being spiders and cockroaches. It is also coincidentally Mike's worst fear. It all started with a surplus of food.

edited 14th Mar '15 10:38:28 AM by UndyingPhoenix

Yes. Yessssss.

Gonna give some serious thought to a character, so might be a bit slow-going in that department, but I'm definitely, DEFINITELY into this.

Interest here. Let me throw together something.

@Undying: Not quite what I meant for Nature and History, but this is what I get. The people of Ashen are a very loyal people, who will even step down from power if they must to help others. Probably due to some poor food managing, the Ashen Empire was once plagued by bugs of all kind making them very fearful whenever they find bugs teeming in their settlements.

Besides that, each character will likely end up with a specific Element or Theme for their abilities. You guys can suggest said Element/Theme for your abilities, but it won't be properly decided until you progress far enough in your Trial of Will.

Ooohohoho, this looks really cool. Let me think of something and I'll post a signup sheet.

• Name: Jania Demthos

• Appearance: 's a girl if you couldn't tell.

• Personality/Beliefs: Very cunning and not always the one you should be trusting. The half-vampire thinks of herself before others unless you managed to get close to them, in which case she'd rather protect than abandon or at least get out together if ever in danger. Preferably the second, if an option. They also are quite the snarker, often making remarks at the expense of the victim but the amusement of the ones around her.

• Style: Jania would be more hit-and-run, launching a barrage of attacks before whatever she's facing can react, reposition and try to rely on speed above strength. She'd be a sort of Fragile Speedster.

• Backstory: She comes from a world where it's not TOO dissimiliar to ours. Magic wasn't a thing, but some mythological creatures were. Some acted like wild animals, others more humanoid depending on what they were. Leviathens stalked the ocean, Vampires (Relatively harmless ones, mind you.) integrated into society and quite a few strange being wandered. She's a vampire herself, although not quite a fully developed one. Vampirism is more like a disease than something you're born as, you see. For some reason mid-development her growth into one stopped, a rare case which isn't unique to her. It explains how her hair is naturally blue and why there's a small fang always resting on her bottom lip. The stopping of growth did also stop the advantages of being a vampire though, which were mostly increased senses and constitution. On the flipside, the negatives, needing more nutrition and having a shorter lifespan, also are lost so it wasn't completely for naught.

• Kingdom Name: Gambit

• Ruler/Government: Anarchy. There are rules, for sure, but everything is complete chaos. No rulers, every man for themselves. The standard "No murder, steal, rape" really, any crime that you can imagine, still doesn't fly. Instead of hired companies though, the citizens themselves dish out just deserts. And power is nigh-impossible to obtain as well, considering many people are fine with the anarchy and you don't need a lot to survive... Except maybe some food, clothes and water.

• Nature: The people of Gambit are kind of selfish. Everyone's in it for their own gain, and that makes the order a bit... Wonky. Combine it with having no set leader and it'd spell disaster, they barely keep it together by having their own moral rules generally set in place and some sense of justice inside of them. Still, every man for themselves is law here and thus the people would be relunctant to help others and beggars. The name "Gambit" is what they universally called themselves on two factors: The people are generally very plotting if they wish to accomplish something big and thus they lay out complete plans to achieve said goals. The other, and often more dominant factor is that gambling is a big part of this culture as well, so much so it even becomes a weak point with MANY addictions to it.

• Connections: The Aleph Union has trade routes with Gambit, and their political status is a Truce.

• History: Gambit is quite the interesting place. Some crime goes on there due to lack of civil protection, but it hardly ever succeeds due to people rapidly catching on unless the one committing it is very smart indeed. They were stable for the most part, somehow holding it together, until monster attacks started appearing everywhere. Lack of communication seemed to be a major disadvantage, although due to the nature of the world most people are born fighters and manage to at least hold their own. The ones that aren't though... They don't quite get that luck, easily overrun. About half of Gambit is held steady while the other half is overrun, but it's rather annoying keeping the frontlines when all you've got is the original group... Every man for themself.

This good? Or need some changes?

edited 16th Mar '15 1:19:59 PM by Nickpws

Alright, since I know understand what you mean, I've made a few changes to the kingdom details.

Oh. That's what that meant. Give me some time to update it myself, then.

EDIT: Done. Again, tell me if it needs more tweaking

edited 13th Mar '15 11:01:37 AM by Nickpws

Both are approved, though I would like more regarding Ashen Empire's history. Connections also means the Kingdom, like how they view each other and how they interact. Though another thing regarding the Kingdoms: If you give them magic, try not to get too strong. The player characters are suppose to eventually progress to something like one man armies as their abilities grow, so I don't want mage NPCs to be able to rival your high-level abilities. Perhaps cause some difficulty at your lower levels, but not beyond. Technological progress is a different thing however, but I still would advise against technology being able to rival your high-end abilities.

Ah, so the connections work like that? Alright then...

Would it make sense for the Ashen Empire to have a negative relationship with Gambit? Both the residents have quite opposite morals and mentalities, as well as one being ruled with the other refusing rulership. And since Gambit has no military force, or at least no stable one, I think it'd also make sense that there'd be a stalemate, only because of Ashen's people being forgiving. Gambit'd be crushed if they tried an overtake, not to mention how little organization they have.

Before I set to work on this concept I've got a'brewin', couple of quick questions:

1. Just so I'm perfectly clear, have our characters already arrived in our pre-designed kingdoms, or are we starting fresh there? Just asking to be sure since the mention of monsters and whatnot may or may not preclude character knowledge (i.e. our arrival therein, and thus knowledge of such events) and would impact the character's backstory :)

2. Are we shooting for a particular tone with the story? I understand we're looking at a very introspective sort of deal, with lots of character development, but I guess what I'm asking is whether there's a hard-and-fast "feel" we're looking to produce as a whole. Homestuck's definitely got some "grungy" and dark bits thrown in there, as does Kingdom Hearts and its ilk, so in that vein, is there also a particular line you feel shouldn't be crossed as far as the aforementioned tone is concerned? I know this is an awfully ambiguous question (and I'm really sorry for that! ;_;), but I just want to be sure I'm building an appropriate character that fits the game's flow and style, if that makes any sense. Don't want to throw some mopey-moperson into an overall positively-themed game, or vice-versa :p

Your characters will only arrive in their kingdom by completing their Trial of Will. Regarding tone, just try to avoid making your character a complete monster. While I would suggest lighter backstories, I'll be fine with darker stuff (just don't be dark for the sake of dark). The roleplay's proper tone will be pretty favored for heroism.

Roger-dodger, boss! I'll get to work on this application straight away; should be all set (time willing) sometime tomorrow night or the following morning :)

• Name: Jacques Jones
• Appearance: A tall thin bespectacled man, of brown complexion, dark brown wavy hair, and clear blue eyes.
• Personality/Beliefs: A walking contradiction, or rather a balance, a mind capable of analysis and the grimmest of cynicism, and the idealistic heart of a idiotic dreamer, though he often prefers to show his optimistic side in the day to day, his "asshole side" is mostly for defence or fun when he's with his closer friends. He's a believer in the faith of the Giant of Light, but he isn't much for rituals or ceremonies. He holds his friends and family in high regard, finding himself rather loyal to them. He's not all that social, besides his job and some concerts and events he doesn't get out much, preferring more intimate reunion. His sense of morality and ethics is pretty flexible, and depending on the context, but tries to be more-less righteous.
• Style: He's not a strong or fast fighter, he'd be more of a clever one, generally dancing around the foe or foes , fending them off or slowing them down until he can finish them in one or two hits. As for weapons he has one, technically a tool called a Ley Catalyzer, which possesses telekinetic and repairing properties, it looks like wooden monkey wrench with a black lacquered finished. He has capabilities of other magical offensives, like spells
• Back-story: He hails from a world in which magic takes the role that technology takes now, mundane, sometimes incomprehensible and still capable to astound. He used to be a government worker, running check ups and maintenance on the sources of magic within the city, both natural and artificial.

• Kingdom Name: Aleph Union
• Ruler/Government: The council of Faces manage the day to day affairs, they are comprised of a random selection of 30 citizens, rotated each 2 years. Upon a state of crisis a Council of Masks can be formed of 10 anonymous citizens to handle hard and unpopular decisions.
• Nature: A place of contrasts, on one side it seems to be fairly cold, clinical, stable and intellectual. on another its citizens have their passions, oddities and kinks. No better time that this quality is demonstrated that the color festivals, in which the normally pure white buildings, light up and explode in colors. The people of this union have aligned themselves in clans, each inhabiting a district in the cities they reside in.

In the military aspect there are few people who actually fight in the front lines, these are called the white sentries, a sort of warrior monks who live cloistered, practicing with their lances. Said lances are poles that emit blades of light out either end, and are capable of long range attack. The bulk of their forces are made up by golems, puppets and other constructs that serve different roles, controlled by artificers over long distances.

• Connections:
  • They have a truce and assistance treaty with the Ashen Empire.
  • They are an ally of Plazerra
• History: Originally formed in the space between two fallen empires from dissidents and turn coats under the guidance of a group of illuminated thinkers; Glowing Crux. The established themselves restoring a citadel and building a network of cities from then on. Now the brilliant union has been assaulted by dusky twilight creatures, ranging from impish saboteurs that harass the populace to giant abominations that try to consume the cities have forced the majority of the sentinels out of their cloisters, and the artificers to wander through the cities, supporting each other.

edited 14th Mar '15 8:57:56 PM by Sanojutsu

I think the Aleph Union and the Ashen Empire would get along just fine. A truce and assistance treaty between them should be acceptable?

I think that would be acceptable

@Sanojutsu: I could see his Theme being duality or something like that, with him having to combine both of his ability lines to reach their true power. So perhaps his monsters are twilight creatures? Regarding him (what is his name?), I could see one of his abilities being to sink into the ground and reappear elsewhere. His more offensive attacks will likely have status effect elements, like using a blast of light to blind an enemy or threads of shadow to slow them down. Haven't quite decided on Jania and Michael's Theme however, so you'll need to alter the last bit of their history. Other then that, approved.

Seems fair, I'll edit it then.

Alright, truce accepted. Adding it in. Assistance includes assistance from Aleph Union and Ashen Empire in matters of war and peace.

Name: Alice Jimenez

Appearance: 5' 9", with white hair to just below her shoulders and pale skin, glasses, and bright blue eyes. She generally wears various nerdy t-shirts, most of which are artifacts from various "phases" that she went through.

Personality/Beliefs: Alice believes that everyone can and should find something that interests them, which she refers to as "letting your soul catch a fire". She's very friendly, nice, and lively, but her boundless energy is sometimes too much for people.

Style: Alice jumps straight into a fight, lashing out with everything at her disposal and trading defense for raw power, in hopes of finishing a fight as fast as possible.

Backstory: Alice was born in Las Vegas, our world, to a Mexican-American hotel magnate and his latest wife. Said wife was albino, something she also passed down to Alice. Alice's father was loving, but he wasn't around much, and her mother was often out with him, which gave Alice many, many opportunities to sample all the pleasures that life had to offer, legal or no, though she did stay away from things like meth. She also had hobbies that changed almost month to month, before finally settling on chemistry. Because of this, she believes that everyone can and should find something that interests them, which she refers to as "letting your soul catch a fire".

Kingdom Name: Plazerra.

Ruler/Government: Plazerra is a monarchy, sort of. The monarch can be any gender, and they rule for as long as they want, though the maximum amount of time they can spend ruling Plazerra is 4 years, to avoid incidents where the monarch becomes an insane dictator. While a monarch is in power, they act as a traditional monarchy. After they leave, the populace votes a new one in.

Nature: The Plazerrans are innately hedonistic; they all do what they want, for their own pleasure. The only reason Plazerra doesn't collapse into a hot mess is because there are always people who want to help the kingdom run, who want to clean up the streets, who want to do the odd little jobs that let everything go more or less as planned. Because of this, the kingdom spreads out rather erratically in terms of borders, and the entire city is a massive maze, filled with interesting nooks and crannies and streets seemingly laid out randomly.

Connections: Allied with Aleph.

History: Plazerra has long been attacked by the Itzalak, shadowy monsters that can drain the ambition from whomever they touch, which often results in the affected person commiting suicide, since they don't want to do anything at all, even live.

Leitmotif: Catch a Fire, by Mojo Juju and the Snake-Oil Merchants. [1]

Other: Alice is fluent in Spanish.

edited 16th Mar '15 1:27:41 PM by Tojin

If I may...Asherians are extremely loyal to friends and country, much like Mike. Shouldn't their theme reflect that? I'm imagining 2 branches. Avengers, and Companions, reflecting their willingness to fight to the death for their allies, and support for allies, respectively?

I need to alter the last part of my history? Can I ask in what sense?

No, your backstory and history is fine Nick. Though how does having Wind as Jania's Theme sound? Regarding Tojin, she seems perfectly acceptable and would you say you want her Theme to be Fire?

What do you mean by Theme? I'll gladly try to help with thinking them up.