Summary:
- A tale of swordplay, adventure and friendship in Feudal Japan.
- 4-5 Players
- Posting Length and Frequency TBD by player vote
- Characters will be the warriors of a small and unimportant daimyo who upon his land and castle being besieged were given the orders to protect their lord's young child and escort him to safety through hostile territory.
- There is a grounded plot but how we get from Point A to Point B will be shaped by the players.
- Players own stories and backgrounds will also be worked into plot.
In Character Information:
The place is Japan in the midst of the Sengoku or "Warring States period", a time of bloodshed, betrayal, emperors and warriors to determine the fate of a people. Our story though pertains to a much smaller and more isolated case, it is the story of a dying father, the last hope of a family, and the schemes of a warmonger. The tale begins like all good tales should with death and loss, the backdrop a besieged castle in the late months of autumn falling slowly into the grasp of winter. A child's face looks up upon the scene being escorted hurriedly out of the burning castle to live another day, the slow and methodical flicker of flames twisting and curling into the air - illuminating the heavy black clouds of smoke against the dark sky. A father sits within the center of the burning building for the past three days he has watched all those under him die to protect him, his entire world slowly coming tumbling down as he presses a sword against his stomach. He can only hope that the light that he flung into the future proposers and flourish. A flick of the wrist and a sharp pain and then nothing. The cackling of a warlord reaches out through the surrounding area, catching the child's ears as they flee into the darkness. Violence breeds violence and so this bloody path of revenge will start anew.
The child is the sole living heir of the Raremashita Clan, in the closing hours of the siege the child's father brought in a group of his most trusted retainers to give them a final order. To protect the child and to make sure that the Raremashita clan does not all fade out. They were to escort the child in the cover darkness as their enemies were to be too occupied with the siege. They were to spirit the child away from the grasp of the enemies and take a boat south towards the Ryukyu Islands, where close friends of the clan had agreed to keep the child safe from harm. One slight problem hamper this, being predominantly inland the only boats that would take them to Ryukyu are many miles to the south and in between these two points was land predominantly controlled by enemies of the clan. It would not be an easy task, some may even call it suicidal but this retainers had sword loyalty to the lord and they would go till death to honor his wishes. The fact of the matter that no ships will sail to the islands once the winter season begins and the ocean storms began to kick up only adds to the pressures presented to them. What follows is the tale of these warriors and the child on their journey to safety and freedom. Bandits, warriors, and great beasts will stand in their way. A tale of adventure, friendship, bloodshed, and understanding. A race against time, before the snow falls.
Out of Character Information:
Welcome one and all, young and old to the interest check of Till The Snow Falls. As you may have noticed this is a role play about Samurai with focus on character interaction and heavy amounts of swordplay. Till The Snow Falls was originally made on the Old Guild ages ago by me and now I'm in the business of doing a Doctor Frankenstein and bringing it back to life. In all honesty Till The Snow Falls is an affectionate love letter to the Jidai Geki period piece of Japanese cinema both live action and in animation. If you have ever read Rurouni Kenshin, Blade of the Immortal, watched Seven Samurai or Sword of the Stranger you know what I'm talking about. Stories of heroic bloodsheds, warriors of all kinds in pitched combat where if you just close your eyes you could imagine the sounds of blades sliding against one another, that faint metallic ting that resounds. And so here comes Till The Snow Falls, a story about samurai, bandits, assassins and what it means to be a warrior.
Our cast will be a varied group of individuals young and old, each with their own stories and demons haunting them. Together they are bound to one cause, to protect a life and seek revenge. Some will be in it for glory, some for honor, others redemption and others just because they were ordered to. The interaction between these characters is what I find help really drive this roleplay forward, the stories the players create and share amongst one another. While a path is set forward for them acting as an end goal to strive towards there is no mandate to say that you must follow this path. This roleplay is very much about the journey and not just going from set piece to action filled set piece.
Character Roles
Till The Snow Falls is I find usually best run with a smaller group of individuals, as such I will only be accepting four to five other people to go on this quest. As that is said character sheets will be accepted on a merit based system rather than first come, first serve system that predominates most things. There are some roles that you may want to think about your character fulfilling but that is not necessary. They are as following.
- The Kid: Yes if you want you can be the kid. Cocky and headstrong probably about 10 years old, they will be the most naive of the group and probably the most angry given the circumstances. Young and impressionable and sort of the heart that holds the entire group together. The child of a noble lord they have grown up from the most part in luxury with servants to answer his/her need. They will most likely have always had dreams of being a cool warrior like the rest of the group and so maybe things can reflect that. Everything else though First Name, gender, appearance and the rest would be up to you. If nobody would like to be the kid, I shall make the kid as a semi-NPC for us so it's really up to you.
- The Young Blood: Cocky, hotheaded, and arrogant with everything to prove and nothing to lose. The youngest of the warriors will act as a sort of quasi older sibling to the Kid.
- The Leader: Knowledgeable with a straight head on their shoulders. The de facto leader of the group and probably one of the more experienced of the group and a bit older. Has some apparently qualities to them, in charge of keeping all the clashing personalities at bay and being the end all of important decisions that may affect how the story progresses.
Till The Snow Falls Character Sheet
Appearance:
Your appearance goes here. If you are using a picture image.
Your appearance goes here. If you are using a picture image.
Name: Please use traditional japanese naming order here so lastname and then firstname.
Age: Kid will be about ten, the rest will be anywhere from 18-55
Gender: In this story gender does not dictate how much ass you can kick so feel free to choose whatever you want.
Physical Description:
It's probably best to actually describe the character if you are going to rely on a picture, or you can do without the picture if you like, but definitely describe does'nt have to be too long just a basic understanding of what they look like.
Skillset:
Talents one has either naturally or through education or training of some sort.
History:
Explain how your character got there -- no 'the story will come out in RP' lines, please --
Psychological Profile:
An idea of how the character thinks and so forth; should be linked to the history.
Equipment/Weapons:
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