[center]
[b][h1][color=aba000]F A B U L A   N O V A   C R Y S T A L L I S[/color][/h1][/b]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/okxrr3X.jpg[/img]
[sup]An RP based on the universe of FF13 and FFXV[/sup]

[i]Long ago, before the Fall of Cocoon, there was a great war between the worlds of Pulse and Cocoon. Thousands of Cocoon soldiers fell upon the mechanized automata of Pulse, led by their gods Gran Pulse and Lindzei. Both sides chose their champions, and the battle culminated in the destruction caused by Ragnarok, destroying civilization as we know it on Pulse and severely damaging the shell of Cocoon.

But our story deals not with these great champions. More intriguing is the story of the common soldiers: those who were turned into l’Cie by the fell whims of their gods and became the face of war itself. Some fought and died in the trenches. Others attempted to broker peace in secret between the rulers of the two worlds. The bravest soldiers were the ones who learned the deepest secrets that both sides had to hide, and realized that the war being fought would produce no victor.[/i]

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Welcome to Fabula Nova Crystallis: War of Transgression. Although this is technically an RP based on the game FF13 and its sequels, my intent is to design this RP in a way that no one needs to have played the game in order to participate. All are free and welcome to join. I intend this to be a high-casual RP. See more below in the Rules hider for particulars on what I expect. As a side note, I like the people who show interest to read and understand everything, so I have a couple of checks hidden in the hiders below. Let’s see who gets all of them! 

Let’s delve into some of the particulars, shall we?

[hider=Setting]This RP will be set approximately 700 years prior to the occurrences in FF13. We will be playing as Pulsian and Cocoon soldiers working together to infiltrate the governments of Pulse and Cocoon, as well as attempt diplomatic and political maneuvers to end the war peacefully. The RP will take place both on Pulse and Cocoon. As there is limited canon regarding the world during this time period, I will be making several assumptions throughout, and will hopefully create an intriguing story that veterans and newcomers alike will enjoy.

Pulse is a lush and verdant open world, full of beasts and fal’Cie. The people live either in small villages or the large archaeopolises in [url=http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/2/2d/The_Haerii_Archaeopolis.jpg[/url]Haerii[/url] or [url=http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/2/27/Fang_and_Vanille_Yaschas.PNG]Paddra[/url]. An archaeopolis is an ancient city that has survived for thousands of years, still built in the original manner of construction. Travel is often done by [url=http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/1/1d/Chocobo.jpg]Chocobo[/url] (large flightless yellow birds, although some are other colors, and a few rare ones can actually fly) or for the brave or crazy, via [url=http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/d/d4/FFXIII_enemy_Wyvern.png]Wyverns[/url] (dangerous wild flying beasts that would kill you rather than look at you). The terrain is wild and varied, with steep cliffs and caverns such as the [url=http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/5/57/Mah%27habara_Subterra.png/]Mah’habara[/url] to wide open plains like the [url=http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/7/78/FFXIII_Archylte_Steppe.png]Archylte Steppe[/url]. The people of Pulse have learned to domesticate some of the beasts that roam the wild, and many beasts (like the [url=http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/0/07/FFXIII_enemy_Gorgonopsid.png/revision/latest?cb=20140221141847]Gorgonopsids[/url]) have been trained to fight.

[url=http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/9/9e/Cocoon_Concept_Artwork.jpg]Cocoon[/url] is a floating world above Pulse that can be prominently seen from many locations on Pulse. It is held aloft by the power of the fal’Cie, and was created by the god Lindzei from a chunk of Pulse to be a paradise to keep humans safe from the dangers of Pulse. Tens of millions of people live in the futuristic cities, from [url=http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/2/2d/FFXIII_Eden_Centre.png]Eden[/url] to [url=http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/2/25/Palumpolum_streets_1.jpg]Palumpolum[/url] to [url=http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/0/07/FFXIII_Bodhum.jpg]Bodhum[/url] to [url=http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/7/79/Nautilus.png]Nautilus[/url], however there are beautiful nature reserves such as the [url=http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/d/d4/FFXIII_Sunleth_Waterscape_-_A_Shimmering_Sky.png]Sunleth Waterscape[/url]. The city of Eden holds the Sanctum, or the seat of power for Cocoon, and floats in the center of Cocoon. As the name implies, the citizens of Cocoon are sheltered from Pulse. Indeed, most cities cannot even see Pulse, as they are on the inside of the crust. Everything is provided by the fal’Cies, from their sunlight to their food and water.  

Travel between Pulse and Cocoon is done through personal aircraft or other means of flight. However, as a war is underway, travel between the worlds is forbidden. Most people from Pulse fear and hate anything from Cocoon (and vice versa). That said, the players will be able to get between Pulse and Cocoon with relative ease as needed since they are a part of a military operation.[/hider]
[hider=Conflict]Ever since Cocoon was created, both sides have feared and hated each other. Pulse is called a land of monsters, and their inhabitants are treated as savages by those on Cocoon. On the other side, Cocoon is called a “nest of vipers” by those living on Pulse, and the inhabitants are treated as completely dishonest. This animosity goes beyond mere prejudice, however, as the hatred is ingrained and taught since birth by the government and the fal’Cies. Few people are able to escape this prejudice, and even those harbor distrust towards the other side. The extremes of this prejudice can be seen in the two descriptions of Cocoon from the FFXIII datalogs:

[quote=Datalog/Locales]From her lofty seat, the world of Cocoon has long enjoyed tranquility. The interior of her spherical shell supports several sprawling cities and a population numbering in the tens of millions. Although a variety of dangerous beasts prowl the wilds, advanced technology and the protection of the world's fal'Cie keepers ensure residents a peaceful and prosperous existence. Travel to the lowerworld of Pulse is forbidden, but given their deep-seated cultural fears of the place, Cocoon citizens would not even think to venture beyond the paradise they know.[/quote]
[quote=Datalog/Analects: II. Lindzei’s Nest]And lo, the viper Lindzei bore fangs into the pristine soil of our Gran Pulse; despoiled the land and from it crafted a cocoon both ghastly and unclean. Lies spilled forth from the serpent's tongue: 'Within this shell lies paradise.' Men heard these lies and were seduced and led away. O cursed are the fools who trust a snake and turn their backs upon the bounty of Pulse's hallowed land! For those who dwell in that cocoon are not Men, but slaves of the demon Lindzei. Ye who honor Pulse: rise unto the heavens, and cast down the viper's nest! -- Author unknown[/quote]
With tensions rising, the armies of Pulse made a Preemptive Strike upon the floating shell of Cocoon, destroying a portion of the outer shell and exposing its interior before being driven back by the armies of Cocoon. We will be exploring the immediate aftermath.[/hider]
[hider=About Me]So, you may have glanced over to the sidebar and noticed that I’m pretty new on this forum. I figure I should put a section here describing what you can expect from me. I have been the creator or Co-DM on several RPs on a site called Vagrant Epochers. I am also the main Moderator of the RP section on that forum. In the past, I have often picked up the DM work on RPs where the creator ran out of free time (or became overwhelmed due to a lack of planning). I have done this with a .hack and a Persona RP. The Persona RP lasted approximately four years with a constant roster of 20 PCs, but had to be closed due to some hard-to-avoid structural issues for which the original creator did not allow a work-around. The .hack RP continued for several months before interest waned. I also created a Mass Effect RP, an original creation RP, and a FATE series RP. All of the above RPs typically contained a strong sense of story with structured combat. 

I tend to run RPs with turn-based combat set up similar to RPGs. Combat usually is a fair portion of my RPs, but I try to focus more on the interaction between the characters. That said, I try to have a tough but fair approach to combat. If it isn’t difficult, there isn’t much of a challenge. I try to balance my combat so that you’re only a few mistakes from a full party wipe, but never quite get there. Of course, I will have the first several fights simpler to get both the players and the DMs used to the difficulty curve, then slowly increase difficulty to require more strategy from the players.

My number one goal is that everyone has fun and is treated fairly. To help with this, I do have a few rules that I expect people to follow (see the Rules section). In addition, I tend to use Google Sheets quite a lot. Some might say excessively. My FATE RP had probably about 20 Google Sheets associated with it, plus Google Docs for several combos. More often, I simply have a Public Sheet and a GM Sheet where I run numbers and hide spoilers or enemy information. I encourage the use of combo posts using Google Docs to write a longer post with multiple participants, rather than have several shorter posts that are scattered throughout the IC thread, making it hard to follow a single conversation. I also encourage the use of Skype (or if more people prefer, Discord) to chat about strategies or other RP-related things. The real-time feedback of a chat program really helps to make the group gel, and also makes it easier for me to respond in a timely manner.

I work a full 40-hour week (usually more). I have two children and a wife that take up a fair amount of my free time. I also participate in a DnD 5e or Pathfinder live game every Sunday afternoon. I am stating this because it shows that I am a busy guy with limited free time. I completely understand what it means to have limited free time. That said, I usually can find time in a given day to answer questions or improve the RP, especially around noon time on work days where I can check the forums during my lunch break. I am also committed to projects I start. I will only end a project once every alternative has been explored, or it is obvious that interest has waned to a point where it cannot be stoked back up. 

This RP is an idea I’ve had floating around for a while. According to Google Sheets, I started the idea before they switched over their system to the new sheets in 2012, but I began in earnest to refine the system in the beginning of December 2016. I will continue to refine the system over time as I find out what does and doesn’t work. This means that there might be some combat changes to simplify things or add new features as time goes on.[/hider]
[hider=Rules]I am a fair and patient DM, but there are a few expectations I have of those who join my games.

1. [b]Respect.[/b] My #1 rule is to respect the DM, respect your fellow RPers, and respect yourself. As my current status states, respect is a measure of oneself, not the  other individual. In addition to following the rules of this forum, I expect players to let me know when they will be gone for long periods of time, to treat each other with dignity in any communication related to this RP, and to work together to improve over time. If a DM makes a blatant mistake, please feel free to point it out, but do so respectfully. If you are for some reason not enjoying your time or have a grievance to air, please send me a PM so we can figure out a solution for all involved, rather than ranting in the OOC. 

2. [b]Posting Requirements.[/b] As I mentioned, this is intended to fall within the high-casual range. I expect a post approximately once per week. Please make an effort to improve your grammar and spelling, as the whole point of RPing for me (in addition to having fun) is to improve my writing. In the past, I have made frequent use of Google Docs to make combo posts with others. I find this allows for longer, in-depth posts with plenty of back-and-forth without being needlessly complicated. Generally, with 2-3 people in a combo, it is not unreasonable to see several-page posts each week. I do not expect multiple paragraphs between each reply if this method is used, but if you decide to single-post, I do expect a descriptive and well-thought-out 2-3 paragraphs at minimum. However, quality is better than quantity, in my opinion. That said, combo posts require coordination, but you generally only need to spend a few minutes to make a reply, rather than an hour or so to create a full post.

3. [b]Quality.[/b] I have mentioned this already a few times, but my intent is to help people improve their writing skills over time. Everyone can improve, even the most seasoned veteran. I have seen a friend go from near-godmod one-line posts riddled with grammar and spelling errors to in-depth five-page masterpieces with emotion and intrigue. I don’t necessarily expect marked improvement from everyone, but I want you to respect yourself enough to try to improve over time.

4. [b]The Usual.[/b] No godmodding (controlling things and characters that aren't yours to control, or performing acts that are physically impossible), no metagaming (acting on knowledge your character does not have), and no Mary Sues (characters that are created as perfect and everyone loves them) or emo brats (Squall). Your character can have emotions, but if they shop at Hot Topic and listen to Evanescence, I suggest finding a different FF RP to play. Please put a number between 27 and 38 somewhere in your interest post if you have read these rules. I mean, nothing against Hot Topic or Evanescence, but whining does tend to get old after a while. Hope.

5. [b]Worst Case Scenario.[/b] In long-term RPs, it is inevitable that someone will want to (or have to) drop out. If the reason is because of the RP itself (story, gameplay, other participants, your DM), please come and talk to me before it gets to the point where you have no choice. If it is because of time constraints or other unavoidable real-life issues, please let me know as early as possible so I can plan for it. In both cases, please make an effort to finish the current story arc so that your character can exit the game naturally. If there is a sudden reason why you cannot continue, I will control the character as needed to finish the arc (which pretty much means I will do combat actions for them). My intent with this RP is to make it relatively simple to switch up group composition, but there are always going to be times where a new character’s entry or an old character’s exit is unfeasible for a short time.[/hider]
[hider=FAQ]
[b]What exactly is Fabula Nova Crystallis?[/b] Fabula Nova Crysallis, or FNC, is a collection of games that include Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy. Early in the development of two other games (Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy: Type-0), the FNC universe was expanded to include them under the names of Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito, respectively. However, as development continued on those games, they were removed from the FNC universe and given a distinct flavor of their own.

[b]If FNC does not include Final Fantasy XV, why did you mention it under the picture at the top?[/b] Good question, astute observer. I included it because, although it was removed from the FNC universe, there are still elements of FF XV that tie into similar themes as the Great War in FF XIII. As such, I have included some of these elements in the story I have planned. 

[b]So why did you not include Type-0?[/b] In all honesty, I haven’t played or watched enough of the story to know how it could tie into FFXIII. It’s possible I will pick up some elements I like and add them in the future, though.

[b]Do I have to worry about spoilers if I have not played FFXIII and FFXV?[/b] In short, yes. There will be some thematic elements of both games that may get spoiled for you if you have not played them. For FFXIII, these are not extremely important elements (much of it gets revealed before you obtain all party members in the game, and the rest is buried in lore). For FFXV, I hope that my story’s usage of these elements will be obscure enough that it does not directly spoil important things from the game (I mean, I won’t have a big sign pointing at it and saying “this is from FFXV,” and I will be making up a lot of information as well). However, if you have played FFXV, you might see some of the inspiration at work. So although technically there are spoilers, they should be minor enough or obscure enough so as to not foil your fun.

[b]Surely the world has changed in 700 years. Why are you using images from the games?[/b] Two reasons. One: I can’t draw. And two: having a familiar setting is helpful. There are a few locations that will look different. The archaeopolises will be more intact than the images show, and Lake Bresha will actually exist as a city (since the city was destroyed later on). In addition, most Pulsian locations will be in much better repair than seen in the game, including locations like Taejin’s Tower and Oerba.

[b]What are l’Cie and fal’Cie?[/b] I’ve used these terms in a few locations, but haven’t explained them. Fal’Cie are demigods that control various aspects of nature. They have no free will, but are immensely powerful. L’Cie are humans that have been chosen by the fal’Cie to complete a specific task, usually without knowing exactly what that task is. All they get are a few vague images, which are definitely not helpful in being specific. For example, a l’Cie might be tasked with killing a megistotherian, a large wolf-like beast. They might get a few flashes of the beast in combat. Or, another interpretation of the vision might be to protect the megistotherian from hunters. Or perhaps it’s rare, and you are to find it and lead it someplace. It is up to the l’Cie to interpret the vision and act on it. Refusal or failure, and the l’Cie eventually turns into a Cie’th: a horrible ghoul-like monster that roams the world in eternal pain, until their souls condense into a Cie’th Stone that calls out woefully to passersby to finish their quest. Success means you are turned into a crystal and granted eternal life... as a crystal. It’s kind of a lose-lose situation. Our characters will be turned into l’Cie at the start of the RP.

[b]Final Fantasy XIII is a stupid game. Why would you make an RP based on it?[/b] Well, first off, that’s an opinion. FFXIII happens to be one of my favorite games of all time. The lore in the game is deep and rich if you look for it, and I love many of the themes used in the game. I also believe that, despite having two sequels, there is a ton of unexplored history in the series. You do not have to be a fan to join this RP, but I do request you abstain from bashing the game and those that enjoy it. And yes, there is a difference between discussing the design flaws of a game and outright bashing it. The upgrade system definitely could have used some transparency.

[b]I noticed you were looking for a co-DM.[/b] I am! Being new to this forum, I sadly don’t know enough people here to get any grasp on who to ask. If you have any suggestions, or perhaps you are willing to volunteer, please let me know. This is what I’m looking for in a co-DM: I need someone who shares the same commitment to respect and fairness as I do. I would like someone who has some experience in running Excel or Google Sheets. Knowledge of Excel formulas is a major plus, but I try to make my sheets relatively user friendly (although I might need to give a tutorial... I say “relatively,” but they’re still complicated and full of data). Their number one job would be to assist me with combat to ensure everything runs quickly and smoothly. I would like someone who is fairly frequently available to discuss things with either me or the other players. A co-DM is welcome (and encouraged!) to participate in the RP, as long as they are able to treat everyone fairly. I would also like to participate, and having a co-DM allows me to do so and not have to DM my own combat. I also want a co-DM who is not afraid to tell me if I’ve messed up, and is willing to accept constructive criticism of themselves. Having extensive knowledge about FFXIII (or at least the willingness to look it up) is also welcome, and it would be great to have someone to bounce ideas off of, or who wants to contribute ideas of their own. This RP has the potential to get really complicated (and hopefully have a lot of people!), so being able to split the load would make everyone’s lives better. Although not a requirement, someone who is willing to communicate verbally through Skype or Discord will make several things (including the Tutorial) much simpler. [/hider]
Thanks in advance for expressing interest, and I hope we can make a really cool story together! I still need a little bit of time to finish my DM doc, but I should be ready to start within a week or two. I also have a ton of information already written up about combat and other mechanics, so if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

EDIT: More info in [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4190529]this post[/url].