Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Grijs
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Grijs

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-To get the basics straight: This is a Character Roleplay

-It's a fantasy setting based on the 'Dark Ages'. Modeled after the Barbarian Kingdoms of the early Middle Ages. The humans are expies of Germanic Barbarians and Romans.

-It takes place on a single continent called Visandza.

-Your character is part of one such Barbarian Kingdoms or Roman Rumpstates (mostly Barbarian Kingdoms) of Visandza, and your character will work to further that Kingdom's goals. But how loyal your character is to the King is entirely up to you. You have the freedom to go traitor.

-Your characters are all retainers of the Royal Family. High Positions. This can mean Household guards, Captains, Squires, Stable boys, Shield maidens, Priestesses, the royal standard carrier, a nephew/ distant relative of the King, Princelings… any role placing your character in proximity to the faction royalty. Think of the characters as Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

-Magic in the D&D sense isn't really a thing, but the supernatural certainly is. Witch magic exists (turning humans into animals, brewing potions, summoning spirits of the dead) There are non-human races outside Visandza, and blessings and curses are very real and functioning things.

-While this is the Advanced Interest check, I am thinking of posting the actual RP in Casual. (Probs with Casual-Advanced in the title)
The reason: Making long and detailed posts is fine if you want to, but doing so frequently for months on end just drains too much energy and I’ve seen RPs die that way. Therefore preferably make your posts concise and direct. Avoid dragging out and take it easy. It's fine.



MAP OF VISANDZA


The four great factions of Visandza to pick from:

West: The Glory-Seeking Chlotars

The most famous (or infamous) of the Barbarian kingdoms. The Chlotar people are industrious and belligerent. The Kingdom they built and conquered is united in common purpose; to topple God’s splinter dynasties and sacrifice them to God in order to quell his sadness, and thereby hopefully save the world. Ending God’s chronic depression is the only chance of averting the impending ice age that is driving the tribes to migrate further and further south. As the Chlotar homeland is in the northernmost tip of Visandza, the Chlotars have much to lose if they fail to avert this climate change. Only God can save their ancestral lands now.
In the past century the warlording Chlotars have invaded, annexed and absorbed several of their rival tribes during the conquests of King Clodovech. At the moment their Kingdom is fractured; its territory divided between two royal brothers: King Dagobert and King Cauroman. However already they set their sights on the next target for conquest; the ungodly Tautans to the east who the Chlotars have hemmed in during their recent conquests. Though they are but a diversion, for their end-goal is to wipe the God-hating Kingdom of Lampertia off the map for good and all. Depose their vicious King, sacrifice him and his kin to God and install a monarch who is properly Godfearing!

South: The God-Hating Lamperts

It’s all in the name. But obviously not every Lampert hates God -- some Lamperts love God! However they cannot come to the public light with their secretly-held convictions, for the stigma is immense. In the Kingdom of Lampertia the hatred of God is of utmost conformity; those who stray from the norm or show open dissent from God-hating orthodoxy are outcast, shunned, mocked… sometimes lynched. Do not underestimate how serious the Kingdom of Lampertia is on their stance of enmity towards God.
Even before the Lampert Tribe conquered the southern peninsula of Amalia, they were rivals of the growing Chlotar confederacy of tribes, who in a time long forgotten exiled their ancestors from the north. It was encroachment of the Divine Locust paired with the allure of seizing the fertile, depopulated lands it left in their wake, that drove the Lamperts to migrate southward. The Lampert people’s beef extends beyond the rival Chlotars and is more directed against God himself. They are not driven by paganism or atheism -- the Lamperts are genuine misotheists. It’s not a matter of religious difference as it is a matter of actual God-hatred. Twenty years ago with the ascension of King Dalgiserius the relations with Chlotaringen has soured further (if that was even possible) and the two powerful Kingdoms are at the brink of a great war the likes Visandza has never seen -- one that could forever alter the continent’s history.

East: The Depraved Tautans

Orgies. There, I said it. Let’s not shy around it. I am only saying what everyone else is already thinking at the mention of the City State of Tautom. Debauchery, decadence, depravity. That is all there is to them. God damn them, and damn God for not smiting these ungodly people. Sure, they have good merchants, skilled artisans, the world’s finest cuisine and cunning alchemists to help further humanity and the like, and surely the capital of worldly pleasures. But their virtues do not make up for their vice, no way. The Tautans will lure you into darkness.
Every night at the plaza, they hold festive orgies. And they have a squadron of men skulking the street to defile and debase any newcomer or gullible foreign visitor to their city. To corrupt them into adopting their uncouth perversities and ambiguous practices…
Keep your daughters and wives away from the Tautans. And probably your barnyard animals too.

North: The Conniving Eodaens

God is outdated. To the Eodaens anyway. When God is too depressed to be a force in the world, you simply create your own god! As such King Badastan presented his court and people with Xeaxaenot, the Golden Squirrel-demon. All of Eodaland turned to Squirrel-demon worship, and this seems to have revived the slumbering spirit of its people. Those that refused to embrace this new idol, remaining loyal to god, were exiled. Fools don’t understand that squirrels are the future.
The Eodaens are actually keeping mostly to themselves as a dormant third power, waiting to exploit and benefit from the impending war between Chlotaringen and Lampertia. Cunning foxes as they are, the Eodaens will most certainly side with the winning-side to reap the benefits.
Only a few years ago Eodaland nearly came to war with Chlotaringen, and they are anxious to provoke the numerically superior and battle-tested Chlotar armies on their own. Depending on how well the Chlotars will fare against the Tautans and Lamperts, the conniving Eodaens may side either with them or against them.



This isn't everything yet, but let me know if you're interested in joining based on only this! I plan to actually finish this RP, and I tell you.... we will march on to the bitter end, and otherwise rush to the ending if people start wavering. The story will only be finished when the war in Visandza is resolved.
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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by neogreggory
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Hmm... I can't help but be interested in the concept and lore thus far presented. Put me down as a hard maybe, I'll keep my eyes on this and contemplate on the matter.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Sierra
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While this is the Advanced Interest check, I am thinking of posting the actual RP in Casual. (Probs with Casual-Advanced in the title)
The reason: Making long and detailed posts is fine if you want to, but doing so frequently for months on end just drains too much energy and I’ve seen RPs die that way. Therefore preferably make your posts concise and direct. Avoid dragging out and take it easy. It's fine.

What I just read felt like a capable writer more than comfortable with advanced quality standards concerned about constant pressure to write novel-length and about maintaining player population. As both a fellow GM and an interested party, I think you should stick to your guns on what you expect for posting quality. It's a hard decision to stand your ground, but I believe it would be worth it long term. And honestly you shouldn't worry about the length. Advanced is first and foremost a quality standard. I run something in that section where some posts are only about 400 words (less than 20 lines excluding whitespace). Demand quality and let length take care of itself.

The way you wrote the int check does not suggest you're remotely a casual level writer. If you put something in casual, that's the level of writing you'll get. That's not to say people in casual can't step it up to a superior tier of quality, but it sets the lower common denominator. I think you should build the RP to your ideal participant, and then the closest people to that are exactly what you'll get. It may reduce your prospect pool, but I personally consider that better than compromising the vision. Hell, it's worked out for me so far. The advanced section does inherently move slower, but a little determination to ensure the inexorable march of progress goes a long way to running a roleplay until the end of time.


These are the hard decisions to make, but they're what define you as a GM. So tell me ... "Who are you, and what do you want?" You have my keyboard, and my sword.
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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Grijs
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@Sierra You flatter me, and you make a good case. It's indeed about practicality; once this starts off I do not want people to grow disheartened or too stressed to continue. Making posts should not have to always take up a lot of time. But I suppose you're right.

(Also I recognize the references of the last line, lol)
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Dusty
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You've caught my eye and I'm considering creating a mercenary captain character, with a command of a few hundred professional sellswords. I would like to confirm this sort of character, with a personal army like that would be acceptable in this world? I imagine if it was made up of men from Eodaland this wouldn't necessarily be uncommon.
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Sierra
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@Grijs You're going to lose some people over time. It's a fact. It's a shitty situation when you lose someone or have to eject them for inactivity, but it does get easier. You will also have dedicated people who stick with you through thick and thin. I recovered from almost 30 days of inactivity with only 1 player lost out of 8. The people who browse the advanced section are usually less liable to flake and disappear than casuals are.

Now to get into actual roleplay stuffs ... I may be dabbling with a really exotic 'out-there' character concept. I think I'm gonna write up a simplistic form of it and pitch it to you straight pending inevitable rejection before I get to work on a real sheet.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Wernher
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Evil squirrels and chainmail bikinis. How can the other factions even compete?
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by bloonewb
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Hey, is there still room in this? I'd like to join if there is.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Serpentine88
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Reporting in as usual. I see you added some text to my map I drew for you.

Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Grijs
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@neogreggory
I appreciate that. I will keep you informed when the OOC's up.

@Dusty
Your character(s) actually work, as there are multiple parties in need of Eodaen naval support. Particularly in regards to Tautom city. Mercenaries are sort-of-unique to the Eodaens. The soldiers of the other tribes are either all household troops of the Kings, or levies, and are, as you can expect, alleged to the tribe. But the Eodaens also have a degree of tribal loyalty.
Also other than the captain/Earl (in the dark ages, Earl was the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of a viking Jarl) of the band, you can also create 1 or 2 other characters to be the captain's henchmen. The character sheets are short more-or-less for this reason.

@Sierra
I will look forward to see what you turn up with. Do you think I need to make the Lamperts and Chlotars more appealing for people to pick them? The Eodaens and the Tautans are the most memezy so I feel more people are interested in them for just that reason. lol

@bloonewb
Naturally, we didn't even begin. I think when there are between 6 and 10 players we're good.

@Serpentine88
You just have to go and take credit. lol
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Archetype Zero
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Archetype Zero 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕾𝖍𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖉 𝕺𝖓𝖊

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My interest is potential, we'll see how things develope. But it seems like an interesting setting. From what I've talked with you, the lore is also quite fascinating.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Oraculum
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Si quis foris provincia fugire timtaverit, morti incurrat periculum, et res eius infiscentur.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Sierra
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@Grijs Interesting that you seek my opinion on that. I think the Chlotars are described as a bit brutish and war-obsessed in their initial description but in the expanded lore below they come across with more of a righteous zeal that's actually quite attractive. Aside from addressing that discrepancy, I think they're in a good place. The Lamperts I think suffer from a descriptive identity crisis moreso. Initially, it is made out as if the entire culture revolves around cursing God and seeking his ultimate demise. Later as you read into the expanded lore, this seems to be a fixation only of the king. The rest of the people are a hardy atheistic population just happening to live under a borderline-deranged, tyrannical leadership. That latter scenario I think is a bit more appealing and provided there's enough player influence in the Lampertian nobles' court to temper the king's bad behavior, they're a force to be reckoned with. I would also say that you mentioned the king having a daughter. I would strongly advise having a basic character framework for her done (or commissioning her out to someone), because she might come into play heavily.

Now for the fun stuff, exotic concept in brief:
Rothgar - Grandmaster at Arms of Lambertia, advisor and protector to the High King
Chlotarian by blood, Lambertian by heart
-Originally trained with Chlotar master swordsmen in the art of dual-wield speed fighting , but later banished from the tribe's lands by the Chlotar Inquisition (seems like something they'd have) for his absence of faith.
-Having more in common with Lamberts than his own pious people, his training was completed here after many years and many weapon proficiencies gained.
-Proficiency as a weapon master gains the favor of a lord; he ascends through the ranks of the garrison leadership.
-Favor is gained with the king, who replaces that noble with him (swords are more valuable than tongues) as both a court member and personal guard.

I know its probably a hard sell getting Lambertian leadership to put any trust in an outsider no matter how loyal they are ... but it would no doubt be very cool. I haven't written enough down to make retooling the character a pain in the ass when I inevitably have to. :P

Oh and I caught one more thing while writing that. The CS lists 5 tribes, but only 4 are talked about in lore. Who are the Radbouds and what makes them interesting? (or snip that before anyone else notices)
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by neogreggory
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Hmm...
Both the Lamperts and the Tautans are appealing to me, the question is which one? Out of curiosity how much care do the various factions put into gladiatorial combat? I'm fond of the idea of someone who earned sufficient glory in the ring of honor to earn the interest of powerful figures. Would that be viable and realistic in this setting?
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Serpentine88
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@neogreggory

Concerning gladiators:

I was handed out the commission of Belisar, the Doux of Syrome (One of the islands), basically the hypercompetent chancellor to incompetent king Orso of Tautum. Tautum itself doesn't have proper gladiatorial combat beyond the private audience of the king, though it has a lot of rabble street-fighting and ad-hoc gladiator-esque fighting. Syrome is the Tautom!lite, more organised and imperialistic half-brother of Tautum due its closer cultural loyalty to Heavenly Kingdom traditions/beliefs, as the actual 'true' Not!Romans. Syrome still practices genuine gladiatorial combat, arena and all.
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Grijs
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@neogreggory I am actually thinking of a role where Dalgiserius sends one of his Gastalds to Tautum with an expeditionary force, not because Lamperts like the Tautans, but only to stall the Chlotar invasion of Lampertia. Are you up with taking that role? While there, your man could have been invited to King Orso's court to entertain him through battling his champion.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by neogreggory
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@Grijs I feel this role is one I could fill, and one I would be honored to fill.
Granted, I quickly had to double check everything you just said, and admittedly had to reread what Serpentine a few times so I suppose I should quickly state a fault of mine before I invest myself in this any farther.

Names, among other things, are not my strong suit. I'm not great at coming up with them, but I'm even worse at remembering them. I'm sure with time I will come to know the various players and places in this setting that has been created, but I must admit that it will not be a quick process and sometimes I will be confused or slow as I try to remind myself who is who and what is where. I realize this may in fact be a burden in a roleplay taking place over a large landmass with many sites each bearing unique names, ruled over by named people who are in turn surrounded by names, all of them no doubt having some amount of thought put into them, and for that I will apologize now for any inconvenience I cause as I try to partake in this.

That said however I will do my best to partake in this and to do so well, to make a character worthy to exist in this world, and to make their actions believable, reasonable, and interesting. To those ends I will once again accept the gracious offer you place before me Grijs, having a role, a solid detail, will allow me to collect the stray wisps of thought in my mind and mold them into a single character much more easily. To that end if you've any other information I may find useful I beseech you to offer it to me whenever it is most convenient for you, so that I may create a character and identity worthy of Visandza.
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Grijs
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@Sierra Thanks for the feedback.

Hmmm.. It's a tough sell. I'll entertain the idea of there being such a thing as dual-wield speed fighting. Chlotars do not have an inquisition per say, but they are devout enough that they are actively uprooting all forms of heathenism within their borders. Who is responsible for this uprooting? Probably the Paladins and an order of Warrior-Monks. I've not so far actually thought about it. These Warrior-Monks are probably a mix of archaic Teutonic Knight-Crusaders and proto-Inquisitors. God worship happens through a network of Temples and missionaries, and is mostly spread peacefully. But for a noble to REFUSE to embrace God... well that's why your character would've been cast into the outter darkness!

As for how the hell a Chlotar became a Gastald.. I think the only way this is possible is if Princess Dalgiserata convinced her father to not nail him to a tree at the sight of him. But more likely, I think your guy just never said he was a Chlotar, he might've lied about his Tribe. However the Lamperts speak a different language than the Chlotars.
Let's say the Lampert language is a blend of Not!Germanic and Not!Latin. Your Chlotar, who was of fairly high birth, may have been able to speak Celesean, and so communicated with the Lamperts by speaking Celesean instead of Chlotar.

Also there are reasons why the Lampert Gastalds are unable to stand up to King Dalgiserius. I will have to get to that in the OOC as well. But it comes down to; with all the Kings being Splinters of God, they each have a degree of supernatural powers that comes with that. Kings are essentially very lite demi-gods.

Indeed i've not written anything about the Radbouds yet. There's a mention that they are similar to Eodaens. For all intents and purposes they are a blend of Eodaen and Chlotar. In the OOC i'll write something about them. Their existence is a small added bonus but nothing plot-relevant.

Edit:

@neogreggory
Will add this to the OOC:

You are allowed to make slight variations to each of these names. Just make sure they sound somewhat authentic. I made the name Cauroman up. The original Frankish name I based it on is Carloman.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Sierra
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I'll evolve the concept a bit more and make a more complete version of it. I think a few of the difficulties in sale could be rectified by that. It also isn't *too* hard to retool to one of a couple of options that don't strain credulity as much.

And you have an entire faction built around zealous piety .. and they don't have an Inquisition? That just feels wrong. :P
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Oraculum
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An Inquisition would be a tad anachronistic, given the setting's inspiration. Besides, those nosy friars are only good at their theological casuistry. The only real defences (or unmakings) of faith are blood and steel!
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