Hexaflexagon

Spiritum

@HeySeuss@vietmyke@Mercenary Lord@Draken@AlexStarsion@Mike73

Hey look at that a thing! Hope you guys are ready to save the world brainstorm!

Spiritum

Act 2: In Which Fates Collide

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Shards of sunlight piercing through tattered motel curtains awakened Setzer to the world. He grumbled and cursed as he was pulled from whatever dream had took his fancy. Slowly the events of the previous day came back to him and with it the all encompassing ache and pain of a body that had gotten the shit repeatedly kicked out of it. He slowly rose out of bed looking about an empty room. Setzer was notoriously a heavy and long sleeper, seemingly whenever he wasn’t moving his massive frame required copious amounts of time doing nothing, the others had probably already gotten up.

He had fallen asleep basically upon impacting the mattress, clothes from last night’s endeavor still clung to his body through a mixture of caked on blood and sweat. Sighing he turned a small television on and made his way towards the bathroom leaving the door ajar as he did. He listened to the news broadcast as he stripped down to his basics and stepped into the shower turning it as cold as he could bare it.

“And our main story of the morning fighting has once again intensified on the front after the disappearance of Her Imperial Highness Colette Van Skymning. The Vangar delegation having left Orestia early in the morning with any idea of a peace having been shut down..”

There was only the deep exhalation of breath as Setzer shook his head. The cold water rushed down his body and did little more than that. To actually scrub away at the dirt and grime would be only to agitate the already sensitive flesh. After spending far too much time he shut the shower off, toweled off and shambled back into the room. He searched in his bag for the singular change of clothes he had on him and pulled them on. A heavy black sweatshirt - no shirt on underneath and a simple pair of very red sweatpants. Rubbing away at the tiredness that clouded his features and made his way back into the outside world.

Feet strode across a lonesome hallway, paint peeling on the walls, the sounds of some insect buzzing in his ear. Eyes squinted as he stepped through the final threshold and into the light of the morning. A blue sky lay stretched above with picturesque clouds of cotton-ball fluff. It was a pleasant enough spring morning not too cold and not too warm. The service road for the highway that they had pulled off of had slightly more traffic now, the occasional car rolling on by them on their way to somewhere.

Turning the bend to the parking area he saw that most of the others had already gathered. The small campfire stove that they had brought with them lay assembled upon the asphalt. The smell of hotdogs now doubt bought from the gas station filled the air and what looked like a small cluster of scrambled eggs already existed. The girl that all the news stations were talking about was manning the stove poking at the meat with a small metal appendage. Right now she looked like a normal girl in a world full of them. She was dressed in clothes that if Setzer had to guess Zimmy had lent her.

He waved to them but did not approach them instead made his way over to the conglomeration of gas station and convenience store. He stepped inside feeling a slight chill from the constant air condition room. He made his way quickly through the small array of shelves and items. He pulled out a carton of orange juice and plucked a map from a cluster of haphazardly arranged brochures and made his way to the exit.

A voice called out to him.

“Sir? Hope you’re gonna pay for that.”

He sighed.

Turning around he made his way back to the counter where a teenger with long brown hair that fell to his shoulders and a tired look upon a frackle splashed complexion cocked a brow. The sound of some rock band permeated the silence escaping from the earbud which hung by the shoulder the other inside the ear. The two items were rung up Setzer grumbled about tax and then he reached into his pocket produced a small wad of bills and plopped them down onto the table. Getting back his change he walked back out map sticking out of his left pocket as he popped open the orange juice and began to chug it down.

Stopping by the others he dropped down into a squat setting down a portion of food to one side of him and spread the map upon the ground.

“Figuring out where to go next?” Colette asked.

“Mhm.” Setzer mumbled pieces of egg from his mouth and to the paper.“Best bet is away from here and any killer death robots.”

“Sounds... reasonable killer death robots are not a fun time.”

“Probably wanna head towards Orestia if we are going anywhere. Somebody at the Citadel might be able to help.” Setzer considered between chugs of orange juice. “Problem is we are all the way over here.” He stated as he smashed a finger down upon their general area, they were deep in central Rassvet and Orestia was far to the south of them on the ocean’s edge. They had a ways to go if they wanted to get all the way back.

“What’s that?” Colette asked pointed to a circular patch of grey upon the map not far from them.

“The Archives? Big old place filled with lots of books and people that like math, aka very boring.”

“Do you think they might know anything about our robot friends or their bigass scary ship?”

“I don’t know. Might be worth taking a peek.”

That made Colette frown as she looked back up from the map around at the others as if something just dawned upon her. “What are we doing exactly? Like do you guys have a plan or am I just your hostage or something? Cause if I'm I think you're doing it wrong.”

Endless: A Tale of Villainy

@Athinar@Lexicon@Flamelord@Brand@Heat@Virgil@neogreggory

So it may have taken longer than intended and I'm still working on some minor points but for the most part the OOC is up so here have a link!

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/160712-endless/ooc

Endless

R A C E A N D G E N D E R

In terms of gender, the Endless is for all its faults surprisingly egalitarian in its beliefs. This comes more from an idea of efficiency more than anything else really. You see in the Endless the role of the individual is paramount, everyone is expected to their job and do their part. So by that logic if a woman is a beater soldier and a man is a better cook than the man will work the kitchens and the woman will go off and kill some people. To the lower rungs of society this wasn't much of a real change, on the level of villages life worked much in the same way, people did what they had to do to survive. On the upper reaches of society this took more of an adjustment period shall we say.

In terms of Race, well things are bit more complicated. First we shall take about the so called Higher Races. Your standard allotment of Humans, Elves, and Dwarves. In this world they are more similar to one another in the way of comparing Neanderthals to pre-historic humans. They share similar blood, age the same, and look in may ways the same but vary in shape and size. In that way it is possible for interbreeding to occur between all three them, something which happens with more or less general acceptance. Human + Elf = Half-Elf, Human + Dwarf = Gnome, Dwarf + Elf = Halfling. The Higher Races were the first to ascend from the simple tribal mannerisms of their ancestors and into 'civilized society'. Having grown in tandem with one another they get along surprisingly well with one another, but bigotry can never truly be wiped out in its entirety.

Below this group of three comes the rest of the civilized creatures. Trollkin(Orcs, giants, trolls, and the like) Beastfolk, Godlings (Those touched with blood either demonic or celestial in nature. Tend to have divergent features like a wide variety of skin-tones, vary sizes, oh and horns.) and the rest. Besides the Godlings which are typically used as living fuel sources (besides the Higher Races their Souls are the most potent and so their blood makes great catalyst for sorcery), most lived lives of hard labor and subjection. So when the Endless came into power and liberated them from their chains of bondage in exchange for newfound freedom in exchange for some minor losses of personal liberty which they never had in the fist place many of these types flocked ot their ranks with the orginal composition of the Anthem being made of them.

Further down still you have semi-intelligent creatures such as Goblins and the like smart enough to use tools but not smart enough to developed into complex societies who are typically seen as a nuisance but can be persuaded easily enough to serve as cannon fodder if you give them enough shiny things. And it continues to go downward from there.

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I N S T R U C T I O N S

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• Using the provided template, please create a character sheet
• All other posts to the OOC tab.
• Please first post your CSs to the OOC, only Character sheets that have been accepted by me shall go here.

CS Template

_{Name | Age | Race (Can be anything you really want just gotta give a good reason)}

_{A P P E R A N C E :}

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Physical description. Optional but preferred.

M I N D :

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Basic psychology, beliefs, aspirations and the like. More who they are rather than what they are, how they act and what they think of things like Magic, the Endless, and the rest.

_{H I S T O R Y:}

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A short synopsis of their life leading up to the present. Earlier years, how they came to join the Legion and the like. I don't need a detailed autobiography here it's more or less just to see how they got from point A to Point B and how it shaped their way of thinking above.

_{M O D U S O P R E R A N D I:}

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How they carry themselves in battle. Are they a front line fighter, a mage, an archer? What equipment do they use? What skills do they bring with them?

_{O P I N I O N S O N O T H E R S}

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The fun one in which I force you to talk and think about your relationships with the others members of the group. This will probably be completed last and after your CS has already been submitted but it stil lhas to be done.

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[sub]Name | Age | Race[/sub] [/center]
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[indent][indent]Words[/indent][/indent]

[sub][Indent]M I N D :[/indent][/sub]

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[indent][indent]Words[/indent][/indent]

[Indent][sub]H I S T O R Y:[/sub][/Indent]

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[indent][indent]Words[/indent][/indent]

[Indent][sub]M O D U S O P R E R A N D I:[/sub][/INDENT]

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[INDENT][INDENT]Words[/INDENT][/INDENT]

[Indent][sub]O P I N I O N S O N O T H E R S[/sub][/INDENT]

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[INDENT][INDENT]Words[/INDENT][/INDENT]

Endless

T H E W I L L O F T H E S W O R D

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The martial arm of the Undying's will falls upon the shoulders of the Voice of War, Tarkus. Tarkus once stood against the Undying, formally supreme commander of the Dominion's military he believed that the Dominion should go to Caesius' sons as he had willed not to some outsider. Tarkus would lead his forces with great renown and skill against the usurpers. In all of its history, Tarkus was the only man ever close enough to actually defeating the Undying and stopping the rise of the Endless before it began. In the end though he was defeated and brought before the Undying who gave him a simple choice, bow or all his men were to be killed, Tarkus bowed. In his return for his submission Tarkus was transformed from man to monster. By the Undying's embrace he became the Voice of War, his black armor fused and metal to his flesh become permanently attached to his frame, he became what the Undying needed him to be a weapon of war. His spared legions would follow him.

To this day the Empire of the Endless is divided into two very distinct groups within the Endless' ranks. The Legion and the Anthem. Both overseen by Tarkus' will but acting upon it in two very different fashions. Order and Chaos, Slaughter and Massacre, man and monster, Legion and Anthem.

The Anthem is the younger of the two groups composed of the forces gathered in conquest. An army of monsters, thieves, murders and the like. The Anthem gives purpose and a sense of belonging to those often thrown looked down upon. It tells them that what they are isn't just okay but needed and wanted. In the Anthem the strong survive, you want a higher position kill your superior and take his job. In short its supply a band of murders and thieves with the weapons and equipment needed to wage full scale war against those that once suppressed them. When the Anthem rolls through a town they gather up all the population within corral them like cattle and drop swords at their feet. The command is simple only those that would kill their fellows will survive. This act of slaughter serves a purpose twice fold. First it allows them to pick out the murders and the monsters of the bunch, those willing or wanting to kill those who prosper in the Anthem's ranks. The second is the breaking of the rest, those that happen to survive physically but not mentally. It allows the Anthem to secure dominion over them as they become consumed by guilt and horror, in short they are broken until all they want is death and then they are given simple weapons and used as meat shields at the front of the pack, all the willing to march off to die.

The Legion stands as a different form. Once they were the armies of Caesius formed in the early years of his military reforms. They brought almost all of Nurban down beneath them and were once the most feared army in the Known World. The training in the Legion was done in such a way that the self-identity so cherished in the Anthem was all but wiped out from their ranks. They had become parts of a greater machine whose entire purpose was to be used as a tool. Where the Anthem may 'spare' a force that they had bested to gather recruits, the Legion will slay them to the man for if they failed to defeat them than what place did they among their ranks? Yet those that surrender were given quarter and allowed to return home. Their bloodshed had rules and orders. Those that stepped out of line were dealt with arguably more force than their opponents. And then Caesius died.

Many of the Legions would flock to Tarkus banner and would fight against the Endless and the Undying. They would fight the first of the Anthem and they would win, time and time again. But the Undying overwhelm them with powerful sorcery and soon Tarkus himself would be captured and changed. Yet the Legions continued brought back into the service of the Endless. Yet they refused to conform to many of the Undying's edicts, they refused to acknowledge Caesius as a God for even a great a man as he could not touch the Divine, but they fought all the same, they fell into line and conformed to the will of that which they had fought against and become maybe worse because of it.

Over the years the Legion exists as broken remnant of its former glory. It's ranks have been thinned and broken by years of being thrown into the grinder to crush their independent desires. Yet they have never failed a mission, never had fallen in battle. The Legion holds and will continue to hold even as it's composition dwindles and falls. Young and inexperience faces now appear among their ranks, wearing armor cobbled together from the dead and gone. Months of training no longer available, no longer able to be selective in their recruiting, they instead offer the sword to anyone willing to take up the Banner. Surprising numbers due given the other option being to deal with the Anthem.

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T H E W I L L O F T H E M I N D

Sorcery as it is currently understood may very well be the cornerstone of civilization and yet its darkest aspect. Long ago scholars in Tebra discovered something, something which would change everything. The soul existed it was quantifiable and it breathed great power. Soon afterwards it was discovered that blood was the medium upon which transference occurred with the least lost. It was not that one could just tap into a Soul one had to forcibly drain it from an individual willing or not.First attempts were made with lesser beings, creatures without the capacity to think. But the power drawn from them was minuscule at best, maybe enough to light a fire and nothing more. So practice moved on to other larger creatures. Eventually it was found that the blood of the Higher Races possessed the greatest strength. To tap into the greatest potential man had to kill man, elf to elf, et cetra.

Yet blood alone was not enough to bring sorcery into being. To harness the power of a Soul one needed the correct formulae. The blood must be drawn either upon the ground or the air following a set of specific runes. The bases of these runes are the same but modifiers are placed upon them (much in the same way an accent changes the pronunciation of a letter) in this manner sorcery is the study and application of intent. A sorcery comes into being because its user wills it.

There is but a singular exception to this rule. The power of the Undying and the Voices upon which it bestows.

Endless

_{Z A N T H A L I A: T H E O L D C O N T I N E N T}

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<sub>A V L E S S: The Ruby Citadel, it stands as one of the five Jeweled Cities. Avless is the youngest and smallest of the cities in terms of population (young is a relative term here as each of the cities are older than any of the old kingdoms of Nurban). Aveless is the gateway to to Zanthalia is it were with most travelers from Nurban coming to it's walls first. Because of this constant flux of individuals the city is a metal pot of ideas and cultures intermixed with one another. Aveless is run by the Council of Magisters, a group of powerful sorcerers that dwell inside Magisters Rest, a large sanctum carved into the moutain which flanks the city it's outside carved in the visage of a stern face peering down upon its dominion. In times of war fireballs are flung out of this face, it's a good time. Think like Minis Terith but bigger.

B E L Y S S: The Diamond Veil, the northern most Jeweled City tracing its ancestry back to the natives from Soulethstem who crossed to the mainland during the last ice age. Cut off from the rest of Zanthalia by the towering Black Mountains, Belyss is of a different make then the rest of its sisters. The culture is a fusion of militaristic and theological and its people are rugged shaped and molded by the colder climes around them. Things live in the north buried beneath beneath frozen earth and when those things thaw, well trouble brews. To ease the pains and chills of the North, Belyss happens to be the home of the Priory, a religious order of monks and scholars that made their home in the desolate north to escape the clamor and yell of civilization.

V A L E I S: The Onyx Hold, one of the oldest of the Jeweled Cities whose storied history traces back to when the Titans roamed Zanthalia long before the races of man had risen from primordial states. After their demise their great city of Valeis lay untouched for thousands of years forgotten not just by man but by nature with not even a stray plant daring to snake its way into shattered rock. Eventually settlers wound find their way to the great city and use it's fortifications as refuge from monsters and bandits alike. Overtime many have drifted ot the city, living like ants among buildings meant for walking gods. Valeis is home to some of the greatest engineering marvels of the known world, a center of industry and power its forges are unrivaled across the lands.

K I R E A: The Emerald Run, center of commerce and trade Kirea is a city of vice and currency. It's location near the center of the continent makes it a favored haunt of travelers and merchants going about their work. Built on an island admits three magnificent rivers, Kirea is a city of canals and waterways twisting and double backing atop one another. The adage is if you need anything you can find it in Kirea for the right price and that isn't too far from the truth: slaves, illicit materials, slaves, and the like can all be found peddled by the merchants of the fair city. The city is run in a democratic fashion with each respected merchant holding the right to vote on matters from simple laws, to the more important issues of taxation.

T E B R A: The Opal Arcanum, the queen among the sisters and arguably the seat of power of all of Zanthalia. Tebra is an ancient city guarded by magic most old and powerful. Legend has it that if Valeis was once the seat of the Titans at the height of their power than Tebra was the seat of the Old Gods when they were once mortal. Tebra itself sits in a level of enforced isolation from the rest of Zanthalia by way of the Shield. The Shield is the great mountain range that encompasses the lands surrounding the city. The Sheild was not forged from natural processes but rather conjured by magic in a time long past when armies had once tried to assualt Tebra, and found the very land beneath them crack and sunder. It is believed that the Undying itself came from the ancient city.

A Z U R E: The largest port on the Eastern side of Nurban and from where the Endless forces embarked on their journey.

T H E W E L L: The well is one of the oldest centers of knowledge in the Known World. Larger than most cities it is a large tiered city that progresses deeper and deeper into a large depression in the ground known as the Titan's Fist. The deeper one progress into the Well the older and more sacred the knowledge within is said to be. The Well is open to all who make the pilgrimage to it's dwelling but those that traverse inside must always be accompanied by a Tome-Seer, one of the scholars that call the Well their home.

T H E L O N G W A L L: The Wall is one of the largest and constantly manned fortification in the Zanthalia. Armed by a contingent of guards made up of forces from each of the Jeweled Cities and the surrounding townships, the wall is all that separates the civilized world from the Edge. The Edge was once a fertile land made up of hundreds of prosperous kingdoms and empires which made up the rest of the massive Zanthalia continent. Long story short something very very bad happened and now the Edge is nothing more than a wasteland ravaged by constant immense storms which can pick up mountains. Those that survive in the Edge are monsters tainted by the darkness that lives beyond and have a nasty habit of trying to murder all the things.

T I T A N ' S C R O S S I N G: A strange city perpetually bathed in the orange glow of burning Kyranthus. The people man the last great bridge which connects the rest of Zanthalia to the final resting place of the Titans. The Cradle as it is often called is a land of fire and death, the last strike by the Old Gods to bring down their enemies for the final time. Despite this occasional travelers and adventures will cross the bridge into Kyranthus chasing after legends of treasure and artifacts from before the Breaking.</sub>

Endless

_{| Evil Always Wins |}

_{Now as the sun sets we shall recall the histories. These blood-stained pages tell the tale of the Endless, once the consuming abyss and now but a frayed shadow. Born through deceit and treachery, Hand became Undying and all bowed. Listen then to these words and let it serve as warning and reminder.}

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_{P R O L O G U E : A V E L E S S}

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The conquest of Zanthalia has begun in earnest. Ships bearing the Black and Crimson set forth from across the Mourning Sea towards the rising sun. The Old Continent would provide a new set of challenge to be overcome. The largest of these challenges would be conquering the Jeweled Cities. These massive city-states, the so called birthplace of civilization have stood against every invader which have tried to break their walls. From technological marvels to dramatic and awe-inspiring sorceries these great monuments possess defenses found scantly anywhere else in the known world. The first of these cities to be addressed is Aveless, The Ruby Citadel. Built into the southern edge of the Black Mountains, once the great bulwarks which surrounded the city were of a brilliant ivory but legend has it that the stone now is blood red from the nurmeroious invaders that had died against them. With its towering walls and large population including a powerful cadre of sorcerers which live in a large fortification carved into the mountain proper. Aveless is bigger than any city in Nurban, yet in comparison to it's sisters Avless isn't that much of a challenge and would be a benchmark to see if the Undying's might could even reach this far.

The responsibility of breaking the Walls of Aveless was placed upon the shoulders of the Legion. It was a near Herculean task, necessary but a charge into death none the less, not that such a weight wasn't expected to be placed upon their shoulders. Thus a siege would began with the forces of the Anthem repulsing and entrapping those within the walls as the Legion attempted to break them throwing all they had against it. Engineers and sappers work tirelessly but the walls still held. Eventually they took to the underground digging tunnels beneath the city: tunnels which would became filled with water, fire, and the corpses of their fellows as time progressed. But eventually the walls were reached and while they were fortified against attacks from above they were not fortified against attacks from below and crumbling earth drove crimson pride to sinking dust.

Yet a great victory was not without its costs. The Legion lay scattered and broken with nought one hundered souls left to their name with all of Zanthalia left ahead of them.

This is where the RP proper begins. If we are being technically it's actually in the twenty four hour period before and after the fall of Aveless. With the first few posts split between the past and the present. In the past we will be exploring what the characters actually did and how they made a name for themselves in the battle, namely retaking one of the siege tunnels and more importantly how they got somewhat acquainted. In the present we will be exploring the aftermath of the siege and all that entails.

Spiritum

@Mercenary Lord
Basically what he said. In terns of how they get along well not too great actually. Nobody in the military particularly likes WARDEN for a myraid of purposes with RSOC probably not liking them the most. They tolerate one another at best and at worst they try and occasionally get WARDEN disbanded.

①⑨⑥⑧

_{Z A T A N N A}

Zatanna Zatara, 29 (b. 1939)
_{Vigilante based in Gotham City, New Jersey
Active since approximately Two Weeks Ago}

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Well I figured it was about time I want back to my roots with spooky scary skeletons and the mystical. The sixties present a fabulous time to do it, swinging out of the repression under McCarthyism people started to look towards the weird again: Nancy Reagan consulted an astrologer to help plan her husband’s presidential schedule; Pat Robertson suggested feminism was a plot to make women take up witchcraft; Rick Santorum identified “the father of lies, Satan,” as America’s Number One enemy, or in other words the strange and the odd was getting more mainstream attention than it had ever had previously. The fascination with the occult that would peak in the eighties started here and I figure why not spice that up a little bit with actual devil worshipers and the like.

Giovanni Zatara, famed magician and World War II era superhero is gone. Not the gone as in went away sense of the word but really gone - seemingly wiped from existence and memory. The only person that seems to remember him is his daughter Zatanna Zatara. There was a time when Giovanni was training his daughter to take up his mantle as the next great Zatara crime fighter to continue a legacy stretching backwards towards antiquity to keep the forces of the beyond at bay. That time was long ago and seemingly a distant memory; after Zatanna had found out that Giovanni had been altering her memory since childhood in a way of 'protecting' her from experiencing too much trauma at a young age she stormed out. In the ten years that had followed Zatanna had all but given up on the very idea of magic and the arcane moving to Gotham where she would become a moderately successful costume designer. That all changed when a mysterious book was left on her doorstep, a book which would end up being her father's journal. Now trying to find him she has to deal with a whole different world of problems as it turns out things are starting to get loose from the Source Wall.

So in short it's Lovecraft but not the water-downed Lovecraft that most people are used to. It's the real Lovecraft filled with all the racism, sexism and horror that was involved. Yet at the same time it's a story about a woman's relationship with her estranged father, and also it's a story about legacy characters those that have to take up the mantle from those before them and how they deal with the expectations. The story will be split between the present, flashbacks to Zatanna's youth, and the occasional journal entry from Giovanni. (I've actually written out a solid plot outline this time aren't you folks proud?) It might be a little dark, and it might be a little strange and I'm going to have too much fun pulling all the weird things from the world of comic books, but hey the devil's in the details right?

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To be added. Maybe eventually. Probably.

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Hungover - John Constantine
Coming - Superman
Red- Cyclops
California Nights - Aquaman
Once Upon A Time In Mexico - Iron Man

Spiritum

Alright folks working on the next post should be up this weekend or at the latest Monday evening when I get back from work. In the meantime I was answering some questions PM'd to me and kind of did a lore dump which I figured I could post here as well if you guys are curious about the internal politics and governmental structure of Rassvet and some of the various gears which make the big old thing turn.

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LORE

Well first to give a base internal structure of Rassvet.

At the top you have the Monarchy, for the most part they serve as figureheads to unify behind. What little official regulation they have comes mainly in the form of diplomatic envoys. Though the current Monarch does have the ability to veto any bill passed within parliament by royal decree but it's generally considered in bad taste to do so unless you have a very good reason. Oh they are also in charge of making new official holidays, a matter of great importance. That being said military service runs deep in the Royal Family's blood with many second sons and the like becoming accomplished admirals and generals.

Parliament split into your standard two branch system with an Upper House and a Lower House. The Upper House consists of 103 seats appointed directly by what basically equivocates to a federal representative of the Monarchy in practice though concessions are made to the current Chancellor on the filling of vacant seats, but most of those vacancies happen to be given to those of peerage anyway. The Lower House is based upon votes upon a call for General Election which either happens when a vote is called and a majority of both houses agrees on it or the current Chancellor (who is the representative of the majority party in the lower house) Generally there is some generally bickering between the lower and upper houses but they can agree on most things.

The Judiciary works pretty much as you would expect it. Several tiers of courts with those in the highest courts being appointed directly by the Chancellor (with approval of course from the current monarch) and openings in smaller courts being filled during the General Election with any retirements or deaths of current judges being replaced by a proxy from whatever party currently holds that district until the Election.

The Intelligence Service is composed of Ten or so distinct agencies that can be split into two relatively cohesive spheres: state and military. For example Zimmy for one is most likely talking to the RSC, Rassvet Security Command which is the biggest of the military's agencies who has smaller sections branching off of it for each of the respective military branches. When people think of state intellgence they are generally talking about the Rassvet Security Intelligence Service or RSIS. RSIS is generally looked upon with suspicion by pretty much everybody that isn't RSIS cause they have been caught doing some questionable things in the past such as blackmailing PMs, wiretapping civilians and the like, all for matters of national security of course. The RSC and RSIS don't like each other very much and there is a lot of oneupmanship betweenn them but they get along well enough.

The Military is split into your basic Royal Rassvet Army, Royal Rassvet Navy, Royal Rassvet Air Force. Beyond that you have the Rassvet Central Command which deals with the combined operations of each military branch, Rassvet Special Operations Command in charge of special operation forces which work in support of Central Command, Information Acquisition Group which is one of the subbranches within the RSC which deals primarily with conduct of electronic warfare and the protection of the Armed Forces' communications and computer networks and the Royal Medical Brigade whose job is pretty self explanatory.

WARDEN floats adjacent to the Military but are a self-serving entity. In fact WARDEN is one of the branches to exclusively report to the Monarch and nobody else. This is based upon an age old treaty signed way back in the day when WARDEN was still a monastic order of magic wielding knights fighting monsters after members of said order tried to hold a military coupe against the Monarchy. This causes much chagrin to anti-monarchist who see this is basically giving the current king or queen, a private military to do with as they wish. Which is far from the truth since while WARDEN remains independent they still at least try to cooperate with Rassvet Central Command. Though generally members of the military don't like them all too much especially RSOC cause they are seen as unregulated, unorganized, and generally kind of stuckup about the whole magical warriors of death thing.

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In terms of divides within the government. Well. Politically the biggest is your classical conservative vs liberal politics represented by the Unity Party of Rassvet (UPR) and the Citizen's Alliance (CA) respectively. Currently UPR stands as His/Her Majesty's Government with a majority in the Lower House and the CA stands as HM Noble Opposition. And you can just look at the news of today for what they are arguing over cause its basically the same thing execpt some more laws about unsanctioned Mist use and the like.

The Monarchist and Anti-Monarchist debate generally falls under the same idea: anti-monarchist talk is often centered on the perceived symbolism of the monarch contrasting with those nation's political culture of egalitarianism rather than the idea of them per say. It would be more representative of us to talk about the idea of the nobility as a whole. These days the Nobility while many can trace their ancestors back a fair while we are generally talking about the upper class as a whole. Rassvet for all its wonder and grand ideas is still a country very much run on class divides. You either are born into success or you are going be trying to spend your entire life trying to pull yourself up a very rickety ladder and failing most of the time. This isn't help by the fact that most of the common people see a government run by the nobility which isn't necessarily wrong with the entirety of the Upper House being composed of them and the majority of the lower house as well - you don't see a lot of middle class and lower class peoples in government beyond the district level at least.

For example of how strange this gets we can take a look at the Monarchy. They are on good terms with WARDEN, The Higher ups of the Royal Navy, RSIS, RCC, and generally with UPR. Now you may be asking what about the other guys. Well since they are closely associated with WARDEN they are generally seen in disfavor by many in the Anti-WARDEN among others. Traditionally the Monarchy has close ties with the Navy as it was seen as the more 'refined' of the military branches (I.E Fenris, Gideon's uncle and current General of the Armies (head of Rassvet Central Command) was an Admiral in the Navy before he was promoted.). This means the Army is generally composed of people less than friendly with the nobility as its seen as the rugged force of the common man. The Monarchy helped pardon the heads of RSIS after the whole blackmail and wiretapping scandal back in the day and so they kind of have a mutual respect. This once again causes a whole nother bunch of issues because it makes the Security Command annoyed at them and also the anti-monarchists and the CA because the RSIS are like the textbook example of unsanctioned state repression.

WARDEN probably gets the most shit out of everybody though, generally by the civilian population more than anything else. Seen as an unchecked and unregulated force that steals your children and makes them into killing machines to propagate wars to continue their existence. They stand at the heart of many conspiracy theorist webs. On paper it's a high honor to be selected to become part of WARDEN, it looks very good on an individual level, but on a macro-level it's a little bit disconcerting. Of course these concerns aren't unwarranted and if people knew what actually went on inside the Citadel they would be horrified by the levels of child abuse that happen within it, and the unsettling number of small sized body bags they have to order every term but they get the job done. Everybody else tolerates them but behind their back let's say that kind things aren't said very often.

Of course the biggest argument in Rassvet right now is about the war. Basically you have the Settlement and Anti-Settlement sides. At the moment there was a surge of Settlement popularity resulting in them agreeing to peace talks but giving how creatively soon Vangar is going to stop pulling its punches we will see how long that lasts.