[Hider=Bladecatcher RP Plot+Setting] [Center][B]- [U]Bladecatcher[/U] -[/B][/Center] [I]Ostia, the Kingdom has been shattered, in four pieces it remains. King Tygrim, the ruler of Steinheim still retains the throne, but a new self proclaimed king has risen in the city of Brakker. An outsider named Naeron whom has found in his dealings of black magic a way to combat the Kings most valuable weapon, the Priests of Skye. The kingdoms two other cities, the western port city of Gurst and the mountainside fortress that is Sturnvold each have to decide their allies quickly for the rise of Naeron has left Ostia fractured, and both the King and this new contender are ready to play their hands.[/I] New RP idea in which players can either take the side of King Tygrim and try to gain a hold of the once united kingdom of Ostia. Or in contrast they can follow Naeron in his pursuit of the throne. They can be the leaders of cities (Tygrim + Naeron excluded) but will not be able to change the characters, otherwise they can create any character they like for either side or indeed for either of the neutral cities, but best to create a character that will be heavily involved (E.G An advisor to Fijn or Syren, Battle Priest of Skye or a follower of Naeron) [B][U]Main Protagonist[/U][/B] - Naeron the Bladecatcher [B][U]Main Antagonist[/U][/B] - King Tygrim of Ostia [B][U]Major Cities[/U] -[/B] [B]Steinheim[/B] - The Capital of Ostia. Home of the King and the Order of Skye [B]Gurst[/B] - The seaside city, one of trade and the black market. Home to the Barroness Syren and the only city not to have an official order as Syren keeps her followers in the shadows. [B]Sturnvold[/B] - The fortress in the mountain. Home to Brigadier General Fijn and the Order of the Knights Pale [B]Brakker[/B] - On the opposite side of the kingdom to Steinheim, Brakker is home to Naeron the Bladecatcher and his newly appointed Order, the Norovyn. [B][U]Lesser towns/villages -[/U][/B] Bruch Kalborn Dahl Massen Kehlen [B][U]Other Kingdoms near Ostia -[/U][/B] [B]Bulgas[/B] - The Bulgan peopel of the North are harshened by the winters bite, but are trustworthy people [B]Dzavhan[/B] - These people are merchants and mecernaries, unless you have pockets full of gold they are not to be trusted. And even with your gold they are to be kept at arms reach. [B]Krantia[/B] - Unknown [I]Originally the Kingdom was united, but with King Tygrims ever growing disdain for his duties he left more and more to the rulers of each city and region. As such these cities and more importantly their leaders started to think for themselves and learnt the ropes of leadership and almost complete self sufficiency. Baroness Syren took to it like water, manipulating the black market which originated in her port city of Gurst she was able to quickly become the wealthiest city in Ostia and with all her money she bought shadows and daggers. She knows everything that happens in her city and to some degree what happens outside of it. She is a woman of simple tastes but over her years she has grown hateful of man and feels it is time for a woman to rise, however in her city of Gurst there are not many men worthy of battle and she would be better silting her own throat than paying for the services of foreign mercenaries. She is forced to join a side but which she is unsure. In contrast Bridadeir-General Fijn is a man of tradition, his mountain city holds significant strategic importance and whilst it does not have the riches of Gurst or the magnificence of Steinheim it is a city that both sides desperately want, but alas General Fijn is still loyal to the King as was his oath. But his men are not as loyal as he and he might find it difficult to lead men of such questionable loyalties. King Tygrim however has awoken from his slumber and is ready to take a hold of his fractured kingdom once more, he has employed his most valuable assets immediately, the Priests of Skye. These Battle-Priests are religious men who have gained incredibly abilities at the behest of their gods, there are little if any men in the whole of Ostia who would stand in the way of a Skye Priest either in fear of the gods retribution for halting a messenger or heaven or because they Priests have been known to make examples of those who betray the true king. The city of Brakker is the anomaly. Once completely loyal to the king but also tired of his absence they were prepared to do anything it took to beat the other cities and other factions to the throne. This resulted in the rise of Naeron the Bladecatcher, so named because he is notoriously hard to kill. He has taken Brakker for himself and through the use of what the King and his priests have dubbed 'black magic' he has the power to rival the Order of Skye and is the only one currently equip to take the throne for himself. [/I][/Hider] [Hider=Priests of Skye RP plot+Story] Once every seven years at the Temple of Skye a gateway opens. The people of *TBD* had first encountered this phenomenon almost 100 years ago. Being amazed at the emanating hue of the gateway a temple was built to encase it. Sure enough every seven years the gateway opens yet again, nobody knows why and nobody dares venture inside, the local priest has for many years now bellowed warnings of this gateway into the Maelstrom so he titled is. Not many listened to his mad ravings but the few that did were quick to act. It has been decades since the inception of the Order of Skye. An order of Battle-priests who's duty it is to keep tabs on the maelstrom gateway. Decades since the founder of the order *TBD* fell ill and left this world. The Order as it is known is now in the hands of *TBD*, an old man swallowed by his greed and self absorption. the Gateway is opened every seven years for a period of 24 hours. One day. Before it once more slams shut. The Hero is a cleric at the order. He has only recently been initiated and it is his task to complete the ritual that has been practices for almost two centuries as the time once more looms. The Maelstrom gate is soon to open once more but this time it will not be an empty light, this time the gateway will yield something. Someone. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Center][I]Sit boy, and let me teach you of how the Priests of Skye came to be.[/I][/Center] [I]We must travel almost one hundred years ago to find our origin. The Priests of Skye, the oldest and most respected order of men known are tasked with the safe keeping of the Maelstrom Gate. In the old times when man could could cast naught but bronze a doorway was opened, a doorway into the Maelstrom. At first man would not approach, afraid and ignorant the town shaman dubbed it evil in origin. Claiming visions of what the gateway would come to yield he damned it, but he was wrong. The Maelstrom gate is out connection to the divine, it is our source, our origin it is the realm of gods and the playground of the creators. We knew this because with the coming of the gateway came magic, as the two worlds connected the winds of magic flowed into our world and showed us that the gate was of another plane, of another message, our deities gifted us this gate in an attempt to better our lives. True enough the naysayers still existed. Shunning the powers of the gate they called us blasphemous, propagators of evil, devils. They were cast from the villages thrown to the wastes and left in their ignorance to find their own way in the world without the help of our true gods. One hundred years ago an order of men was created, an order of men to watch and protect the Maelstrom gate from all those who seek to harm our commune to the gods. The Order of Skye. These priests are able to bend the magic of the Maelstrom to their will, gifted with abilities we humble folk can only dream of. However not everyone saw these men as our saviors, the naysayers returned and upon their learning of the new order were disgusted, they did not approve of our delight in harnessing the powers of the gate saying that the power was not meant for mortals to harness that the gate was not sent to benefit us. War broke out. The Priests of Skye were attacked and they responded in kind, as you can imagine however with the powers of the Maelstrom at their backs the Priests were capable of pushing aside the naysayers with ease. In a single night they were hunted and their pitiful lives ended. That night however mankind was taught an important lesson, on that night of bloodshed the gate closed. The Priests did not know why and the villages were ruing the war, it was obvious that the gods were angry. They did not want the gifts bestowed upon man to lead to fighting, in our own greed and lack of understanding we allowed the Maelstrom to cloud our minds. It is a gift from the gods, but a gift we must share. The order remained but dwindled in the darkness, years of solitude in their keep they were without their gods. Then, a spark. Seven years since the gate had closed it opened once more, flowing light and magic back into our world. The Priests awoke from their keep and announced the return of the gods to out world and that this time, we would not anger them as we did in the past. Alas it did not matter what the people or the priests did, the gateway once again closed almost a year later. Confused the priests resigned themselves to the temple, abandoning their keep in the mountain they housed their entire order in the temple that was built around the Maelstrom gate. Then a most peculiar thing happened. The gate opened, the gate closed. Open, close, open, close. It was in those years that we learnt the terrible truth, the Maelstrom gate was finite. The period for which the gate stayed open slowly grew shorter and shorter. A calender was conceived, mapping the degradation of the Maelstrom gate and its opening. It has been a hundred years since and here we stand, humble folk in the grand city of Kalborn. The order is strong and still to this day protects the Maelstrom gate, the naysayers have been eradicated and we are living in a golden age. The Maelstrom gate is due to open soon and the Priests are preparing their period of sanctuary in which the temple is closed and barred and they pray to the gods directly. You would do well to follow in the footsteps of the Skye order and make a man of yourself, there are non finer in this world than those of the cloth.[/I][/Hider] [Hider=Sfi-Fi Bladecatcher plot] Sci-fi near future urban setting. Splicing is illegal yet practiced by some underground groups and the government is still in rigorous testing. Criminal organisation finds and steals the DNA of several very rare creatures and splices the DNA with their own men in an attempt to smuggle the DNA. The government or the company that kept that high security DNA is after the organisation in an attempt to get it back. Dystopia world in a country with a strict government when it comes to something they care about. The chasm between Rich and poor has grown and much of the excitement will most likely happen in slums or a similar setting. Global warming and pollution have hit all time highs directly impacting the planet and causing irreparable damage. Gorgon Basilisk Dragon Varg (Wolf) Kraken Bat In the hive cities of Europe-England the underground terrorists and crime syndicates hope to smuggle the exceptionally rare DNA samples they have stolen from the government and more precisely a company who is a world power and get them out of Britain, a very hard task considering the height of technology and the companies efforts to find the stolen samples. Splicing is illegal but the company will eventually send their unproven but most dangerous agent to find the samples. Codename -Bladecatcher he has been spliced with multiple animals, a feat not before accomplished and as such has incredible abilities. NPC list - Bladecatcher - Super agent eventually employed to help find the stolen DNA samples and the ones who stole them. Director Roark - The CEO of the company that kept the samples and the one which will stop at nothing to get them back. "This isn't the kind of place you want to hear about boy, much less live in." His old croaking voice carried so adamantly across the room it could be heard despite the shouts and laughter of thugs and miscreants, all of which were in the bar that night. "That said, if no one teaches you the ropes your not gonna last long. Pay attention boy..." Noi-bla (Pronounced Noah-blay), the once proud nation of Great Britain had dissolved into a city not much larger than it's capital London used to be. Now they all lived underneath a single dome, one that kept the pure air in and the pollution out. It had been this way for decades, mankind had put plans in place to rectify their mistakes but alas the damage was already done. The Earth spun into madness in an attempt to fix itself. Hurricanes, Tsunami's and eventually a new ice age. The Earth was trying to eradicate the virus that plagued it for centuries, but mankind held on. In resistance to the planets actions great Domes were built that could regulate atmospheres in enclosed spaces, they could keep warm and they could house large populations from the throes of a dying planet. Billions died. At first a catastrophe but later seen as a blessing in disguise for the space humans had to work with was a fraction of what it once was. Mankind had to learn to survive in it's new environment, real sunlight was scarce but the dome was fitted with lights that would replicate the light levels above the seemingly endless clouds that covered the sky. Genetically engineered crops were quickly focused on as a new sustainable food source was needed. The scientists were heralded as saviors, feeding hundreds of thousands with a petty few crop fields. Genetic alteration was turned into an art. Almost a century since and the standard of life did not improve as was promised by the pseudo-governments that tried to run these dome-cities. The population was on the rise and with all the strides in GM crops mankind was on the edge, it was almost ready to sign it's own death warrant. [/Hider]