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[I]Illustration kindly loaned by Brand. [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/13519/posts/ooc]Check the man's gallery![/url][/I][/CENTER]
[B]TL;DR Summary:[/b]
[indent]
- Theme is similar to the work of Robert Howard.
- Fantasy; we start with low fantasy but are coming into an awakening of high fantasy elements and beings. The legends return.
- Dark Ages tech level seems perfect for this setting, incidentally.
- The Guardians of Dara, the ruling body of the city have been slain in horrific fashion and it is up to the successors of the Guardians not only to steady the city in these tough times, but find out how their predecessors were slain.
- The new Guardians are the characters; veteran adventurers that rode together at one point to bring down King Pykas of Selander and his minion, the sorceror Cyrabassis, while still young.
- They faced magical beasts that were the stuff of tales, but people took it for the boasting of drunks and the characters stopped discussing this brief brush with magic.
- The characters have since retired from adventuring. As heroes in Dara they were offered all sorts of opportunities -- in each person's own way they've managed to be successful, though in some very different fields.
- On the other hand, they have different viewpoints, interests and belief. The characters should disagree on some things, perhaps fundamentally. Some in the group are allies and others are enemies. This is meant to promote a degree of strife between characters, and hard decision making.
- I am allowing different races, but the differences are cultural; everyone's lost the magic -- it's the stuff of myth and superstition. These races have the same lifespan as humanity, but different cultural beliefs and practices, and obviously different physical characteristics, but they too do not have magic.
- Just a note, let's avoid modern naming conventions in favor of working with syllables and sounds to create something that sounds different. No Devons, Chrises or Bobs. :)
- Sheets go to the [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/68630/posts/ooc?page=1#post-2130474]Sheets Thread[/url][/indent]
[B]In Character Info:[/b]
[indent][I]Dara is an ancient city, one that has fallen on hard times and has survived much. The re-establishment of trade routes and an influx of foreigners has given the city a new vitality in these times, and it is seeing a turnaround in her fortunes.

Twenty years ago, a band of young, green adventurers were swept up in Dara's finest hour, a defense against the legions of King Pykas of Selander, who threatened to take the entire region by force in an ambitious effort to forge a huge kingdom out of a gaggle of dusty, ancient city states on the continent of Aluth. 

He was assisted in this endeavor by an advisor by the name of Cyrabassis, an attainted and disavowed priest of Hazathalra whose dark reputation for ritual and sorcery was known far and wide. Many victories were attributed to his dark arts, though most would say that such things were coincidental -- fortuitous weather, people falling asleep. These were explainable, to a point. In the end, it was the characters that brought Cyrabassis low -- they raided into his lair, the catacombs beneath ancient ruins, and brought him out in chains, gagged and blinded, battered, bloodied and shaking from the things they saw despite their victory. King Pykas, also involved in the fell ritual the characters disrupted, was slain, as were things that were only in the realm of legend. To ensure the secrets of the place, known as Melazus, stayed buried, they flooded the place with water diverted from the River Dara and caused it to be buried in mud and muck forevermore.

Cyrabassis disappeared years ago from his captivity, and had not been heard from since. In that time, the characters somewhat forgot what they saw, rationalized it away or just simply stopped talking about it rather than face the ridicule and the skepticism as they went about their subsequent business, establishing themselves in positions of wealth, power and influence within Dara.

Dara has since flourished -- others have come to the place, like the characters, to make their fortunes in the dusty hinterlands, this forgotten and ancient land that still serves as a crossroad of spice and other trade goods. The region is tumultuous -- it wasn't at peace before Pykas tried to conquer it and it hasn't been since Pykas died, but Dara is confident once more, as it recaptures its old, dimly remembered glory and rebuilds itself into something better.

Despite these good times, there are rumors from the North of shadows and flame, of things the grandmothers told their children, or which drunkards boasted of in the wineshops; handsigns are made to ward them off, but they have never been seen -- everyone knows it is merely imagination, and these things can't possibly be true. The stories are fragmentary and varied. 

Then the Guardians are slain in council by something, their bodies strewn apart in their chambers in a monstrous fashion, rent into fleshy shreds.

New Guardians are chosen -- in their fear, and reflecting the esteem they hold the outlanders that came to help bring in a new age in Dara, they choose the heroes that saved the city in its last hour of need. This diverse group, all living within the city, but who have gone their own ways and sometimes have found each other at odds now must come together and not only steady Dara in her time of need, but also, they must face the past.

Because they had seen the sort of monster that could do this before. In Melazus.[/i][/indent]

[B]Out of Character Info:[/b]
[indent]The characters are older, retired adventurers, long since gone their own ways in retirement or independent business. They are influential people in various ways, be it wealth or position or a combination of the two. They can hold posts in the city, such as high priest of a given temple or as a commander of a group of the guards (Not all of 'em. :)) or as the head of a guild (thieves?) or trading house. There are a lot of options.

There is no -obvious- magic -- as indicated, it is a shocking and legendary thing, and these characters were scarred by what they saw. Deities do -not- generally answer calls (though they can, since there is magic in this setting) in a public fashion, though a character may hear from one once in a decade if they are a devoted servant. 

Or perhaps I should say that there is no magic [i]yet[/i]. You should absolutely reserve potential for it in your characters if you want, and not rule out the supernatural, but they are coming to it as neophyes. A mystic character with a hint of the mystery of magic to them, perhaps enshrouded in ritual and passed down superstition from their culture/family is acceptable, like a palm reader or someone with a tarot deck -- it works, but it can be explained away. No fireballs.

I am allowing races; elves, dwarves and so forth, but their lifespans are human and their magic is a little remembered dream of the dawn times, not their day to day dealings. They venerate the things they venerate as a source of cultural pride, but they are not magically adept. There are orcs, of course, what would we do without 'em, and goblinoid races, but they are in the same state, though they are in the same boat-- the gods only whisper in the ears of their few chosen, but the power is a well run dry.

Of course, as I indicated, the RP is about what happens when that power once again flows, when the well can be drawn from again. But the theme I want to convey is the shock of the characters as they face the legendary spring into form.

I know this mirrors George R.R. Martin in a sense, but this stuff stems from the works of other authors that are colleagues, like Robert Jordan, or authors that predate him like Robert Howard or H.P. Lovecraft.

The region of the setting of Dara, the continent of Aluth, is a dryer/more arid sort of place. Think Israel and Lebanon, or perhaps Armenia and Iran -- these places have their lush spots of green, and Dara is also such a place, sitting on the banks of the River Dara, which it is named for. But there are other parts that are rocky and hilly badlands, desert wadis and dry places in general. It is a region of city states and trade wars and fights over commerce, an exciting and sometimes amoral place of danger and mystery.

The characters, of course, ought to be foreigners of various sorts -- and not only that, they should definitely -not- agree on how things are done. Some love each other, others loathe each other, but they are, for better or for worse, the Guardians of Dara.[/indent]

[hider=Setting Info]
[b]Dara[/b]
[img]http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z399/huzbaz/DaraDistricts_zpsed76044c.jpg[/img]

[b]Aluth[/b]
[img]http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z399/huzbaz/Aluthmap_zpsfbb73511.jpg[/img]
(src: [url=http://ragir.deviantart.com/art/Blank-Fantasy-Map-60508185Blank Fantasy Map, by Ragir[/url])

[b]Geography of Dara:[/b][indent]- City Walls – There are multiple sets of walls, the outermost long since having been left to its own devices, as it was too large to easily maintain. Smaller walls inside the city are maintained in varying degrees. The Guardians began work after the fall of Pykas, and yet it goes slowly. The breaches in the wall mean that people can get in and out of the city easily, but merchants and their wagons tend to simply use the roads, which are accessed by the gates.

- Nyati District – The city center, it is a place of well-maintained boulevards, trees, predominantly date palms, and palatial homes. Besides the homes of Dara's wealthy, predominantly the Purebloods, is the Hall of Guardians and the Khavi Barracks, which house Dara's urban watch. The Nyati district sits between the Unah and Zalot districts, on the central northern part of the city. It is entered through the Sword Gate, which feeds into the Gold Roads.

- The Gold Roads – The road leading north is known as the Barbarian Road, the road East known as the Trail of Dust and the road leading east as the Green Path. Each tends to be known as the Gold Road in its given direction, but the Darans know the roads by different names to keep them straight. The roads are part of Dara's lifeblood, but have competition in other cities that seek to bypass Dara or see it reduced in prestige. Much of Dara's foreign policy and wars are fought over securing the trade on these roads.

- Zalot District – The mercantile district, the markets where things are sold and bought, including men at arms. It includes a number of inns for those that find the Unah district to be unpleasant. It abuts the Shava district and becomes more shabby the closer one comes to Shava. Zalot is east of Shava and Nyati and Udrau, and is the largest district of the city. It contains a large number of docks on the River Dara itself, though one can access the Gold Roads.

- The River Dara – Snakes northeast into the dawn, its source said to be quite far away. It is known as the lifegiver in Dara. Dara itself is dry land, long ago drained, though the lands on the bank of the River Dara are marshes that contain a number of different animals including snakes and lizard-lions, though the snakes were not native, but a curse inflicted upon them by some angry god. The river empties into the Sunil Sea, though the city sits somewhat inland from the sea itself.

- Unah District – Known also as the Candlelight District, Winesinks, brothels, gambling of varying quality. The quality of all these varies. The ones closer to the Nyati District, to the east, are of high quality, whereas the ones that are closer to the Shava district, to the south, tend to be more ragged and of lower quality. One of the pecularities of the district is that one cannot go about it armed, but must give up their weapons to stations manned by private guards hired by the district's governing guilds, who prefer that the alcohol (or more potent and strange things), sex and gambling not be mixed with deadly violence. 

- Shava District – A district that encompasses residences for the tradesmen and the laborers. In some reaches, it is most certainly a slum, though certain parts are abandoned and in ruins, reflecting, perhaps, Dara's decline in fortunes over the centuries. Parts of the Shava are orderly, but other parts run wild with gangs, particularly in the parts that have been abandoned by more reputable inhabitants. The Shava is one of the oldest districts, besides Udrau and Nyati, and has many tunnels beneath it in the catacombs.

- Udrau District – The Temple of Udrau, known as the Great House of Silence, is a gold domed complex, half in ruins itself, that sits atop the flat top of the large hill that marks the Udrau district, which is given largely to ruins of temples past. For centuries, only the faith of Udrau has remained, since the time when the Gods withdrew their presence during what was called the Extinction of Faith. Support for Udrau's temple as a matter of quaint local custom has sustained the Great Temple, though it is in a large degree of disrepute. Then again, ceremonies are still held here, and local festivals as well, so the district is kept up to some degree, though much of it is overgrown; what once were well-tended gardens has turned into a meadow green for children to play in and others to picnic.

- Yamiss District – The Yamiss district is the city's graveyards, built up more than a thousand years of existence in Dara, and is of interest to scholars in that it represents a number of different customs by different cultures from which its people have sprung from. A variety of monuments, from simple rune carved stone to shaped obelisks, pyramids, statues, Dwarven mausoleums and Elven rememberance gardens can all be found in the Yamiss. It is also a popular place for wise women to peddle herbs where they would be hassled in the Zalot district, and for other quiet business deals to be undertaken, of the less than respectable variety. Curses can be bought and sold and other mystic trinkets are for sale for those that indulge in such superstitions. The Yamiss district lies near where the River Dara empties into the Sea of Sunil, to the south of the city proper.[/indent]

[b]Culture of Dara:[/b][indent]While Dara is essentially an open and free city, ruled by a form of a Republican government, it is nonetheless a place with social distinctions and cultural practices that distinguish the native from the outsider. Some within Daran society take great pride in their 'tolerance' of immigrants and their practices, but subtly prefer their own to outsiders and work means of discrimination. There has always been something of a nativist movement among what accounts for Dara's nobility, the Purebloods, families that descend from the House of Isran and other royal dynasties. Though they no longer rule on blood alone, the Purebloods exercise considerable influence in the city by way of their wealth and the ability and leisure to take positions in the city's government. Most of them retain lands outside of Dara or businesses that otherwise allow them the income to take such positions.

The Priesthood of Udrau is one such example – though it is open to anyone, it is the bequest of the Purebloods that allow the Udrau priesthood to maintain themselves, even if the House of Silence, so called because the Gods no longer answer as they were said to in the past, is half a ruin. While they collect income from pilgrims and services, the primary means of support are the bequests of the Pureblood in return for accepting the landless sons of their houses. 

The rest of Daran culture is considerably more egalitarian, though urban laborers are not always happy to see new groups of immigrants come in large numbers and try to undercut them, and as such have created guilds that try their best to monopolize the various trades within the city, though they offer fairly generous terms to entice new immigrants to join rather than compete. However, betimes, the competition can get bloody and dangerous, particularly if nonhumans decide as a group to compete and undercut the rates of the guilds, though few native Darans will pay the lesser rate for fear of the social stigma attached to such and the threat of disruption of their business if word gets out. As such, while immigrants, even nonhumans are welcome, they are strongly discouraged from undercutting the guild-established minimum rates, but otherwise generally free to ply their trades without interference.

Slavery does not exist in Dara, something that Prince Isran outlawed when he overthrew his father, King Hrod, and dissolved the monarchy. However, indentured service, a contractual agreement of servitiude in return for pay or debt remission, is a common substitute for such, though Dara is sensitive to the complexities of the situation – the indentured must be given room and board, and the Guilds require sale of service to conform to their rates, lest they send members to disrupt the trade. Indenture is not merely for the unskilled or poor to get out of debt, but may represent service in return for training, such as in a mercenary company, or as the apprentice in a skilled trade. Indenture is found in almost all the trades, and there is a brisk business within Dara for the buying and selling of debt and the brokering of skilled indentured servants to the right buyers, in return for a finder's fee.

Daran religion, specifically the worship of Udrau, is a universalist faith that claims to encompass all other religions as facets of Udrau; other worship is tolerated as such, though there are some religious beliefs that take this as an offensive heresy. But then, the Daran sense of paternal superiority towards others kicks in; they are, after all, unsophisticated rubes by the lights of Darans, who consider themselves a proud, ancient and civilized culture. 

The universalist religion of Dara and its tolerance of differing cultures and religious beliefs feeds into its policies towards immigrants; Dara calls itself the All-Home, with good reason. Within, a multitude of fashions and modes of dress can be found from barbaric fur and leather to loose silken robes obtained through trade (and highly prized by the womenfolk) though the standard Daran garb that gets adopted after a time tends to run towards simple tunics or frocks; notably both sexes favor the djellaba, introduced a couple centuries ago; a long, loose fitting hooded robe that fits over the head. Wealthier Darans go for embroidery and intricate patterns on theirs, along with lighter cloths, whereas the poor make do with the simple garment. In any case, even those that come from other places often adapt to the Daran mode of dress in preferring simplicity and lightness in their choice of fashion.[/indent]

[b]Government of Dara:[/b][indent]The governing council of Dara are the Guardians – they are a council that is able to make laws and issue edicts and judge cases. In theory, their rule is absolute, but checked by the degree of light security that surrounds their person. They are, in a sense, able to protect themselves, but the Hall of the Guardians is lightly held and only there can they conduct the votes and make their business official. The Hall of Guardians, as a large chamber with little provisions for more than a small guard of Lictors, primarily Pureblood youth clad in green tunics that serve as heralds for the Guardians, carrying messages and announcing their formal presence to establishments and homes, is vulnerable, and since tradition requires the personal presence of Guardians for any business to be done, it is entirely possible for unpopular guardians to be assassinated in the Hall or laid siege to in their homes. This popular check on their absolute authority, as a Guardian rules until resignation or death, has kept the Guardians from becoming overly tyrannical, though it allows them a wide degree of theoretical power, if they can but figure out a means to keep the masses from becoming disaffected in the process.

Guardians are chosen generally by popular acclaim and augury by the priests of Udrau, though the process has evolved and devolved over the century. Unpopular but capable figures have been chosen for Guardianship, but checked by others who had the popularity of the people. In times past, would be conquerors or their subordinates, satraps and governors sent to assume control over Dara have been subverted by the allure of the mantle of Guardian, and from this practice has come the tradition of allowing foreigners of no great heritage or prominent tradesmen of humble birth to become Guardians alongside pureblood Darans whose families reach back thousands of years. Votes to enact or repeal edicts are simple majority, but require the presence of all living guardians, but for those that are on official duties that take them outside the city, such as assuming leadership of Dara's forces or on a diplomatic mission. But even those Guardians, upon returning, can call a vote to overturn a decree made in their absence.[/indent]

[b]History of Dara:[/b][indent]Dara always had Guardians, but at times they were advisors to a still greater ruler, and at other times they were the governing body of the city. Dara itself has a long history of expansion and contraction, from the times of legend when the gods spoke to men and there was magic in the world, down until recently. 

The last king of Dara, besides the Usurper Pykas, was Hrod II, who went mad in a quest to make the gods listen to him. He sacrificed and sacrificed, though as the sacrifices became human and bloody, so that the Great House of Silence ran red with blood down its steps. Hrod was intent on finding the key that would fit the lock, or so he thought, and cared little for who went under his knife, as an ever-dizzying array of would be sorcerors and priests advised him to try different types of sacrifices – often they themselves were punished for failure by their sacrifice. Dara was bled dry to buy ever more slaves for the sacrificial altar, and when the slaves were used up, he moved onto relatives.

His son, Isran, led a revolt against his father, when a brother of his went under the knife. When his father's head finally rolled down the steps of the temple, he declared that there would never be slaves in Dara again, that the king's castle was profaned by the blood of so many and must be destroyed, and that there would be no more Kings of Dara. Then, rather then bear the burden of his guilt, he plunged his knife into his own breast.

Dara's Guardians became the leaders of the city-state, chosen by a variety of means that generally came down to the basic system of the people submitting names to the Priests of Udrau and the priests choosing by augury, though the augury was often a matter of sufficient bribery if the priesthood was particularly corruptible. 

At various times, Dara was under the threat of conquest and occupation by foreign powers, for it was a faded glory of a power, sometimes militarily weak, but always with the trade flowing through her hands. At times, Daran policy was to act aggressively against competitors for trade with tariffs or even raiding against their routes. Neighbors of Dara, seeing the strategic value of its position on the Sunil Sea and the Gold Roads as being a vital trade, often looked upon Dara as a prize to be taken with sufficient forces.

Twenty-two years ago, King Pykas of Selander, a powerful city state situated north of Dara, invaded Dara successfully, scattering an army of hastily raised local levies with ease, and then set himself up in Dara as a ruler over a large portion of the local region, using Dara as his seat. Despite the thorough defeat of Dara in the field, the people of Dara were not happy with the brutal rule of Pykas. Pureblood families were forced to send some of their women to marry Pykas' officers and other outrages resulted in a continual resistance of his rule and murder of his troops in the streets. As the reprisals grew more brutal, more people joined the fight against Pykas until he was driven from the city and into the citadel of Melazus, to the North of the city, where he made common accord with one Cyrabassis, a supposed sorcerer with a fearful reputation. A group of young heroes went in to fight Pykas and Cyrabassis – they came out changed. 

After the defeat of Pykas, the hegemony of Selander was broken up as Pykas' generals decided to go into business for themselves. Cyrabassis was taken into custody by the Guardians but mysteriously escaped. Meanwhile, the Guardians ruled Dara once more, and Dara seemed poised to flourish, which it did in the twenty years since the defeat of Pykas.[/indent][/hider]