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[center][b][u]Dungeon Keepers[/u][/b][/center]

[i]Banner by [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/users/7978]0011001[/url]
GMs: BBeast, Cyclone
Thanks to everyone else for their help

If you're interested, let us know your ideas for your Keeper.

This is a new attempt at the Dungeon Keepers series, this time with a much smaller world to encourage player interaction.[/i]

Long ago, in a distant world, the godly being the Devourer created us, the Keepers. We built incredible fortresses called Dungeons to harbour our magical might, and from them we sent out great armies which slaughtered the humans of the land and razed their cities. The reign of our evil soaked the land, until we finally unleashed the Apocalypse and destroyed that world. But we did not die with that realm.

We have moved on to a whole new world. This land we have entered is called Cyprus, and despite being small it is rich with humans. But these humans are not peaceful. Four tribes, wielding rich and diverse magic, surround a grand kingdom and are often at war with each other. These humans will not be easy to conquer and enslave, for they are adept at the art of war and are as cunning and treacherous as we, the Keepers, are. But we shall seize their villages, conquer their cities and slaughter their armies. The denizens of this world will bend to our might or be crushed by it. There is power to be had, and there is nobody who shall stand in our way.

[b]Basis:[/b]

As one may have guessed, this roleplay is not focusing on being the 'good guys'. Rather, you are the evil overlord you have always been trying to beat (in more archetypal stories). You must build your army and Dungeon and set out to conquer this land. The humans of this world are not to be scoffed at, for they are experienced in warfare, especially against magical foes, and they have a firm hold of their territory. They won't be defeated too easily.

Humans aside, the greatest threat is your fellow Keepers. We are not a very organised or friendly group, and have always been known to fight each other. And in this small land with finite territory and manpower, conflict is inevitable.

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[b]Ground Rules:[/b]

[*]The standard no godmodding/metagaming/etc. applies. This means waltzing in, ignoring all resistance, and simply killing another player or a major NPC in one hit is out of the question, and so is being aware of a stealth attack on your Dungeon when you have no legitimate means of detecting it, or simply knowing the location of your enemy without having scouted or searched beforehand.[/*]
[*]To join, there is no character sheet. Instead, write a paragraph or two briefly describing your Keeper, including their appearance, abilities, personality, perhaps a bit of their history, etc. and post it to the OOC. This will go in the Compendium. When we approve it, you may post your entry into the world in the IC.[/*]
[*]With NPCs, feel free to control minor NPCs (eg. a village which you are raiding, random individuals, etc.). For larger NPCs (eg. a city, an entire army), you should probably consult us.[/*]
[*]There are probably a lot of empty spaces in the description of the world. You are free to fill in those spaces (with-in reason, of course. Any major development, such as an entire hidden nation or artefact of great power, would need to run through us first).[/*]
[*]The GMs reserve the right to throw a metaphorical monkey wrench into your operations, to keep things from getting complacent. You can't expect to attempt world domination with nothing ever going wrong, now can you?[/*]
[*]We will be keeping a Compendium, a list of your creatures, Dungeon, Avatar, etc. for quick reference, so we (and you) do not have to sift through pages of text to find information about you or anyone else later. It will be greatly appreciated if, whenever you create a new creature or Construct or change your Avatar or Dungeon, you write about a paragraph to go into that Compendium.[/*]

Read on to find out how to be a Keeper.

[b]Getting Started:[/b]

You are a Keeper. Keepers are like demigods, with nigh immortal souls and the ability to create life. Your soul will have just entered this world from the Void into some random place in the world, but now you need an Avatar, a physical form to incarnate as. This body is vulnerable to destruction and manipulation by physical and magical means, but it may also be whatever form you choose, provided you have the power to do so. In creating your form you can forfeit certain things for others - you could forgo magic in order to have great physical strength, or lose all considerable physical prowess to become ultra-magical, or somewhere in between.

But you have just entered this world, and your power is no greater than that of a sorcerer. You don't yet have the power to create an Avatar capable of flight, telepathy, vast destruction and near indestructibility all at once. You must earn and develop such powers, and try to be original too.

Once materialised, your first step to world domination is to create your Dungeon Heart - your inner sanctum, the core of your Dungeon, nexus of your power, centre of your operations. Either you gather slaves to construct it, enchant some artefact, or at worst build it yourself. In the Heart you can do many things. You can modify your Avatar, command your forces directly, expand your consciousness across your entire Dungeon and, most importantly, create new Creatures and Constructs.

Before you can expand your Dungeon and construct whatever rooms you need or desire, you require a workforce. In Ages past, we would summon Imps from the Void, but alas we can no longer do that in this world, so we will have to enslave the limited human populace, or get them to work for us by other means. In order to do that, you need an army. And for that you need creatures.

To create your first creature, you simply enter your Heart and begin the creative process. You can invent just about anything, although its power is limited by that of yourself and your Dungeon, so your first creature will be fairly weak, hardly more powerful than a human if at all. While creating the blueprint for this new creature, however, you are completely incapacitated and quite vulnerable. Any significant disturbance could be catastrophic. The time it takes to create your first blueprint is 3 posts made by other people (not your own posts).

Once you've created your blueprint or original, you can easily create many more of that creature. A summoning chamber, a hatchery, transmutation of other creatures, or something along those lines will allow more of that creature to be made. Just make sure not to lose every copy of that creature, or else you will have to create it again from scratch.

So, with your meagre army you can head out, raze a village and capture some humans as slaves. Now what? You can get them to work on your Dungeon, that's what. If word gets out that you razed a village an angry army might come knocking on your doorstep, so you'd better build some defences. You'll also want a solid means of summoning more of your creatures. Additionally, you've got to house, feed and equip your army and slaves, so you'll probably need barracks, shelters, farms, mines, blacksmiths, and workshops. Facilities for training is a good idea, as are storage rooms, prisons for rowdy slaves, and whatever specialty rooms and buildings you might need. Get creative.

The greater your Dungeon, the greater your power. And the further your conquest, the greater your power. So get out there, enslave humanity, extend your Dungeon and be a blight on the world.

(I think that's enough for an Interest Check.)
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[hider=About the world]
[b]The World:[/b]

[img=http://s25.postimg.org/415fqzu4f/Cyprus1.png]

This time we have emerged in a land called Cyprus. Cyprus is a small, coastal region, an oasis of lush green surrounded by inhospitable desert and vast ocean. It is very roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) across and 70 kilometers (45 miles) long, which puts it at 2-3 day's march across, assuming human speeds, need for rest, and no resistance. For an Earthly comparison, it is about the size of a small European nation. The climate is temperate, bordering on tropical.

The land of Cyprus is bordered on the North and West by a mountain range. At the North-Eastern corner there is heavy vulcanism, with numerous active volcanos constantly spewing out ash, forming the wastes known as the Ashlands. In the middle of the Northern border is a frozen wasteland, making that stretch of the mountain range even more treacherous. Beyond the mountains is desert, which stretches many, many days into the distance and is home to little more than the wildlife and a few nomadic barbarian tribes. The South and East of Cyprus is coastline, and while that is quite hospitable there is little of interest within reach beyond that horizon. Around the South of Cyprus sprawls a thick jungle, the fauna of which makes it quite a perilous location for the unwary. Within those borders lies lush green plains, interspersed with woodlands and lined with a few pristine rivers and a small lake.

Within those borders live the inhabitants of Cyprus, which are mainly human, some of which have magical capabilities, and number approximately 120,000 in total, including those of the major kingdom as well as the lesser races. They have made their mark on this land. In the territory of the major kingdom, half the arable land has been converted to farmland, and hundreds of little villages dot the countryside, spaced only a few kilometers apart on the myriad roads. While these villages are undefended and plentiful, they are also small, averaging a population of around 200 people each. A much more tempting target would be the towns, or even the cities, each with populations numbering in the thousands or more, but those are far fewer and also much better defended. There are also a few castles, fortresses intended for border defense, which may make useful footholds within their territory. The races living in the borders are generally populated much more sparsely when compared to the central kingdom, although this varies.

[b]NPCs:[/b]

In Cyprus, there are five nations and races of especial interest, The largest of them is the kingdom of the Cypriots, with the capital city of Amplus in the centre of Cyprus. The Cypriots, named so because they lay claim to ownership of this whole land, are mostly ordinary humans (by the standards of Cyprus, anyway), ruled by a monarchy. Their kingdom covers most land which is not held fiercely by the other races, and has been maintained by a combination of technological superiority, a greater population, and a mysterious absence of any political unrest. Quite likely your first forays as a Keeper will be into the villages of the Cypriots, and while it will be a challenge to penetrate deeper into their territory, if you can successfully conquer their kingdom you will definitely be the strongest Keeper in the land.

To the West, nestled in the mountains on the border of Cyprus, is the grand city of Monolith. In the centre of Monolith stands an artefact of great power, Providence, which powers the many untiring golem Workers which are the city's inhabitants. The Workers used to be people, drawn by the prospect of immortality and transformed into these beings, at the cost of never being able to leave the city and having to toil continuously. Watching over the city, and capable of travelling elsewhere, are the Travellers, who are more powerful. Monolith is a centre of manufacturing, and is a source of many of the weapons and tools of the Cypriots. While the Workers can not simply be captured as slaves to take back to your Dungeon, to capture Monolith would be to hold the greatest hub of manufacturing on Cyprus, and to cut critical supplies from the Cypriots.

To the South in the jungle are the Dragon Riders, a nomadic race of people who live in a symbiotic relationship with giant, poison breathing, flightless lizards, often referred to as Dragons. Little is known about them, for they do not have settlements or language. Instead, they are spread across the jungle, adding to the dangers already lurking there. The intelligence and trap-making skills of the Riders, combined with the sheer strength and power of the Dragons, makes them dangerous opponents to face on their home turf. While they are dangerous, they are in no way organised or united. To conquer the jungle would be to control the greatest source of lumber in Cyprus, as well as the greatest concentration of biodiversity. Who knows, you might even be able to find a use for the Dragon Riders.

To the North in the mountains is Kythnos, a frigid icy wasteland of unnatural cold locked in eternal snowfall. It is inhabited by the ice witches, who are actually ice demons in a thin disguise, and who have gathered a significant cult following. A jagged, crystalline city of ice twists through the mountains, but the majority of the city lies underground in ice caves. Save for the storms and the magic of the ice demons, the mountains are also defended by sheer cliff faces and pits leading to crystalline spikes. While this land is unpleasant, the ice demons may be useful allies in your quest for conquest. And if not, they have been storing up power for quite some time, which lies locked within the ice.

Just East of Kythnos is its polar opposite, the Ashmarch, a land of volcanos and poisoned by ash. Few dare enter, for any water is toxic and the ground itself is treacherous. However, deep inside the Ashmarch are the towers of the Warlocks, humans who have been shunned by the rest of humanity for their practice of necromancy and other dark magics. They are highly aggressive, sending out soldiers to raze settlements and capture slaves from the borders of the Ashmarch. Above ground, their settlements are quite dreary, save for their magnificent towers. However, they have made extensive use of subterranean caves and caverns to house slaves, fungal farms and so on. While the land is dangerous to enter, it is for this reason that the towns of the Ashlanders are quite poorly defended, so if you can brave the Ashmarch with a proper army you should find easy pickings of slaves. Alternatively, you could make allies with the Warlocks, perhaps taking advantage of the unrest rising among their ranks.

There can be other lesser races inhabiting Cyrpus as well, in the corners of the land where the other races won't have wiped them out or assimilated them. However, they obviously wouldn't have the same level of influence as the aforementioned five.
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