It's a little rushed out, but I'm really eager to get back into roleplaying after uh... years... and this is something that I really wanted to do :D EDIT: Also I apparently suck at formatting... [u][b]Seekers of the First Flame[/b][/u] In this cold and dark world, you only find comfort at the bonfire. It was never once like this, or at least that’s what you believe. Distant memories of a life before this plague your very thoughts. You find that no matter how hard you try to desperately hold onto the life you once lead, you can’t help but question what is real and what is an illusion. You are an undead, branded by the accursed Darksign. Forced to live free from death at the cost of your very being. Your thoughts, emotions and ambitions will all slip away. You will become a Hollow. What if there was a way to avoid this fate? That is, after all, why you sit here in Lordran, the land of ancient lords. You may not remember your past life, or your loved ones, or even your dreams: but you remember the prophecy that brought you here to this accursed land. [i]“Thou who art undead art chosen. On thine exodus from the undead asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of ancient lords. Once thou ring the bell of awakening, the fate of thy undead thou shalt know.”[/i] These words are the only hope you have left to claim what was taken from you. It was you who escaped the asylum that your kind are imprisoned, along with all the undead you see around you at the bonfire. You look upon their faces and see how their despair matches your own. All of you warm your souls at the bonfire, the only warmth you’ve felt for a very long time. Despite your differences, all of you have come here for the same reason. The question is; which one of you is truly the Chosen One who will end the curse of the undead? The fire is fading, and soon the world will be shrouded in darkness. If that happens, your soul will truly be lost. [u][b]Roleplay Information[/b][/u] This is a dark fantasy roleplay that is entirely based off of the world of Dark Souls. The setting will be taking place in Lordran around the time of the First Flame fading. Don’t know what the first flame is? Maybe you don’t even know anything about Dark Souls, but that’s fine! Dark Souls is a game that has a very obscure way of telling it’s lore to the audience, so whether or not you’ve played the game is irrelevant. If you just want to be a part of a dark fantasy based roleplay then you’re more than welcome! The basic premise as you’ve guessed from the little summary above is that all of our characters are afflicted with the curse of the undead. We are immortal beings incapable of death, but in exchange our humanity is slowly slipping away. We are beginning to forget who we are or where we came from. All our characters know is that there is a prophecy that speaks of a Chosen Undead travelling to Lordran to seek the fate of the Undead. Whether this leads to the lifting of the curse, or submerging the rest of the world in its darkness, is unknown to us. Our characters are desperate people trying to cling onto their humanity. The process of an undead fully losing its humanity is called hollowing. Because our characters are undead, I feel like it’s going to introduce a very interesting mechanic to the roleplay where death is irrelevant. When we die we are brought back, but each time we are brought back we are closer to hollowing. So in essence, going hollow is the true equivalent of a character dying in this roleplay. The state of your characters hollowing at the beginning is completely up to you. Perhaps you’ve been in Lordran for a while and are on the brink of going hollow. Maybe your character only recently turned undead and still has a relatively good grasp of their life before the curse. In any case I’m hoping to find a group roleplayers that would be willing to participate in this little adventure. The progression of the story will be entirely reliant on these characters, as I’d like to stick to the nature of Dark Souls and not try and spout a lot of exposition on the lore and the story. Our characters can slowly piece together the world they find themselves in as we venture forth. Whether we end up discovering anything about the curse or why it came to be will be completely up to us and how we choose to live the story. [u][b]Roleplay Rules[/b][/u] - Generic Roleplay rules. Make sure every post aims to progress the plot in some way. It’s very hard to respond to a post that is vague and where not much happens in it. - Please listen to the GM’s final word when disputing anything, and always be respectful. - Please make your characters realistic. I don’t mean in terms of appearance; you can do whatever you desire for that. Just try not to make your characters overpowered. - If you have played Dark Souls, try not to metagame information about the game into your posts. For example, we are all starting at the same situation of trying to find the Bell of Awakening. In the game there are actually 2 Bells, however our characters would not know this fact. - If you haven’t played Dark Souls and wouldn’t like the experience spoiled to you, then perhaps this isn’t the best roleplay to join. I can’t guarantee whether or not there will be plot spoilers in this roleplay, as that will depend on how we choose to advance the story. - On the note of spoilers, if you have played the game and there are people in the roleplay that haven’t: use spoiler tags for everything. Literally everything. They can choose whether or not to read them, but let’s try not to ruin the experience of a pretty snazzy game in my opinion. [u][b]Hollowing and Humanity[/b][/u] The way you can reverse the hollowing process before it becomes irreversible is to consume the humanity of others. Humanity can be found in small doses on corpses, but pillaging it from a healthy undead seems to be the most effective way of restoring one’s humanity. You are not allowed to play as a hollow, but that does not mean your character can’t be chaotic or have ulterior motives. In the order of making things interesting, backstabs and betrayals between characters are allowed. This is assuming that both participating parties are alright with said betrayal happening. Essentially our characters are treading on thin ice. We are all at risk of hollowing and we would all do anything we could to avoid this fate. In desperate times, one of us may even be tempted to try and steal the humanity from another character less likely to hollow anytime soon. Or perhaps they would prefer to steal it from corpses bit by bit. Maybe your character won’t even need to gather humanity. Hollowing is simply the process of giving into despair and letting go of our humanity. As long as our wills stay strong, we cannot hollow. The question is, how long can you go through this endless cycle of death and misery before your will shatters? [u][b]Classes[/b][/u] In Dark Souls there are classes you can choose at the start that determine starting items and stats. This is a forum roleplay so I personally don’t like relying on stats or dice rolls and whatnot. So we aren’t going to use classes. You can be as creative with your character as you like, as long as it sticks to the dark medieval theme of the roleplay. [u][b]Covenants[/b][/u] Covenants are also a big thing in Dark Souls! I want to keep them included because I think they offer a nice edge to our characters. Covenants can also grant certain bonuses. Covenants with a strike through their name are currently unavailable for joining at the start of the roleplay. I could list all the covenants here, but truly I don’t know if everyone would want to participate in them. Especially since a lot of them wouldn’t be revealed to us until we advanced through the roleplay. If you want to be a part of a covenant, then just add it to your character sheet since I will put it there. If you have no idea what any of the covenants are since you don’t play Dark Souls, pm me or talk to the other roleplayers. [u][b]Character Sheet[/b][/u] Name – Age – Gender – Sexuality – Appearance – Image or description. Any form of image is acceptable. Land of Origin – You can use the lands from Dark Souls or make your own up! Covenant – Personality – Arsenal – Your characters tools, weapons etc. Magical Traits – Is your character a sorcerer or a cleric? If so give details on the extent of what they can do. Please don’t feel pressured to stick within the bounds of the Dark Souls world. You don’t have to make your character use Soul Sorceries or Pyromancy if you do not want to. If you do, then that’s perfectly fine. Just be as creative as you like without being overpowered. Biography – Talk about your character before they came to Lordran and what happened when they were afflicted by the curse. Miscellaneous – Other information you want to include.