Since the light of civilization was first established, it has been present. Known only as "The Labyrinth", it is said to have contained all manner of hellish monster, the likes of which could not even be conceptualized outside of its domain. Tales of it have been passed down by word of mouth, from generation to generation, of heroes who have ventured into the Labyrinth, of Demon Lords who plotted from within its depths, of unimaginable treasures gilding those cavernous walls. An underground dungeon with a depth unknown, and the deeper one ventured, the greater the risk and the greater the reward. Yet, times have changed. For reasons lost to the sands of time, the Labyrinth was one day sealed. Mankind lived on in an ordinary fashion, as the tales of heroes and monsters drifted from memory to history, and from history to myth. The Labyrinth became a sealed-up cave only notable as a historical landmark with its relevance forgotten. Historians and archaeologists analyzed what unsealed parts of it could be observed, and subsequently left it to gather dust. Mankind grew complacent, ruling over the animals of the world with their superior might. Magical arts were lost and forgotten, and the world kept turning as it always had. In this year, to be known henceforth as the First Year of the New Era, this peace was shattered. The boundary between the Labyrinth and the outside world had been broken. It is unlikely that mankind would have even noticed this change for some time had a second occurrence happened at this same time: "The Descent of the Gods". Transcendent beings descended to Earth, and spoke to man for the first time in eons. To the rational world of man, the arrival of these beings, humanoid in appearance but wielding power that defied the common sense of humans, was far more shocking than the mere opening of a cave. These beings, calling themselves Gods, announced to all members of mankind that this slumbering Labyrinth had awoken once more. Due to their compassion for humans, they had come to give mankind blessings of power, such that they can venture into the Labyrinth once more. The area around the Labyrinth was established as an independent zone, free of the desires wrought by worldly kings; none would dare to defy that rule, lest they invite the anger of the Gods. Greater agility, endurance, power, and the blessings of the God they chose to ally with. With these gifts at their back, those members of the human race that came to the Labyrinth began their foray into its depths. And that's where you come in. Wealth, fame, power, justice, bloodlust, pick your purpose and journey forwards. Oh, and try not to die. [hider=Rules] No autohitting, no controlling other people's characters, no doing things you shouldn't be able to do. This is entry-level stuff. If you don't know how to act in a roleplay, I don't know what you're doing. That said, if you have legitimate questions, ask me. It's good to know that, if someone is waiting on you, after a 24 hour period of waiting they are free to post again. If you're in a conversation, they're free to walk away after 24 hours. If you're in a fight and they swung their sword at you, they're free to say that the sword hit after 24 hours. This means it's a very bad idea to not post before that deadline, should you be in a fight. Of course, if you won't be able to post for more than a day, let me know so I can extend this deadline for you; I won't penalize you for real-life circumstances. Don't be a bully Out-Of-Character. At the same time, don't be easily offended by everything someone says out of character. If someone's messing around, don't get all upset. If they're taking it too far, I'll talk to them. In-character, be as rude, offensive, or blatantly horrible as you like.[/hider] [hider=CS] Name: What is your character's name? Any nicknames? Title: You won't acquire this until you're recognized by the gods for your accomplishments, so leave it blank until then. Age: How old is your character? Gender: Male, Female, or Apache Helicopter? Appearance: Describe your character. A picture is also fine. Personality: Self-explanatory. Biography: What happened to your character before the events of the roleplay? Skills: What sort of things your character can do. Everything from swordplay to singing should go here. Also explain the level of skill they have in each skill. With combat, do not just put down "sword fighting", put down the style of sword fighting they use and what it entails, such as the sort of movements it focuses on and if it's offensive or defensive. Guild: Which god have they formed a pact with? Equipment: What do they have with them? Regarding money, the currency of the roleplay is measured in Golds and Silvers, where 10 silvers is one gold. 20 gold is the max you should start off with, and even that's only if you're pretty rich. [/hider] [hider=FAQ] [hider=So what is this Labyrinth thing?] Think of it as an underground dungeon, just outside of the city that the roleplay will be taking place in. The entrance to the Labyrinth is a cave that leads you underground to the first floor. From there, you can progress down into the Labyrinth. In classic dungeon style, the lower down you go, the stronger the monsters get and the better potential drops get. Don't expect monsters to drop gold or something, though. Killing monsters will net you their corpse, whatever they were carrying, and some nice experience. That said, other treasures might be around, whether guarded by a monster or just laying on the ground somewhere.[/hider] [hider=What are the gods doing here?] Who knows? They probably have a reason, but you'll have to get in their good graces before they start telling you secrets. All they'll say for now is that it's because they love humans so very much. At any rate, the Gods give you blessings that raise your abilities past those of a normal human's, so that you're able to fight monsters on-par. A good way to think about it is that, by joining a God's guild, your strength, speed, endurance, and so on are raised to being "five times that of an average human". That's the baseline you hit, meaning that a nine-year old girl and a twenty year old bodybuilder will actually be on par with each other in raw ability, so app whatever kind of character you like. It's also good to know that all people contracted with a God have accelerated healing, particularly when asleep. Typically, eight hours of sleep will be enough to heal non-fatal wounds. Wow, how convenient! By joining a God's "Guild", you agree to follow the rules of that God in exchange for power. Every god will have a personal viewpoint and dogma that will only be fully known to members of their guild after joining, so be careful as the God who you're joining up with might want you to do stuff against your own principles. When in a Guild, you will start off with a God's "first-order blessing" and "first-order detriment"; these are traits you obtain that are unique to being in that God's Guild. As you gain favor with that God and progress through the dungeon, you will be able to unlock their second-order blessing, third-order blessing, and so on. For specific God information, blessings, and the like, see the Lexicon below. After joining a Guild, you're allowed to leave it if another God looks more enticing to you, however you might need to do a quest of some sort to be allowed to leave the Guild you're currently in, depending on the God's temperament. Also, when you leave a God's Guild, all blessings you obtained from that God will be lost, so if you're in Hermes Guild and you leave it to join Ares Guild, you won't keep any Hermes blessings or detriments.[/hider] [hider=How do I get stronger?] The god you're in the guild of is in charge of that. After you've done some fighting in the Labyrinth, or basically anything that could be indicative of "training", you can go to your god and get your status updated. When that happens, the experiences you've accumulated will be converted into "boosts" to your respective stats. Say that you were running nonstop to get away from monsters, or you got beaten to the verge of death a couple times, your agility or vitality would go up, respectively. This also applies to your skills. Essentially this is how you "convert EXP into stat-ups". As this isn't an RPG and you don't have stats in a numeric sense, it's up to your common sense to decide how strong you think you are. Of course, if you ask, your god will personally let you know how strong they think you are. Here's roughly what each "parameter" stands for. Strength: Physical strength, obviously. You increase this through general combat; killing monsters does the best job. Agility: Reaction time and speed of movement. You increase this through things like dodging and running; obviously, doing a few laps around the city won't give you as big a boost as, say, dodging a Goblin Shaman's fireball will. Vitality: Force of physical life and innate physical defenses. Increased by taking physical damage. Intelligence: Magic attack power. Increased by practicing magic. Wisdom: Force of the spirit and innate spiritual defenses. Increased by taking spiritual damage.[/hider] [hider=How do I magic?] That's a secret. The methods for recovering the lost art of magic are hidden in the Labyrinth, it's up to you to find them.[/hider] [hider=What sort of monsters are on each floor?] Who knows? Go find out.[/hider] [hider=Can I enter the Labyrinth without a God's blessing?] Sure. If you're alone though, you'll die horribly. You won't have a chance against even the weakest monster.[/hider] [hider=What's the tech level?] Swords. Bows. Torches. No guns.[/hider] [hider=I have a question you didn't put here!] ...Ask it, then.[/hider] [/hider] So yeah, fantasy labyrinth dungeon-crawler shenanigans. If you've got any questions, feel free to ask~ I'll put up the list of Gods once we have a few people showing interest. Hopefully this takes off~