In theory, every existence possesses a "grudge". A child's grudge to be stronger, a fetus's grudge to be born, a friend's grudge to shoulder others' pain. In order to be a sapient being without a single grudge, you must be an impossible being. You must be something that has glimpsed what mankind calls "Enlightenment", something that has seen the truth of the world and escaped its laws as a result.
A grudge does not have to be hatred, it simply has to be will. It is a part of the soul given form. It is the tether between the soul and the mind.
So then, if that is the case...what should happen when one's grudge is tapped into?
This is what we call "magic".
Magic, the comporting of spiritual energy through the focus of a grudge in order to achieve an effect on the world. The soul provides a power source, the grudge provides a concept, the world provides a process. At the cost of a piece of your soul, it can become possible to push past your limits, to turn your grudge into reality.
Your grudge is one of envy. You envy that another can run faster than you. Then, simply focus. Tear out a piece of your soul and feed it to the grudge, and for just a moment, you can become faster.
Your grudge is one of wrath. You wish to kill. Then burn part of what makes you "you" and gift it to the grudge, and in return you will be lent the power to kill.
Your grudge is one of hope. You cannot allow the person you love to die. Then give up your "everything". Your soul, your heart, your blood, your bone. Allow the grudge to consume you, so that your beloved will live in exchange.
This is the power of the grudge. Do be careful with it.
Welcome~! So, as you probably gathered, this is a party-based roleplay. The world in question is a medieval fantasy-style, in other words one where technology is rather meager. The magical system is as is given above; through using a "grudge" innate to oneself as a focus and permanently sacrificing part of their soul, achieving momentary "magical" effects is possible. Magic by far outclasses the world's technology in raw power, but given the nature of it, it's rarely practiced in day-to-day life.
The roleplay itself is an adventure-styled one centering around the player characters' party. I'll be controlling NPCs and there are some overarching plot elements that will largely take the form of "arcs". That said, there will be open-endedness in how the players tackle each arcs; railroading isn't my style.
The story begins in the town of Deln, a bustling metropolis. Deln sits on one of the Southern Isles, a small chain of islands that dot the coast of the much-larger continent, Knoth. The Southern Isles are politically independent and ruled over by an assembly held on the largest of the islands. Deln itself is a trade city, and a place where all walks of life, from wealthy to impoverished, congregate.
I'll either reveal the full layout of the world during the roleplay or if asked ahead of time, but rest assured that the worldbuilding is all finished well in advance.
Anyway, if you're interested or have clarification questions, give me a shout~!
Name: Self-explanatory.
Age: No younger than eight, no older than eighty.
Gender: Don't make this difficult.
Appearance: A written description is fine, as is a picture/drawing.
Personality: You can develop this during the roleplay, but please make this at least somewhat substantial.
History: Standard fare. No "it's a mystery to everyone" stuff. Additionally, include what's brought them to Deln.
Skills: Physical and mental abilities they have that the average person off the street doesn't.
Grudges: Foci of the soul. Choose three, describe their premise in relation to the Personality, and give a brief detailing of how they function when fed spiritual energy. Be relatively specific.
Equipment: Anything they're carrying on their person. Things like basic toiletries and standard clothing don't need to be listed here, but weapons, armor, food/water, and the like do.
Now, a grudge is not meant to be something vague, or at least it doesn't materialize as something vague. While every grudge of course has a vague base, it will shape itself differently depending on the person. For instance, two people might have a grudge revolving around envy of others, but for one it could be envy of strength while for another it could be envy of companionship.
In the application, you'll want to explain the nature of the grudge ("envy of another's strength"), and what occurs when it's tapped into ("physical parameters of the body increase, but acuity of the senses does not"). The strength of the grudge's effect, in this case how much stronger you temporarily become, depends on how much of the soul is sacrificed. It is, however, worth noting that you need to be in the right mindset to use the grudge. If it's one steeped in wrath and anger, and you're having a great day skipping along with your significant other, then you won't be able to access the grudge.
Here's some explanations of about how much of the soul yields what kind of effects, as benchmarks.
A "small" chunk of spiritual energy is about 5% of the soul, and will yield notable but not amazing results. You'll be able to beat up most normal people, but you can't beat up a dragon. Losing that much of your soul will cause some personality distortion with the concept of the grudge growing stronger, and everything else dimming.
A "moderate" chunk of spiritual energy is closer to 20% of the soul, and yields effects that are outside of human limits. Things like being able to trade blows with a high-level monster would be an example of this, but using up that much of your soul will pretty heavily change your mindset, and at that point there may be some effects on your health.
A "large" chunk of spiritual energy is around 50% of your soul, and yields absurd results. Things like being able to cut down a dragon in a single blow or annihilate a small town in a matter of minutes becomes possible, but after trading away so much of yourself, you'll functionally be a cripple for the rest of your life and a stranger to everyone who once knew you.
You are also capable of burning your entire soul to feed a grudge. This grants a single, instantaneous result that bends the rules of the world. Crazy stuff goes here, like temporal distortion or bringing back the recently dead (though not even this can bring back those who died long ago). However, this does mean your entire soul is consumed, and that you will never reincarnate. Additionally, there's a chance that, if such a thing happens, the grudge may find a way to manifest on the material plane, but that's never been verified.
Alrighty. I've added the character sheet, some more information on grudges and how to use them, and the very basic premise of where we'll be starting to the OP. I'd ideally like one or two more people before we make the OOC.
