[center][h1][color=a187be][b]Volæria: A Red Rose in November[/b][/color][/h1]
[sup]Themes: [url=https://youtu.be/BoZnQNtrO2k]Big Sky[/url], [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_Fk20P03Gk]With Malice Towards None[/url], [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy6uV-eMOEs]Sky Waltz[/url], [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmAZoexenx8]Humoresque[/url][/sup]
[url=https://discord.gg/k6U6YQD][b]Volæria Discord Server[/b][/url]
[url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/168980-vol-ria-an-alt-1920s-steampunk-story-name-wip/ooc][b]Interest Check[/b][/url]
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[center][img]http://cdn.wallpapersafari.com/70/5/h81aUr.jpg[/img]
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[right]Italian Airship [i]La Calabria[/i] boarding Nuovo San Marino, Italy. Painted in 1915.[/right]

[color=gray][indent][sub]P R E L U D E[/sub][hr][/indent][/color]
[indent][indent][i]7th of February 1921[/i][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][i]My Dearest Aida, 

			Please read this letter with the utmost diligence as it must be brief for I have yet more to discuss with you in person when I arrive in the blossomed spring which has yet to arrive from this cold and barren landscape of the desolate continent called Antarctica. Damn my decision for staying in this underground and almost empty city for the winter and for this long! I admit that perhaps the compensation might have been something to consider though with what has been unfolding these past several months as I have not brought up to you until this moment are becoming all the more pernicious to those who do not wish to dwell in such unworldly and unexplainable occurrences that has endured in this city for the past few months. It is certain that you may not know of what I'm talking about, but I will explain with my best abilities. Though firstly I do apologize for not vocalizing my concerns earlier. 

			At my occupation, our research has have been successful though to where goals of a great accomplishments are reached leaves only a multitude of more unanswered questions straying further into the path of discovery. The Aetherium which has been in careful study for past several decades has lead to such questions. It is perhaps more than Reissner suggested for the Aetherium not only conducive to the idea of presenting itself with verification from our rigorous and carefully calculated analysis of the material but as well as rendering our test subjects to obtaining unspeakable and uncomprehending abilities - abilities I cannot even fathom to write fully. Most of what I speak of is classified though that is to an extent for I myself cannot describe what incredulous possibilities this gem has to offer the world and not necessarily in a positive way. 

			New problematical occurrences among the science crew: Deeper questions regarding morals and ethnics, soon sparking into a tangential debate of tedious philosophy where conversations seem to go going nowhere. Our lead professors no longer the confident in their abilities as lead scientists and some of which have abstained from furthering research. Some of them, not in their best mental fortitudes as they were months prior to our discoveries especially with one our lead officers, Gunnar Nordström. I do believe the man is going insane as he seems to be confined to his own quarters and in the quietest of nights when this cave-city cannot even echo a sound, I hear his alone in a room and none other. Perhaps the radiation got the best of his great mind, yet I am unsure of what exactly he murmurs to himself in solitude but I realize it is not a good sign. I sure as hope do not hope the bastard is up to trouble. 

			I leave this letter in the hands of Johann Hessler, a friend I trust with more than my life. Should it come from any other person... You may well have not received this letter if it should. It is most uncertain to me what will occur should it befall to the wrong hands, most notably of ever growing totalitarian governments, for if this letter is found I am not sure what will occur. I write this letter with due haste for I fear it may not be the first and once the plethora of letters come storming in from the city after what may endure in the few weeks let alone in the next few days should everything in the facility go wrong would bring the most unwanted attention! Let it be the first, should it ever occur to such a predicament for I also fear is a possibility. Best case scenario, nothing should come to any of this and this will be all over. Like some nightmare. 

			Fear not, my dearest Aida. I shall arrive as I said I would in the spring of this year as I await for my call back from the metro and see the ships on the Ports of Cielo to return - only to arrive back to our humble cottage, warming myself from the cold winter under the Mediterranean sun and in your delicate arms. 

Yours, 
Michele Lorenzo Brancini 
Assistant Chief Physicist 
Nuovo San Pietro Research Facility, Physics and Chemistry Department 
Nuovo San Pietro, Antarctica, the Empire of Italy 
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[color=gray][indent][sub]O N   T H E   W O R L D   O F   V O L Æ R I A,   A N   I N T R O D U C T I O N[/sub][hr][/indent][/color]
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[indent][indent][indent][indent][right][i]Brooklyn, New York City[/i], painted in 1923 (ignore the British flags).[/right][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent] 
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In an almost mirrored world surrounded by technological prowess and eye opening mysticism, the Age of Volæria serves as the version of how our own world would be like in a 'idea Steampunk-esque' setting. It is a fictional world which takes place in an alternate universe set in a 1920s Neo-Romantic Victorian Inspired setting during during the peak of a technological renaissance. The invention of the technology discovered during their time drastically having changed the culture to a much more conservative one with notions of nationalism and ethnic pride taking precedence over many countries around the civilized world. 

As stated before, Volæria takes place in a Neo-Romantic and Victorian/Gilded Age inspired setting. Most of the major history events in their world have mostly also occurred from our own post World War 1 though with addition to the renaissance of technological development particularly in aircraft, the world of flight has slightly deviated from the histories of our two worlds. The might of craftsmanship as well as its innovators have conjured an era of mysticism becoming all the more distant and unrecognizable from that of our own as the dreams of many idealists who aspired of a grand future were finally coming true. As stated earlier, some of the major events during this world have significantly changed some its history, alternating it from ours and becoming a variation of the events which have already transpired in our own history as well as several other elements that will be added in this world later on in the story. 

One of such discoveries changed their history is the elemental substance known as "Aetherium" an unobtainium that has many unexplainable, impossible abilities that have yet to be unraveled in the plot. Aetherium is so unknown and mysterious, that it cannot be placed on the elements chart and is unable of being properly calculated on a quantum level. The unknown element has many unexplainable effects one of which is producing a maglev effect that makes object hover when in the presence of high temperatures. The discovery of Aetherium would later help with the development with aviation technology as flying aircrafts would be forged by such a material. This era would be known as the "Sky Age" as stated by historians during this time or the "Age of Volæria" by J.R.R. Tolkien to which it would later be named. 

The element, while unknown in its reasons for why or how it functions can be predominately found in portions of southern Africa, northern regions of Canada, Greenland, Siberia, and an even more overly-founded abundance of this commodity being also being located in Antarctica. Shortly after the discovery of using this material for aerial purposes, mining jobs began to sprout by the tens of thousands. Underground cities had also become prevalent, serving as warmer places in which heat is insulated from the outside cold. It was in this era which subsequently reopened the factory businesses and new regulations were set in place as working in such places became safer than before. Things like overtime and child labor however are still in effect though people have never been safer working under such conditions. Unless of course one is to find work in the Arctic which is notoriously known for being though well-paid, a dangerous place as a reportedly 1 in 5 miners would die of hypothermia around the years 1880-1882. 

The greatest country with the leading innovation of this technology is Italy whose inventor, Vincenzo Buscemi, was credited for inventing the Aeroplatform in 1885, a stable and floating platform that would withstand any weight put on it without the need for any form of air resistance or helium. Vincenzo Buscemi would later work with curious inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin with the development of the Aeroship (sometimes called an Aethership), which was an Airship mostly hovered with the use of Aetherium. The result was a huge success as every country in the civilized world wanted to gain access to such a technology during the ever so growing age of Imperialism. The free market allowed for many companies to base their technology around such inventions and so the race for the skies began. 

It was during this time of technological prowess that San Francisco would become nearly the size of Los Angeles, the time were people were lifted from poverty, and the first World War being fought from 1915 to 1919 with very different battles and ending in a practical stalemate without ending as severely towards the economy of the nations or reparations having been made though involved covering just as many casualties. Austria-Hungary lost a lot of his former territory in the south though still remained a powerful nation despite Yugoslavian Separatists gaining independence though who themselves struggle to maintain their new nation to the south in the Balkans. Peace for the time being is transparent, though the phrase "the war to end all wars" is soon beginning to become all the more fallacious as tensions are beginning to rise once more between nations. 

Imperialism had still been alive and well but soon thereafter turning into Fascism as Italy is the first nation to begin becoming convinced of such ideas of national and ethnic pride. With the Bolsheviks taking control of Russia during the revolutions in 1917 and the complete overthrow of the Russian Provisional Government which inevitably led to the Russian Civil War, Democratic Socialists and Liberals from countries such as Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Finland are desperately severing themselves from the newly founded Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The Nordic Confederation formed when Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland joined forces and started mines and trading rights with both Greenland and Canada, Finland choosing to abstain for the time being though remaining a close ally. And with the new era of prohibition opening another underground trade route, one more violent than the world has ever seen before, a new underground criminal organization began to rise. The world has changed significantly in just a few years and no man can truly tell how different things could be in the next ten. Only time will tell...

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[color=gray][indent][sub]T H E   P L O T[/sub][hr][/indent][/color]
[indent][indent]It is late 1921, just a year after prohibition and during a time of organized crime, and social movements which also bring a plethora of violence and civic unrest around the world. Europe is constantly changing politically with the Bolshevik Revolution in the east and the later Russian Civil Wars which undoubtedly garner to Marxist revolutionaries in the west, the Irish War of Independence still brewing in the work, the Mexican Revolution coming to a swift end but with more ideas and conflicts of interest rising than coming to a closure, Austria-Hungary contemplating a union between themselves and Germany, and much more. The world is constantly changing, reopening ideas for innovation and after the tides of war have just swept away into the violent crashing sea though inevitably on the return as many predict another war approaching in perhaps another ten years and maybe even less. For the time being however, technology is at its peak and the world stands by in awe at the ingenuity and curiosity mankind as accumulated in a few short decades. One of such inventions was the Aetherium based airship (sometimes called an Aethership) which made transportation far easier than any regular plane or boat can take a person. 

Though with prohibition, this technology not only helped legitimate businesses with making shipping legal merchandise around the world but also open a window to an ever growing illegal organization - the criminal underworld. Those under such unscrupulous employment often used such technology to smuggle their illegal enterprises over the air and away from any road that could be intercepted by police or government lawbringers. With prohibition on the rise: smugglers, bootleggers, and others seek to expand their businesses using this technology. One group of individuals find themselves particularly attracted to such a deal but inevitably come across odd predicaments that soon tie them into the bonds of history. 

Our story is told through the eyes of a crew aboard the aethership [i]Strativella[/i] which promptly begins in the Italian-Occupied regions of Tunisia, voyaging across the Western World and taking occupations from anyone willing to conduct business with them, illegitimate ones or not - most of which are cargo and transport-related. Though as criminality is on the rise, so are the growing possibilities of danger which lurk in every corner as such jobs are accepted by the crew. There will be many complications throughout the crew's journeys around the world though their rewards are far too hard to simply pass up. As the plot unravels however, many other odd events have been occurring in the world and this unlikely crew inevitably finds itself tied to its problems. Odd events which cannot be fathomable to nothing more than mere imagination as the crew soon thereafter becomes themselves important figures this particular part of history. Are you willing partake in this grand expedition through the new world?[/indent][/indent] 

[color=gray][indent][sub]S O M E   C O M M E N T S[/sub][hr][/indent][/color] 
[indent][indent]
Greetings, 

At some point, I was contemplating posting this as it's been over a year since this idea has been floating in my head. Needless to say, I didn't write much since my first draft and when I saw it once again - I knew I had to work on it again. I hope this setting is as interesting and fresh to you to garner your attention as I've done a bit of research on my part before writing what is in store and although I'm not the greatest writer, I will keep it interesting as best as I can. If this garners not only your to attention, but inevitably to a number of people that are willing to participate in this story then we have a story we can all mutually enjoy. I do not mind having a small group either should it gather little interest as this post is simply meant to at least find several people who are willing to participate. 

The plot as you've read it is simply this: A ragtag crew taking jobs across the world, typically those involved with illegal activities. We will be practically traveling across the world (mostly through Europe and eventually the United States as well as parts of Latin America) and inevitably running into strange occurrences throughout the world as secrets kept locked away are beginning to manifest into the world. Think of the show Firefly as this is heavily inspired by and at times almost mirrored to. If you read the the letter written in the beginning which vaguely touches on these subjects, this is essentially what's tied to what is going on in the plot. I don't want to be too specific as to give anyway the story altogether, but it has to do with the underground cities which we will visit at some point as well. We will also first initially begin in Italian-Occupied North Africa in Tunisia before reaching Sicily and taking transporting jobs from there. 

As for the writing itself and what I expect for now: Red Rose in November is a high casual/low advanced setting so it is expected at minimum of three paragraphs per post. Those who are undergoing dialogue with other players should consider a collaboration on one post in order to avoid confusion. I will try my best to explain anything else that isn't mentioned later. Please to not hesitate with questions and/or criticism - All is welcome. 

Without further ado, welcome to Volæria! 
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[color=gray][indent][sub]R U L E S[/sub][hr][/indent][/color] 
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[u]PLEASE READ:[/u]
1.) As GM, my word is the law. You will follow as such. 
2.) This is a high casual/low advanced RP, I expect at least three paragraphs written for each post. The only exception is if your character is undergoing a dialogue between another character. 
3.) Be kind, respectful, and courteous to others OOC. You will only be warned once. 
4.) No God-Moding, please be realistic as possible. 
5.) No sex, black it out if you need to since there will probably be a lot of it. You may curse all you want for all I care and you may also be as violent as you want - just don't overdo it with the gore. Please message me if you're not sure where "going pass the line" is. 
6.) Player acknowledgement is not character acknowledgement, just because you talk about doing something, this doesn't necessarily mean your character or others are going to automatically know what is going on. Also, be explicit when you communicate with other players, if your character is thinking about something, it doesn't mean other characters could read their minds and know what they're thinking. The only exception to this obvious non-verbal cues which will have to be written. For the most part however, it is best to be verbal. 
7.) Please refrain from having OP and/or flawless characters. 
8.) Don't be afraid to ask me anything on either private messaging or via OOC. 
9.) Have fun! [/center]