Fairstone City, located on the West Coast of the United States, is a city that only recently crossed the boundary between 'urban' and 'not'. Supporting a hefty population of over 750,000 people and comfortably situated alongside the water, the growth of the region is not something to be looked down upon.

Of course, that only applies if viewing the city from a "normal" perspective. To the groups of Contractors—Anchors—acting within society, Fairstone is simply another region to spread their influence—especially considering that the United States as a whole may as well still be a relatively clean slate for them to expand into. To what ends that influence may be used or what it holds in store, of course, matters not to those who seek not to gather or to destroy, but instead protect with the powers they hold instead.

That, of course, refers to the members of Soulflame: a new faction of Contractors, based within the United States, that only sprang up in the last few decades. Their goal, simply put, is to keep the multi-faceted war between the Anchors at a standstill and prevent the encroachment of their progress into the nation any further. Though their goals may clash at times, it remains to be seen what will come of all these groups meeting in this land.

[h2][center]Magic[/center][/h2]
Magic, as it stands here, is all based around 'contracts'. Contractors, people who perform these rites, are able to borrow the abilities and powers of higher beings (a category that includes deities, angels, demons, youkai, etc.;) and use them for themselves. No contract is without a cost, of course, but one thing remains constant regardless of the parties affected: to break a contract means to pay a 'fee', and things like that are never cheap.

[h3][center]Contractors and Contracts[/center][/h3]
Contractors are, as stated earlier, are the people who make 'contracts' with higher beings. Their ability to contract with specific higher beings usually depends on a person-by-person basis—while bloodline may play a role in how often a certain figure contracts with a family, it is not a one-size-fits-all sort of deal. In fact, the opposite is true; sometimes, a completely normal person may have a higher affinity towards making a contract with an upper-class deity than an nth generation descendant of a carefully pruned bloodline. The difference, of course, lies in the ability to make contact in the first place and the affinity between said person and the target deity.

Contracts, unlike most binding law documents of the modern era, are flexible—they bend, change, and warp depending on the parties involved. Most Contractors are low-level contractors in any given organization. In other words, they can only invoke elements and ideas that their contracted party has dominion over (for example, Zeus and lightning magic go hand in hand). As a Contractor gains more familiarity with a deity's power, then they can seek to 'improve' the contract that they already hold. The means to do so, of course, differ on a case-by-case basis, but that steps beyond the power of simply invoking an affinity and into being able to create a sentient familiar of their target deity if they so choose, as well as higher-level magic, proficiency with equipment that said deity might be famous for, and so on and so forth. This, naturally enough, leads to a rank that people are seldom able to even see in action—directly borrowing the authority of a deity to act as they so desire. Even the lowest class of higher being is difficult to become attuned to, but even doing that goes beyond what most middle-level Contractors will be able to defend against, much less fight directly.

Contracting a being usually requires some sort of connection—whether it be by sheer luck or some sort of connection (usually in the form of something the Anchor has). There is always some degree of luck involved in making contact in the first place, though, and more often than not higher beings will take offense if you cut off communications with them midway. Negotiating is not the only way of creating a contract, of course, as higher beings are often subject to their own whims and may cut an easier or harsher deal depending on what they see from the one making contact in the first place. Rarely will they reach out on their own to make contact with a human, though, and rarer still will they break their word. Gods of trickery and some Outliers, of course, are the exceptions to all of this, and though not all Outliers are malicious, they may hold their own goals as more important than the lives of a single (or many) humans.

Of course, breaking a Contract is a severe thing, and one that is often punished by those who are most in tune with that being on Earth. Whether that means a fine, the disappearance of family, eternal torment, or even death... Once again depends on the level of authority that a deity has and the sway of those who are contracted to them.

[h3][center]Hierarchies of Beings[/center][/h3]
Higher beings can be divided into three distinct categories: 'Deities', 'Supernaturals', and 'Outliers'. Of course, most Contractors opt to make a Contract with a single Deity (ideally) and maybe a Supernatural (or a few, depending on their strength), but once again, this only really applies to those who have the potential to do so. Contracting two or more Deity-level beings is almost never seen, but the rare cases that do manage such a feat are valued highly by the Anchors that they are a part of.

A general idea of each category is as follows:
[list][*]Deity: These are the big-names in mythology. Barring the Abrahamic God (as there are Archangels in his place here), these are the gods and goddesses of the world's history. Of course, the more famous ones are pickier about forming Contracts, because everyone knows them and they can afford to be pickier if they want. Examples of this include Zeus, Amaterasu, Shiva, any archangels and so on and so forth.
[*]Supernatural: Anything not encompassed by "Outlier" resides here. This category includes demigods, people who were deified after death, and even a few named creatures famous for their feats in life reside in this category. A common trait, of course, is that they all share some form of divinity or divine ancestry.
[*]Outliers: This is a category that contains a mishmash of beings that may be considered 'less viable' or 'secure' than the other two. Examples of beings in this category are beings such as the Titans, beasts such as Fenrir, the giants of Norse mythos, or possibly even some of the famed beings that terrorized Japan (such as the Yamata-no-Orochi or Taira-no-Masakado). Not only is contacting these being more difficult, but it is also INCREDIBLY dangerous to do so without prior preparation, as many will just as easily swallow a Contractor whole as they might simply strike up a conversation. Of course, named demons (such as those in the Ars Goetia) are also among this number.[/list]

[h3][center]Other Supernatural Creatures[/center][/h3]
Creatures not in the listing of 'higher beings', such as dragons and their ilk, do exist—however, they are few and far between, and most are now either kept in secret captivity, hidden away within the far reaches of the earth, or hide right in the middle of human civilization. All of them are intelligent to some degree, but they cannot contract with higher beings (unless they gain enough power to be directly subordinated) and can only be taken on as familiars by humans otherwise.

For the sake of this RP, beings in this category are not playable as a 'main' character. They can act as pseudo-NPC tagalongs, though, but only a maximum of one per player (and even then on a case by case basis).

[h3][center]Anchors[/center][/h3]
Anchors are the factions that represent any given pantheon of a religion—for example, there exists an Anchor for Greco-Roman gods, one for Norse gods, and so on and so forth. Generally, members of an Anchor will be contracted to one or more beings under the domain of their pantheon (or sometimes, none at all), but each one's individual goals vary wildly depending on their abilities, history, and sometimes even sub-faction.

For the purposes of this RP, only three characters from other Anchors will be allowed in—this number is subject to change based on the population of the RP at any given time. Each Anchor's name will be hidden until they become relevant in the RP, at which point the 0th post will be updated with their information in turn.

[h3][center]Soulflame[/center][/h3]
Soulflame is a group that originated in the United States (and is based in the United States) that has been slowly gaining traction ever since the end of World War II. It wasn't until this point, when the other Anchors had to retract resources to help their home nations recover from the war, that they were able to form in the first place.

The goal of Soulflame is, in essence, to keep North America neutral in any power-grabbing schemes on part of any of the Anchors. They exist as a deterrent to the Anchors but also seek to aid in a more globalized world. In other words, they incorporate technology into their operations just as much as they do Contracts and familiars and other such concepts—a fusion of old and new, if you will.

Most, if not all player characters in the RP should be a part of Soulflame.

[hr]
[h3][center]Notes[/center][/h3]
RPers may only have up to two characters in the RP, not counting any pseudo-NPC subordinates.

I'm not going to be TOO picky about who can access what level of being, but at most there should be a single lower-middle level Contractor among the starting group (assuming the number of RPers is somewhere around five to seven). Deities are fine in general, but keep to a single Contract party for now.

I want to stay away from 'teens save the world' in general, so the ideal age range is about 20-24 on average for a younger member of any given group. Child geniuses may be options, but... One at most, and I'll be scrutinizing any form like that for detail.

If you plan on making an Anchor character, I want to see the rest of the form before I give the name or goal. The character will help inform the rest of the group's actions and structure, for the most part... Assuming it gets through my QA.

If you want to figure out where a specific being lands on the hierarchy chart, you need only ask.

Any other questions? Also feel free to ask here; I don't mind attempting to answer any inquiries that pop up.

In any case, here's a form for those interested.

[hider=Form]
[list][*][u]Name:[/u]
[*][u]Age:[/u]
[*][u]Appearance:[/u]
[*][u]Personality:[/u]
[*][u]History:[/u]
[*][u]Affiliation:[/u]
[*][u]Level:[/u]
[*][u]Primary Contracted Party:[/u]
[*][u]Abilities:[/u]
[*][u]Skills:[/u]
[*][u]Other:[/u]
[/list][/hider]