[center][color=#B22222][b][h1]Hope's Last Stand[/h1][/b][/color][/center]

[color=#B22222][center][i]There is a storm on the horizon, a monster the likes of which have never been seen before to the unknowing citizens of this world. The coming darkness is stained red with the blood of the many who have fallen before it. The panicked, pained screams of those in worlds past echo in the wind, yet the masses of this world are still yet unaware of what is coming their way. For now, they continue about their lives; trading, hunting, stealing, war, and the likes occurring day to day as if the coming storm were not on the verge of unleashing hell upon their world. Yet many are on-edge as the end comes yet again closer. Kingdoms stand ready to go to war with each other over perceived slights that would have previously slipped by unnoticed. Monsters grow more aggressive in their raids upon the little towns of the magical world as if running for shelter from that which is coming. The blind seers and witches hovering their crystal balls speak of fragile borders between realities, and of the terrible wave of destruction coming their way. However, these whispers are lost to the powers that might be able to mount a response to the coming storm. Their pride too much to admit that something that they might yet need each other, or to even listen to those seers and witches. 

While these people may be written off as false prophets, many of their predictions yet come true. The barriers between worlds grow thin, portals open to reveal alternate realities yet close again as quickly as they first appeared. Beings appear randomly, the entire world seems new to them as if they understand a different reality than this one. Monsters and creatures that have never been seen in this world are beginning to manifest, wreaking havoc with local ecosystems and towns. Chaos is starting to bury its vicious talons in the weak fabric of society. When chaos sets in on society, hope and order begin to crumble. You are in this world, whether a native or arrived from another by some strange coincidence. Yet you are still here all the same, and all around you, society begins to crumble under the pressure of the coming storm. The question remains of how you will respond when the storm finally makes its landfall upon these lands. 

Hope is on its last legs in the face of the coming storm.[/i][/center][/color]    


[hr][hr]


[u][b]Character Creation:[/b][/u]


No sliders, but there are plenty of options. Seriously, I don't quite like the idea of restricting people to this or that, saying that one thing is completely not allowed under any circumstance or whatever justification other GMs like to use. I've found that on occasion people can surprise me with a character that at first glance should have never been approved, but after a bit of one on one, can be a strong presence in the RP. With a setting as diverse as SW Legends, there are so many possibilities to build off of, so many backgrounds for characters and ways to make something truly unique. To that end, before we get to the character sheet proper and I let you all go to await what wondrous possibilities you provide me with, I do have a few things I would like to comment on regarding characters.

- On the subject of powerful characters, there is a simple rule here I have likely mentioned to each of you already. While I intend for all characters to reach the same approximate power level (unless you want to be less powerful, that is fine as well). What this means is weaker characters will have a chance to grow stronger over the course of the rp, while more powerful characters will stay about the same. That being said, this has nothing to do with character development, as that is always encouraged. Also remember we are all in this together, so having characters that work well together instead of doing all the work themselves is highly encouraged.

- Faces/Appearances. As you will note when looking over the CS, there is both a place for a picture and one for a detailed appearance. I would like both done, and encourage everyone to take that as an opportunity to go into greater detail about their characters. More important here, is the subject of pictures used in general. I've become rather partial to face-claims, and especially the use of gifs and such to show how my characters express themselves a little more… Viscerally. This is by no means a requirement for anyone, and I won't refuse a character on the basis of their CS using a particular art style. Just… Keep it presentable. You know what I mean.

- Characters in general. All that said, I would like to say that a well-structured and detailed sheet will always go over better than one that is essentially a somewhat expanded concept. The character sheet below is one adapted from another RP that I happened to like because not only is it innately structured better than something I could do on my own, but provides many places of opportunity for the player to add detail to their character. Just don't get too involved in creating a character that you may not be as enthused to play as the character once it's done. As someone who has done that before, I would hate to see someone put a lot of effort into a well-written character only to dislike it and not want to RP as it.

[hider=Character Sheet][code][hider=Character name][[center][h1][color=???]Character name/Title[/color][/h1]
[img]Image or gif of character[/img][/center]
[color=???][b]|[u] {Full Name} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]???[/indent]
[color=???][b]|[u] {Age} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]???[/indent]
[color=???][b]|[u] {Species} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]???[/indent]
[color=???][b]|[u] {Gender} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]Male/Female/Neither/Cuddle Crusader[/indent]
[.hr]
[color=???][b]|[u] {Alignment} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]Your DnD alignment here[/indent]
[color=???][b]|[u] World [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]The world which your character hails from.[/indent]
[color=???][b]|[u] {Appearance} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]Self-explanatory, cover at least the basics to some detail.[/indent]
[color=???][b]|[u] {Physical Abilities} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]Any and all strictly non-magicky abilities your character may have. This includes, but is not limited to combat skills, natural ability or learned skills.[/indent]
[color=???][b]|[u] {Magical Abilities} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]Strictly magicky-abilities your character may have. Only include this section if your character is a magic-user. Anything that may affect your character's ability to be influenced by magic would fall under the Physical Abilities section or the Limitations section, such as if your character was of a species naturally resistant, or was perhaps more susceptible to the mind trick power. This also includes abilities from Divine Sources, Chi, or any other means that isn't achievable via irl conditions.[/indent]
[color=???][b]|[u] {Limitations} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]Any and all limitations that your character may possess.[/indent]
[.hr]
[color=a187be][b]|[u] {Personality} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]This, along with the Backstory section should be the more detailed areas of the CS.[/indent]
[color=???][b]|[u] {Place of Origin} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]Quite simply, where your character came from and a brief bit on their upbringing.[/indent]
[color=???][b]|[u] {Background} [/u]|[/b][/color]
[indent]A history of your character showing important events in their past, and most particularly how they came to be part of the mercenary group and what they've done since joining.[/indent][/hider][/code][/hider]


[hr][hr]


[u][b]Worlds of the RP:[/b][/u]


NOTE: This section is not finished as some of the various members are still writing their worlds, will be updated as more information is given.


[b][u]Fayarea:[/u][/b]
[hider=Fayarea]
World name: Fayarea

Fayarea was once a peaceful utopia, one massive landmass floating seamlessly in an endless void. However, those days are long gone for the ancient land. Millennia ago, chaos grew within the peaceful empire of old and soon boiled over into a bloody civil war. Records are long lost of what came next, except that the landmass was fractured by the conflict. Where once there was one continuous land, four massive continents now floated in the endless void. Islands hung in between these continents, ringed in as if being protected from the void. Its survivors built new empires on these landmasses and hoped to start again. However, the history of bloody conflict was not yet finished with this world...

[b][u]Political:[/u][/b]
	The political climate of Fayarea is one that can be simply described as chaotic. Across the lands, four main civilizations struggle for dominance. While the islands in between are saved from this eternal battle of intrigue, espionage, and war there is little peace to be found there. Instead, the islands are ruled by the law of the swords. Pirates sail between the small towns and cities upon these islands, offering protection or raiding cities held by rival gangs. 

[b][u]Major Civilizations:[/u][/b]
[hider=Detuni Dominion]
Occupying the heavily forested North-Western continent, the Detuni Dominion worship the old empire as Gods, their many cities built around or within the remnants of the old empire. The capital of the Detuni Dominion, Daastin, sits within a mountain at the center of their continent. This mountain being the tallest in the lands, its summit still unreachable by modern means. Although atop the mountain sits a large, mostly intact relic of the old empire. Its brilliant light moving about the Detuni lands as a searchlight constantly. 

The Detuni see all other civilizations as uneducated savages, as they have yet to be enlighted by the old empire, or the 'Old Gods' as the Detuni would call them. This is manifested by way of Detuni missionaries, who also work as spies, being sent to other civilizations to try to convert them to the truth of the Old Gods. This is only not true for the Feyri Order, who the Detuni have cut off all contact with and have occasional border conflicts with. The two empires have not engaged in active warfare since they fought each other to a standstill in the hundred-year war many moons ago. With the other empires, the Detuni enjoy a peaceful relationship with, though their missionaries are often trying to subvert, sabotage, convert, or otherwise give their home empire the upper hand with varying success. The Detuni do actively send out forces into the islands in between to purge the pirates and 'liberate' the citizens of the islands. This often means subjugating and converting to their beliefs. This met early success, with the islands closest to the Detuni falling under their jurisdiction. But as of late, the pirates have managed to amass enough strength to resist the Detuni fleets. 

The Detuni are particularly skilled with magic, and applications of it. As such they possess a rather high level of arcano-tech. The Detuni are made up of a mix of humans, elves, orcs, and mouse-kin. Every race within their empire is seen as equals and can be chosen as the next 'Enlightened', a religious leader who also has absolute power over the state. Every citizen within the Detuni empire is tested for their magical prowess at a young age. Those who are capable of wielding magic lead a normal life, and are trained in how to use this ability. From there they can then freely choose whatever career path they wish to pursue. While those who cannot use magic are sent directly to the military academies. Here they are trained day in and day out, to the point of near-death almost every day. Along with arcano-tech grafts and experiments, this creates soldiers and police that are fearsome to the hilt. 
[/hider]

[hider=Imperium of Megin]
The Imperium of Megin occupies the nearly barren volcanic deserts of the South-Western Island. The Imperium seeks to avoid the mistakes of the Old Empire by raw strength. Their harsh environment forces the Imperium to live either below ground or on the very outskirts of their home. Their capital, Trelleborg, is the only exception to this rule. Sitting below a large outcropping of volcanic rock the city is heavily fortified against any and all raids. It sits at the foot of the gigantic volcano that is at the center of their island, with lava streams on either side of the city. The walls and defenses mounted atop these walls make it near impossible to breach via the air, leaving the tunnels below the ground which are rigged to collapse if needed as the only way into the city. The Imperium sees this conquest of a harsh land as a testament to their strength. Their continent has almost no remaining relics of the Old Empire, as those that were there have long since been destroyed by the volcano at the center of their island. 

The Imperium sees other civilizations and people as wards which they must protect and guide away from the mistakes of old. As such, they also often must punish a ward for stepping out of line from the goals of their protectors. This in the past has taken place in the form of quick, yet bloody wars that often left their enemies reeling from the chaos and destruction that had come on like a tidal wave. This caused the once many island empires to fall under the Imperium's might, though it never kept these territories for itself. While it holds a positive relationship with the Detuni today, it was not long ago that the Imperium tried to invade and destroy their fellow civilization. This was met with a firm rebuttal from the Detuni, but the Imperium managed to power through and win a narrow victory. As such, the Detuni have ceased to send missionaries to the Imperium and pay a tribute every year. The Imperium and the Feyri Empire are currently engaged in a violent war, ravaging the lands of both nations and leaving many corpses in its wake. This comes as the Imperium is moving to defend their close ally, the Amicitia Alliance, from the Feyri Order's attempted genocide of their nation. Because of this, the Imperium is unable to send their forces out to protect the islands from the pirates that are commonly in that void. The Amicitia Alliance is the closest ally of the Imperium, the two enjoying a beneficial relationship as the Alliance provides much-needed resources for the Imperium to survive, while the Imperium provides military force to help protect the alliance and allow them to keep to their pacifistic ways.

The Imperium is mainly consisted of by Dwarves, with the three minorities being wolfkin, dragonborn, and centaurs. The Dwarves are the dominate race, forming an upper class that ranks above the other races in their highly militaristic society. The dwarves are the officers, the generals. They are born into this position and trained since birth to lead and strategize. The dragonborn make up the NCOs, the leaders of the platoons and individual squads. The Centaurs are the cavalry, while the wolfkin are the basic infantry. The Imperium also employs the usage of lizardfolk slaves, having conquered their island empire long ago. Every member of the Imperium must serve a minimum of 50 years in service to the military, as the average lifespan is around 150 years. The Imperium is largely incapable of arcane arts but makes up for their lack of magical ability through training, prowess, and impressive technology. They are currently in an area where most of their technology is powered by coal and burning oils. Some older tech still exists that is based off steam power, and gunpowder is widely used for canons, gatling weaponry, explosives, and the occasional musket. The empire is not very religious, believing that devout religion simply sews discord that disrupts the strength of the Imperium.
[/hider]

[hider=Amicitia Alliance]
The Amicitia Alliance resides upon the South-Eastern island; one consisting of pleasant rolling plains, mountains, and lakes. Overall it is a picturesque landscape, the only blemishes upon it being the shattered remnants of the Old Empire. In various places around the lands, massive metal towers stick out of the ground. However these 'vaults' have been locked since the Old Empire found, and scholars can only guess at the purposes of these enormous structures. The Alliance once was multiple separate tribes who lived on this island but have long since decided to cast aside their ways of violence and form a single country for the prosperity of all. As such, they have since united into a democratic government that heavily enforces the pacifistic views of the civilization.

The Alliance is currently at peace with the Detuni Dominion, enjoying a rather profitable trade deal with the two empires. However, the religion that the Detuni believes in has started to take root within the Alliance, something which the Alliance is unaware of being due to the other empire's direct interference. They are also close allies with the Imperium of Megin. A relationship which goes back hundreds of years, and is something which both empires hold dear to themselves. This is shown now in how the Imperium is currently fighting in defense of the Alliance against the Feyri Order, who launched a surprise genocide campaign against the Alliance in recent years. The Alliance is the most advanced empire when it comes to healing magics, as well as other typically 'support' magic. This service is often employed by the military forces of their fellow empires. Even the Feyri Order will use their prisoners to heal their forces before execution. 

The Alliance is made up of Gnomes, Haflings, Orcs, Elves, Humans, and Tieflings. Each of these species being one of the many nations that joined together to form the alliance. Every species has equal rights within the empire, as do those from outside nations. Although the outsiders are not allowed certain liberties such as a trial for committing crimes with the empire, or the ability to vote during the elections.      
[/hider]

[hider=Feyri Order]

[/hider]

[b][u]Geographical:[/u][/b]
	.

[b][u]Cultural:[/u][/b]

[b][u]History:[/u][/b]
[/hider]

[b][u]Valkoria:[/u][/b]
[hider=Valkoria]
Type: Single Realm.

History:
Still suffering the fallout of a 50-year long war between the five major nations of the realm, Valkoria is a broken and bloodied world. However, the war was not the first of Valkoria's bloodshed, for over 12,000 years the mortals of Valkoria were ruled over by Dragon Lords, beings with near God-like power and abilities whose scales seemed impenetrable to normal weaponry and whose firey breath could turn stone fortifications into flowing rivers of magma, their rule was brutal and their word absolute. But this also proved to be their downfall, in secret, the mortals of Valkoria came together and put aside their different races and creeds to form The Order of Light, an organisation dedicated to the sole purpose of finding a weakness in the Dragons apparent invulnerability.

This weakness would appear just 500 years ago when the mortals would discover the existence of half-breeds for the first time. These children of the Dragons, usually the result of a Dragon and one of their many slaves and concubines, proved invaluable in The Orders study of their supposed Lords and after much trial and tribulation, they would strike gold. Lightning, an element previously thought to only be useable by the Dragons was discovered to be the only way to break through their scales and slay them. These first initiates as they became known would give the Mortals a fighting chance against the Dragon Lords though it would still prove an uphill battle. 

It would take over 100 years and cost the lives of countless millions for the Dragons rule over the majority of the realm to come to an end but the mortals would eventually succeed. Unfortunately for Valkoria's people, it would prove near impossible to remove the Dragons completely after they fortified themselves along with their remaining loyal supporters inside the Valley of the Damned. After a further 100 years of grinding their faces against the brick wall that was the Valley, The Order felt its best move would be to move to a tactic of firefighting and excursions made by the Dragons and their forces rather than waste more lives trying to break the barricades. And this tactic has worked well for the last 300 years, the Dragons excursions haven't stopped but the damage they cause has been severely mitigated. 

Unfortunately for the Mortals the relative subsidence of the Dragon attacks and the perceived ease with which The Order were dealing with those that did happen lead to the new nations that had formed beginning to turn on each other. When the Dragons originally carved up the Realm between themselves they paid little attention to the various communities and cultural groups they tore apart and the tensions this would lead to when the mortals formed their own nations only caused more bloodshed on Valkorian soil. 

50 years ago these tensions would reach a boiling point when The Kingdom of the Golden Dawn, the northernmost province of the realm and the only province to share a border with the Dragons, struck out against its neighbouring provinces by using historical land claims as their reasoning. Yet instead of uniting against the attackers the rest of the nations used this new war as an excuse to do the same and by years end Valkoria had been plunged into a realm wide conflict once again.

Luckily The Order was allowed to remain mostly neutral during this conflict, with only a few of its members and fighters going back to their homes to fight. While their neutrality would allow The Order to maintain their vigilance against potential attacks by the forces of the remaining Dragon Lords it also drew them much ire from nations governments and citizens. It seemed that the memories of Valkorian citizens were incredibly short since they had stopped entertaining the idea that the Dragons were still a serious threat in only a few hundred years. This would cause The Order to take more of a back seat role in Valkorian society, its Dragon Slayers who were once hailed as heroes of the realm now became ghosts to society. 
[/hider]