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[sub][color=aqua][b][i]Oi oi lads, we're back[/i][/b][/color][/sub]
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[color=Silver][centre][i]War is the most peculiar of human achievements. Never in any other point of history does the rapid technological development of mankind muster the same drive as it does when it's under the pretences of slaughter, defence, defiance and conquest. Intelligent pools of thought are put together to best figure out how to annihilate the opposition. And it all seems so easy to deny its virtuous place in the world, yet it crawls back over and over, lusting off of the banquets of suffering and hate that so easily fuels its fires. Someday, however, an impasse may arise, where humanity pushes itself so far to brutality that only then will it spend all it has to offer on reversing the carnage it has indulged in for thousands of years.

In 1911EC, the most formidable Empire in history launches the swift invasion of the Eastern fringes of unconquered Europan soil, breaching an unsteady status quo held up by twigs and paper. The reasons behind were mainly driven by the lust for ragnite, the ever-so precious material of Ragnite, a natural resource capable of fulfilling the needs of the fuelling the new age of industrialisation, alongside its only-recent manipulation for medicinal and wartime practices. Only a year before, the Atlantic Federation had been birthed out of a taped-together defensive pact, opposing the ideology of the Eastern Autocratic Europan Empire. Whilst the first troops swept through its border nations, such as Assen and Wesel, the mass mobilisation began for the largest military conflict mankind had seen. Many feared for what the war would bring, but the most optimistic of politicians, commentators, generals and citizens slated a year long engagement that would see a rise and fall of one or more great powers. What followed, however, was soon to be known as the Great Europan War.

It is now December 30th, 1914. Four long, gruelling years of violence has seen the greatest loss of life in any existing conflict. The harsh realities of trench-based warfare has set the world continent into chaos. Things have improved little. On one side, the Imperials were halted before their advance could overwhelm the Federation - and over time, the attrition has slowly begun to whittle down the lonesome giant that persists in claiming the valuable resources and expanding its continental ambitions. However, as the Federation's offensive to liberate Assen and Wesel has progressed at an aching pace, the winter has once again settled in. Now, the frontline sits static once more. The Empire holds heavily entrenched ground with the Federation forced to dig in out of fear of losing its gains. And now, with the long-awaited arrival of Vinland soldiers, it's unsure if the coming days will see any victories for the foreseeable future, or if the war will forever persist until it perpetuates humanity's very destruction.[/i][/centre][/color]

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	Hello all, and welcome to Valkyria Chronicles: Changing of the Guard, a lite-fantasy-esq historical war drama focusing on the narratives of characters forced to endure its horrendous conflicts. Now, first thing to put out there, yes this is derived from the universe of the same game name, SEGA's Valkyria Chronicles, however I will immediately say that prior knowledge of the series is nothing much of a bonus rather than a requirement. Returning group members range from long-time fans to those who've never even touched or had heard of the source material anytime before what we did, and we don't so much follow the canonical events. For example, the games follow the Second Europan War in 1935, whereas we're currently exploring EW1 in its closing years, before transitioning over to EW2's inception when we eventually conclude its former self, showcasing the chance of technology, ideologies, character development and more.

	For those unaware, CotG was a long-running roleplay that started in 2018 and lasted until early 2020. It achieved over 410+ posts and to this day stands as the most successful thing I've ever miraculously ran on this website. You can find the old thread [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/174715-valkyria-chronicles-changing-of-the-guard/ooc]HERE[/url]. With this in mind, it should be a clear that this is a continuation from where we left off, yet jumped ahead to the next arc to openly welcome and accommodate new players that wish to partake in this gritty and downtrodden world our characters find themselves within. When the OOC is posted, there will be a summary of existing overarching events that crossed our characters.

	Backdrop tiiiiime! So, the existing cast are all members of the Federation's [i]15th Atlantic Rifles[/i], an infantry regiment posted along the central frontline. However, our characters come from across an array of nationalities both under the Federation's umbrella, neutral volunteer forces, colonial dominions and more. The war itself has been ruthless to most of the cast, whilst rewarding to others finding what they sought. Whether they're a failed poet, a nationalist uplifting the spirit of their fallen nation, misguided volunteers, terrified conscripts or members of an upper-class fulfilling their duty, the scale of personalities, opinions, inputs and outputs set within the conflict are a great source of development, interaction and storytelling! We don't want it to remain a closed club, however, for just returning members, and are actively seeking an ever growing number of roleplayers who want to throw their character into the midst.

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- [color=0072bc][b]BLUE[/b][/color] - Atlantic Federation Nations
- [color=ed1c24][b]RED[/b][/color] - Eastern Autocratic Europan Empire, including puppets and allies
- [color=662d91][b]PURPLE[/b][/color] - EW1 Participants, non-Federation
- [b]WHITE[/b] - Neutral Nations

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	Our characters will be, as previously stated, under the command of the 15th Atlantic Rifles. This continuation is set to begin during the Winter of 1914, in the final days of the year, with new introductions of technological prowess, conflicts and spouts of character interaction to happen across its time. Though there will be better detail in the OOC, our characters split into 5 infantry roles - Rifleman, Shocktrooper, Gunner, Sapper and Marksman; these serve more as identities and lore guidelines for equipment, potential skills and all that jazz, nothing too gamey.

	Seeing as this is just the interest check, that extra detail (like character sheets) will be left out until we launch it completely. I sincerely hope you are interested in the idea, as the rest of us existing members are, and are as excited as we are to relaunch and continue the unfinished story of Valkyria Chronicles: Changing of the Guard! If you have any questions about the roleplay whatsoever, feel free to leave it down below. We will have a discord invite thrown into the check here when more interest comes around, which will lead to an additional OOC chat just to make it more fluid and convenient for chatter there as opposed to forum posting on the website (just like last time). And for that, I look forward to seeing where we will go from henceforth!