[center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1d/6a/42/1d6a42a206dea87ab10d0c823a2c8e8d.jpg[/img][/center][h1]About Steal Away The Light[/h1][hr] [indent]In conjunction with ideas presented by a friend of mine, I’ve been thinking on this one since the build-up to the Halloween Season. Inspired by Code Vein, Bloodborne, Tales of Berseria, and a variety of other anime-related content this RP is an amalgamation of ideas of dark fantasy, adventure, and action-horror. Characters within the setting are survivors in an apocalyptic era on the planet Asyl. Creatures known as the void have taken hold of much of the planet and created turmoil of which that has never been seen. The sun is eternally eclipsed and the cost of human lives has been collossal. These creatures are magical in nature and humans have tried their best to combat them. There are several kingdoms left on the world in their wake, though to some they seem to be mostly barely standing holdouts from a horde of creatures from origins unknown. Humans have come to utilize special magic that has a huge cost on the bearer in order to create warriors known as hunters to drive the creatures back and restore the light on the planet and make the world whole again. Will your hunter succeed?[/indent][h1]Surviving the Void[/h1][hr] [indent]Before sorcerers from the Kethiline Order harnessed secret magic to turn humans into living weapons, humanity turned to the tools they knew to combat the Void. Sorcery and Steel. Steel was useless alone as the Void took on many shapes and no matter how clean the strike, the creatures would always regenerate and heal, while only corpses piled up against their onslaught from humanity’s side of the struggle. In time, sorcerers who worshipped the flame—Pyromancers—would become key into combating the Void. It was a reality that was learned through heavy sacrifice, including one of the great kingdoms known to the world falling into the abyss. The eternal, agonizing eclipse that blocked out the sun gave the creatures full rein to molest the kingdoms of Asyl. It was simple math. The creatures fed off the darkness and themselves were completely absent of heat, so it became clear that only the Pyromancer’s flame could aid humanity’s plight. Still, solitary pyromancers were rarely strong enough to combat the void and with the void encroaching on civilization like it had on their sister kingdom of Kelathaneia, the nobility and aristocrats hiding in the cities of olde made a decision. Giant obelisks known as hearthfires were constructed, to be fed by pyromancers to ward off the void from the great walls. Many feared this would be a war of attrition with favor to the monsters that wished to devour them. With pyromancers being needed to tend to hearthfires solutions became dire. The four remaining great kingdoms sought to find alternatives. There weren’t enough pyromancers, especially ones who were strong enough to burn a voidling into nothing, to do both jobs. Some of the ideas other sorcerers, clerics, and scholars came up with were damning. Those who poured into forbidden magicks or plundered the vaults made to contain ancient cursed weapons were playing a dangerous game, but they needed answers to the void fast. Even with the hearthfires, they only had so much food they could produce and keep safe. It wasn’t enough. It was never enough. However, as years turned into decades an answer came to light after a long time of research. The sorcerer-monks of Kethiline had finally had a breakthrough with the first successful infusion of a pyromancer’s ember with the soul of a human being. It was a process that had been sworn to silence for years. A process to destroy the void while the pyromancers stood by to tend to the hearths. It was a necessary one, though the loss of human life, albeit mundane humans, was a saddening price. It was here they finally had a working theory on how to counteract the void’s ability to corrupt any living being it devoured. The price was transcending humans who were strong enough into living weapons, inhuman beings that could harness the power of a pyromancer’s ember to protect themselves as well as turn voidlings into ash. It has been five years since Rimaeria Saldosius became what we now known as hunters of the void. There were two hundred others who have followed her since, and over two thousand more who were reduced to ash for trying to do so. The War against the Void will be won in due time. That is the hope.[/indent] [h1]Hunters of the Void[/h1][hr] [indent]Hunters are necrotic human weapons that can harness power from the forbidden magicks that have not only infused their soul with a pyromancer’s ember but also sacrificed their humanity. They cannot age and in theory should not be able to die. The ember within them is as restorative as it is destructive, it will reform the hunter’s body if critical, fatal damage is assessed and burn out normal wounds passively. However, if an ember goes through this process too many times in relative succession it will burn out the hunter’s soul so it cannot be corrupted by the void. A hunter lives in constant pain and ruin, the ember from within burning their insides in an eternal agony, to become one is as much of a curse as it is a boon. [hider=Hunter Types][center][img]https://c.tenor.com/AyT8QwWpaTIAAAAC/akame-ga-kill-anime.gif[/img][/center] Hunters are classified by three rudimentary vocations depending on how they combat the void. [b]Wardens[/b] deal damage with light weapons, relying on speed and precision. They are the most well known of hunters given they are the easiest to throw against the void. [b]Sentinels[/b] protect people, other hunters, and objectives. They are the “heavies”, the chevaliers you call in when the scariest and biggest void rear their heads. They will either have a great-weapon or a heavy shield on hand. [b]Casters[/b] are spellcasters who control the battlefield through support or offensive versatility, they often wield firearms like a clockwork rifle or sorcerer’s equipment like staves and wands. They are also the least common of all hunters.[/hider] [hider=Gifts][center][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/23be1d432e1265650363131117564baf/b213e01f761203f1-3f/s540x810/25cffd13445526a7b9cfc5abb59572e44905be03.gif[/img][/center] Otherwise known as a Hunter’s Boon, Gifts are the extranormal abilities that an ember-imbued soul has brought to a hunter. While universal gifts like additional speed and strength are mundane for hunters, it is how the transformation has reacted to their body and magicks is the most interesting. Every hunter is different and Lethiline sorcerers theorize it is based as much on personality as it is latent affinities. [/hider] [hider=Forbidden Weapons][center][img]https://c.tenor.com/4vWAGDhRxPwAAAAC/jujutsu-kaisen-cursed-tools.gif[/img][/center] Forbidden Weapons are ancient, previously secured weapons from rogue sorcerers, abominations, and other such things. Some contain the souls of ancient heroes, confined to a weapon to feed off the souls energy to create devastating and powerful weapons, others are more complicated. Some kingdoms have unearthed vaults to pair such weapons with a hunter in their fight against the void. It’s a dangerous path. [/hider][/indent][h1]The Kingdoms of Asyl[/h1][hr] [indent]Many kingdoms have dotted the landscape and history of Asyl for centuries, however only a handful have survived. Some of them still bear the scars of the war that many believe drew the void to Asyl in the first place. [hider=Prentis][center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/934550171994435664/934587555289137212/b96f8a129d029bce4c27a27b26286803.png[/img] [color=gray]“We must remain, and we must do so without shirking our morals to our people.”[/color][/center] Prentis was the largest and most prosperous kingdom on Asyl for at least three centuries. The Renaissance of culture came when Prentis was on the downswing and the rise of Scila, Midnos, and their aged old rival Ldrant took center stage. The Grand Library of Prentis is still the central wonder of the world. Through its inventiveness, diplomacy, and artfulness it still remained so before the Great War. [b]Plural:[/b] Prentisian(s)[/hider] [hider=Scila][center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/934550171994435664/934587447923310602/5e0cdce3a90a9b6fa4e77bf6df690cc8.png[/img] [color=gray]“Survive by any means necessary, that is our creed.”[/color][/center] Scila was once the right arm of Ldrant, until it broke free. A Kingdom built on creation, some could say it has been heading into the direction of a new Prentis for some time now. Scila transcended the hand cannon and has had the finest weapons crafted for two centuries now. They are shrewd, distrusting; having been slaves to Ldrant and Midnos after them. It is a bitter irony they only earned their independence through aligning themselves with Prentis in the Great War, and here and now in the apocalypse are finally free. The void is a double-edged sword for the Scilari people, though they do believe they should be stopped, they truly fear Ldrant and Midnos far more than them. [b]Plural:[/b] Scilari[/hider] [hider=Midnos][center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/934550171994435664/934592204192763914/abb57de4044e5011beb6bf8e1667df3b.png[/img] [color=gray]“Only the flame can protect us from eternal damnation.”[/color][/center] Midnos is the most prominent and powerful of the great kingdoms since Prentis began to loose relevance. A kingdom ruled by pyromancers with a religion designed by pyromancers, Midnos has always seen themselves above the other great kingdoms. It was through their zealous actions that the war supposedly started, though few remember that since it is the pyromancers that keep the void from infecting the cities they inhabit. The Emberdawn Keep stands at the top of the city, overlooking the denizens on from on high. Some claim the pyromancer-queen is unreasonable, vindictive, and cruel. Others say she is rational, spiritual creature that only does what needs to be done to protect Midnosians. [b]Plural:[/b] Midnosian(s)[/hider] [hider=Ldrant][center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/934550171994435664/934587145421738044/7b2b03a7fd70adfe76b4b238cc610a5f.png[/img] [color=gray]“We are defined by our virtues of strength and resilience, and those with those virtues always win.”[/color][/center] Ldrant has been a military powerhouse since one put a club in an Ldranti’s paw. They don’t play nice and they get what they want. Not even the height of Prentis could destroy them, so what difference is the void apocalypse? It’s just another opportunity to show that Ldranti are the strongest and hardiest. Pyromancers from Ldrant are considered heretics to the ones in Midnos, due to their refusal to follow any sort of rules that they have not made themselves. [b]Plural:[/b] Ldranti[/hider] [/indent][h1]Bestiary[/h1][hr] [indent]Void Goblins Void Men Void Ogres Void Roc Void Spiderlings[/indent][h1]Application[/h1][hr] [indent]Steal Away the Light is a [b][u]invite only[/u][/b] RP. Applicants will be provided entry to a discussion channel on discord and given access to the character sheet.[/indent]