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[center][h3][b]Well met, fellow disciple![/b][/h3]

I am currently looking for just a few partners (I don't expect this topic to stay open too long, apologies) to engage in a rousing adventure of fisticuffs, with various flavors of adventure, possibly romance, intrigue, and other things mixed in! First, a short self-introduction:

[hider=About Me]
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[*]I'm 21+, Male, in the CST-zone of the US, and work a full time job as well as other things during the week.[list]
[*]If you want NSFW elements in the RP, you'll need to be 18+ as well. However, there's no smut, nor romantic subplots necessary--maybe we're just two bros, or rivals, on a butt-kicking quest across an Ancient Chinese Analog-Land. If you DO want a pairing, though, I only really play dudes as my mains, and I'm a fairly "boring" MxF kinda guy.
[*]I tend to write longer paragraphs, but as long as we're not throwing one-liners back and forth I care more about quality than quantity. I'm also a bit slower due to my job, working out, and fulfilling other hobbies. Expect somewhere between 1 and 3 posts per week.[/list]
[*]10+ Years of both RPing and IRL Martial Arts experience, big fan of "anime style" fight scenes, character designs, and so forth. I tend to feature a lot of action in my narratives, but lately I've gotten better at building big intricate worlds and settings as well.[list]
[*]I prefer to RP over the Guild on PMs, but I do have a discord if you want to use that for OOC chat. It takes me a while to open up though, so please don't think I'm intentionally giving you the cold shoulder or anything!
[*]Will try my absolute best to let you know when I’m super swamped, under the weather, or otherwise unable to keep schedule and apologies ahead of time if I fail to do so.
[*]I use Character Sheets with some general information, usually an anime-style face claim, and detail about their powers and abilities. I don't expect my partner to format things the same way I do or write up the same degree of backstory, etc, but I think it makes it easier to get an idea of what the character's like if at least some general information and a picture is available before we start the RP. Don't feel like you need to have one right away, though--I usually adjust mine based on the needs of the story or my partner's ideas.[/list]
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And, for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, an introduction to the various genres mentioned in the title:

[hider=Cultivation Stories]
Essentially, these are heavily Chinese/Eastern Asian influenced tales somewhat akin to the Medieval European Fantasy that has become a staple of escapism. There are three major flavors that most works will categorically fall into.[list]
[*][b]Wuxia[/b], or "Martial Heroes." These stories are like your "wire fu" martial arts movies--some of the techniques may be fantastical, but by and large these are stories of larger than life heroes fighting epic battles with fists, blades, and their wits. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is an excellent example.
[*][b]Xianxia[/b], or "Immortal Heroes." A step further than Wuxia, Xianxia stories are steeped in the mythos of Taoism, Buddhism, and even some Hindu practices and Traditional Chinese Alchemy/Magic. Whereas a Wuxia tale might feature a Rocky-esque training montage of pushups, punching bundles of bamboo, and climbing a mountain with one arm before their hero Kung-Pows the villain, a Xianxia story would instead feature a mystical vision quest, unlocking one's inner Chi energy to produce a powerful flaming aura, and perhaps even transforming from a human into a supernatural sage.
[*][b]Xianhuan[/b], or "Mysterious Fantasy." This is essentially what happens if you take all the OTHER fantasy elements, and apply the same systematic tropes of Xianxia/Wuxia to it. So imagine an Isekai anime where, instead of being given a Cheat Skill, the reincarnated protagonist is instead given a 100,000 Year Old piece of Ginseng to eat that causes his Internal Meridians to surge with power so that he can use techniques that take everyone else 10 years to master with just 3 days of training. But everything still looks like Medieval Europe, complete with elves, wizards (who are just a different type of cultivator) and so forth.[/list]

The "Art of Cultivation" that lies at the center of many of these stories, no matter their category, is--quite simply put--the Chinese version of "level-grinding." The amount of Qi, physical strength, and technical fighting knowledge you have is bundled together and quantified by something like a "Rank," or "Realm," and in order to rise within that realm or ascend past it you need to do lots of stuff--train your Kung Fu, find magical ingredients to whip up special medicines, meditate at the top of a sacred mountain. So on and so forth. Thus, martial arts training, development of one's understanding of the world around them (gaining Enlightenment) and so on are at the CRUX of this entire genre.

If you want to learn more, an excellent resource is this site: https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan-terms/
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Now, for plots, there are three particulars that I've brainstormed for the exact purpose of this topic. That said, I have read a lot of Manga, Manwha, Manhua, Webtoons, and so forth (not so many novels, though, which I understand many who enjoy the Wuxia/Xianxia novels probably get more of the genre's nuances from), so I'm open to other fandoms, plots, and so on that use the same basic framework for powers/magic, character archetypes, and so on! Feel free to suggest something or ask for more details if what's presented here doesn't immediately catch your fancy!

[hider=The God of High School]
A Fandom-Based idea from a popular Webtoon/Anime, G.O.H isn't quite as "cultivation heavy" as the usual Xianxia or Xianhuan fare, but definitely draws from a lot of the same themes and mythos! My idea for this is an A.U. exploring some of the same themes of the story from the opposite angle, so even if you're already familiar with the series, certain characters and story-elements won't be the same! I don't intend for either of us to play Canons with this idea, but basically all one needs to know to create an OC in this setting is this:[list]
[*]There are essentially three factions: Humans, Monsters, and Deities.
[*]The two central "powers" of the setting are Martial Arts (Mutu) and Borrowed Power (Charyeok).[list]
[*]Martial Arts are what it says on the can, but this is an anime-universe where doing enough pushups literally lets you punch a dragon to death.
[*]Borrowed Power is quite literally channeling the abilities of some other entity, usually supernatural in origin. It might be a mortal legend like King Arthur, or it might be the power of the Frost Giants from Norse myth, or it might be Zeus himself lending you his thunderbolt.[/list]
[*]A "mysterious organization" has put together the God of Highschool Tournament to find aspiring young martial artists from all over the place, and make them fight to determine first a Regional, then a National, and then a World champion. At the beginning of the story, "Charyeok" is a secretive and unknown ability to the general public...but for whatever reason, it seems the GOH staff have specifically selected many competitors who have a knack for it...[/list]

Our characters would take the role of competitors in the Tournament, probably placed on opposite ends of the bracket, because who ever heard of a Tournament Series where the tourney DIDN'T go to hell halfway through and leave all the fights unfinished?! But as we find ourselves roped into a conflict between literal gods, what will our characters choose to fight for--and whose power will they fight [i]with[/i]?[/hider]

[hider=Slaves Rising From Hell]
An original story, though I haven't done as much work on the setting and world outside of the initial prompt. The system of Cultivation and some of the fictional martial art styles, though, I have put a great deal of thought into already. Our characters would begin the story as slaves, forced to dig in the mines by an Evil Sect known as the 18 Hells Cult. The 18 Hells are not just digging for ore and materials, though--somewhere, in this ravine, is rumored to be the Tomb of the Devil King, a terrible tyrant from an age when the entire world was at war. Not even the 12 Supreme Masters could stop his rampage, and it was said that he stole the arts of every Cultivator he defeated and recorded them in a tome buried by his side. 

When the tunnel our characters are assigned to collapses, they find themselves within the very same Tomb, and what they discover there will change their lives forever. Will they lead a rebellion against the 18 Hells Cult? Will they learn the secrets of the Devil King's Fist of Subjugation, or find his Book of Stolen Souls? Even if they use this power to save themselves and escape, what will the Righteous Alliance of the Martial Arts World think when the power of the Devil King rears its head once more? All the while, our characters will be forced to make use of everything they can--herbs, crystals, the hearts of beasts, and who knows what else--in order to further their cultivation and train their chosen martial arts![/hider]

[hider=The Dragon Wilds]
Another original story, though this one has a bit more worldbuilding put into it. In a land of great kingdoms, there is one place between the borders where few tread, and many perish. Long ago, three Dragons who sought to ascend to the Divine Realm fought atop the mountain peaks. Who won the battle, none can say--but according to legend, the demigods dropped their Sacred Pearls, which fell to earth like great flaming stars. Even a single one of these Pearls could lead a Cultivator to the Sage Origin Realm--with all three, he could no doubt become an Immortal Deity. Alas, none have ever found the treasures--and anyone who dares entire the savage land known as the Dragon Wilds is said to be devoured by Demonic Beasts, or lose their lives to Nature's harsh, unforgiving hand. 

But, one day, three columns of light are seen rising to the heavens. These beacons shine so bright, and so high, that they are seen even across continents. And thus, a new age of exploration begins--Martial Experts from all over the kingdoms flock to the borders of the wilderness, hoping to be the one to find the Sacred Pearls, or any number of other treasures within the ancient, forgotten jungles and snow-capped mountains. Our characters are two of these Cultivators, each seeking the Pearls, or something else within the Dragon Wilds, for their own reasons...and their competitors are myriad, powerful, and just as determined to stop them...[/hider]

So, if I've kept your attention thus far and any of that interests you, by all means shoot me a PM! Let the high-kicking, Karate-chopping, and mountain-splitting commence!
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