[right]"So I ask you, oh great Our'ous, what, is an undead? A miserable little pile of bones? A mere mistake in your endless cycles of destruction and creation? Nay, nay. You do not make mistakes. Then why, why are we cursed? Why are we fallen by the wayside? Answer me, oh great serpent of creation and destruction! For Ichor has granted us succor where you have ignored. By the blessings of Violet and Ichor we shall be ignored no longer." [color=#B22222]- Bible of Ichor, Chapter 3, Verse 6[/color] [/right] In the chaotic closing days of the Ophidiel Era, it seemed the entire world was rent asunder by madness. Gods, and men fighting Otherworldly monstrosities. Demons running rampant, unchecked. Betrayed by the giants as they cut the Roots of the World and opening the floodgates for the things from beyond. The dead, too, eventually even could not rest, thrown out of the cycle of death and rebirth, either forgotten by the Gods or purposefully tossed aside. Led by the First of the Undead to be given succor by Ichor and brought to life by the Violet Witch, she would go on to lay waste, bring plague and another threat to the Era. But still, even in such circumstances...mortals faith remained strong in their gods. A god would forge a hundred silver swords, blessing with sunlight and holy might and give them to a hundred paladins and set them on a quest - to slay the undead Queen. Years of fighting ensued with otherworldly monstrosities pressuring the humans from oneside, undead from another, and demons from another. Still, the paladins would bravely and heroically fight against the hordes of all, and eventually after many years of fighting corner the Queen. Her generals defeated. Servants laid to rest and the undead hordes broken and beaten. Alas, it was not meant to be their complete victory. For while they were fighting, an assassin bearing a god slaying blade would strike down their God leaving the blades and paladins without much of their strength. Lacking the ability to kill her now, instead, they would seal her. The combined power of their blades, imprisoning her deep, below the earth in a tomb of silver blades. ...but that was nearly an age in and of itself ago. As the sunless and moonless skies shine upon a world without light, once more the dead begin to stir to unlife. [center][color=#B22222]"Arise, my children. Ichor grants you succor once more. Arsie from your eternal slumber. Drink deep of my blood as you did when you were born. Fear not the sun or relics of the Gods, for they no longer hold any power. Find the tomb of the silver swords. Revive the First. Bring her before me. So as I command, you will listen."[/color][/center] [hr] Well hello again. What is this madness? Running a -third- RP? You bet your butt I am because I have zero self control. This was mostly born out of my current addiction to V Rising as well as my love for Gothic settings and Undead of various forms. I'll explain a bit more in a bit since I realize the little opener may not have explained too much besides some background info but first, to address the elephant in the room - What do I mean by an 'Unheroic RP'? Well, its quite simple really. You're a vampire. You're an undead. You may have heroic qualities, but as it stands, you are gonna probably be doing some not so nice things to humans. However, I do [i]not[/i] want characters that are murderous psychos or Edge Mc Edgeface just because. Try to have a little more nuance in your characters. Just because you're a 'bad guy', does not mean you have to be a 'bad guy', you know? You'll be more anti-heroes rather than villains. Now, moving on... The general feel and theme for this RP will be a bit of a Gothic High Fantasy adventure in a world that is objectively, well, kinda terrible, especially for humans that barely are able to eke out a living in the world that has lost all of its gods. You'll be playing vampires that have recently been granted life once more by your Goddess, Ichor. Powerful undead that once served as high ranking members of the Undead Queens operations. Your goals will be simple - find your queen and revive her while rebuilding the undead influence in this world. However, before reading further, note I want this to be a small cast. Small! I will be accepting no more than five or six active characters at any given time. A few notes about characters: [list] [*]Players will be fairly powerful to start with. They should be able to reasonably handle most non-boss level threats without too much trouble either by themselves or with a companion. Your power of course, will come from your blood and the power that Ichor grants her undead children. Your powers may be degraded after so long being well, dead, but you will surely, slowly, regain your former power. [*]Magic and power for Vampires can vary greatly. Terramancy, Blood Magic, Celestial magic, summoning...there are many avenues that Ichor's blessings present themselves, and while some are common and well known, there could very well be abilities out there that are unique to an individual. As a rule, vampires are physically stronger than the average human and possesses skill with Blood Magic as a base. [/list] [hr] Some misc world info to set the tone - [b]The world:[/b] As hinted at in the opening, this RP will be taking place in a world where there is no sun nor moon. No light shines upon this forsaken land where the gods have died and their power is weakened. The gods died a long, long time ago and when the last of them fell, the world too, died with them, plunging it into a realm without light. It is covered in a cold, impenetrable darkness where humans must carry a light source of some kind at all times, or be swallowed by it. Humans devolved into beasts. The fantastical races of the land went into hiding. Fallen angels, the Nephilim, stalk the land and hunt anything that is not their own. [b]Gods, Spirits, and things other:[/b] Gods...a thing of the past. A relic of the Ophidiel. None currently live upon this world abandoned by all divine providence. Humans, clever and strong still manage to live despite this. There may still be lesser spirits that exist, hiding far, far away from any humans or others. Indeed, things other than gods, things from beyond the Roots, from beyond the now severed branches still lurk, waiting, feeding, feasting. [b]Civilization:[/b] Does not exist. Simple. Humans live together in what is either large city states, or small villages with highly built walls in order to keep both other humans as well as the monstrosities that exist beyond their shelter out. This includes you. [b]Vampires:[/b] Undead beings which retain both their appearance, memories, and general personality. Unique in the fact that they are one of the few pinnacles of undead existence born from the union between Ichor and her apprentice, the Violet Witch. Generally, Vampires are fairly strong when compared to humans. Seductive, physically strong, and with peculiar magical affinities. As well, vampires must feed on the blood of living humans. There’s no way around it, they must feed on living humans. Animal blood could…satiate one for awhile, but eventually it would start to have detrimental effects upon the vampire. New vampires can only be created by giving a mortal blood from a vampire in a ritual performed under the watchful eye of Ichor. [hr] [center]~Character Sheet~[/center] I will go ahead and put the CS here for help writing down ideas, but wait until the OOC to post any please, as there will probably be more info in the OOC to help character creation. [hider=Character Sheet] Name: Fairly self explanatory. Gender: Male? Or Female? Appearance: Typically, vampries are pale and tend to have light colored hair. Rarely, they will have red colored hair. An indication of a strong connection to Ichor. Often revered by other vampires. Abilities: What magic and other abilities do you possess? Personality: Just a brief blurb. What do you think of Ichor? What do you think of your mission? Of humans? do you think they're cattle to be herded? Prey to toy with? Either way, without humans you yourself, will not survive. Bio: Nothing extensive. After all, by now any life you had before has long since been over for nearly an Era. Just give a brief idea of who you were, how you became a vampire and how you were slain by the Hundred Paladins. Anything else: [/hider]