Hidden 10 mos ago 10 mos ago Post by Lewascan2
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Lewascan2 "You've yee'd y'er last haw."

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Though it's still a bit of a WIP, I've had this idea brewing for a hot second, so I figured I should drop this around hereabouts and see what kind of traction it gets.

PREFACE



50,000 years ago, the world came to an end at the hands of an unstoppable calamity, a hostile existence beyond true comprehension. Yet, from the ashes of its victory, humanity rebuilt from scratch, rendered ignorant of the foe they had once opposed till the very end. It was as it had been for countless ages, the purging of a failure and birth of a new cycle, a fresh start and the latest perpetuation of a twisted Samsara. Empires rose and fell, humans lived and died. Civilization waned and flourished. And all the while, the overseer exerted their pressure. Natural disasters, plagues and hoards of monsters. It sent them all, presented challenges, and as humanity united and adapted, tempered by trial after trial, so too did it increase the pressure time and again. And so it would remain until they finally inevitably stumbled and failed. All was as had been seen... and would surely be seen many times to come.

But this cycle had a bit of a hiccup...

The previous Samsara, the Previous Era, had come close to defeating it, closer than any before them. Tenacious, talented and lucky, failsafes were developed by humanity, and so it would come to be that the aftershocks of their work affected the Era to follow, not only in the form of technology, but in hibernating survivors... and even modifications to the very gene pool of humanity itself. They had not won, but they had laid the groundwork for their successors to perhaps succeed where they did not. The 50,000 year Samsara had not been broken... but it had been cracked.

The year is now 2011, and humanity is at war. Though you'd often hardly know it. Civilization flourishes upon the planet of Earth, and the global national and political scene remains a familiar one to a far less supernatural one, just about all the countries you'd expect where you'd expect to find them. In this day and age of the Current Era, normal people still live normal lives and remain the majority. Yet, underneath the surface, all is not as it seems.

It has been millennia since the first whispers of the term "Honkai" were spread across history by remnants of the Previous Era. Nowadays, it is nearly a household name, something most people don't wish to think about but certainly something that can be researched and discussed online. What was once responsible for mere disasters now assaults settlements of all sizes with heartless monsters from beyond reality, along with a supernatural sickness with a horrific fatality rate. Against this foe, from amongst the sheep and the ignorant, humanity has long since marshaled its forces, creating organizations and supersoldiers to combat this global and ever escalating threat.

You are one of those soldiers, a Valkyrie, infused with the Honkai's own power in order to fight against it... with all the benefits -and risks- that entails. Whether by passion of misfortune, you have found yourself one amongst many under the banner of Fire Moth, one of the premier Anti-Honkai organizations and global peacekeepers. Though they are rumored to have had many less than moral dealings in the past, the results of their work cannot be denied, and so you are one of many who -for their own reasons- have thrown their lot in with them. Now, all but freshly graduated from Valkyrie training, your latest test results have deemed you worthy of field work, and you have been placed upon a new squad with other fresh graduates.

While none of you are considered particularly strong -as fresh off the presses as you are, there is something to be said for safety in numbers, and those that survive long enough to prove themselves something other than cannon fodder will come out the other end tempered into fighters more than capable of facing the forces of Honkai alone.

The world before you is wondrous and dangerous in equal measure. The Honkai looms omnipresent, as shadowy interests pursue their own ends behind closed doors. It is a world on the brink; yet very few are aware. It is a world in need of saving, but that naturally begs the question of who can do it. You? Hah. Who knows? Such things are for the future. In the now, perhaps before trying to save anyone else... you should worry about saving yourselves.


EXPECTATIONS

For those familiar with the setting, this is not the Current Era you may know. Though, it does have some connection to it. Instead, this AU asks what would have happened if Kiana and the crew failed, Project STIGMA collapsed and the Honkai won yet again and reset the world.

This, players, is the Third Era.

Due to the nature of the Finality Samsara effectively being a time loop, however, some events, organizations and people have at least managed to come into existence again, in name if not actions and personality. Naturally, however, as this is a disturbed time loop with remnants of the previous eras having made it past the end times, the world developed accordingly. So, yeah, there's probably a few canon characters from the Second Era out there in some form or another. In fact, I guarantee it. They aren't intended to be a focus, but the possibility of meeting them is there.

This RP will be run primarily on narrative with a supplement of a custom stat system to provide a framework for PC capabilities and maintain balance amongst the team (at least early on). To simplify things in a post-by-post format, I also intend to have a mandatory header that will contain certain critical information to keep track of during battles and such. Making sure that's tracked and displayed will make things much simpler on me and other players, avoiding the need to constantly comb through character sheets over every little detail. The inclusion of stats is in the pursuit of stakes, as I find hard "numbers" to be a reliable way of keeping things honest. Narrative will perhaps take a stronger lead over stats later on, but starting out, I feel it's appropriate for a bunch of rookies to be more "grounded" compared to the supernatural titans of the series.

In regard to plot structure, you'll start in a team that gets sent of various missions, some of which you may get to choose, which will otherwise generally be sandbox within that framework. And at some point, the "main plot" will creep to the forefront instead. Between missions, expect downtime periods where the plot allows to give PCs more chances for character interaction and provide an opportunity to allow training and other methods of self-improvement to incrementally increase PC's capabilities.

If that all sounds good to you, then welcome aboard.

I plan to take on roughly 8-10 players at most before cutting things off.

For those new to the setting, see the Honkai Impact wiki here for where I am primarily drawing core info for this setting. Of course, as this is an AU, not all of this is useful, but as an overview of the setting lore, it's pretty good if you want to dig in. There will also be a Discord to facilitate better OOC communication and discussion. I do have potential plans to have that available for character building if anyone is interested in working on it on there.


INFORMATIONAL












Character Building


Please keep in mind that you are playing Valkyries in a team of roughly equal individual strength (specialties depending). You should be generally new on the block, none of you old or overtly experienced. About the most remarkable achievement to your name is the fact that you actually have Stigmata at all. You are humans and novice psychics. Herrschers and MANTIS/ICHOR soldiers are not allowed (at least starting out).

Regarding lore information your PCs may know, generally speaking, the true nature, goals and functions of Honkai and Herrschers are completely unknown to the public, and those that do know have kept that information classified at the highest levels, as the Honkai has historically retaliated extra hard against information being dissiminated about its biggest secrets. Pretty much all you know as the average person and Valkyrie is that Honkai is bad and has been around for centuries, super monsters kill people, and Honkai radiation is no laughing matter. Herrschers are disasters that have been hushed as an existence, and the average Valkyrie isn't even aware they exist or what they are, since they don't appear very often.

If you have ideas regarding anything that hasn't already been addressed or are looking for a slight exception for the sake of a good idea, don't be afraid to ask questions. I can't promise satisfactory results, but I'll try to consider them. Honkai Impact 3rd has an incredibly high power ceiling and a power system with ridiculous potential for shenanigans. I would like to use every aspect of it and have those aspects available to players in some form down the line, but I'd like to be careful and generally fair how I go about it.





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Hidden 10 mos ago Post by ERode
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Can it be presumed that no characters from the Previous Era have survived into the current era then?
Hidden 10 mos ago 10 mos ago Post by Lewascan2
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Can it be presumed that no characters from the Previous Era have survived into the current era then?


It’s feasible that some recognizable faces may show up, but they will most often perhaps be AU ala what certain Honkai 3rd characters are to Honkai Star Rail or -if similar/identical in personality- with no conscious connection to the past Era. That being said, I will confirm that in my current draft, there are, in fact, survivors from the previous two Eras alive, and it’s the influence of such figures -either in the past or present- that have shaped the reexistence of organizations like Anti-Entropy, World Serpent, and Schicksal.

To name one of them that would be someone the PCs may even have briefly heard of by name (since World Serpent is a more public entity here), Griseo is alive, as this AU takes the Ark’s unknown fate and runs with it to have her finally return during the Third Era. She’s part of the reason a lot of old knowledge and tech got revived, along with the reason World Serpent is a more altruistic -if perhaps still shady- existence this go around. In the current World Serpent, she holds a very influential position. Perhaps not the direct head/CEO/Sire, but certainly “royalty” with authority only second to the leader.
Hidden 10 mos ago Post by ERode
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Oh, so Kevin’s still kicking after all? Or is the leader someone like Jackal lmao?

What are the politics like between the three factions then? Or two, if Shicksal wasn’t run by Otto and thus wouldn’t trigger the war crimes that lead to Anti-Entropy being made?
Hidden 10 mos ago 10 mos ago Post by Lewascan2
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Lewascan2 "You've yee'd y'er last haw."

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Oh, so Kevin’s still kicking after all? Or is the leader someone like Jackal lmao?

What are the politics like between the three factions then? Or two, if Shicksal wasn’t run by Otto and thus wouldn’t trigger the war crimes that lead to Anti-Entropy being made?


Kevin is very much dead. Taking in the power of Finality was destroying him, considering how unstable his chimera of MANTIS genetics already was. No, Kevin was on death row in the Moon arc. Whether Kiana stopped him or not, it’s unlikely he would outlive Project STIGMA.

The politics of the three factions are still under construction. You’re right that Otto isn’t around anymore, and that is cause for changes. But Schicksal was already prone to corruption even without him, given incidents like them crusading against the Immortal Celestial (Fu Hua) and subsequently getting their asses beat.

There is still reason for Anti-Entropy to rise, not just because of stuff like that but because it’s possible some of their members could have survived Finality and laid the groundwork for a revival. Besides which, Anti-Entropy were hardly complete angels either.

World Serpent is a similar deal, but with Kevin gone, the throne is open for another of the 13 to take it. And Jackal definitely wouldn’t win out when it comes to a potential leader over a Griseo that’s got a solid 100,000 years behind her at this point (to be fair, some of that was probably hibernated, but you get the gist). Griseo has learned how to be… independent, let’s say.

Fire Moth, meanwhile, is a much different entity than it originally was several Eras past, but it’s also got some similarities. Mainly, it serves as the way the various big names collaborate relatively peacefully through contributing their own representatives to both its membership and leadership. And the whole shebang is overseen by entities like the United Nations, which increases their global trust and ability to travel and act just about anywhere legally without jumping through hoops.
Hidden 10 mos ago Post by Lewascan2
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Lewascan2 "You've yee'd y'er last haw."

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Several updates made to OP, including:

An expansion of what players should expect, along with a link to the wiki.
Further lore expansion. Though that is, of course, still a WIP.
A post header template, which will be mandatory to keep things organized.
Tweaks to the CS template, addressing incomplete or overlooked areas, like a section for Psychic powers.
Hidden 10 mos ago Post by ERode
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How many people do ya need before you plan to move on into the OOC phase?
Hidden 10 mos ago 10 mos ago Post by Lewascan2
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Lewascan2 "You've yee'd y'er last haw."

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How many people do ya need before you plan to move on into the OOC phase?


I'm currently making the discord and already have one potential player there character building, so technically, the OOC is already sorta started. As for the Guild OOC, I will probably drop that once I finished hashing out the kinks/overtly uncompleted sections of the OOCOP. Most of that it done, but I'm still giving it some touch ups. As for how many people before I actually start the IC? Depends. But, if I can scrounge up around 4-6 people, I think that'll be good to start. If you are interested in a link to the discord, I can DM that.
Hidden 10 mos ago Post by ERode
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Mm, sure, hit me with the link. Got another that might be interested too, so I'll toss the link at them if there's a confirmation.
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Hidden 10 mos ago 10 mos ago Post by Abashi76
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Do any of you know what anime the OP's top picture comes from?
This thread looks great, I am assuming it'll use dice rolls.
It almost sounds like your actually making an actual game rather than just a forum roleplay.


...
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Hidden 10 mos ago 10 mos ago Post by Lewascan2
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Do any of you know what anime the OP's top picture comes from?
This thread looks great, I am assuming it'll use dice rolls.
It almost sounds like your actually making an actual game rather than just a forum roleplay.


The image is I believe fanart from Gun Girls Z, the precursor to Honkai Impact 3rd. Hence why two of the characters in it very clearly look like Bronya and Mei from behind. Not sure who the pink girl is though, since I'm only really familiar with Honkai Impact 3rd and some of Honkai Star Rail.

No, it won't use dice. I prefer not to have randomness. Success of failure depends entirely on players and the strength of their "narrative". That is to say, the stats are guidelines (hard limiters in places even), but they can also be flexible if the weaker stat is more clever than the stronger one. Think of it like players are rewarded for being more detailed in their writing. It's not enough to say "I dodged". I want to know "how you dodged". Same with attacks. What clever maneuver or technique are you pulling off to overcome incredible speed or defenses. That's what this system is built around.

I am having to build this from basically the ground up though (with some inspiration, granted, from systems like Exalted in places). Because I want something that meshes well with this particular setting. The primary reason I'm doing it this way is that I want there to be boundaries that exist for the sake of balance and not just rely entirely on an "honor" system to keep potential power-gaming in check. Not that the latter is necessarily a bad thing in this doomed setting, but I'm trying to ensure things don't fly entirely off the rails. Because one of my biggest issues right out the gate is that as much as I enjoy this setting, the local power system is also broken as fuck and borderline conceptual at the upper tiers. XD


...


So, a lightning element?
Funny you say that, because both of the other current players are also going lightning. XD
I mean, we joked about it, but it looks like Team Stunlock is getting closer every day.
If you want a link to the discord, let me know. We can definitely do a lot faster character building on there.
Hidden 10 mos ago 10 mos ago Post by Abashi76
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So, a lightning element?
Funny you say that, because both of the other current players are also going lightning. XD
I mean, we joked about it, but it looks like Team Stunlock is getting closer every day.
If you want a link to the discord, let me know. We can definitely do a lot faster character building on there.


I can easily make more than one character. I could make two other girls, fire and ice. What about healing magic?
I can also make some soldier and mecha characters as well, that use physical attacks.
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<Snipped quote>

I can easily make more than one character. I could make two other girls, fire and ice.
I can also make some soldier and mecha characters as well, that use physical attacks.


I'm only allowing a single character per player, so choose wisely in regard to your character concept.
I find having only a single character increases investment and quality of writing, and it's better to lower temptation for those that might otherwise be stretching themselves thin with other RPs.

TLDR: Don't worry about it and just make what you want.
Hidden 10 mos ago 10 mos ago Post by Abashi76
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I'm only allowing a single character per player, so choose wisely in regard to your character concept.
I find having only a single character increases investment and quality of writing, and it's better to lower temptation for those that might otherwise be stretching themselves thin with other RPs.


Are player characters really stuck with only one element each?
How many people do you think will play? I have a lot of time on my hands. Two characters tend to work best for me but I understand. What other people are planning to play? I could talk to them about making characters.


...
Hidden 10 mos ago 10 mos ago Post by Lewascan2
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<Snipped quote>

Are player characters really stuck with only one element each?
How many people do you think will play? I have a lot of time on my hands. Two characters tend to work best for me but I understand. What other people are planning to play? I could talk to them about making characters.


One element, yes. I am theoretically open to the idea of ways a character could acquire additional elements, but they only get one to start.
I have no idea how many players I will get, but I've already got three in the discord server in character creation and at least one other expressing interest in the Casual Interest Check. If you want a discord link, let me know, and I'll DM it so you can chat with them.
And my answer is still the same. Only one character. More than a personal preference or even what's good for players, that's just easier for me as the GM to manage.
Hidden 10 mos ago Post by JohnnyBoi
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I would be down for this! I played Honkai a while ago and have been playing star rail a bit, not as much recently though. But I do like the concept. I might be busy these next few days because of work, but I should have plenty of time after that.
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Hidden 10 mos ago Post by Lewascan2
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I would be down for this! I played Honkai a while ago and have been playing star rail a bit, not as much recently though. But I do like the concept. I might be busy these next few days because of work, but I should have plenty of time after that.


No real rush. Still gathering players and hashing out character concepts!
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I'm the other interested guy Rodey mentioned, so I might as well make the interest official. Will probably go phys if we have a decent chunk of other elements already.
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Hidden 10 mos ago 10 mos ago Post by Lewascan2
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I'm the other interested guy Rodey mentioned, so I might as well make the interest official. Will probably go phys if we have a decent chunk of other elements already.


Nice. Glad to have you. If you need a discord link, just let me know.

As an aside, till then, I'd like to move activity to the new General Interest check, https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5461270. This one is outdated, as I work out more of the kinks in the system.
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Hidden 10 mos ago Post by Lewascan2
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OOC is now up!
We won't be starting the IC too soon, but for those with completed characters, the portal is open!
https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5463197
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