[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/zp4Lnjc.png[/img] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11CN5Vuf4x8]π•Šπ•–π•–π•œ π•šπ•₯, 𝕀π•₯𝕒𝕣𝕧𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 π•šπ•₯, π•₯π•™π•šπ•£π•€π•₯ 𝕗𝕠𝕣 π•šπ•₯, 𝕀π•₯π•£π•¦π•˜π•˜π•π•– 𝕗𝕠𝕣 π•’π•Ÿπ•• π•€π•–π•šπ•«π•– π•šπ•₯. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 π•Ÿπ• π•“π•π•– 𝕕𝕖π•₯π•–π•£π•žπ•šπ•Ÿπ•’π•₯π•šπ• π•Ÿ π•₯𝕠 π•”π•™π•’π•π•π•–π•Ÿπ•˜π•– 𝕒 𝕀π•₯𝕒𝕣![/url] ✦ [/center] [indent] The Thousand-Faced God was slain by the Perishing Star, and with their death, their divinity spilled out to the world, granting unto mortals the gift of magic. At the same time, the lance that slew such a deity pierced into the very heart of the planet, rotting it from within. From that hole, that Abyss, monsters rose, wrecking havoc throughout the lands. Thus, the Godless Era began. Civilization became patchwork as monsters infested the lands, cities and villages connected only by adventurers and merchants’ guilds. Few nations can boast a dominion over anything beyond what the eye can see, and with the fall of the divine came the end of divine mandates. Revolutions sparked by the arcane gift ended dynasties or caused the tyrant’s fist to tighten into a chokehold. Meanwhile, the city-state of Oratorio stands at the forefront of the Abyss, having built great walls around the giant hole to block off any monsters that may climb out from the labyrinthian structure that remained after the lance’s exterior had crumbled away. Explorers plunge into its depths in search of great treasures, or to simply hunt the monsters within for their body parts, dense as monstrous flesh is in arcane power. It is this double-edged sword that had made Oratorio the powerhouse of a city-state that it currently is. But the monsters of the deeper layers can only be driven back, not slain, and the capability of the mortals remain limited still. You, however, are different. You possess a Spark within you. A single aspect of the Thousand-Faced God has been grafted upon your soul by fortune and fate, and it is in following the pull of the Spark that you’ve ended up in Oratorio. For within the Abyss, there is one more thing that can be found: Ichor, the radiance that kindles the Spark, that furthers your divine power. Your blessing grants Divine Protection upon those who pledge to follow you. Your favour grants Grace upon those whom you see fit to become your champions, allowing them to surpass the limits of their mortal forms. Your presence grants Miracles subtle and overt, expressing a supernatural influence over the world in the absence of its God. Through this sublime capability, gather followers and allies, capital and Ichor. Extend your domain and plunge into the depths. Be the guiding hand that grants glory and immortality to your paladins. Until the Spark becomes an Inferno and you claim that empty Throne. Until the End comes once more, and the Perishing Star arrives to claim the heart of another Divine. But know too, that until you Ascend, you remain mortal. And the Spark within your soul can be stolen by another still.[/indent] [hider=The Ichor-Blessed] [img]https://i.imgur.com/6B4Hroz.png[/img] Mortals whom, through a twist of fate or the clattering of dice, have encountered a relic possessing a fragment of the Thousand-Faced God. That fragment, that Spark, had transferred from the relic into their soul, grafting upon it the gift of a singular divine domain, the aspect in which their powers manifest. The Domain of Wealth may grant business acumen and a propensity for uncovering treasures. The Domain of War may grant tactical and strategic genius and the ability to seize the hearts of warriors. The Domain of Water may grant the ability to read the waves and the clouds, to uncover wells in deserts. Through this instilled divinity, one can share such blessings with followers. One can fragment their divinity to raise Paladins. Ichor strengthens your Spark, while Grace weakens it. Miracles alter the world, while Divine Protection safeguards your flock. Through hard work, your following will grow, granting you the ability to ascend further as an Ichor-Blessed. But though your Paladins may be individuals possessing unnatural power, though you yourself may move the clouds with a wave of your hands or command armies numbering in the thousands, do not forget. The easiest way to ascend as an Ichor-Blessed is not by gradually gathering Ichor from the Abyss or from your followers' Offerings, but by ripping it out from the beating hearts of your rivals. [/hider][hider=The Paladins] [img]https://i.imgur.com/Ts4CbtS.png[/img] Mortals who have bound their lives to serving an Ichor-Blessed. A fragment of a Spark serves to ignite their soul, and from that point onwards, they have the potential to become heroes. The proof of their deeds is seared upon their back, and they possess Skills that grant them an advantage over unmarked mortals, Skills born from the legends that they had craft for themselves. Most importantly, however, Paladins universally gain more strength from overcoming trials and tribulations. So long as they survive, so long as they’re successful in their endeavors, greater deeds are ascribed to them, and greater Grace can be bestowed upon them. Their potential is crystallized by hardship and the Ichor-Blessed’s will, until they truly are heroes. Zealous loyalty, however, is not part of the relationship between the Paladin and the Ichor-Blessed. Though the Ichor-Blessed possesses the ability to sever their connection to a Paladin, fundamentally rendering the Grace within them inert, Grace, once given, can not be retrieved. Thus, it is a dangerous thing for an Ichor-Blessed to manufacture terrible trials too overtly for their Paladins to oppose, no matter how much character can be built through suffering. [/hider][hider=Oratorio] [img]https://i.imgur.com/L9Dg7BL.png[/img] It is at once a city and at once a fortress, the frontier and the capital. Great walls surround the Abyss, that labyrinth formed from a god-slaying spear, but perhaps greater darkness lingers within the city itself. No king rules Oratorio, only a coalition of guilds, organizations, academies, and gangs, and with neither law nor order, the rules that govern the city fluctuate from block to block and are too-often a mutable thing. So long as you have either strength or money, you may act as you wish. So long as you have neither, you’ll be nothing more than a cog for another. Great disparities persist on all levels and Oratorio is a cesspool of brewing tensions, prevented from breaking out into open warfare only by the knowledge that the first to draw their sword may very well be charged at by all sides and swallowed whole. And yet, people still travel to the city, still dream of the heights they can rise. For within this merciless meritocracy, a lucky break can send you to heights you’ve never dreamed of. And if you fail? Well, the worse that can happen to you is [i]still[/i] only death. As the Ichor-Blessed enter this city though, whether to start their own following within the backstreets or to seek out existing guilds to join and then coup, it is inevitable that Oratorio will change. [/hider] [hr] Trying something outta the norm for me this time around, inspired by Danmachi, Honkai Star Rail, and a touch of Revue Starlight. Basically, players will play as Ichor-Blessed individuals for the purposes of starting up factions, gathering power and Paladins, before using that power to explore the Abyss and/or deepen your Divinity. At the start, you'll basically be not all that different from a common mortal, outside of having access to strange powers that do not stem from magic as other mortals understand it. So ya gotta scheme and strategize your way to the top, while either managing alliances with other players or trying to subvert and consume them. There'll definitely be the possibility of PvP as a result, but it'd be good if none of y'all starting griefing off the bat. There will be a dice system in place, and a buncha resources to manage. I'll be doing the calculations in private most of the time, so don't worry about having to learn it. What I will need of you, though, is to be relatively active on Discord, which will serve as the OOC, and to post at least once a week in the IC (unless I give you an exemption). Discord participation is particularly important, because IC negotiations will probably be handled via collabs, or it'll take way too long. If you've got questions, hit me up. If you want to immediate claim a Domain, feel free to slap it down here as well. I personally prefer interesting Domains rather than the usual shenanigans of War, Storms, etc. The Thousand-Faced God has a thousand faces, so why pick the basic ones? Also, I guess character creation will be kinda involved too, and you'll end up at least doing a mini-CS for every Paladin your Ichor-Blessed promotes, so, ya know. Don't join if you don't like thinking up characters.