A Lowly Wretch

Tabrasa\- Born of Chaos.

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Before the age of man
Before the age of gods
There was

T a b r a s a

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None remember how it came to be. The world, it's wilds or even the beasts that roam it's face. When the first gods were born so too were the first of mankind. Since that day many more gods have been born into this world, each one formed around the many facets of reality. Light, Darkness, Fire, Ice, Earth, Winds, Waters and more are seen to by the beings who embody these very concepts.

They are shaped around a mysterious material known only as "Divine Cords", a strange string-like essence understood by none. It is this essence that separates gods from mortals and the inanimate. It is said the one who discovers the secret to harnessing the Divine Cords will transcend godhood itself to become the god of gods.

But there are more mysteries than that, both for men and deity alike. Those who know the ground and what lay beneath know that at the heart of the world lays a core encompassed by a great black shroud that is impenetrable to all known forces. None have seen behind the shroud, no matter the attempts thus far.

And while the dreams of men may be minded by gods the dreams of gods are minded by something else. The only evidence of this beings works lay in a dream the gods sometimes find themselves in. It is a dream of a dark cloudy land where nothing is distinct save a massive gate formed from a worn golden metal which has long lost it's luster from all appearances. None have seen past this gate for all attempts to break through it within these dreams have failed and they seem to scale upwards in an endless ascent no matter how far one flies to try and get above it.

So come. Shape the destinies of man and beast alike, Get tangled in the dreams and ambitions of fellow gods or strive to uncover the great mysteries within the lands of Tabrasa.

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Welcome!

To all newcomers and previous attendees to my take on this rp concept. As those returning from the other rp may note I've changed the background a certain amount. The changes aren't massively different from what was presented before however I've decided to keep what few details I've added secret for the sake of a semi-overarching plot which should provide some more things for our lovely deities to concern themselves with when they aren't embroiled in internal politics and strife or partying with one another and having fun. Overall I encourage everyone to imbue their gods and goddesses with driving ambition and gusto so as to make this exciting tale all the more interesting!

The Rules

#1: Obey the rules of this site.

#2: Be kind and respectful of one another. Contention is best saved for the gods, not the OOC thread.

#3: No making undeclared alterations to your CS in the CS thread. Please run all changes to your CS by me either directly or on the OOC before applying them to your CS. I do not wish to discourage world building or character evolution but it is not fair to continuously change one's character without so much as even a public mention. Anyone making undeclared alterations to their CS will be warned. Repeat offenders will be considered for removal from the RP.

#4: As this is a loosely guided sandbox rp there stands the possibility of adult content pertaining to violence and romance. While I do ask that people try to avoid gratuitous depictions of violence I do not restrict you from depicting violent situations. If anyone is sensitive to such topics then I recommend reconsidering application. Beyond this warning I offer no guarantees.

#5: If you've read the rules add the phrase "Put that on my Tabula" in quotation marks at the very bottom of the CS.

#6: Do not destroy, exploit or control another player's deity or their creations without the owner's permission. Outside of extraordinary circumstances there is no valid reason for depriving a player of agency over their creations.

#7: Only submit your CS to the CS thread after you have received my confirmation of your character. This applies to any additional characters you may create as well.

#8: While all manner of creatures are allowed to be left to their own devices as NPC's deities are too important. Any deity that is left without a player to run it will be removed from the world.

#9: The rules may be subject to change. I should not have to change them much if at all and I will certainly try to make sure I announce that the rules have changed before any such changes are made so no one is caught unaware. Nonetheless if changes are made and transgressions are made out of ignorance of said changes even when those changes were publicly announced then I shall issue a warning to the transgressor. After a warning if such transgressions are repeated I shall consider removal.

Lore of Note

- Humanity as a species was born at the very same time the oldest of the known gods were made. Since then they have only just begun to establish tribes and still live in hunter/gatherer societies.

- All beings imbued with Divine Cords are, amongst many things, granted everlasting life. Such beings can be killed but so long as their Divine Cords are safe their physical form will regrow around them. This period of regrowth takes a long time however and leaves the destroyed being vulnerable. Divine Cords cannot be destroyed but they can be fused with existing Divine Cords. In order for Cords to be fused the owner of the Divine Cords must have their physical form destroyed before someone else who is intact can fuse it with their own. Once fused the owner of the combined Divine Cords will possess both their own domain and the domains of those who's cords have been taken and fused to their own. Once a Divine Cord has been fused to someone else's the former owner will no longer regrow as they will have become part of the new owner of their Divine Cords.

- Mortals can consume the Divine Cords of deities who have been destroyed. Those who do will embody the deity said cords belonged to and inevitably change into become that deity. Only gods can consume one another without losing themselves to those they fuse their Divine Cords with.

- Before even the gods existed there were forests, beasts, oceans and the many landscapes of Tabrasa. Not even the oldest gods know how this world came to be nor from who they were born from.

- In the beginning much of the world will be free to shape for the many gods looking to stake their claim.

- The world of Tabrasa is a sphere. It is not flat despite popular myths stating otherwise.

- While gods and goddesses of the sun and moon are allowed to exist these celestial bodies have existed long before even the first gods came to be. The bright burning sun and the soft pale moon both rotate around the world of Tabrasa as they do.

- All gods must have one domain. They are allowed only one to start though they may be allowed to adopt others or possibly even fuse with those of gods who have fallen after the roleplay begins.

- The only domains not allowed are time, life, death and the dreams of gods. Also you can't pick Divine Cord as a domain since it's not a domain, it's a source of divinity.

- Beyond the sun and the moon are the stars and beyond those is The Void. Avoid the Void.

- The realms of gods can either be set on the world itself or kept in a sub-space. If a god's realm is in a sub-space it needs a physical entrance both in the world and in the realm.

- Nothing can enter or leave the sub-space realms without using the physical entrances. Even gods have to use these physical entrances to their sub-space realms.

- The entrances to any realm can only be destroyed by the owner unless the owner's physical form is destroyed. Once every entrance is destroyed if the owner is not inside the sub-space realm will collapse into itself, casting everything inside into The Void.

- Gods cannot innately sense the presence or power of other gods. Things that aren't made clear to them through manual perception or use of their domain do not innately present themselves. Those that are too far away to perceive things normally would have to rely on other means of finding out about it such as use of their domains or the use of scouts and spies to bring such knowledge to them.

The CS

Name: (The business cards of early mankind. Give as many or as few as you care to.)

Domain: (A facet of reality that your deity holds regency over. You only get one upon creation. Life, death, time and the dreams of gods are off limits.)

Appearance: (No photos or animated GIF's. Anything else is fine.)

Realm: (Include both your deity's home and the territory they claim. Remember to include mention of entrances to and from the main world if their realm lays in sub-space.)

Biography: (Enter your deity's personality and noteworthy events of theirs here.)

Notes: (Leave this empty. As the rp goes on any details you wish to record go here. Once this CS is submitted Do not edit any other portion of the CS aside from this without the GM's consent.)

Misc: (Extra content that doesn't belong in the above categories go here.)

(Remember the rules.)

The Current Map.

Tabula Rasa || Ancient Gods

@Lord Zee@Rune_Alchemist@Leotamer@Kalas@Duoya@jetipster@Okonuki@Archangel89@gorgenmast@Vega7@Dealdric@thewizardguy@Legion02 - I wish to announce that I am indeed working on a thread to put up as an alternative to this one. It is about 75% complete as it stands and I'm working at it even now. I shall post a link for you all once it is complete. Do be aware since I'm taking control I've introduced a small few narrative differences, namely in the setting's origins, so a couple adjustments will be needed to be made to CS's involving the change in the story's past. I'll try and be a bit more informative once the thread is up.

A Modern Magical Superhero Academy

@Scio - I'm a sucker for superhero roleplays but before I commit I must ask: Are profile pictures required? If so, what type? Photo or drawn?

Tabula Rasa || Ancient Gods

@Legion02 - If there are no more eager volunteers I could write up something of a thread to take this one's place for the time being. I haven't much experience running an RP directly but I've served as a co-gm in a fair few. Given the bare-bones nature of the plot it should be relatively simple to set up activity incitement events, the work will fall more on managing matters such as activity and so. I welcome others to take a swing at the position if they're so inclined but I'd be fine to take it up rather than let this fine work go cold.

Tabula Rasa || Ancient Gods

@Dealdric - Well, you're not wrong (Especially with myself). I think a happy compromise between an established setting and an open one for our gods to shape would work out for the best, leaving stuff like nature, the elements and stuff intact while we focus on shaping civilizations and such.

Tabula Rasa || Ancient Gods

Seeing as how when given the option to create their realm everyone already has a set idea on what it looks like I think it would be interesting to just take a blank slate world and populate it entirely with the contents already mentioned in their realm descriptions. Demon-ridden spires, lush forests with secret grottos, vast mountain ranges and stretches of wintery tundra. The realm descriptions basically already have a world built up to a healthy starting base.

Razelia: The Kingdom Of Magic (FINISHED)

Thessir

How utterly predictable.

Thessir pretty much saw this one coming a mile away. A lightning mage charging him with electricity? No way!?... Yeah, as if that'd catch him off guard.

The electrical current running through his plain arms hurt, true. The smell of cooked flesh wafted through the air, not that he could smell it in this form. He hadn't seen the damage dealt to them yet but he didn't really need to. His arms would be useless for anything requiring any degree of precision from then on out.

Luckily for Thessir when electricity runs through flesh it causes all the muscles to seize up, effectively immobilizing all effected parts. Since his hands were gripped onto his daggers the muscles in his fingers contracted creating an even tighter grip on his weapons. As for his dark mass he was barely effected by Kazudain's self-centered surge. Sure, as a potent resistor the electricity that failed to travel through his flesh created a fair degree of heat but unlike the last bolt his body had a far greater amount of surface area to displace the heat across. By the end of it his general dark mass was about the temperature of beach sand on a hot summer's day. Even then Thessir himself felt no discomfort as the darkness that was infused with his flesh decreased the potency of his flesh's physical properties by the amount of flesh the darkness was effectively replacing. As such not only was his flesh less conductive but he felt less pain too. He also felt less of his other sensations like the feeling of touch or the fact he couldn't smell almost anything while his head was infused. He's well aware of these limitations as he's been balancing the amount of darkness he's replaced his body with to find that sweet spot between malleable darkness and living flesh to reap the benefits of both. Alas, he's had to settle with this for his latest incarnation of this particular spell.

The light he had generated had bothered what little of his dark mass it reached to a mild extent. Lightning magic was no sunlight but the light it cast still burned like any light did. It was a bright but brief flash and only a small portion of it was present beneath his cloak. Even still Thessir was wearing his coat which blocked what little light flashed from below for most of his body. Despite how little or how brief it might of been the light that touched him still did more damage than the actual electricity had, at least to the dark mass. The temperature Kazudain would need to heat his shadow infused flesh to in order to disrupt the physical state would need to be so hot it'd likely inflict third degree burns across every inch of Kazudain's the fluid mass was touching regardless of what clothing stood between him and it. As it was he was nowhere near that temperature.

_
What he did next surprised him, not because he was performing a burst step despite the poison that was supposedly in his system but because of the fact that he decided to try and move despite the fact he was holding onto his legs. As Kazudain rushed across the stage for whatever purpose he couldn't fathom Thessir contracted the tendrils of his body that were wrapped around his legs, attempting to cinch them together so he could trip him mid dash.

As for his arms they did not fall off for a number of factors. Firstly their grip was still fixed to the daggers which unless he was mistaken were still stuck into the man's torso. Secondly the arms were below his cloak. He could escape his arms no better than he could escape his own cloth. Thirdly just because he electrified his arms did not mean the darkness which held them had at any point let them go. At this point even if the arms were paralyzed he could make almost as much use of them as he did before since they clung to the daggers not out of a desire to but rather because they simply could not. The electricity had burned the nerves in his arms to the point he could barely tell if he was holding the blades or not. Given how the muscles were forced to contract he simply hadn't reversed the effect the electricity had on them yet since he couldn't, at least not yet.

While trying to trip him he pulled on the arms with the daggers that were still stuck into Kazudain's body with a crisscross rend. His goal with this motion was to carve his foe's flesh open in a curved X pattern so that he might watch the lightning magus's guts spill from his torn stomach. He had smaller tendrils that were set aside pull spare knives so that he could capitalize on the opening of the wound he intended to create.

While Kazudain had done little more than cook the flesh in his arms Thessir was largely unbothered by this current bout's results thus far. Having experienced the sensations of having his own flesh, blood and bone burned away by the sun's light the pain his arms experienced ranked quite well below such a feeling. If the man wanted to continue electrocuting himself to try and hurt him in vain he was welcome to.

On the other hand despite these events transpiring within the meager frame of four seconds total he had already spent far longer than he cared to spend this close to the man's genitalia. The sooner he could end this battle the better.

Roleplay about being trapped inside a roleplay: Adventures from the Place Holder

It wasn't the best day for Cynthia.

Having been sandwiched between a late night's work to finish a paper and an early morning lecture to attend she pretty much spent the majority of the afternoon living from coffee cup to coffee cup, drifting listlessly between the brief moments of artificial energy spurts that kept her off the cusp of falling asleep on her feet. After finally turning in her work there remained the matter that she had agreed to show up to one of Craig's game sessions today. She had largely spoken with him online for the most part, only having shown up in person once before back when they were discussing what system they were going to use and a little bit about characters though a majority of it could really have been boiled down to a certain amount of arguing amidst the longer term members and himself before any real consensus was reached.

Having stopped by home to retrieve her pens, papers, dice and other such tools of the hobby along with a thermos of spearmint tea she had prepared in advance she now stood at the bus stop, awaiting her primary method of transportation. Once on the bus she was on her way to Craig's house. Riveting I'm sure.

_
Once at the right stop she stepped off and began up the sidewalk towards the turn where his house laid. At the front door she gave the door a light couple of raps, not one accustomed to waltzing into places unannounced. Looking into the window in the front door she could see a number of the others had already arrived and set up at the table.

Perhaps I'm being too formal? She wondered, still standing before the door in front of her. Tentatively she opened the door and leaned in, peering around the door and past the corner where the group was sat.

"Hello." She announced her presence more or less. Taking a second to confirm she wasn't intruding she stepped through, taking her shoes off at the doorway before making her way inside. Naturally seeing as how Craig had set himself up with something of a makeshift nest arranged about him most people's seating were generally across the table from him. She took a seat in between two such folks and though the space she had chosen was sparse for table space it had yet to become cramped given the current number of present players.

_
"I finished the designs for my character and her race." She quietly informed Craig, never much one for projecting her voice let alone speaking over the general din of conversation. She produced from her satchel what looked to be a five page document detailing both her character and her race right down to the basic facets of how they exist and function in nature. She had spent a great deal of time hammering out every particular aspect of the slime species. Just deciding whether she should build them up as large single-cellular organisms or make them multicellular organisms like jellyfish took a degree of contemplation that would put many written thesis to shame.

While she was not too confident in how Craig was handling his rough-shod approach to the system she saw his flexibility as an opportunity to explore a unique method of character building, designing an anthropomorphized sample of a species unique unto itself. With a smattering of classic gaming references blended together with biological know-how she figured it should help her character at least stand out from the rest of the characters who were for the most part building off of a human framework, tweaked here and there to fill certain tropes found within fantasy but for the most part drawing from the same design. Maybe a couple horns here some wings there but for the most part most fantasy races were just exceptional humans.

She saw this as an opportunity to expand beyond humanity... Well, at least on paper.

Tabula Rasa || Ancient Gods

@Kalas - Wait, that post was made seven days ago and was in reference to the creation of the IC I believe. It's not that I don't believe in affording Polybius due time however but I checked and unless the reference to tornadoes connects to the reason he was only online two days ago I'm unsure of what connects his post to this current dispute.

Tabula Rasa || Ancient Gods

Stepping aside the current topic of contention...

@Polybius - A quick question for you and anyone else interested in pitching in on the topic: What is the state of human civilization? Are they still in their primitive hunter/gatherer tribes stage or are they onto the point of developing farms and walled cities?

For everyone else that's interested is there a particular group of people you think are developing or have developed in your lands? Any particular forms of culture that have developed?