ClocktowerEchos

Friendly neighborhood demon, here...

Welcome!

Underynth: The Light Below (What if everything was issekai'd?)

@SilverPaw Welcome aboard!

@Brother Everyone is going to wake up around a Mana Well but no one knows how you ended up there. You have memories of your past life to varying degrees but the one thing everyone shares is that they have no idea the events leading up to their arrival. Some say its random selection, others blame cosmic happenstance or interaction with something not originally from your world and of course there are people who say the Underynth is basically a sort of limbo/hell.

Royal Invitation: Nations, Distrust, and Political Romances [ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS]

@Wavy Wallaby Myremarke is in the right place (maybe no stretching as far out to the other mountains as it is right now) although I'm still personally on the fence about Boatmurder being considered a "port" since I wrote it more as an over-glorified fishing village lol.

I'll be interested in seeing in how people are going to think of Myremarke now that its getting "uppity".

Underynth: The Light Below (What if everything was issekai'd?)

Setting the Scene

Your light flickers, its a crude thing made of several glowsticks tied together on a stick. It wasn't ever going to last long but you thought you'd have a little more time before resorting to a torch, wrapped in fat-soaked cloth. With the remaining light you look at the compass tied to your arm, pressing your free hand to it and making slight adjustments. Before you can complete your calibrations though, your glowsticks finally give ou. Thankfully, the light of a Mana Well illuminates the next bit forward, its arcane light blue hue accompanied by the gentle sound of sloshing liquid from within the well itself.

Out of curiosity, you peer into it, leaning one hand against the lip of the small crater. In it the swirling liquid slowly gives way to a mirror shine. You see yourself, your old self. The you before you were adorned with bone trinkets and scrap metal armor. The you who isn't wearing a WW2 US Army helmet with a football helmet grate in front of it. The you who isn't covered in scars from a hundred beasts that never existed. The you whose eyes haven't adjusted to the constant low light and haven't seen the things you've witnessed. The you before you were sucked into the Underynth, an endless labyrinth of tunnels, caves and caverns with no escape.

Something roars from the darkness behind you. Within a second you pull out a flintlock pistol, carved from magical Wytchwood and Orcish runes running along the barrel, a tradition of the master Orc gunsmiths who you bought it from. Cocking the hammer back you focus all your senses into the darkness. The thing roars again. And then another roar is heard. And another. Your eyes burst open as you turn to run. This tunnel is coming alive with monsters from who knows what kind of world but you are sure you don't want to find out. You no longer feel the weight of your hiking backpack or even the sword forged from the alloy armor taken from part of a starship. Out of options and out of light, you put the torch up close to your gun and pull the trigger, its sparks leaping on to the torch and setting it alight.

The sound echoes through the caverns and you hear more noises rising. You barely have enough time to look at your compass between the panting and the running, pounding at the hard stone with the sound of beasts only coming closer. The light from your torch dances wildly along the walls. There has to be a settlement nearby, a safe haven to rest at but until then you must run as fast as you can, unless you end up as another dead body that litters the endless caverns of, the Underynth.

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Underynth

The Light Below

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So this is a setting I originally made for D&D (and an attempt at a book before that) and its something I'd like to share and try to use here. You know all of those issekai anime/stories that's all the rage these days ever since SAO came out? Imagine a world like that, except everything is issekai'd in from all kinds of worlds, timelines and alt histories. There is nothing truly "native" to the Underynth, only things that have bene here longer. Being transported to the Underynth isn't the start of your journey to becoming the super MC whose the only one who can solve a world ending problem and gets a harem of waifus of varying quality. It just means you're new to the Underynth.

Story and plot can be discussed once there's interest. It can either be something pressing like a major event with a strong storyline or a more freeform story with goals and motives on a smaller scale than "end of the world" or something. I'm aiming for this to be Casual although I don't have strict "you must post at least 3 paragraphs" or something; just write enough for others to follow up on and not one line "Jim walks forward". I do however expect people to be mature and not be dicks. Tone can be discussed as well but expect it to be some shade of Noble-Dark / Earn Your Happy Ending.

Although things from all time periods come to the Underynth, the RP will definitely be leaning more towards fantasy and D&D-esque. Swords and shields and spells are going to be a lot more common than lasers and automatic weapons (although flintlocks and more primative firearms are still common).

FAQ

Q: So what is the Underynth beyond issekai world?
A: The Underynth is an endless system of caves, tunnels, caverns and underground terrain that seems to go on infinitely. Some speculate its sort of like its own plane of existence as there's a lot of ambient magic that floats around causing all sorts of weird environments that normally wouldn't be possible like frozen pine forests and even oceans.

Q: That seems really convient, are you really just going to say "its magic" and use that as a pass?
A: Its magic, I don't got to explain shit.

Q: Is there anything else besides caves and magic weather?
A: Yes, there is civilization in the Underynth that go from small homesteads to fortified villages all the way up to bustling cities and multi-region states kingdoms and nations. By the time your characters appear, the Underynth already has a few thousand years of history and development behind it. Its not all the same and you can have two widely different tech levels next to each other, sort of like Rimworld.

Q: How does all of this work? Wouldn't it be hard to live let alone make a city in the Underynth?
A: Yes, but lucky for you, you don't have to figure that stuff out since generations of new arrivals before you already have. In addition, there are Mana Wells all over the places that have a habit of spewing stuff up depending on their size. Smaller ones might throw out materials or foodstuffs or other items while some can throw out new people, books and other things. The larger ones can even throw out vehicles. There are even many cases of entire buildings or facilities being transported to the Underynth through unknown means.

Q: What if I don't want to stay in the Underynth? Can I leave?
A: Out of character, yes. In character, no. There have been hundreds of thousands of attempts to get out of the Underynth including digging straight down, digging straight up, wandering and looking for a "surface exit", trying to use teleportation magic or jumping into a Mana Well. The mostly likely outcome for them are: returning tired, returning exhausted, maybe returning if you don't get lost, phasing into solid stone and instantly dying (if you are lucky).

Q: How does language work? Wouldn't everyone be speaking a different language?
A: As part of the magic of the Underynth, everyone can understand everyone else both speaking and written. Think of it as the magic automatically translating it to your known tongue. If you look at something in a different language you'll be able to understand it but you also know there's the feeling of the magic at work like a slight pressure or hum in your head.

Q: I have a question about the lore or how something works.
A: Then ask away and I'll answer as best as I can. While I probably have an answer for everything, I do ask that you suspend your disbelief at least a little bit. You are in an endless magical hell cave after all

Q: What kind of characters would we be playing?
A: Everyone would be playing a new arrival/"Arrivaler". You can play anyone you want but I would say it should lean towards more mundane and less Coldsteel the Shadow Hedgehog or Mr. Totally-not-Doom-Guy. You'll get your chance to get stronger and make an impact, its about the journey and not as much about the destination. Things like an orc office worker, a student at a magical academy, a spaceship engineer, a noble bastard turned knight, a wasteland survivor, a steampunk merchant trader, etc.

Alternatively, if you really want to start out as someone powerful then you can but you will be severely limited in your abilities if you even still have them. Your going from a level 100 Mafia Boss to a level 1 crook and starting from there again. There could be some interesting stories to tell with a character who no longer has their powers and everything that entails.

Q: Wow this seems really cool and you seem to have put a lot of work into this setting, I really want to be a part of this! Where's the CS?
A: If you're interested at all make it known below! A CS guide/requirements will be made once there's enough interest.

_{Inspirations: Metero, Dark Souls, Rising of the Shield Hero, Log Horizon, Rimworld, Ebberon, Warhammer, Dwarf Fortress, Fallout, the song "Its a long way to Tipperary"}

Character Sheet Info

Name: (Duh)
Age: (Don't make them a child or really old. Both children and the elderly do end up in the Underynth but for the purposes of this RP, keep everyone at an age where they can reasonably keep up.)
Description: (Their appearance. You can have written description, picture or both. If you use a picture, I prefer drawn. Anime is "ehh" to "okay" but I don't really like pictures of real people.)

Origin: (What were they in their original world? Office worker? Adventurer? Space Pirate?)
Background: (The background world they came from. It should explain their outlook on life and their Origin.)
Outlook: (How do they view the world and now the Underynth? Did they see their old world as a great place and now they're in hell? Or do they see the Underynth as a release from their old world they hate?)
Personality: (Personality section, it should be their prevailing moods and attitudes. They don't always have to show these traits but it is their "default".)

Greatest Dream: (What is the thing they want the most out of life and what is their "happy ending"? You can have "escape the Underynth" but if you do, put something else here.)
Greatest Fear: (What is the thing they fear the most on a personal level, basically their "bad ending" and not like a fear of spiders. You can have "being stuck in the Underynth" but if you do, put something else here as well.)
Misc: (Anything else you want to add not mentioned above.)

Example Character

Wisher

Description:

"Wisher" is an Asian man presumed to be around his late 20's to early 30's. He is exactly the type of person who would blend into a crowd without being noticed and there is nothing particularly strange about his appearance. His eyes are brown, his hair is black and he has no identifying markings, scars or tattoos. When he first arrived to the Underynth, he was wearing a fairly plain outfit of jeans, a white t-shirt, a green outdoor jacket and sneakers.

Having spent considerable time in the Underynth, his current apperance is different. He changed the sneakers for sturdy boots and his green jacket for a tougher one made of canvas and kevlar. For armor he wears a British WW1-styled helmet and a half-mask rebreather scavenged from the wreck of a submarine as well as a metal chest plate forged by a friend made from a chunk of starfighter armor, with an armored skirt that goes down to his shins and opens up at the front and back. To store items he primarily uses a square Napoleonic-esque backpack with bedroll, hooks, pouches and sacks attached to it, assisted by modern police leg pouches. In terms of weapons Wisher carries a kite shield with an unknown mark on it, a bill hook halberd, a pouch of molotovs, an enchanted burning cutlass, and a flintlock hidden behind his back.

Origin: Unknown

When Wisher awoke in the Underynth, he had absolutely no recollection of his past life or even who he was, having forgotten even his name. He was lucky and saved by a well meaning old Orc but failed to give his name as he didn't even have a wallet or ID card on him and the only thing on him was a note that began with "I wish" with the rest too illegible and smudged to read. At the Orc's suggestion, he took on the name Wisher and continued to live a new life in the Underynth.

Outlook & Personality:

Without much of a grounding in a previous life, Wisher takes his new life mostly in stride, trying to make the best of everything while continuing to search for anything that might connect him to the life he forgot. He tries to see the good in people and in the world around him.

Wisher was heavily influenced by the old Orc who rescued him and characterized by a relentless determination and a stalwart anti-nihilist view, believing that the Underynth is some kind of after life and nothing in it matters and can be pretty terrible at times but uses it as fuel to try and do good and help others. Once he sets his mind to something he will go to great lengths to pursue it but the trouble is getting him to set his mind on something.

Dreams & Fears

Wisher desperately wants to learn anything about his past beyond the note in his pocket thus finding it out is his desire while being unable to is one of his fears. The other is a deep instinctual fear of being completely alone, isolated and outcast, for reasons he isn't quite sure of but believes is also tied to his past.

He also really fucking hates the giant bugs in the Underynth and will go to great lengths to avoid any tunnels or caves that has a nest of them inside.

Misc:

He's proven to have an iron stomach, able to eat and drink things that others find unappetizing or even get sick from.
Prefers to carry torches, lanterns and other non-electrical lights after a bad exprience with them repeatedly shorting out in dark tunnels.
The only reason he also has a section describing his armor and weapons is because he is an example of a character who has spent a long time and "acclimated" to the Underynth; your own characters will not have the same level of equipment starting out.
(Also if you couldn't tell, the Underynth typically has a post-apoc vibe with anachronistic elements thrown in, although this isn't universal, especially with more established settlements, groups and nations.)

OOC thread here.

Royal Invitation: Nations, Distrust, and Political Romances [ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS]

@DegenerateThree I was under the impression that the area directly above me/the mountains was Steinland. Also, I just did a big update of my CS on the first page. They're sitting on what is effectively worthless land that no one else wants and no one else has conquered because any possible reward wouldn't be worth the fighting. The most I really see House Amberclad ever getting is maybe like a majority of the mountains and that's it. They're not expansionist because most of the time they can't actually afford large scale armies to take things over.

Royal Invitation: Nations, Distrust, and Political Romances [ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS]

Oh well now I just feel silly >_<

Royal Invitation: Nations, Distrust, and Political Romances [ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS]

Ooo, I know an Inkarnate map when I see one! Been using Wonderdraft myself, but damn if Inkarnate isn't the more user-friendly to use.

Haven't done a group RP in a long, long time, but I could give this a shot if you'll have me. Thinking of writing a semi-comic relief character who has a completely different (wrong) understanding as to what's going on due to language differences. My idea is that his people only very recently settled in the north-east (~within 50 years?) and were formerly nomadic sea peoples raiding the coast.

@DegenerateThree

@DegenerateThree, Not to be a pest, but settling implies that displacement of other people. Are they at war with the locals?

@Pagemaster

This is going to require the GM's input, but it could be something Steinland has against the crown. That the good king gave some lands to the sea nomads in exchange for them protecting the shores from other raiders like Vikings in Normandy. The nomads asked for some land on the peninsula. Steinland objected. The King gave them a chance to prove themselves and once they did, he carved away and enclave and gave it to the sea nomads as rewards for service and defending the realm, making them directly vassals of the crown rather than Steinland.

Could be one of Karl's objectives, to get the land he believes was "stolen" from his family back by influencing the new king and maybe slandering the nomads.

Edit: ofc I post this literally a minute after the previous post lol

Royal Invitation: Nations, Distrust, and Political Romances [ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS]

@Pagemaster Ahh, I'll be changing that bit then.

Royal Invitation: Nations, Distrust, and Political Romances [ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS]

@Pagemaster Pinging you now because I forgot to in my previous post, but as of right now I have it that Myremarke and Steinland have fought on multiple occasions before and that the most recent was over the mountain on our shared (?) border by the current Myremarke King. And that it was during the fighting that Karl got some or all of his injuries. Thoughts on this?

Royal Invitation: Nations, Distrust, and Political Romances [ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS]

Slightly smaller WIP. Myremarke is pronounced "mire-mark".

Talvyrn

Name: Talvyrn Amberclad, Heir to and Master Minister of the Grand Duchy of Myremarke
Age: 29
Height: 5'10"
Description:
A serious looking man with sharp green eyes that light with determination and an even sharper gaze fueled by ambition. He has a resting dour look on his face making him look annoyed or disapproving in most cases. He is skinny and lean, a result of living in the Mire as children rarely fatten up, yet a life time of avid hunting through the forests and bogs has made him strong and athletics, letting him move across knee deep water without slowing and pulling back the heaviest warbows Myremarke can make.

Face Claim:
(WIP)

Family Crest: A two-pronged spear flanked by an arrow on each side set on a field of green

Qualities:
- Exceptional archer and hunter, and physically fit as is to be expected of a Myremarke noble
- Appointed Master Minister by his father (effectively the minister of the interior and coin master) and has proven himself more than capable of the role
- Posesses incredible vision and can spot moving objects in the distance
- Known for his focus and determination, a stubborn, single-minded pursuit of a task
- Independant and used to working alone or with very limited outside assistance

Additional Notes:
Typically Myremarke dukes are seen as lazy, apathetic or otherwise very content to just stay in their lane to the point its sometimes a joke by the other kings and nobles. Talvyrn is probably the first Amberclad in at least two centuries to buck the trend and show this kind of drive and ambition to the point some say his father's current illness is actually due to him poisoning him and his late older brother (who died as a child) was killed by Talvyrn to ensure he would be heir. Talvyrn as of right now is content to let those rumors continue mostly to spread his name.

Myremarke

Grand Duchy of Myremarke (the Mire)

Location: Left most coast on the main continent, under the mountain

Description:
Myremarke is not blessed and counts itself among the poorest of the kingdoms in Dawnhilt, too poor to even be considered kings. It is only through the trade of amber that its ruling family, House Amberclad, sustains itself and its position. Half of the land is taken up the by Fenglan Wetlands, a foggy mess of mud and bog, and the other is taken up by the Valewald Forest, a dark and untamed woodland, with only a sliver of the Karinkar Mountains to carve rock and mine coal from. Only brute determination and clever construction of man made islands and crannogs help keep the realm afloat.

Living up to its name, the Mire is a place where few would willing go without cause yet its people remain, stubbornly holding on to what little they have, determined to make something of it. The Valewald isn't a majestic forest and the Fenglan Wetlands are nearly impossible to traverse in some places but with some clever engineering, the roughest of roads have linked the scattered fortified villages with the largest towns in Myremarke who themselves are seen as some of the smallest on the continent. Due to its foul landscape and fouler reputation, it has become a hotspot for bandits and criminals, fleeing justice by hiding out in the deep woods and swamps, coming out only to prey on the locales.

Culture:

The people of Myremarke are a dour and rugged bunch, widely believed to be hostile to outsiders. This is only partially true as suspicion is more common than outright hostility, mostly as a result of bandits who live in the most remote parts of the Mire. To live in Myremarke is to live a harsher existence than those in the more "civilized" and gentler kingdoms. People sew swamp grain in murky flooded fields, hunt for frogs and boars with spear and bow, harvest peat and bog iron from the wetlands and chop gnarled trees from the forest. For this, Myremarke is seen as being "less civilized", more backwards or even more barbaric than the rest of Dawnhilt with its people living in crude huts and trudging through muddy paths everyday. Yet in this, they take a degree of pride, boast (mostly to themselves) about how they live in a place where most would either give up or die, that their struggle makes them stronger rather than going soft.

Their homeland has also made Myremarke famous for its hunters, trackers and survivalists, naturally trained by virtue of growing up in the Mire. There is also a long tradition of archery where every man, woman and child is expected to be proficient with a bow by law as some of the trees in the Valewald make for excellent bows. Even nobles aren't exempt from this law leading the armies of Myremarke to have very little knightly noble horsemen and many more longbowmen and noble archers to pepper the enemy. The Mirefolk are also more egalitarian than some of their "civilized" neighbors where the same effort and grim determination is expect of men and women out of necessity; there simply too much work and too little time or people to care about who is doing the labor as long as it is done.

Economy:

There is little land that can be cultivated in Myremarke, that few patches that can are often logged with water forcing farmers to grow swamp grain or tangled with roots of trees, forcing them to scatter the seeds of root vegetables in the hopes they will find enough dirt to grow. There are no major ports in Myremarke simply because there isn't enough things of value to trade. Timber from the Valewald is too knotted and gnarled to be used by most carpenters, no one wants to buy swamp peat or bog iron when they have actual coal and iron ore to use instead, the meat from hunted animals is too gamey for outsiders and their furs while warm and waterproof aren't the refined, soft manes favored by others, and there's barely any surplus food to trade away most years. Instead there is only two things of value to that keep Myremarke on the map: Salt and Amber.

While Myremarke is hardly the only place to produce salt, no one else has put so much effort into making so much. Evaporated sea salt takes time and mined out blocks of salt can be expensive but Mirefolk have their own ways of teasing great quantities of salt from the salt marshes kept secret only by the fact few care to travel so deep into the Mire to learn how. Ultimately, once the salt is on the table only the most refined (and snobbish) diner can taste the difference between salt and mire salt. Amber on the other hand is more unique to the land and while some others have trees that can produce amber, Myremarke and House Amberclad has forests of amber. Since the earliest records, use of amber as jewelry or religious items has been common in various parts of the continent. Even today with apothecaries and Wynterwood gems open to sale, Dawnhilt's taste for the warm honeyed amber of Myremarke has never gone away.

Although a largely domestic market, Myremarke's cobblers and shoemakers have created the "Mire Boot" that goes up to the shins and is made of specially treated leather, flax and herbs that makes them warm and more important completely water-proof, a necessity in such a swampy land.

Places:

Lendric:
The largest proper city and capital of Myremarke, named after the castle it is built around that was in turn named after the Amberclad king who waste the only time Myremarke was ever considered rich and poured its wealth into its construction. It is the only place where one can see much of any kind of wealth and even then its dwarfed by the capitals of its neighbors. Its streets are chaotic and messy, quickly going from stone to dirt to watery marsh all in the same step. It has no walls, instead having an expensive system of canals and waterways that can quickly flood the surrounding already difficult terrain into a truly hellish slog through waist high swamp all while a hundred strategically placed archery towers rain down arrows from above.

Boatmurder:
The closest Myremarke has to a proper port, earning its name from the wreckage of ships ruined by the jagged rocks of the Dragon Cliff, their drift wood used to make new building or as firewood. It is home to many fishermen who sail out to catch fish, crabs, snails, clams and oysters as well as the base of the House Amberclad navy, a small force consisting mostly of ships bought from Alcyone. Has a number of geothermal vents and geysers nearby as well as regularly attracting the attention of Marsh Elephants for unknown reasons. Several "wars" have been fought against the elephants after they threaten local farming efforts and outlying buildings. Their hides are used to make Mire Boots.

Further Information:
Myremarke has long been the redheaded stepchild of Dawnhilt, being lead by a series of middling and uninspiring dukes in the best of times. Yet with the death of the king, some speak of the ambition of the heir, seeking to elevate the land (or himself) into prestige and power.