Cmmelody

Forgotten Sands: A Divine Journey into the Unknown

@Cmmelody

I understand. So what we have here is NOT a reluctant savior deity who teaches harsh survival lessons out of genuine compassion. What you've described is fundamentally a chaotic, villainous god of beautiful ruin, an entity that finds societal collapse entertaining, views desperate mortals as participants in a spectacle, and enables chaos because the struggle itself is aesthetically pleasing to them.

Yzechr, to me, seem to be a god of desperate chaos and accelerationism. Yet they don't just save the desperate, they radicalize them. They give weapons to people in crisis and then watch, detached and amused, as those people burn down the systems that failed them. If civilization collapses in the process, Yzechr views that as proof it was never worth preserving.

This god doesn't corrupt people out of necessity; they enable mortals to corrupt themselves and find the resulting carnage aesthetically interesting. The "survival" framing is a justification, not the genuine motivation. The real motivation is that Yzechr finds the struggle, the violence, the moral compromises, the descent into darkness, more interesting than peace or prosperity.

That's not a savior you have here but antagonist villain.

I am not averse to villainous gods, not at all. I love the concept, and in general there would not be any stakes if there weren't any villains for the 'good guys' to go against. What I need from you, however, is for you to commit to this role. If you commit to this, I am willing to give you the Chaos domain instead of Corruption, as 'Corruption' implies active degradation, but you've described Yzechr as indifferent to whether mortals become corrupt. They just give tools and watch, which is really not not corruption at its core...that's just indifferent enablement, sadistic detachment (a god who finds apocalypse entertaining is not trying to save people but enabling destruction because they enjoy watching it unfold) or simply Chaos.

As for the Perception domain, I still am not convinced it fits his thematic narrative you've described so far. What do you think about the domain of Desperation or Survival instead? His followers can indeed cry out to him in desperation during their most dire moments, struggling for survival, and he will answer because that is what he does.

What do you think?

@Vec

I'm not against it, I don't think this is a god in the 'righteous side' in the first place. I choose 'perception' or 'deception' because their main role is to protect and conceal evil.

And I think I forgot to add that he does not care if the boy kills people or not because he know sooner or later that boy will ask for help again. People in desperate situation are rarely able to climb out of that state the righteous way. Beside, if the boy feel safe he will let his guard down even more when the next time comes. Think of it like the devil temptation. Well, I think it's a very good comparison actually. You might think that it is not the savior behavior but in the end many life got save. And if you ask those outlaws most of them genuinely respected and grateful for their god, Yzechr is the only thing between them and the chopping block after all. Sometimes people are just born into evil circumstance and will never be able to step into the 'good' society.

I don't think the end of civilization = the end of the world. This is a guy who have an army of murderers, vigilantes, terrorists, and many more as their followers. If they are constantly feeling guilty toward anything those guys do, they wouldn't last a day in this position. And life is the most beautiful when you live it to the fullest, no? That's why they can laugh and enjoy anything their followers and would be followers do, no matter how destructive those guys became. Again Yzechr is the recruiter and the protector of evil, or more specifically the protector of the evil path. They are not the savior of everyone, they are the savior of the scums, the wickeds, and the unfortunates, for a reason. Everyone else just happen to have the chance to be 'the unfortunates'.

And if the collapse of civilization really happen, Yzechr will also saves anyone who asked to be save. For those who don't? What is there to be remorseful? They have already made the choice. As for the building and the social order? Heh, it's not like this guy care in the first place.

(sorry if this is hard to make sense of, I didn't base this character on any existing god or media concept so it's kinda hard to explain and warp your head around....)

Edit: How about the god of evil and deception? The one who protect all evil paths?

Forgotten Sands: A Divine Journey into the Unknown

@Cmmelody I love your clarifications, the fact that you went through the time to post this shows you want to make this work. I have just a couple of questions for you: In the motivation part of your sheet you wrote a small boy interacting with him; does Yzechr care whether the boy kills guards, inmates, or both? Would Yzechr be disappointed if he used the blade only in self-defense versus slaughtering everyone?

Additionally, does Yzechr ever feel regret about what their followers become? Or is it pure pragmatism—survival at any cost, no second thoughts? If every desperate person became a Yzechr worshiper and "fought for survival" by hurting others, society would collapse into endless violence. Does Yzechr see this as a problem, or is chaos the point?

I am asking these to get a better feel on what will be needed IC to best incorporate Yzechr's existence.

@Vec

Yzechr doesn't really care if the boy kills or doesn't kill anyone while breaking out, if he can escape without slaying a person then they would congratulate the boy on his stealth skill and resourcefulness. As I said, the corruption is always voluntarily, it is the mortal own inability that make them turn into darkness. Yzechr is just the one offering an option for those desperate being.

Yes, it is pure pragmatism. He would watch the society crumble like watching a good tv show, even speculating on who has the high chance to be the last one standing. That's why he is the god of corruption, don't you think so?

Forgotten Sands: A Divine Journey into the Unknown

<Snipped quote by Cmmelody>

Well, honestly, now that I've had a more thorough look at it, no. Your two domains feel like they're from entirely different deities. Perception (awareness, sight, hearing, sensory truth) has no organic thematic connection to Corruption (moral decay, transformation, degradation). The roleplay example focuses almost exclusively on corruption/temptation—perception barely appears except as flavor text about "hearing cries." Additionally, claiming Yzechr invented sight and hearing is staggeringly huge and creates immediate worldbuilding contradictions. Were all other gods blind and deaf before this one arrived?

"Can hear every crying voice in the world and respond no matter how far away" is a campaign-destroying power level if taken literally. Refer to my addendum about divine omniscience that I posted earlier to understand, in broad terms, the power levels of deities in this setting.

Your motivation says Yzechr wants to protect the damned, but the roleplay example describes them as "the cruelest entity in the realm...who preys on the weak." These are opposite concepts. A predator doesn't protect anyone, it instead consumes everything in its path. If Yzechr is genuinely trying to save people, the framing should reflect that. If Yzechr is cruel and exploitative, own that and adjust the motivation.

Lastly, your list of followers mixes people who make sense (outlaws, outcasts, rebels) with professions that feel totally wrong. Artists? Why would artists worship a corruption deity? Unless you mean desperate artists (starving poets who'd sell their souls for fame), this feels random. Scouts and watchmen? These are often lawful, disciplined professions. Why would they abandon moral principles? The "perception" domain connection is there, but it doesn't fit the corruption angle. A bit of specificity would fix these issues; "Disgraced artists," "exiled scouts," "watchmen who've seen too much and lost faith in the law," are more fitting followers for such a deity.

@Vec

This god is based on the instinct for survival, the will to hurt and take from the world. I write it in a kind of mortal perspective so for those who is on the lawful side it would seem quite cruel, some view their moral as precious as life itself after all. To take what make them human can be considered 'the most cruel' act one can do. If you murder someone it will haunt you for a long time. For Yzechr it is the way to save people, the most effective way. If you don't teach the weak to kill, hurt, steal, or break a few laws, would you think they will survived for long? Maybe? But Yzechr doesn't think so. That's why they always corrupted 'the weak' or in Yzechr's words; "teach them a new way to live". If you are not THAT desperate then offering to Yzechr is safe most of the time (emphasis on most of the time). I can assure you that Yzechr is genuinely willing to save everyone and the transformation to corruption is mostly voluntarily. But it is also true that those who transform often don't have a choice so most people on the lawful side would view it as predatory.

It is said that they are the one who created perception but for mortal (or bring perception to the realm of mortal, if you have problem with the first one) The purpose of a tiger's eyes are to hunt the rabbit, so perception can be seen as a way to inflict more hurts to the world. It is definitely a way for creature to survive. The sound is there, the sight is there, but in order to perceive those you would need some kind of medium. The perception domain is in that territory.

With the followers, I listed the people who would even considered worship this god. Let's face it, since when are the artist not desperate? They struggle when they are unknown, they struggle even more to hold on to their fame once they made it. The scout and watchmen will probably not be the most devote follower most of the days, they might not even considered themselves a devotee. But a good chuck of them will probably memorized Yzechr prayer on speed dial in case something happen in their line of work, especially one with less strong sense of moral. More so because the outlaws who worship Yzechr as their main god would normally spare those who pray to Yzechr and offer them a place in their gang/organization as their faith practice, the buff in perception is just a bonus. If you see Scout and Watchmen as a lawful and disciplined profession you could say "why would they abandon their moral and worship a corruption god.", and sure some people are like that. But there are many people who got into those low pay, high risk profession because it is genuinely the only job they could feed their family. Think of the police force in your own country or around the world, do you think they are upright or corrupt? That's the reality, unfortunately. The law enforcement is usually the one who turned to corruption the fastest, and those people are definitely not in the minority.

I imagine most sane civilization would ban the worship of this god. But they are the god of outlaws aka the people who specialize in bypassing the government restriction, so those ban will never be effective. Most people worship in secret though. The 'hearing every cry' is mostly flavor text but isn't it also true that the god can sense when people say their true name? So if my god don't mind people using their true name as a cry for help then isn't this practically the same? Yzechr would rarely punish mortals anyway, not to the point of death or ruination. In some sense they are one of the kindest god. (if you really squint hard enough...)

Edit: If perception is not right, I can change it to Lies (it is formerly Deception anyway)

Forgotten Sands: A Divine Journey into the Unknown

<Snipped quote by Cmmelody>

As I said earlier, the starting number of Domains will be 2 in this roleplay, so you'll have to drop one of the three for the moment. There are ways to gain another Domain later down the line, but for early game we've got just the 2.

@Vec

It's perception and corruption. I can edit my entry for less confusion. btw are those domains okay with you?

Forgotten Sands: A Divine Journey into the Unknown

Your friendly corruption god

Yzechr

Perception and Corruption.

God Concept: Yzechr is the only god who will reach out to help the lowliest scum, the most wicked, the most unfortunate. When the whole world turns its back on you, they will come, give you sweet words of encouragement; “Let the world burn! It’s your only salvation!”. Yzechr is said to be the creator of perception, making the world see and hear each other for the first time. They have the ability to hear every crying voice in the world and can give respond to them no matter how far away they are. Yzechr is the instinct to protect oneself, the will to survive regardless of who will pay the cost. As such, they are usually worshiped by outlaws, outcasts, artists, rebels, scouts and watchmen, or those with low standing in the community.
Appearance: They have numerous forms, often appearing in front of mortals by mirroring their own appearance. However, you can know it is them by the black mists swirling around, giving a mysterious and divine atmosphere. If they do not assume the form of others, the black mist will simply make up all the body parts, usually with hollow eyes and mouth.
Motivation: To protect those who should be damned. There is no such thing as the one who doesn’t deserve Yzechr mercy, for Yzechr will surely respond to everyone who called, as long as they are willing to fight with everything they got and abandon their moral principle. Yes, that included those who are targeted by other gods. In the process, they will transform into something they once hated.

Roleplay Example:
Yzechr looks at the boy in rag clothes prostrating on the stone-cold floor, he himself wearing the same face with the black mists swirling around his divine body. Those mists slowly envelop the tiny cell they are in, as if to make it disappear from the world. “Your kins are gone, your homeland occupied, and yet you still wish not to dirty your hands?” The voice is young, but the tone is far from innocent.

The boy shivered from the coldness of the god's words, ten times colder than the stone floor below him. Everyone knows Yzechr is the cruelest entity in the realm. He who preys on the weak and takes away even their last integrity, their last humanity, until nothing is left.

Unfortunately, he is that perfect victim.

“Until sunrise, this blade will remain unseen by everyone but yourself.” The black blade is revealed among the mists. The steel door suddenly unlocked with a loud click, and yet no one seemed to hear it outside of this tiny room. “Only those who fight have the right to live. So my dear mortal, I hope you choose your future wisely.”

The mists are gone. The god is gone. Only the black blade taunting the boy of his own situation. The blade that is hungry for blood, human blood. Even if he can survive the night, his innocence will forever be gone.

Availability: 3x per week
Experience: I usually rp in my own language and just recently tried an English forum (English is not my first language). I like pbp because I can edit my grammar and run it through the spell check program. Yes, this is the already edit version. T_T

(The starting domains are perception and corruption)

Let me know if I have to fix anything!

Edit: Change the pronoun, change one of the domains from deception to perception
Edit2: Clear up the domains for less confusion

Forgotten Sands: A Divine Journey into the Unknown

Interested!
Will post the application by tomorrow. (or today, depending on where you live)

My character concept is the god of Mercy/Deception/corruption

Paths Unwound — A Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Aburame Shino

Place - ???

There she is, the one who is responsible for his predicament. Judging by the manner of her entrance, there is definitely some kind of space-time jutsu involved. Shino is quite doubtful about the whole danger thing, having just attended his friend’s wedding after a long war. The world he just left is at the most peaceful state he has ever seen in his life. Also, he is not so naive as to trust a stranger who clearly just confesses to be their kidnapper. Still, the white hair woman seems to be quite powerful, crossing her at this moment would be unwise. In the end, Shino decided to play along... for now.

“I believe you will explain what we have to do later.” The teenage boy puts his two hands in the pockets of his grey cloak, the words as emotionless as ever. “I’m rather curious about the way you choose people to do your... work. I am clearly not the most powerful person you would find in my world, I imagine others here might be the same.”

He sweeps his glance across multiple people in the plaza. It’s true that looks can be deceiving but some people, like the black hair girl for example, are clearly not the combat type. So it is safe to say that power is not the main criteria, or a criteria at all. By asking this question, he also hopes to gain some insight on the woman named Wynn and the nature of her ‘mission’ in general.

@FujiwaraPhoenix @VitaVitaAR @Rune_Alchemist @Raineh Daze

Paths Unwound — A Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Aburame Shino

Place - ???

Tokyo? Chinese? Golden Hour? Penacony?

Now Shino is completely lost. Coupled with the fact that none of them have any chakra on their body and he is starting to get a picture of what is going on here.

“Have all of you considered the fact we might come from different realms altogether? It is most probable, I would say. And why is that? Because we don’t seem to know many things others find obvious. In fact, I have never heard of Tokyo, Penacony, or Golden Hour in my life.”

He said after coming to the conclusion. Shino might not have experienced those so called ‘realms’ before but he of course, knows of their existence. One such example is the infamous summoning realms where all the summons reside. It is also said that Otsutsuki Kaguya herself came from a different realm to the Ninja world. Those realms are often described as having rules and places not like his own.

After saying that to all of the newly formed group, he then turns his head to another guy in the room.

“You are the first one here. Do you notice anything out of the ordinary? The perpetrator must have some kind of motive, no one is messing with a space jutsu without a good reason.”

@FujiwaraPhoenix @VitaVitaAR @Rune_Alchemist @Raineh Daze

Paths Unwound — A Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Aburame Shino

Konoha Village - Main Streets.

It’s quite lively tonight.

On the street, people of various ages and backgrounds are laughing, talking to each other in a joyous atmosphere. After a long year of war, Konoha Village finally finds peace once again. And what would be more worthy of celebration than the wedding of the one and only Konoha hero, the one who brings people together in times of need. Though for one Aburame Shino, the meaning of this wedding is far more than the celebration of a hero. Because the bride is none other than his long time friend and teammate, who has been together with him through thick and thin.

“Who would have thought Hinata would be the first of us to tie the knot. She was even more shy than you, Shino. But hey! If she can do it, maybe my dream beautiful sexy superhot woman might be around the corner too!”

Listening to the rambling of his sharp-fangs friend, the bug user in a grey hoodie just tags along quietly. Although that doesn’t seem to bother the other person much.

“So? Now that the war has ended, what are you going to do? Our future has just begun, you know? There is endless possibility...”

Future huh?
That’s a topic he hasn’t thought about for a long time. But now maybe it’s a good time to start.

“What about you Kiba? I believe you have something in mind.” Shino asked knowingly.

“Aww man, you are no fun. But yes, I am applying for the police force. Me and Akamaru, of course. I bet we will be unstoppable!”

Even someone like this guy has a future figured out. Sometimes Shino feels like he alone has been left behind by time, while his friend has been moving toward the future without fear. But what does the future even look like for him? Sure, he decided to be a teacher and it's a noble career, guiding the new generation. But until now Shino is still not sure if it is what he truly wants.

The path toward his house, the Aburame clan, is still as quiet as it always has been. Shino touches the edge of the wooden door, intending to go in. Suddenly, he feels a strong headache, and his vision begins to blur until he can’t make out what’s in front of him. When his vision comes back again, the surroundings have already changed beyond recognition. Night becomes days, What was once an empty street becomes some form of a Village gathering square, albeit with quite an unusual design. Even if he can’t place a finger on it, something feels very off about this place.

As a decent shinobi, of course the first thing he would do is try to dispel an illusion. Putting his fingers in a hand seal, pumping chakra through his vein, and saying the word of dispelling.

“KAI!”

When it fails, Shino suddenly has a premonition that he might be in more trouble than he initially thought. More alarming is the fact that the bugs he has sent to scout the surrounding comeback to report nothing. Not the usual kind of ‘nothing to report’ nothing, but an honest nothing as in ‘nothing exists beyond this point’ nothing.

And then there is a man not far from him who doesn’t have one drop of chakra, not even at the non shinobi level. He somehow just has none, despite looking quite normal except a little weird choice of clothing. At least he doesn’t seem to be a puppet or one of those weird automation the research division has been playing with recently. That man seemed to be observing the surroundings just like he did. So it would stand to reason that he too, is not a native of this place. Maybe a further observation might give him some more insight?

Shino decided to wait quietly, observing how things would develop from this point.

@FujiwaraPhoenix @VitaVitaAR @Rune_Alchemist @Raineh Daze

Paths Unwound — A Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Bug boi grown up version

Name: Aburame Shino
Gender: Male
Appearance:

Without glasses/cloak

Personality: Shino is a quiet person. He likes to stay in the background observing the world rather than being the center of attention. He is also very logical, often framing his speech with question and answer. That unfortunately makes him quite awkward in a conversation and to be around in general. When in battle he is calm and unfazed no matter the situation. Despite his stoic appearance, he is a very kindhearted individual, especially to children. He only has one hobby; entomology (insect study), which has a side effect of making his already creepy appearance even more creepy.

Brief History: Shino was born into the Aburame clan; a ninja family who use bugs as a weapon. Every Aburame member would host insects inside their body and feed them with their ‘Chakra’, a special type of energy in his world. Shino too, had bugs planted inside of him since he was a little kid. Over time he would learn to control and harness their power as his core fighting style.

When he was twelve he graduated from the ninja academy. He started his ninja career with his other 2 friends and a supervising teacher, their team specialize in tracking operations. Throughout his entire career he often took on a leader role because of his level-headed nature. He even played an important role in one of the biggest wars in their world history, holding the line with his hoard of insects. After the war ended he decided to become a teacher to guide the new generation.

Universe of Origin: Naruto
Equipment: Standard Kunai and Shuriken set

Abilities:
Insect control - As an Aburame clan member, Shino was taught how to control insects since he was young. He can make them move in any way he likes and use them to do his bidding.
Insect breeding - Using his body as a nest and his chakra as food, Shino can control the reproduction cycle of his bugs. He can replenish his bug army at a fast rate by consuming his own chakra, making their number endless.
Insect scouting - Using special types of insects, Shino can track a person by smell or mark a person that comes into his range which can then be tracked down later. He can also communicate with his own bugs and share their vision with special technique.
Insect clone - He can make the insects take the image of himself, confusing his opponent.
Giant insect summon - Summon a giant beetle as a ride.
Flesh-eating insect - Of all the subspecies of bug that Shino has, there is one which can devour another creature’s flesh from the inside, growing rapidly from a tiny bug up to 2 meters. This is one of his deadliest weapons. Due to the cruelty of this method Shino is only willing to use them on non sapience enemies.
Wall and water walking - with special use of chakra he can walk on vertical walls and liquid surfaces.
Transformation - Make himself look like another person or object but don’t have their ability.
Closed range combat - Can fight without a weapon, can also use kunai at proficient level.
Throwing weapon - Can throw kunai and shuriken with accuracy.

Other: Age 17 (After the 4th Shinobi war)