Olive Fontaine — Roleplayer Guild

Hearts Astray in Worlds of Darkness

Introduction

This is a roleplay setting which is loosely based on the early Kingdom Hearts games. However, I do mean loosely; some important concepts are wholly original. Essentially only Kingdom Hearts 1 remains canon to this world. Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 2 are partially canon, but their ideas and characters have been reinterpreted in a new direction. Some of the language we will use in this verse is drawn from fan speculation during the period before KH2's release.

Our characters are members of an alternate Organization XIII, also known as the Cynics' Guild. This group is mainly made up of Nobodies, beings who have lost their hearts, and much of their memory, to darkness in a previous life. They know firsthand how insurmountable the armies of darkness are, so they no longer pin all their hopes for the universe on the forces of light. Their strange new existence is incomplete, and though they retain emotions, they lack hearts. But for that very reason they are much more resistant to darkness than before. So they make use of this unique benefit and travel the worlds of darkness. There they recruit new members, and collect memories and fragments of light. Ultimately the group hopes to create new worlds from these recovered materials - worlds which will be forever sealed away from the darkness. Though sympathetic to the warriors of light, they cannot condone their actions and thus try to hinder them from unlocking worlds when possible. Their third position is seen as the only way forward once the the greater state of the universe is acknowledged. 

Lore Documents

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Worlds and Hearts

In broad strokes, there are a multitude of worlds in the universe, each with its own inhabitants. Worlds are themed after other stories, such as Disney movies, Final Fantasy Games, and anime. Each one also has it's own ruleset and aesthetic, even its own heart. Some of these worlds are connected by pathways that can be traversed, but others are locked shut and cannot be accessed that way. There are certain forces that vie for influence over these worlds: light, and darkness. The worlds ruled by light are those in which living beings thrive and flourish. It is thought that each world was originally light, but as it stands - most realms have fallen to darkness. Those worlds taken by darkness are ruined and doomed, lorded over by powerful fiends. They are dangerous and inhospitable to mortals. Additionally, darkness touches all worlds. Even when the world's gates are sealed, a small amount still leaks through. It's up to the heroes of each world to deal with these lesser creatures of darkness. Although living beings are mortals, their hearts shine brightly, and they are masters of themselves. Heroes are mortals with exceptionally powerful hearts. In times of crisis, a certain hero is sometimes chosen by the heart of a world to be that world's defender. That hero is granted greater power and a special weapon which can rend darkness, i.e., a keyblade. The weapons do not always take the form of a key, but in truth they are keys - keys to the heart of the world.

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Heroes

A hero who has been chosen by a world and given a keyblade is called a warrior of light. These warriors are given control over the world's destiny in a definite sense. The keyblade's other functionality is to open the world's gates, connecting it to the other worlds. The heart of a world is normally sealed shut behind a lock of fate. But if a chosen warrior of light finds the keyhole to that lock, he can unlock the world's heart, and reconnect it to the rest of the universe. It's a very special event when this happens. The power of the world's heart, which is much greater than that of any one mortal's heart, manifests in a form that suits the warrior's desires. This is called a miracle. However, a world's gate cannot be easily shut again once opened. And after performing a miracle, the world's heart goes into slumber for a time.

Another important thing happens after a miracle. As the world is now reconnected to the wider universe, it is subject to visitors from other worlds. Considering that most of the worlds are fallen to darkness already, many of these interplanetary visitors will be servants of darkness. And not just lesser servants like before. The newly connected world, without exception, becomes host to much greater tribulations than ever before. Therefore, one of two things inevitably happens to a warrior of light once he performs a miracle: Either he will eventually be defeated and overcome by the darkness - or he will devise a means to leave his home world, either to take the fight to the nearby worlds of darkness, or otherwise to seek a solution to the larger problem of darkness in the universe. One who makes it to this stage is called a Champion of Light.

Champions of Light are naturally recognized the by hearts of other worlds. If the right conditions are met, they have a great chance to access the hearts of other worlds, and with them, the power of miracles.

Princesses of Heart

A princess of heart is different than a hero or a warrior of light. They are living beings that have hearts of pure, immaculate light. Their hearts are incorruptible and can never be lost to darkness. Though they do not usually wield keyblades, they have an affinity for magic and are blessed by fate, being exceedingly lucky. They can resist darkness, protect against it, and even revert its effects. Their abilities are mysterious and tantalizing, so they are always sought after by interested parties, friendly and otherwise.

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Kingdom Hearts

What is Kingdom Hearts? Well, wouldn't you like to know? Kingdom Hearts is said to be the greatest light in the universe, much greater still than the heart of a world, or even many worlds taken together. But no one knows where it can be found, or even what it truly is. Only the most profound minds even conceive of its existence. The truth of it is likely to have implications for the fate of reality itself.

There is a legend, told by Kairi's grandmother in KH1, that I will relate here.

"Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived...in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It's the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open. And the true light will return. So, listen, child. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you."

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Darkness and Heartless

"Heartless" is a general name given to the various embodiments of darkness. They are also sometimes called fiends or shades. These beings are usually vicious and aggressive, with no personality or sympathy. But stronger heartless take more sophisticated forms, and some do possess formidable intelligence. 

There are two different ways a heartless can come into being. If the creature is born from darkness itself, being manifested from the darkness within a heart or within the realm of darkness, it is called a pureblood heartless. Alternatively, when a heart becomes entirely consumed by darkness, and that heart itself is turned into a heartless, the resulting creature is called an emblem heartless. Emblem heartless all bear a certain mark somewhere on their body; and since they were once living beings, they contain the hearts of specific individuals. However, both types of heartless can consume hearts. Indeed, they both crave the power of hearts. Pureblood heartless convert hearts into darkness to strengthen themselves, sending the remains of the heart to the realm of darkness. Whereas emblem heartless store the hearts they steal within themselves.

Different tiers of heartless exist; some are equivalent to the tiers of heroes, called warriors of darkness and champions of darkness. Most heartless, even very powerful ones, are monstrous and aggressive - they can't be reasoned with. Some unique heartless are imbued with great intelligence, however, and they are able to speak and communicate. Often these heartless even retain their original humanoid form. One example of this is Ansem, seeker of darkness, a powerful champion who was defeated a few years ago.

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Nobodies/Shells

When a person has their heart consumed by darkness, their empty body is left behind - a "shell" of the original. Sometimes the lingering will of these bodies reanimates them and causes them to live on in a new form. Most rise again as strange, pallid monsters without clear motivation. But the shells of particularly strong individuals, such as heroes and champions, rise again in forms that are not unlike their original. They retain some of the original's memories, personality, and abilities, but they are transformed irredeemably into a new kind of being called a Nobody. Nobodies are not technically human, or whatever species the original was. They have no hearts, and they have no past. They do not develop, and they do not age. But they do have emotions, and some memory of who they once were. Most nobodies are weighed down by regrets and failures from their past life, but still - their memories are considered extremely precious. They help them hold onto whatever remains of their identity. For a nobody, regaining more memories usually also causes them to become more powerful and substantial.

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Cynics and the Organization

The Organization is a society of the strongest, most intelligent nobodies. They have appraised their situation and have congregated together to formulate plans and to move forward together. A member is alternately called a "Cynic" because of their lack of faith in the light. Although very few in number, their remarkable abilities have allowed them to become a formidable force in the universe. The Organization has two main strongholds: Castle Oblivion, and the World that Never Was. The Castle is a huge research complex in the far reaches of the realm of darkness. It has many many floors, some above ground, and some below. The older members say that it was fashioned from the remains of a lost world, but it has been entirely renovated. It's ornate halls serve as a forward operating base and a testing ground.

The World that Never Was is an entirely artificial world created by the Cynics. It consists of a massive darkened cityscape with skyscrapers and badlands on the outskirts. Floating high above is an enormous white castle bearing many nobody symbols. The few entrances are closely monitored, and any trace of heartless is wiped out by the Organization's subjugated Nobody soldiers. Here, the Cynics rule. Each member has as much space as he knows what to do with, and plenty of resources to make use of. The Organization's master vault is located here, as well as its primary meeting rooms, and the bulk of its armies and technological forces. This world is also the host to the Organization's great project: the simulated world where all their collected memories are made real again.

Although the Cynics have wealth and power, as mentioned, they are not content to sit back and relish their luxury. How can they enjoy wealth knowing that all-consuming darkness grows stronger by the day? As such, each Organization member is often assigned missions to further the cause. Repeated failures or refusals would result in expulsion from the society. Some members go above and beyond, and continue accepting new missions or working to further the cause on their own initiative, while others prefer to research and prepare between missions.

Heart - A special, metaphysical part of who someone is. It is connected to one's memories and sense of self.

Hero - A mortal with a strong heart.

Warrior of Light - A hero with a strong heart who has been chosen by the heart of a world, and granted a special weapon or keyblade.

Champion of Light - A warrior of light who obtained the power of miracles and left their home world.

Princess of Heart - A person with an incorruptible and pure heart. They aren’t warriors but they’re very valuable. 

Heartless/Fiend/Shade - A being of darkness that consumes hearts.

Emblem Heartless - The type of heartless that was made out of a heart. The original heart is still contained within it, and so are the hearts that it has consumed.

Pureblood Heartless - The type of heartless that was made out of pure darkness. They do not contain the hearts they've captured. They convert hearts into darkness and consume it. The remains of the heart are sent to the realm of darkness.

Warrior/Champion of Darkness - Very great heartless and representatives of Darkness, on par with the equivalent ranks of hero.

Nobody / Shell - A body that has had its heart stolen, but yet still lives.

The Organization / The Cynics' Guild - A society of the most powerful nobodies.

Organization Member / A Cynic - A member of the aforementioned society.

Realm of Darkness - Refers to all worlds that have fallen to darkness, and the space between them.

Realm of Light - Refers to the worlds that have not fallen.

World Gates - Refers to the lock of fate that seals a world off from other worlds. It can be either open, allowing entry, or closed, denying entry.

The Power of Miracles - A special power that is granted to someone who unlocks a world's gates.

Other Information

Do I need to read up on the lore of the Kingdom Hearts games before joining this game?
No. Pretty much everything you need to know about the lore is in this OOC post. As mentioned above, only KH I is canon to this setting. A lot of other things are based on KH2, CoM, and 358/2 Days, but none of those games need to be learned since they are not canon for the most part - they're just a source of inspiration.

Do I have to play a young character or a teenager?
No. Adult characters are perfectly fine.

Do nobodies have emotions?
Yes. The games make a point of saying they don't, but this was never true and ends up being confusing more than anything. Nobodies do have emotions. The things they lack include: a heart, certain memories, a strong sense of self.

Can I play a canon character from Kingdom Hearts?
Talk it over with me. You should probably play an original character, but it's not impossible to make it work if you really want to. There will be some canon characters that I will make use of, so it's not strictly disallowed if you want to use one. Just clear it with me first, because not all canon characters are meant to exist in this setting; and if they do, I might already have plans for them.

Can I play a canon character from another series?
I would rather you didn't, but talk it over with me. I may allow it if I think it fits. Though you would be a shell/nobody version of the original character.

Can my character be from a Disney world?
Yes. I personally prefer the hand-drawn 2D movies.

Can my character be from a world from another series?
Yes! Anime and video game worlds are also fine.

Can I use a keyblade?
Sure! But this won't be quite as important/unique as its made out to be in the original games. It will just be a special weapon, on par with the special weapons everyone has access to. Each keyblade was granted by the heart of a certain world.

Is this game going to be super edgy and depressive?
It will be dark, and it will have a gloomy atmosphere at times, but it will not be overly edgy/upsetting/gory. But some degree of sadness and angst is desirable here. This is due to the themes of being an incomplete person, dealing with heavy losses, and struggling against inexhaustible natural forces.

Keep in-party fighting to a minimum. I won't say it can't happen, but there should be sufficient build up to such a thing.

There is no specific post order in battle, but once you post let everyone else post once before you post again. However, if you don't make a post within two days of an enemy post, I may give the others permission to go ahead with their next turn. 

Enemy Rankings

These are tags that I will attach to every enemy I introduce in game. They represent roughly how powerful the enemy is. 

0PK - This tag means that in one post you can freely autohit and destroy the creature. You can destroy as many 0PK enemies in one post as you want to.

1PK (1-post-kill) - This tag means that the enemy requires a little more focus. You can freely autohit the creature, but it takes one post of effort to fully destroy them.

2PK - This tag means that the enemy can't be dealt with as easily. You can still freely autohit the enemy, but it can't be destroyed until it has been fought for two posts. If one party member spends a post fighting a 2PK enemy, another ally can spend a post finishing them off.

3PK - Like 2PK, except that this enemy requires 3 posts of effort from the team to fully destroy.

and so on... The next two tags are usually used for very powerful "Boss" enemies or other special cases.

?PK - You can hit the enemy freely, but it isn't fully destroyed/defeated until I say it is.

BOSS - You cannot autohit this enemy. You can describe your attacks towards the enemy, and I will describe enemy's reaction and the outcome. It is not fully destroyed/defeated until I say it is.

If the enemy has other special characteristics that should be noted, I will also mention them when the enemy is introduced.

Type Counters - Sometimes an enemy may be weak to a particular kind of damage. For instance, weak to physical damage, weak to magic damage - or more narrowly, weak to fire, weak to ice, etc. In these cases, you can kill them more easily by using the right type of damage. Each post in which you attack with the right damage  counts as two posts for the purposes of PK. For instance, a 2PK enemy can be killed in one post if he is type countered. In the case of 1PK enemies that are type countered, they are treated as 0PK.

Limit Breaks - You may declare a limit break once per in-game day. A limit break allows you to perform very powerful attacks that exceed your normal limits. You can either do three posts worth of damage to one enemy, or do one post of damage to multiple enemies. For example, a limit break can kill a 3PK enemy in one post. Or, it could kill several 1PK enemies in the same post. After using a limit break, your next post in that battle will not do any damage, as you're still recovering from the effort.

*Image for Character*

Name:

Original World: If working with an existing series, you can just list the name of it here. Though feel free to give your homeworld a name.

Apparent Age:

Description:

Personality: Can be brief or tentative

Important Memories: List a few definitive memories that you retain from your original life. Try to mention one or more people that you were close to. 

Far-off Memories: Just send me a PM to keep these ideas secret from the other players. List some ideas for things that your character has forgotten about entirely, that they can't quite remember, or are otherwise confused about. These might not end up being exactly the way you tell them now. We might want to change things up a little in a later stage of planning, but let's get some basic ideas to work with.

Backstory: What has happened since you were reborn? You can just give a gloss of your original life, or you can go into it in more depth. Your choice.

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Battle Profile - Just to give us an idea what your strengths are in battle. But don't stress about it, combat will mostly be handled through roleplay. Rarely these stats might be checked by situations outside of battle.

Distribute 12 Points among the following stats (Maximum 7 in one stat)

Attack: Determines how strong, fast, and physically able you are. A score of 0 means that you are no stronger or faster than an average human, and you can't effectively fight with your physical abilities.

Defense: Determines how hardy and resilient you are, and how well you can protect others with your abilities. A score of 0 means that you are very vulnerable to damage and can't effectively protect allies from attacks either.

Magic: Determines how powerful your magic is, how often you can use it, and your general understanding of magical principles and spells. A score of 0 means that you can't use magic at all, and you don't understand it.

Tech: Determines how good you are with technology, the kinds of gadgets you have access to, and how powerful they are. A score of 0 means that you have no special technology, and are incapable of using anything but the simplest machines.

Command: Determines the number and kind of creatures/allies that you can summon, and how powerful they are. A score of 0 means that you can't summon anything.

Distribute up to 6 points between the following stats: This represent your affinity for the two great forces of the universe. A score of 0 in either means you have no particular connection to that force. A score of double 0 means you have a special affinity for Nothingness (Although all nobodies can be said to be connected to that force by some measure)

Light:

Darkness:

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Special Weapon: Tell us about any special weapon or focus your character uses. Also tell us about any special gadgets or other tools you want to make use of. You can call on your special weapon at any time and materialize it, because it's a part of your existence. Characters with a high tech skill may also materialize their gadgets.

Special Abilities: Tell us about three special abilities your character can make use of. These can be unique/specialty spells, techniques, or other skills. Try to keep the scope of these powers reasonable. All cynics with at least 1 magic gain the power listed below for free.

Dark Corridor -  Opens a portal to another location the user is familiar with. It takes some time to manifest - enough that this technique is ineffective in battle. Mortals cannot pass through a dark corridor more than once a day without falling ill.

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Olive Fontaine Member

Lunar Priestess

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