The Savant — Roleplayer Guild

I recently finished the first and only season of Shadow and Bones, a newer Netflix Original Series based off from the trilogy series of the Grishaverse written by Leigh Bardugo. Upon the finishing and researching more about the Grishaverse, I have decided to try and create a role-play that is put into that universe's setting. 

No original characters will be played in this role-play, bloodlines, abilities, etc... will be. The idea is to have this role-play take place before the 'Fold' is created between Ravka's main part and its coastal port cities. 
I do believe a good starting point for this role-play would being introduced to war/wartimes especially for Grisha-played characters. Depending on what people do and what consequences are fed into the story, the fold might never happen or it could be worse than the books/T.V. series portrays it. Boarders could shift, nations could fall, etc...




The Bone Road - A place that lies in the Northern part of the map that is in between the East and West in the True Sea. By the tiny islands of Jelka and Vilki. This is a place most will stay clear of while sailing because the rumors of the ancient ice dragon, Rusalye, supposedly lives in the sea. 

Elbjen - The northern peaks of the Sikurzoi mountains, the mountain range that keeps Ravka and Shu Han separate and boarders most of Ravka's boarders. 

Fjerda - A northern ice and snow filled country that is above Ravka and separated from the 'permafrost'. This country holds hatred upon the Grisha (witches), having skilled hunters, witch-hunters called Druskelle. The Druskelle go into other territories and capture Grisha 'witches' to be trialed at 'Ice Court', Djerholm. 
Ice Court 'Djerholm' - A place where Grisha 'witches' are tried and there has never been one considered innocent. This trial to most out of Fjerda is considered immoral and untrue. Sadly, no one tries to break through its heavy defenses and security that has never been successfully breached. 

Kerch A small island nation that is economically booming through the roof and keeps hold of international trading and criminal underworld. Wealthy merchants have the strongest hold in this country and anybody that has wealth or power can have some type of pull. This country has made slavery illegal yet the merchants keep their slaves as indentured servants. 

Novyi Zem - A younger country compared to the others, Novyi Zem, this country is made up of farmlands, an opportunity of an expansive frontier, and brimming coastal cities. This country is for the anonymous, the regulars, the Grisha, and anybody that wants to find an opportunity for themselves no matter who they are. 

Os Alta - This city is where the Grisha are trained for military activities upon being the home for the monarchy. This capital of Ravka used to be called the 'Dream city', housing the Royal palace and the Grisha, yet a lot consider it a giant, dirtier version of the markets of Keramzin. 

Shu Han - Have similar ideals to the country of Fjerda, yet they capture to experiment on the Grisha and figure out the origins for their powers. Ravka and Shu Han have been at war for centuries and will not die out of war anytime soon. 
The Sikurzoi mounts keep both of these countries apart and give them a harder time to declare war or attack because of the travel. Shu Han is a place that is advanced compared to the others. General society has a negative outlook when it comes to people from Shu Han, calling them Shu or part Shu to declare they are the enemy in some way. 

Ravka - This is the country that is home to many different people, orphans, the second army, Grisha soldiers, and anybody that try to find a location away from the Northern and Southern countries that boarder Ravka. 
Ravka is tormented by the Northern country Fjerda and the Southern country Shu Han that boarder it. Both being against Grisha and the country as a whole, Ravka has a hard time dealing with both countries. 
Ravka has an expansive coastal line of port-cities that help its economy stay stable especially in the times of war. 

The Wandering Isle - A county that is lush with vegetation and peace. A culture that supports the Grisha and their powers, seeing them as saints and healers that can fix all problems.


Corporalki The Order of the Living and the Dead
This group is made up of Heartrenders; Healers; and Tailors. This group is considered the highest ranking Grisha in military and are titled the 'most valuable soldiers'. 
   Heartrenders - can steal the air from your lungs, slow your heartbeat until you do not have one or are put into a coma, or crush your heart without a second thought. 
   Healers - Self-explanatory, healers can fix you up better than what you started. 
   Tailors - Two types, one who can change the appearance of themselves and others, sometimes permanently depending on their skill.

Etherealki The Order of Summoners
This group usually works in pairs for it is easier to have a buddy while using this type of small science. 

   The Sun Summoner - they have the ability to summon and control sunlight. Extremely rare to be. 
   Darkling - Rare like the Sun Summoner, they are the opposite, and they control the darkness or void of light. 
   Squallers - Can raise or lower air pressure to create different types of storms.
   Infirni - They do not 'magically' make anything appear, they have to use their powers with physical items to get them started. They can summon combustible methane or hydrogen, they still need a flint to create the spark. 
   Tidemakers - These Grisha use temperature and pressure to summon and control water. 

Materialki The Order of Fabrikators
These are the least respected Grisha and Order even though they increase success in wartime. 

   Durasts - deal with solids states such as textiles, glass, steel, and corecloth (similar to modern day body armor). 
   Alkemi - deal with creating poisons and blasting powders. 


Characters normal to Grisha will be free-range unless you want to choose Sun Summoner or Darkling. Those two positions will be placed for specific individuals under DM/public conversation. 
The Sun Summoner would be considered the rarest (in the T.V. series there was one), undecided if we will allow a Sun summoner character to take place years before the Fold happens. 
The Darkling will have only one bloodline and anybody who is accepted as a darkling will be related somehow or someway. 

Idea of a starting platform for the role-play; A war has sparked once again, unsurprisingly, between Ravka and Shu Han for the kidnapping of three Grisha Generals. The past few months have been preparing and fearing the worst for when one will hit the boarder line of the other.
War is at the foot of the bed, are you hoping in to help fight? What side will you choose? Are you getting caught in the crossfire? Let's see where war can take you. 

Characters will be detailed by description, a real photo, or a realistic portrait. 



Name


IMAGE/description

Description of origins. What country are you from? Are you Shu? How will be view you upon meeting for the first time. Height? Weight? Scars? Tattoos? 


Describe your power: Military or not? Trained in the academy or not? Age? Gender? Can you not even kill somebody with your powers or can you kill eight at a time? What type of Grisha are you and what order do you come from
If not Grisha, what skills and abilities do you have? Gun-slinger? Assassin? Engineer? Something else? 

Describe who you are: Temperament, moral/ethical beliefs, religious beliefs, political stance, hobbies, habits/quirks, short & long-term goals, desires, fears, etc... 

Describe how you became who you are [Biography]: Describe your childhood, teen-years, etc... all that leads up to what you (your character) is now. 
Describe recent notable events for your character, good or bad, and pasts. Describe who they are, their family, and more. 

Have guns? Knives? A canteen? Whatever you have might change, keep track of it. Lost your knife in a fight? Didn't pick it up? Can't change that now that you're in a different difficult situation.


Age ranges that are allowed: 5 - hundreds of years old
If you decide to play an individual under the age of 16, you will have to be careful what you do with them upon site rules, moral/ethical rules, and the rules that will be placed for this role-play.  

Characters that will be instantly approved upon correct character sheet submissions: 
- Grisha 
- Non-Grisha
- First and Second army titles that are not Generals
- Anyone that is not included in the royal family of different countries, leaderships, etc... 

Characters that will have more discussion and thought before approval: 
- Generals of the First and Second Army
- People who are related to Royal families or national leaders
- Anyone that has massive/economic pull as a criminal fraction, AKA, Mafia, gang, etc... (this is gangs/groups that include more than player characters and have a community/basis of more than 10 people under their control as PCs or NPCs.). 
- Grisha that are rarer in quality for example Shadow Summoners, Sun Summoners, and others.




Nikolas Alaister




Six-foot three and one-hundred and eighty pounds, Nikolas appears to be what the majority of Ravka is, random. A stoic individual that has a serious resting face as if he is always thinking about something. 
Most from Ravka, Fjerda, and Shu Han will know of the Alaister bloodline, the darkling bloodline, and especially him as a General for the royal family.



Describe your power: Nikolas was figured out at the age of five, being one of the first to enter the Grisha academy. He was recorded to be an Etherrealki ‘Order of the Summoners’ as a Darkling. 
This discovery led to his training in the academy and advancements that the royal family was and will always be cautious with. Rolling up in the ranks, he became one of the known generals for the royal family and Ravka, which means he has power over the Second Army and pulls in the First army. 
The power source of a Darkling is unknown yet the Royal family is trying to secretly record what power levels this type of Grisha are able to use. Being trained from the age of five, around twenty-to-twenty-five years ago, General Alaister has rapid succession when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, using his shadow summoning little science, and bow-combat. Upon many different scholar levels of education and determining techniques to defeat the enemy. 

Describe who you are: A very patient, thoughtful, and confident personality is what this individual is known for by most. Under this public surface, Nikolas believes that the Grisha are extremely feared and abused by many (tortured, tested upon, and more horrible things happen to Grisha for they have a small science bloodline). This has created a twisted moral/ethical belief towards individuals who are not Grisha, especially ones that come from Shu Han. Publicly he will not announce this for he is actually trying to change others ideas about Grisha, how Grisha can advance the world, and how they can help others instead of being completely destructive individuals that most people see them as. 
His long-term goal is to have Grisha accepted more than they are and he is trying to do this with his politician stance of being a General for the royal family. Other long-term goals include revamping the royal family, destroying Shu Han and Fjerda. 

All of this aside, Nikolas when he isn’t at work or in public eyes, he is training, meditating, or reading somewhere that others don’t travel to a lot. These places include the forest, his room, his study, and parts of the academy when others are not in training. His hobbies in depth are reading up on his powers, advancing his powers, and becoming more powerful for his long-term goals so they will be successful. 
His hobbies lead into his desires of power and control, and the free-range of Grisha being accepted by others. 
Fears include being completely alone and failing all the Grisha. 

Describe how you became who you are [Biography]:
Nikolas Alaister was given his name in young childhood by the orphanage except his first name, a name given to him by his parents, and he believes they died in war. He remembers faint memories of having a loving family that included siblings, but he has no idea what happened to them when one of the wars broke out between Ravka and Shu Han. Choosing to not look for these siblings or dwell on his lost family's lives. 
At the age of five or six, no one being certain about his age, Nikolas was tested to see if he was Grisha or not -- Proved to be a Grisha of the Summoners Order, he put fear into everyone for the Shadow Summoners and Sun Summoners were booked tall-tales. This caused an immediate discussion upon the Royal family on what to do with something that was ‘fake’ and what they should do with a child. 
They considered everything from putting Nikolas to death to keeping him as a prisoner to not be trained or let it get out that a shadow summoner was confirmed to be found. Upon many discussions, the royal family decided it would be immoral to kill a child and they would give him the benefit of the doubt. 

With this benefit of doubt, they allowed the other Grisha masters to train the young Nikolas with caution. This caused his training to be very rigorous and recorded, if he stepped out of line, he was placed in his room (used as a prison) to punish him. 
The first time he was placed in his room and not allowed to leave for weeks was when Nikolas was at the age of twelve. Finally training with all the other Grisha instead of one-on-one, a few heartrenders decided to tease Nikolas for being the ‘shadow summoner’, they didn’t believe it at all. 
After the other Grisha picked and poked at him with their powers, they finally caused his temper to snap, and he let himself go impatient. He used his powers against the three students, mentally scarring one of them and the other two died in only a few seconds. All the masters went to control Nikolas and slowed his heartbeat down quickly while he tried to fight them. He ended up waking up in his room, locked in, and was not allowed to leave for weeks. No training, no socializing, and daily communication about what he did. 

This was the first and last time an incident happened from Nikolas Alaister unless it was considered an accident or weaker Grisha combat failure. When he was put against other students in the academy, they all feared him, so they would do anything to not combat Nikolas -- Some would try but he was fast to restrain and be the dominant individual in the fight. 

- Two Short swords for double-sword fighting
- A dagger that is hidden on his right leg under his boot
- His all black uniform and marks of a general for the Second Army (Black to classify him as a Shadow Summoner)
- A cape 
- A canteen 
- A bag of Ravkan coin


Notable Events: 

- Was discovered as a Shadow Summoner 
- Nikolas killed two other academy students and mentally scarred the third. 
- Became one of the most advanced students in the Academy
- Became a General for the Second Army (The Army that is made up of Grisha)
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