Too Old 4 This

Land of the Chained

Land of the Chained

Cast

-Earl Tyler Taylor, Archetype: Sharpshooter

-Dr. Henry Shaw, Archetype: Doctor

-Alexandra, Archetype: Indentured Prostitute

-Temitope, Archetype: Yorùbá Slave

Posting Guidelines

1) Try to stay in 3rd person limited perspective. We can't hear your character's thoughts so show them, don't tell them. There are some exceptions to this rule notably things like dreams and visions.

2) Longer Post =/= Better Post. One paragraph can be completely sufficient depending on the circumstances.

3) If you spot a historical error or anachronism, point it out in OOC, ESPECIALLY if it is mine. No one will be butthurt, we all make mistakes and none of us are history professors.

4) Try to post 1/week bare minimum, more if your character is on centerstage or is involved in a high pace scene, such as a gunfight.

5) If your character is not with the maingroup give your post a time and place header.

6) Sometimes a game bogs down, sometimes players can't get to the next set piece smoothly and quickly, sometimes you just need... a MONTAGE



If the group decides to travel, train, wait or do anything that requires time lapse then anyone can tag the bottom of their post with what I call a Montage Request. Use a syntax like this MONTAGE REQUEST: <what you want to do>. For example, MONTAGE REQUEST: TRAVEL TO ATLANTA or MONTAGE REQUEST: HUNT FOR SMALL GAME. Think of it like fast travel in video games. If no one objects to the montage request in the OOC then I will either transition the group to the new time/place or the montage will be interrupted by some kind of unanticipated encounter.

7) If you have any question or issue or if you're getting writer's block just ask for help in the OOC, that's what we're here for

Land of the Chained

@All I will be putting up the intro posts as teasers to get people ready for the game, but let's let the last couple folks get their character's ready before we start in earnest.

Land of the Chained

284 years ago, Carolina Coast, Roanoke Colony

"Where is it, show me!" White pushed through the dense brush, thorns tearing at his face in his haste. Crashing into a clearing he found his men clustered round a wide beech tree. Several leaned upon their musket buts, eyes fixed on a set of crudely carved letters, 'CROATAN.'

"What do you figure it means, Mr. White?"

"Croatan... it's what the savages call themselves." White ran his fingers across the message, the only sign of life to be found in a colony of more than a hundred Christian souls. "Has there been any sign of the natives?"

"No sir, but you know how they are, could be they're watching us now."

White's eyes peered through the surrounding green seeing no sign of life not even the flit of a bird or rustle of a rodent. "Nothing..." He leaned down to say a prayer to the almighty and his knee struck something sharp. Gloved hands scoured the leaves to find the source of the prodding. They emerged with a half rotten skull of an animal that shouldn't be.... His men stepped back in fright, some touching their crosses for protection against the unnatural thing before them.

"What is that, Mr. White? A devil?"

White analyzed the skull, long yellow incisors like a rabbit or rat, but lurking behind these wicked, curved fangs like a serpents lurked. Crowning the monstrosity were a pair of antlers, twisted and mishapen like the thing itself.

"Mr. White?... what do we do?"

"Search the area," replied the old explorer his eyes locked with the black sockets of the thing before him, "if you find anything... else, bring it to the colony then we burn it. We burn it all."

"What about the colonists, Mr. White."

He let the skull drop, "the colonists are dead."

Land of the Chained

redPANDA said
I like the idea of him being mute! Adds a whole new dimension to the character.

Well yes, but to be perfectly honest the main reason I chose that is to keep him as a background character and prevent me from participating to much in group planning as I want that to be largely left to PCs. Also this allows me to play the whole 'warrior of god' character without needing to constantly google fitting Old Testament lines to quote XD

Land of the Chained

@Psycho I'll allow it, but you'll have to work on his backstory to make it convincing. He was a Union spy so you have that to work with. If you want an easier route you could always go with Wyatt who was a Marshal and a well known republican making him an almost sure bet to be associated with the resistance. But, I understand if you just want to play as Bill, and I'm cool with that.

And yes Deadwood rocked. A pox on the executive who canceled that masterpiece. May he rot in the same hell that consumes the one who canceled Firefly.

@Crya I think we have it covered at this point.

Land of the Chained

@Illogical Jim Looks pretty good so far. Try to narrow the archetype a little, if you can. If not no bigee. Also it would really help party balance if you emphasized the soldier in his background. We are kind of hurting for combat veterans at this point which could be a problem considering the extreme hostility of the setting.

Land of the Chained

@All So it's unfair for me to accept my own character. Please take a look at it and tell me what you think. There is also some important information in there about the Railsplitters. For those who don't know Harriet Tubman is a real figure. She really did free hundreds of slaves and she really did have visions which were either sent from God or the result of epilepsy and being beaten horribly as a child, take your pick. In the story, she is one of the leaders of the resistance, its mother you might say and she is often referred to as the Oracle or the Prophet by religious members of the movement.

Land of the Chained

redPANDA said
That is a seriously badass bird. I want one.Theoretically, would their necks hold the weight of a human?

The saddle would be harnessed in such a way to keep weight off the neck. I doubt you could ride them bareback which is why it may have never caught on with the Aztecs. Also the Spanish have been breeding them as mounts since the 1500s so the ones used by people would be of a sturdier frame than the wild variety.

Land of the Chained

So I may throw down a character here to balance things out. In order to keep him from being GM chaperone or unduly influencing the RP, I'm considering making him mute. Here is the WIP.

Slave Name: Clarence Smith
Name: Michael
Archetype: Runaway Field Slave
Race/Ethnicity: African American (unknown roots)
Appearance



Michael is tall and musclebound, a product of a life of backbreaking labor and resistance fighting and he bears the scars of both. His clothing varies based on what kind of slave he is trying to impersonate. Never without his chain, he often uses it to disguise himself as a shackled slave in order to get close to his targets without arousing suspicion. When not using it as a disguise he keeps it coiled tight around his arm or waist, often with a few links wrapped round his hand to serve as iron knuckles if the situation warrants. Michael usually shaves his head as he believes it is more befitting a warrior of God.

Background: Michael was born in bondage on a plantation in Northern Virginia. He never knew his parents as they were sold before he was four years of age. Raised by his Aunt, he grew up hard and strong under the hot sun, in cotton and tobacco fields. As a teenager he shifted to working in the smithy, mainly as a cold forger, striking iron and picked up the rudiments of the trade. Like many slaves he heard from his masters the words of the New Testament and Jesus Christ, praise for the meek and pity for the wicked, but they never rang true to him. How could turning the other cheek hope to free his people from an evil that did not know pity or remorse. Instead, like many Christianized slaves he turned instead to the words of the Old Testament, the fury of a righteous God and the hope of deliverance to a promise land. Then in 1864, all such hope seemed to go up in flames as word of the fall of New York and Confederate victory passed across everyone's lips. All hope was not lost however for there was talk amongst the slaves of a liberator, a woman who had freed hundreds singlehandedly, who continued to fight even in the face of overwhelming odds, and who was touched by the hand of the almighty himself receiving visions of that which had not yet come to pass. To the confederate authorities she was Harriet Tubman, the nations most wanted abolitionist and a leading figure of the Railsplitters. To the slaves she was the Oracle, a prophet of God sent to deliver his people. As word of her activities spread throughout the plantations, the Gentry grew nervous that her 'cult' could inspire a full fledged rebellion and they forbid the mentioning of even her name. Clarence, however, refused the order and would not forsake her. Part of him wanted the master to kill him because even he had started to doubt the benevolence of God, but his masters would never sacrifice so strong a specimen. Instead of whipping or maiming him as per the usual course, they cut out his tongue rendering him forever mute. It was at this time, at the deepest pit of his despair, that they came for him, the Railsplitters. They broke his chains, but he kept them, a symbolic weapon with which he would strike back at the oppressors of his people.

Through the late 1860's Clarence lived and worked as a soldier of the abolitionist movement. Now power forged by the cruel labor of plantation life was turned back against his masters. His weapon of choice, the chain, allowed him to easily pose as a shackled slave while remaining armed, a trick used countless times to slip into plantations to free others. Soon after his joining the resistance, the Oracle confessed to him that she'd seen his plight in a vision and it was on her order that the railsplitters came to emancipate him. It was Harriet who renamed Clarence, Michael, after the angelic protector of the Hebrews. By the early 1870s as the resistance has begun to weaken, Michael has become Tubman's strong right arm, often dispatched to chapters in the most immediate need. In 1874, her visions of the raid on the Philadelphia chapter came to late to save Fredrick Douglas, the Father of the movement. When she receives another vision of the statue of Lee and a rattling viper coiled about it, she interprets this as a warning that her brothers and sisters in Richmond might share the same fate. It is at this point that she sends Michael to their aid.

Skills: Brawling, Chain fighting, Acting (Body language), Urban survival, Smithing (basic knowledge, enough to forge simple iron tools and links)

Talent: Michael's talent with a chain is legendary and at close range he is a terror to behold.

Flaw: Michael is completely mute due to his mutilation as a teenager at the hands of his masters. He communicates through signs, body and eye language.

Motivation: Michael believes himself to be a protector of his people and, since he was chosen by the Oracle who he believes to be an emissary of God, he sees himself as being, at least indirectly, chosen by God as well. Although hate motivated him in the early years, he has grown past that and enters danger with an almost surgical control and stoicism. He does not hate the Gentry, but he will kill them without a moment's hesitation if they stand in the way of his divine mission.

Land of the Chained

Crya said
Temitope has worked on a farm for a good chunk of her life. I imagined her being pretty handy with a tool such as a scythe

This is what the confederate cavalry rides...



Trust me, we need another bad ass. This is okay. I want at least 5 PCs anyway.

Think of it like a mmo group. We have excellent support and long range DPS, we have a translator, a rogue, a marksmen and a healer, but we're missing that vital 'tank' niche.