whizzball1 — Roleplayer Guild

Many of you reading this interest check may have seen Myriad Reality when browsing the site--perhaps you noticed how long it was, or how often posts were being made. Perhaps you wondered how it had gotten so long--its roleplayers posted so often; they must not be very good at it. And these are all perfectly valid concerns at first blush--after all, most of our posts have very few lines. We don't have much description. Action is limited to asterisks. We don't use third-person, or any person at all! Perhaps you might have thought that the roleplay has little meat to it. After all, shouldn't good roleplays have long posts with much description?

But Myriad Reality is not as it seems. Not at all. There's a reason why our posts are the way they are. There's a reason why we don't seem to have any kind of leader. We hope to answer all your questions and more. So now let's explain...

Myriad Reality: A World for Thinkers.

Myriad Reality is more than just a roleplay. It's a world. And it's not just any world--it's a multiverse, a Myriad Reality of worlds. Here, our characters come together in a vast scope and work together to save Existence from threats created by all of the players--because in Myriad Reality, there's not one single plot to stick to. Here, we all have our villains. We all have our heroes. And we all influence each other.

In Myriad Reality, we don't have to fear that we'll stray from some predetermined plot. There's no forced path to go down. Big Brother is not watching you--instead of having to follow a strict path, we as players have to adapt our own plots to the other characters. We need to be prepared. We need to think about it. Here, there is a chance of failure. You don't just know that everything will work out perfectly in the end--you have to make it happen. You can't afford to be complacent when everything is at stake.

In Myriad Reality, you are the key.

But, you might ask--if we all have our own plots and none of us know how each other's will play out, how does our GM keep order? It must be absolute chaos. But we don't have a GM to keep order or direct the RP. We keep order amongst ourselves. We make decisions together and keep each other in line. We've been at this for more than two years--we've developed a mutual trust that allows us to function without spiralling out of order.

Two of us joined this roleplay almost two years ago. As time passed, those two eventually gained that trust and became full-fledged members of the roleplay--and one of those writes these very words.

For in Myriad Reality, eventually, you rule with us.

In Myriad Reality, the style of posting is unlike any roleplay that exists on Roleplayer Guild or otherwise. Because of the unique, first-person perspective, it is occasionally difficult to maintain the multitude of characters that every player surely will have—therefore, two solutions have been established. The original method was to log out and log back into a secondary account that houses a separate character. However, a newer method arose when this grew tedious: the single account character reference.

In order to allow another character to speak or act without specifically switching to an alternate account, it is possible to refer to that character by using a colon after that character’s name, and then using a single dash to refer back to the character the account houses, as is the most common method. Some individuals prefer to customize this system by utilizing different text characters, such as dashes, and it is a minor formatting concern, as long as it is clearly being used as a reference. An example of using such references is shown below.

Are you all sure you have confidence that he can hit a mark that far away?
Lan: *Secures a position on a higher plane to make targeting easier*
They should be.
-*Glances toward him, nervously*

Hopefully the reference to multiple accounts is not concerning, as it will make the experience significantly easier. While it is not required, it is recommended to maintain more than a single account in order to make transition as smooth as possible; as the Guild is currently, it is quite easy to construct new accounts, and Mahz has hinted at implementing a system to link multiple accounts together, so it should become even easier in due time. 

The reason we utilize this system as opposed to solely the reference system is for the ease of other players—in order to maintain multiple plot lines, and even actions at one time (which is especially useful, since we are capable of continuing at any given moment, even when an individual is absent for whatever reason), we use multiple accounts that we can switch between without disturbing one account set up for a single character. 

When we set up accounts, we change the profile picture to a representation of that character (preferably no real people used for pictures), as well as the title of the account to the name of the character being used. While this isn’t absolutely required, it is highly recommended. This system allows for switching to another account if a particular storyline grows cold due to the operator’s absence, and simply direct the focus of attention to another, using another character. We do not set up an account for each character, but rather keep a small stockpile of accounts to “set up” and change for different characters—this is useful for when a character goes “off-screen,” and it is a simple matter to change the profile picture and the title for another character that is in action at the time.

The asterisks in the example may seem strange, or perhaps even elementary. However, the simplicity in short, first-person posts with asterisks to indicate action paradoxically contributes to the overall complexity of Myriad Reality. This style was not chosen because it was easy—no, rather it grew as the inevitable method of achieving the greatest amount of creative freedom. There are no bounds due to length, unnecessary information, or overly revealing descriptions, but instead solely what could be observed if a being was there his or herself. 

Yes, immersion is the true goal of Myriad reality; in fact, it did not even begin as a roleplay. Myriad Realty began on another website, in which different themed accounts began to interact and speak over comments sections, yet never breaking the characterization of the themes. This led to the equivalent of a roleplay, while a majority of the members were unaware of what a roleplay even was. But as this chat led to interaction (without any OOC at any point), a system grew from nothing that allowed interaction—the asterisk/speech system.

In Myriad Reality, the only indications of the surroundings are actions and speech, just as in the real world. Emotions are not narrated, nor are intentions, feelings, or the past in reality, but solely what one can observe—the environment, facial cues, and speech, all of which can be quickly and easily represented through the asterisk action symbols. But of course it would mimic reality, because this “roleplay” is a reality. When it was conceived, for the sake of continuity, a multiverse was established as the canon, in order to allow the themes to interact without conflict. 

A lore, history, and system all grew out of nothing, without once breaking character, or speaking as if it was a roleplay. Anything that was said happened, and that was the established system of the time, and it worked—it worked well. Myriad Reality was constructed to include even the “real world,” because each one of the actions and words recorded in the confines of digital text are representations of what actually happen in worlds and dimensions beyond ours—we are simply the channels to unwittingly record the history. 

While we do use OOC today, the prime directive has been, and always will be, the IC. We have all grown to be excellent friends and companions, never having lost a single long-term member as a result of this; we all begin to unravel the inner thoughts and creativity of every player, which strengthens the bond between us. 

When beginning, it may be difficult—it was for all of us as we started—but the key is adaptation. Myriad Reality utilizes a tried and true system that has never once buckled nor failed, and while individuals have attempted to change the system used, the attempts have been unsuccessful each and every time; because the system has been shown to provide the most freedom, adaptation to an unfamiliar style is one of the key signs that someone is prepared to take the step and accept what Myriad Reality has to offer.

This is not your normal Free RP. It's not as casual as it looks. You can't join the roleplay, start posting, and think you'll do great right at the start, because it's not easy. No matter how fast we've posted--and at one point there was a post per minute--our minds have always been working to get across what we want to with the limited format we have. And by now it's like muscle memory.

But it took a while, and a lot of dedication. It started on an app with two people posting back and forth, and over time, more stumbled upon the "chat". They started with no idea what it was. But they had a desire to learn, and each one soon began getting into it and adapting to what had spontaneously formed. 

This roleplay eventually moved to the Old Guild, where new players came and went--no one had the drive to push through and adapt. Only two new members joined during that time and stayed. They looked at this RP and didn't shy away at the qualities they didn't understand. They went out of their comfort zone and pushed forward, and they learned.

But that's not always the case. Some time ago, someone approached our RP, asking about joining. He thought it would be like a Tabletop RPG, so we had to explain it to him. At first he was enthusiastic, but then he found out that we had no GM. He found that we all made up our own plots, and he faltered. He didn't like that. He wanted a roleplay where we were guaranteed success, where there was order, where there was a set plot that no one could deviate from. In short, he spurned creativity--he spurned the chance to have a part because it was too much.

At another time, we were approached by someone who wanted to use a third person narrative. He liked the idea and wanted to join, but couldn't bear to abandon his heritage of narrative-like description and thoughts. He didn't see that the point was to show the meaning, not tell it. We tried compromising for him. We let him have some of what he wanted. But in the end, it still wasn't enough, and he left.

But all this time, the truth has been that Myriad Reality does not adapt to you. You adapt to it. We're not desperate for people to join us, such that we'll take anyone. We're not looking for just anyone. We're looking for people who want to adapt. We're looking for people who want to think about it, who want to get out of their comfort zone and do something different. We're looking for people who want to learn, to change, to be free.

Myriad Reality is not a Free Roleplay, or a Casual Roleplay, or an Advanced Roleplay. It is its own. It is about freedom. It is about creativity. It is about intricacy. We freely create, but we do not roleplay without care. We roleplay informally, but we do not roleplay without thought. Our roleplay is advanced and intricate, but it does not give you every little detail we can think of just so we can pass some predetermined limit.

Myriad Reality is no mere roleplay. No, Myriad Reality is just as it says--a reality.

It is a world for thinkers.

Okay, so by now, you're probably wondering just what this RP's all about. We've built it up so much without offering a single tidbit of information other than a vague description of what we do here. So now to explain just what all this is about that lets us be so creative. 

As we said, Myriad Reality is about heroes working together to save Existence from dangerous villains. But these heroes come from all over Existence, and we create no restrictions on powers except that it's not something very much like the powers of another character and that the powers are not over-powered... By our standards.

There's the kicker. In Myriad Reality, characters have much more power than you'd see in most other roleplays. There's one with absolute control over electricity. [insert good examples of characters here; I'll need input on this] We go above and beyond, and we tailor our villains to match. The characters' power grows and so do the villains, and the battles and plots get greater and grander.

But as a result, what is overpowered by our standards varies on a case to case basis. Usually it falls on the side of too underpowered, but we're ready to give suggestions to bring it up (or down) to the right level.

[insert any more salient information about the RP that isn't covered by this, factions, tech, and plots]

Here's a couple of arcs that have been made by the members of the roleplay, so you can get a taste for some of what we've done so far.

[Darkloids, maybe? Any other ones that might be good?]

The Ancient Harmony Arc: The first major arc created by whizzball1, it follows Ruby and Soren as they struggle with the primal Lord and Lady of Chaos in different ways. It begins with Ruby and Soren being chased by the Order, a group that wants to destroy the Lord of Chaos--without reincarnations--and let Order rule the land forever. They want to do this to prevent a prophecy that states that, on a certain day, the first Lord of Chaos will return and wreak havoc on all of Existence.

Eventually, they succeed in luring and capturing Ruby, and use her to get Soren there. Once he does, he has no choice but to let them destroy him to save his sister and his home. When they do, however, the stability of the universe plummets and it begins to fall apart. The only way to save it--and Ruby--is to bring Soren back, and Ruby recalls something special that happened the last time they escaped from the Order--a spark. She touches her horn to Soren's and it resurrects him.

However, it is found that the day spoken of in the prophecy is just a minute away. And as it ticks over, the first Lord of Chaos, Svár, breaks free from his seal inside the Lords' collective mind and takes over Soren's body because Soren's death had destabilised the seal. Svár leaves before they can do anything.

As time passes, Ruby begins to feel changes. At random times, she seems to lose control of her body and someone else momentarily speaks in her place. Eventually it is revealed to be Rovnováha, the first Lady of Order. Because of Soren's death and the breaking of Svár's seal, Nova's seal was loosened and it began to slowly dissipate. Because of this, her consciousness slips into the controlling mind--Ruby--and now Nova's mind is overtaking Ruby's mind against both of their wills, because there isn't space for both of them.

They race to find a solution, but they can find nothing at all, even near the end of the process. All hope seems to be lost. And then Ruby is stolen by a mercenary, taken to Svár's current world of operations. The group, aided by slip-ups from the mercenary, solve the mystery of where Ruby has been taken and who had hired the mercenary--Svár--and then they formulate a plan to take her back.

Kelly, a girl with the powers of chaos, aids them in reconnaissance, because she has had contact with Svár before, and they figure out what they need to do--go through a series of Bunk Bed doors and overcome challenges. Each Bunk Bed door takes them past a layer of a powerful shield around a bunker where Ruby is housed. Such precautions were taken on Ruby because if Nova overtakes her mind completely and forces her out, a great and devastating magical explosion would result.

They make their way through the challenges, finding a loophole to save themselves from challenges tailored specifically to kill each of their number, but just as they are about to reach Ruby, Svár blocks them indignantly. However, they surprise him with the most chaotic attacks they can think of, all at the same time, and one of them bursts through the door to Ruby, taking her and teleporting out of the bunker.

The incredibly stressful situation coupled with the inevitable doom about to befall Ruby pushes her to unlock a great power buried in her mind. With this power, she balances Nova and herself in the controlling mind and defeats Svár, sealing him away and returning her brother. However, before Svár disappears, he casts a spell on Guide, who had pretended to be the mercenary so she could provide the "slip-ups" that led the group to Ruby, to kill her slowly and painfully.

Nothing they can do can reverse it, until Soren finds that he has unlocked power of his own--just like that of Svár. He uses it to reverse the spell and a happy ending is had by all...

But the mystery remains--why had Svár become evil? According to Nova, it had been as if his morals had just suddenly disappeared one day. But they're not ready to solve that mystery just yet...

[introduction to faction stuff]

Tier Five: The beings who ran existence before the Nobility. They currently still operate underground, though their control over Existence is virtually gone.

Black Hammer: Organization dedicated to ruthless justice, not hindered like many by the refusal to kill. They operate in the shadows as a large group of assassins.

The Ten Scientists: Ten of the greatest scientists to ever exist came together to create the powerful android known as Aero Zone.

The Lords of Chaos and Ladies of Order: They are the Spirits of Harmony and the embodiments of chaos and order. They are housed in a collective mind, headed by the latest reincarnations of each set as the controlling mind.

Interuniversal Alliance (IA): A powerful empire that controls a vast number of universes and has footholds in many more. They are the largest known military force in Existence at the present moment, but despite this are still currently heading towards mass chaos at the hands of a few villains.

Big X: Group that currently consists of 9 beings who work together to keep the Alliance intact by combating both internal and external threats. They wield powerful blades known simply as the Ancient Swords.

Iron Legion: A group of elite soldiers in the IA formed under the rule of the ill-willed Andy Indigo.

The Crew: Close friends and old coworkers of Sven Waternaux who still work as a group to this day, though their line of work is not clear.

Biggest thing to be considered right now is how David's part meshes with the part after it. Also we should mention something about how the writing styles were different, and if you figured it out you might be more likely to be a better candidate.
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