Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]

Sin is starting a new RP!
Welcome to Espada of Alexandria. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Sound interesting?
Yes 5 (55.6%)
No 2 (22.2%)
Maybe, I'll ask a question and then decide... 2 (22.2%)
Total Votes: 9
Purgatory: The battle for our very souls; A good old fashioned good against evil RP
Topic Started: October 12, 2013, 4:37 pm (460 Views)
NTNP
Member Avatar
Admin
Purgatory: The battle for our very souls
“Once when I was young, I remember hearing about a place called Purgatory. I was in a big house somewhere. The entire village was there, sitting on wooden benches in their finest clothes, sweating in the mid-summer sun. From where I was sitting, I could see a breathtaking window with the most beautiful stained glass. It showed a great light shining down and people floating on the horizon. A man stood in the middle of the house, talking about “the weight of our sins” and that we would go to this horrible place of judgment and suffering if we didn’t repent and turned our face to the Heavens in fear and gratitude. I never cared or really knew what he was talking about, until I woke up in the Dome of Light. I was laying on the floor and I saw it again, the stain glassed window from my childhood but something had changed. The horizon was black as night and there were only three angels gathered in the light around the city bathed in light. The rolling green hills were sand and dust; there was nothing else here but those horrible red eyes. Dozens of other people were laying there with me… a man in carpenter’s clothes. Beside him was a little boy, maybe five, crying out for his mom. There was a woman with piercings down her back and a ring through her nose. Even a man covered in chains with tattoos across his face and arms. Sitting there, holding her knees, was a noble lady in armor and steel with tears in her eyes. In her hand was a shattered sword- still dripping with blood. And me… an old man, laying back on the warm stone looking up at the amber colored sky… I don’t really remember where I was before, what brought me here… but I remember the word of that old preacher, this place is Purgatory.”

This is the introduction to an RP idea that I had a little while back when imagining what it would be like to truly be in a battle between good and evil. Our characters find themselves in the world of Purgatory, a land where angels and demons truly do exist and struggle for the very souls of humanity. Born into this world lost, confused and unable to remember more than a few brief flashes about your life before, you emerge into an unnatural place where nothing is as it seems. Creatures beyond imagining exist here, great beings of the purest good and darkest evil make their home in this realm and it is the souls of men that drive them. On the side of good is the Divines, beings of absolute grace who serve as mankind’s protectors, their guardians. These protectors of mankind are all that is left of the Divine Will that brought this world into existence and will someday bring about its dissolution. These few stewards were granted to us in order to bring about our salvation and to hold back the unstoppable tide of darkness known as the Fell. They are championed by the great Lords of Fallen. Each of them calls dominion upon the land, the sea and the sky. What had once been theirs, all these places have been lost to humankind who must hide behind walls in order to survive.

There are three great cities where people find themselves awakened in these strange structures known as the Domes of Light like what happened in the introduction. These are the last remnants of human civilization, towns. While seemingly mundane, it is this bringing together of people and ideas that first let us strive for something beyond our base instincts and helps us remember the humanity within. The first is the arid desert city of Sanctum. Nestled in the middle of a seemingly endless desert, this walled citadel stands amid ruins of another time. Large towers poke out from underneath the dunes, something from an untold time ago hidden beneath the sands of time. Like an oasis, a pillar of light illuminates everything for miles around constantly bakes this town in an endless sunrise even as the wastelands are lost to an eternal night. The walls themselves glow red hot, causing constant hallucinations of the things outside and burn anything that attempts entry without passing through the gate of stone in the four cardinal directions around the city. In this oasis of life within the wastes, Dina, the all seeing eye of god stands beside the desert throne. Sariel, the divine flame of truth protects her walls. And the courageous archangel Machidiel defend mankind from the evils that would threaten to overtake them.

Northward in the craggy mountains lies a single mountain that seems to pierce the sky itself. Constantly shrouded in mist and enveloped in thick forests lies the underground city of Shadow Mount. During the day, the forest is filled with horrible creatures but at night an unnatural calm overtakes the mountainside. The mist and smoke comes alive as light shines in the sky and millions of fireflies take flight. Even amid the deepest and darkest night, there is always beauty here beneath the moon. The creators of these seemingly unimaginable wards are Castiel, the embodiment of temperance basks the sleeping world in a serene night while Elijah grants us dreams of calmer times and better days. All the while Jophiel pushes us forward toward what we could achieve while we spend our days deep under the shadows. In the depths of the ground, humanity continues to etch out a living plunging deeper and deeper, drawn in by the safety of earth but always warned against avarice. Beautiful things reside in the forest and the gem rich earth, but those who become lost in search of them often fall victim to their baser desires and fall from grace.

The final citadel of mankind is overseen by the righteous and zealotic Nemamiah who commands the forces of nature to force away the shadows with divine might. But his temper is calmed by the presence of Miheal, the bringer of peace and loyalty and her beloved husband Gavreel, the granter of kindness. Locked inside the an eternal storm of hail, sleet, torrential rain and lightning that blankets as far as the eye can see, these three protect all that exist in this world. In the middle of this living hurricane is a single, great tower at the edge of the sea. The road in is lined with hundreds of lightning rods, constantly struck by divine bolts of fury. The shorelines are made of glass, like statues frozen in time. This is the end of the world, the entrance to somewhere deeper and darker than any that humanity could dare enter. At night, sometimes the waves would come alive as giant creatures bigger than mountains would rise up from the abyss only to be struck by the storm and forced back into the depths. This great tower is Zeratul’s Tower, or better known as the Lighthouse. Here few ever venture outside the walls due to the constant storms and even fewer ever make the journey back.

How magic and in turn combat works:
Each character who has been favored by the powers that be has access to ‘magic’ in some form or fashion. However, there are three major avenues to obtaining this supernatural gift. The most common way for the humans of the world to use their natural gift is by channeling it through the Divines or Fell in order to help them influence the world through belief. This process is known as Divine Favor. The second option is via Spontaneous Casting, comparable to our regular examples of magic where any and all forms of magic are available. The last is Ritualistic which requires ingredients and dedication, resulting in some loss of variety. There are eight “tiers” of magic that exist from improvements of the mundane to existence shattering magics that can alter the very reality of the world. All can be achieved, but only to those who can prove themselves worthy. As such, magic is expected to be used in connection with martial skills such as swordsmanship, archery, horseback riding etc in order to succeed in this narrative.

The first way of commanding magic is through divine favor. For those who act in service to one of the Divines or by manipulating the power of the Fell, they can call forth great amounts of magic through the power of prayer. Each supernatural entity is associated with an element and a school of magic. By borrowing power from one of these entities, the caster has the ability to cast ANY spell that is EITHER of that element or that school of magic. For example, those who call upon the power of Dina, the angel of charity can use ANY light spell such as ray or a healing beam of kindness AND any divination such as scrying for information or seeing through illusions. Alternatively, by tapping into the power of Gressil, the dark queen of deceit, that character could use ANY water such as a mighty rainstorm or illusion spell like a silent image. However, to do so, they must spend an entire turn before casting it praying in order to receive it and any interruptions during this attempt may cause the spell to fail. Additionally, divine favors can be lost or transformed through the actions taken by the character. Thus through growth and decisions, a character may change his or her dominions within the story.

The second option is via spontaneous casting. Much like with other forms of magic, spontaneous casting allows the character to know a small number of spells (usually starting around 3 upon character creation) that can be used automatically and instantly upon the character’s whim. Unlike other uses of magic (such as Divine Favor) these spells can be from any element and any school of magic, thus providing the option for untold potential from these types of spell casters. However, the only way to gain more spells is to use the ones that they already possess. After a certain number of castings (usually increments of 5) a spontaneous caster has the ability to either enhance his or her spells (increasing their rank) or gaining a new spell slot to learn a new move. While they will never possess the same depth of spells as their counterpart, their ability to cast instantly can prove invaluable.

The last type of magic available is ritualistic. While often considered the most complex type of spell craft, this process involves mixing alchemical solutions, enacting dramatic incantations and using components in order to unleash the hidden powers of the world through an almost through a scholarly dedication to the study of magic. While in combat the caster has the ability to use spells relatively quickly, they must gather supplies and resources that are progressively rarer as they travel up the rungs of magical power. While starting with a considerably larger spell list (about 9 during character creation) than spontaneous casters, the ritualists must forego the study of 3 elements and 3 schools of magic in order to continue their study of the arcane leaving them with 6 remaining domains of magic and 6 elements to bend to their will.

The Nine Schools of Magic are as follows:
1. Abjuration: Spells that protect, block, or banish
2. Conjuration: Spells that bring creatures or materials to the caster
3. Divination: Spells that reveal information or truth
4. Enchantment: Spells that imbue the recipient with some property or grant the caster power over another being
5. Evocation: Spells that manipulate energy or create something from nothing
6. Illusion: Spells that alter perception or create false images
7. Transmutation: Spells that transform the recipient physically or change its properties in a more subtle way
8. Entropy: Spells that manipulates, destroys or weakens a target
9. Restoration: Spells that manipulates, creates or repairs a target
The Nine Elements are as follows:
1. Fire
2. Water
3. Earth
4. Nature
5. Wind
6. Lightning
7. Spirit
8. Light
9. Darkness

How Character Creation Works:
Being reborn into this world, our characters can be of any age from early teenager (13) to elder (80) and all possess the power of magic denoting their innate power within the world. They will be called to service by the Divine in order to bring salvation to humanity and to save themselves from the eventual curse of death and corruption that follows all beings that remain in this world. Remembering bits and pieces from their lives before, all characters will be forced to learn how to survive in this unnatural world but also remember the lives that they had before coming here and coming together as a team against unimaginable odds in their journey to topple the Fell and bring light to the world once again. Baring the choice of HOW you gain magical power and your spell slots, equipment slots and passive enchantments (on items and those present naturally on the character) there are no stats in this RP. This means that the overall process is somewhat shorter than usual and without a ‘background’ already being in place that characters are more open to experiment and play with their characters rather than having an elaborate past to work into the narrative innately.

Combat will be against mostly nonhuman foes, often ranging from week ‘mobs’ of mooks that can be defeated in one to two attacks to boss styled encounters that will require an entire team of 4+ to successfully defeat while using a variety of tactics. Levels will be awarded (granting new spells and abilities) based on storyline events rather than any form of EXP. There will be a considerable number of items (both that can be created by and for the players and by the environment) that will present passives and abilities otherwise not available. So who is interested in finding out why we are in Purgatory and freeing ourselves from the dominion of the demons in a final great battle between good and evil?

So this was just an idea floating around in my head for a while, is there anything you would like to know?
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Onime No Ryu
Member Avatar
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Can you give us a better idea of the plot? Like, you have a setting, but what's going on in that setting?
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
NTNP
Member Avatar
Admin
Sure, basically it is rather simple- we are dead. Our characters have died in their world and are now trapped in the land known as Purgatory, the place between Heaven and Hell, the literal battle ground for human souls who have been tainted by sin but were not marked by either Heaven or Hell by their actions. This is where people go to be judged, to be made accountable for their lives and are given a second chance to redeem themselves before being tossed to the pit.

Some people who arrive in this world don't have the will to fight, the will to struggle against the chains that bind them and in time are either devoured by the darkness or become 'lost' to the world. We, hopefully, are not among them. Awakening into Purgatory our character's spirits are strong enough to actually tap into the radiant power that exists in the world allowing them access to magic. Because of this, they are also capable of becoming more than just another soul in heaven or hell- their is the possibility for them to join the ranks of angels or demons should they endure the trials.

All humans are put to trials in this world in order to harden their resolve and to prepare their souls for a true judgment of heaven or hell. Angels offer a hard path, difficult to follow- but that will lead to salvation. Demons take what they want, forcing people to cower while others offer sweet temptations to bring about their downfall. In all cases, those who do not follow the path of the angels will in turn eventually fall to the hands of the demons. But there are a few who challenge this order. We might call them heroes who would willingly act as champions for angels or demons and attempt to spread their will, while acting in the stead of humanity. Ideally, this is what our characters might eventually strive for.

Like in most settings, heaven and hell are at war. If one side perishes, the chances of bringing over mankind to their way greatly increases. The angels act as humanities guardians but for those that forsake their ways, they are cast out to be devoured or destroyed by the demons. The demons exist in the places withheld for angelic protection and rule over it. Our characters will be tasked with the destruction of these demons and the salvation of mankind with the promise of eternal salvation should we perish in the great fight- or a chance to ascend and become an angel should we succeed.

Basically it is all a very simplistic good versus evil sort of narrative that lets us get back into the things we love most, killing giant enemies, demolishing mobs of opponents, doing away with all those irritating stats and allowing us access to a lot more magic than the standard elemental package that we usually use in order to really let loose on inhuman foes that we can take pleasure in their destruction.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Perascamin
Member Avatar
A Legendary Ocean
An NT RP?

ohboyohboy
In War; Victory. In Peace; Vigilance. In Death; Sacrifice.

Dawn Eros (hot mama):
Spoiler: click to toggle

PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
NTNP
Member Avatar
Admin
Well maybe. It'd run like the previous ones I offered up (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays) and I want to find one that the most number of people would like to be involved in. I have a few different ideas floating around in my head and I want to see which one the community likes the best before really getting too involved in the process.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
oniskieth
Member Avatar
The Silver Light
Wouldn't be my first pick from you, but I'd join this. Yes.
Katherine's Approval
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
NTNP
Member Avatar
Admin
Eh, I just thought it might be nice having something direct and simple for a change but obviously that isn't what the community wants. So I'll ask it a different way: What would you like to play?
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
DVD Player
Member Avatar
Mdl. No. 00X "Burrito"
Unless I get a new job, ANYTHING on Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday won't work out too well for me
Posted Image
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
NTNP
Member Avatar
Admin
@Niroth: I'm in the same boat. Most days after coming back from school I am wiped out or have more stuff to take care of than I can shake a stick at. It's only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays that I can promise more than about an hour online at a time.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Onime No Ryu
Member Avatar
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Well, I'm not really too sold on this yet, but I'm not sure why. Normally I can express my reasoning fairly well but with this story, I just dunno. Plus I like my RPs to be fast paced and always on the move, I can't stand slowness. So I don't think a weekends only RP would be my cup of tea, sorry. I'm probably gonna pass on this one.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
NTNP
Member Avatar
Admin
Well it would be more fast paced during the weekend with the weekdays being mostly 'down' time for the players and characters alike. For some reason I like the idea of whatever story I choose to try incorporating the idea of it all taking place within a central town that allows for continual life and growth with the weekend episodes being what interrupts their day to day life. Think something like a tv show where usually we are living our usual lives but THEN the plot happens.

Additionally I think having it on limited days might be more fun for those involved because it would let them have only a few days a week that they needed to be involved instead of everyday. Plus with the central 'town' idea it would allow for anyone who couldn't attend one or multiple days of a game to be put on a non-storyline crucial task while still being involved. Honestly the idea of us being on a boat, living in a town (perhaps as guards like what we talked about in the Red Wings topic or even as regular people like in Depths of the Mind) or even just the various protectors/movers and shakers of a city might be a nice break of pace that would allow us to have characters having actual growth rather than just jumping through an adventure in 6-7 'action filled' days.

Of course, I also have a cool idea involving giving out awards for best events, loot and other such things in order to make it where we can celebrate successes during the weekday as opposed to just looking back afterward.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Kazemitsu
Member Avatar
Assassin
I'm pretty interested honestly o3o I'll run some character ideas by you eventually XD
Posted Image
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Join the millions that use us for their forum communities. Create your own forum today.
« Previous Topic · RP ideas · Next Topic »
Add Reply

Systematic made by Phaede of the SZ..