39 replies to this topic

[Rafv Nin IV]

This is the result of me having a really creepy dream and fleshing it out a ton. My background:

Excerpt from What Once Was: A Brief History of Freedom, written by "The Librarian," and neither finished, nor published--

I remember.

I cannot recall the bustle of city streets, the incessant noise of a world populated by individuals, the smog excreted by a million automobiles, each carrying a separate, aware and unique person, or the streaking clouds trailing an airplane as it traversed the sky.

I have never known a world where I did not need to run, to hide, to cower in the face of mighty foes.

But I remember the tales told to me by those who have since passed, and I remember the fall of the last nations to the tides of fate.

Now, I will be frank, for poetic devices are not what the reader must know.

I do not know if there was anything before our frame of time. I do know that the world once was a blank slate to be shaped and chiseled by the great forces of Good and Evil, eternal foes.

Both forces were meek and insignificant until the first sentient beings arose from the unthinking abundance of animals. As Good and Evil realized the vast potential in mankind, the forces manifested themselves and gained worship from the primitive humans. With an increase in souls devoted to the powers, these powers grew exponentially.

The heyday of humanity ended in the twenty-first century, halting the rapid progression of their science. With so many followers, the powers entered the physical realm, each wielding their massive might to crush humanity and subjugate its citizens into mindless obedience. The forces of Good and Evil cultivated worshippers to increase their strength and used their might to wage war upon each other.

Some humans fought back after the initial blow. These were the atheists and agnostics of the Earth, who could not be so quickly claimed by the Energies. However, they treated the forces as they would any other foe, and their resistance movements were crushed by an intensity they could not restrain.

So ended Humanity. I am of the last. I am the Librarian, and I remember a time when the Demons and Angels did not compel my continued flight.

Basically, Good and Evil fight one another and use humans as tools. We play as humans that live under the radar, so to speak, trying desperately to escape notice and bring down the Demons and Angels who subjugate our species. I'll go more in-depth about what's going on if people want to play.

RPG Name: I need one. I'm thinking about "The Last Souls," but I'm not quite sure.
RPG Description: Demons and Angels, in their everlasting struggle, have enslaved humanity to grant them more power.
RPG Era: As far as technology is concerned, we're about twenty years in the future. However, scientific research is tough to do when your race is scattered and unconnected. There's no manufacturing or anything like that, so while we may at some time have a pistol, we're never going to have a tank.
RPG Plot: We play as descendants of the resistance movement against the invasions who are now clinging for life and trying to subvert the corrupt forces of "Good" and Evil.
RPG Leader(s): Me (Ravnin IV)

EDIT: I also realize that the style of my background was ripped from Vortigern's thing in the Writer's Guild, but the content and plotline will be quite different from Unholy Crusade or the Scorpions story.

Edited by Ravnin IV, 26 November 2008 - 03:14 PM.

[some_weirdGuy]

@bit in quote: feeling inspired by Vort's thing in writers guide are we?

i would say go ahead... but the whole place is so dead i dont think it would really kick off.

even ascencia(which seemed to be swinging into full ball) has died down a bit, and my RPG hasn't seen much activity... none of them have

its a shame...

[Vortigern]

Yeah, this does seem a little reminiscent of my Unholy Crusade, which I was forced to postpone. However, I would be a hypocrite were I to say I do not think it is a good idea. If enough people show up, I'll take an interest, but I wouldn't hold out any hope. We really need to get some new faces in around here, and we're kinda struggling on that front. Talk to your friends, make them come on here. That would help.

[Rafv Nin IV]

It's only similar to Unholy Crusade in that there are Angels and Demons. In this, I play a character who was the result of frantic genetic engineering by the last resisting nations of Earth. As the city my character was grown in was sacked by the hounds of hell, a scientist managed to sneak him out. My character, as the result of said genetic engineering, has basic psychic powers: enough to, with great force of will, break enslaved humans free of their brainwashed, controlled state, but not enough to put up any actual resistance against the Powers. Thus instead of fighting the Angels and Demons, we try to covertly hinder their operations and free more people.

I get what you say about our low population here. I'll see if I can get any of my more nerdy friends to come here.

[Vortigern]

Good stuff.

So that's your character... What about everyone else? What sort of characters do we get?

[Rafv Nin IV]

There're three other characters who I'd play when they come up, but they're people who are on their own separate struggles against the Powers. The RP would revolve around one of a group of four--my main character, whose goal is to free as many supressed humans as he can and still remain unnoticed. There would also be a man known as "The Geneticist," who is the scientist who created my main character and escaped with him, and is currently trying to create more and better versions of me. "The Librarian" is trying to rescue as much of human knowledge as she can and proliferate it so her colleagues can use it, and "The Partmaker" is a former vehicle technician turned general mechanic and inventor of weapons to use against our foes. However, those three wouldn't make very many appearances, as the less connected the four are, the less likely they are to be betrayed.

Everyone else would play people that, at some point in the past (or during the storyline for people joining later), my character managed to free from the forces of good and evil, or through some stroke of luck were never enslaved.

Edited by Ravnin IV, 26 November 2008 - 11:35 PM.

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

Seeing as how I reckon we might be able to manage another RP and this sounds cool, do you have any interest in resurrecting the idea Ravnin?
And equally importantly, who else would join it?

[Vortigern]

I would join this RP like a motherfucker. However, it would be lax of me not to suggest you change the era to steampunk Victorian, which is awesome, and would make the whole thing so much cooler instantly. It also gives you a get-out-of-jail free card with questions like 'If this is our world, where are the demons and whatnot now if they're eternal and shit?' Parallel universe FTW!

Having re-read this, it strikes me as very similar to The Matrix, but withs angels and demons instead of agents and squiddies.

Also, I don't believe I said this earlier, but it's very nice to be appreciated. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so they say.

[Rafv Nin IV]

Meh, I don't much care for steampunk, and I like the idea of lots of ruined skyscrapers more As explained in my first post, the demons and angels aren't here now because they do not have enough worshippers to confidently enter our frame of reality. They also aren't invincible--they can die, just not of natural causes. That's another reason why they have waited so long to show their strength on Earth: where they come from, the spirits know how to stay alive. It'd be like me going and living in the Sahara--I'd like to have lots of supplies and support, and a way out, because I have no idea what to do in the desert.

I never thought of it that way, but it does have that ring. I just hope it turns out much better than those horrible films.

Don't get yourself too excited. But that Scorpion piece was pretty damn neat.

[some_weirdGuy]

I just hope it turns out much better than those horrible films.

ZOMGWTFSTFUBBQ!!1!

Matrix was cool!

[Vortigern]

'The Matrix' was a good film. However, 'The Matrix: Reloaded' and 'The Matrix: Revolutions' were shockingly awful wastes of time.

Fair enough, get to work if you still want to go around running an RPG. It'd be pretty cool to have another one up and running. If we've got this, Icarus, Arsencia and Apocalypse then we'll have 4 ready and rolling, which is more than I can remember since about this time last year.

I wish you all the best with the running of this RP, assuming you are intending to pick it up again? You didn't actually say.

[Rafv Nin IV]

Alright, for those who dislike ambiguous responses, I am interested in starting this RP. Does that mean I get to see what goes on in that Secret Forum of RPG Guild Staff? Plans for world domination, no doubt.

I've still got to work out the few first chapters and whatnot, and think up a good name, but if people are interested I'd appreciate knowing.

Edited by Ravnin IV, 25 January 2009 - 05:51 AM.

[Vortigern]

Umm, no, actually. It means you'd be Hosted, not Staff. You don't get to see what we chatter about until the RPG Frontier expands enough to mean we need another staffer or one of the current staff members retires and present a convincing enough case to get yourself promoted.

However, I will join this RP if and when it gets up and running.

[Copaman]

... what goes on in that Secret Forum of RPG Guild Staff? Plans for world domination, no doubt.

Well, yes, but that's really Bungie's job. They beat us to it

On a more serious note, this really does sound like the Matrix. Will we be able to dodge bullets and be all like ZOMGWTFZORZ with whatever weapon we have, or will it be lame and everyone has to say 'oh im a wimpy human and i seez teh aynghul and i punch it and then it simtez me and im ded.'?

The inherent problem with fighting semi-mortal demons and angels is that they are, well, demons and angels. Somehow I don't think hand-to-hand combat would be very effective when they have holy smite or hellfury abilities behind them

[Vortigern]

There is that... I suggest making the humans we play as part of a gifted crew, with talents bestowed by a higher power to even the score, or something. So we're all damn good with our weapons and can run through walls, or something less inexplicable. Or maybe we could be like the X-Men, and all have our own superpowers.

Speaking of which, how great could an X-Men based RP be? You decide what your superpower is, and I'm certain Ravnin or someone would choose a lame and pointless superpower just to make it more difficult for himself. Awesomeness.

[Copaman]

There is that... I suggest making the humans we play as part of a gifted crew, with talents bestowed by a higher power to even the score, or something. So we're all damn good with our weapons and can run through walls, or something less inexplicable. Or maybe we could be like the X-Men, and all have our own superpowers.



Speaking of which, how great could an X-Men based RP be? You decide what your superpower is, and I'm certain Ravnin or someone would choose a lame and pointless superpower just to make it more difficult for himself. Awesomeness.

QFT.

And if we do do an X-Men RP, I've got dibs on making people orgasm when I want them too! Just kidding, that'd be stealing. I'd probably do something along the lines of, oh, I dunno... Being able to pwn people with swords that burst into flame? Again, kidding. Mehaps time manipulation. I've always liked that.

[Rafv Nin IV]

I was actually imagining that we would rarely run into an actual Angel/Demon, and when we do we'd be trying to figure out a way to escape like the cowards we are I imagine these massive plantations of humans where they are used as a workforce (God, this does sound like the matrix) with only a few guards, as the subjugated humans have no will. The main forces of the Powers are busy trying to kill each other, not us. We're more of a sideline rebellion that nobody cares about except us

My idea is that the characters everyone plays would be high above average, of course--either they had abilities that allowed them to survive, or some special mindset that inspired Brygand Carmichael (that's my character, by the way--Trial BC #055) to free them. However, if this is the case, I don't see us having paranormal characteristics. The Partmaker exists to provide us with the occasional crazy-awesome sci-fi device, but those are few and far between.

However, if people don't like that, then I suppose there's another way to go--the story behind my character is that Brygand was the product of genetic engineering to create a creature capable of actually fighting the Angels/Demons. It could be that we are a band of experiments that The Geneticist managed to salvage from the wreckage of his city. We were not perfected and as such cannot go all "AND I d3str0ys the dem0n w/ my MIND POWERS!!1!" but still can combat the Energies.

Name ideas:
1) Salvation's Anemia
2) The Silent Crusade
3) The Last Crusade
4) The Tome of Destiny (I don't like this one)

I'm certain Ravnin or someone would choose a lame and pointless superpower just to make it more difficult for himself.

What? I would never do something like that...wait...*checks current RP characters*...an Arsencia character who can't wield a weapon and has nervous breakdowns...an Icarus character who is afraid of fighting and hides in the corner whenever it happens...a Worlds of War faction that has crappy space fleets...an Apocalypse character who has pulmonary edema...

Say, you've got me down pat, Vortigern

Edited by Ravnin IV, 27 January 2009 - 12:05 AM.

[Copaman]

Of course we want to be able to fight the things! What is an RP without fighting? (answer: real life...)

[Vortigern]

Hey, I'm shotgunning '___ Crusade' for my next one when I set it up. Unholy Crusade, I was going to call it.

How about 'Fields of the Nephilim'? It may in fact be the name of a gothic rock band from the 80s, but who cares? It's actually appropriate, or so it seems.

[mike_]

Hmm.. maybe this could be crossed with your 'Victorian steampunk monster-hunter' RP idea?

I'd play it