This man created the world. He also created life to inhabit it, for he truly, truly wished to see it flourish. But alas, in his mind, he knew something all too well: That in time, the life he created may bring great problems. And yet, he hanged on to something, a small, yet immensely powerful thing called hope, and wished.
But he also knew that, should his wish go unanswered, he would have to resort to extreme measures, and so, the man contacted four ancient, incredibly powerful beings, the Timeless Four, and made a pact with them: Seals would be put in place by the man, and then, if at any point in time, all of them were broken by the man's creations, the Timeless Four would emerge and bring the man's world to an ending that would culminate with a massive war. The man, himself, made adjustments, so that some of his creations may be saved from the end of all things, should it come, and granted the possibility of continuing to exist. The Timeless Four went to slumber within the man's world so that they may gather energy and judge the world, and emerge if the time ever came.
That was long ago. Since then, the world lived its life. You know what happened.
But one day, during the earliest years of the third millenium, the Humans, for that was what the man's creations chose to call themselves, found a strange structure of origins matching no known civilization. The Humans were, understandably, puzzled by this discovery, and so, they decided to investigate further. And it just so happens that, much like felines, Humans, too, were defenseless before the consequences of their curiosity. The ancient structure, destabilized by the constant meddling, collapsed, killing all things alive that were inside of it at the time.
This, of course, included its lone original inhabitant. War, of the Timeless Four.
Evidently, this was not the last of Humanity's blunders. In time, they destroyed the seals put in place by their creator, and the Timeless emerged, though now they were only three. And so the end of times was initiated, but as it was not complete, due to the absence of War, it could not be culminated. Thus came a period of stagnation and decadence. Humanity, assaulted by countless plagues, starving because of widespread food shortages, and faced with the threat of demons and other nightmarish creatures, slowly perished, even though no war came to wipe them out decisively. Space and time became distorted, chaotic shadows of their former, orderly selves, and the critical lack of balance caused strange energies to manifest. And no man was saved, as despite his noblest wishes, the creator had vanished long ago, and his children left the realm of thorns.
Perhaps, the closest thing to a climax was when, from the sky, the celestial city of Armageddon, built by the creator to house those chosen to be saved from the end and meant to be maintained by his children, the angels, until such a time came, crashed down onto the world, destroying everything beneath.
However, the world still existed. And Humans are tenacious. Prodigiously so. And thus, even after the end, Humanity lived on in their shattered world, waiting for the day when Light would return...
This is a post-apocalyptic roleplay centered around life in a world long after the End, the conflicts and perils present in such a world, and mankind's efforts to restore what was destroyed.
I will now describe some aspects of the world.
Technology (And a bit about society, I guess)
The level of technology present in the world after the End is mainly Past Tech. Things such as computers are virtually useless in the world after the End due to the distinct lack of electric energy. Weapons are primarily medieval, and while guns can occasionally be found, ammunition for them is scarce and most such weapons are usually owned by militant orders and powerful city-states either way. People usually house themselves in ruins of old cities and abandoned towns, rather than build entirely new homes on their own with what they can find, though some of the more powerful groups of humans that banded together after the End have been known to go out of their way to build imposing walls around their enclaves. Transport is mainly done on foot or through horses, creatures that for some reason have been handling the Apocalypse better than humans could hope to. Boats are also an option, though the seas are dangerous territory. Cars do exist, but they're rare, and working ones, much rarer. You'd be better off finding a train, to be honest. The best type of communication one could hope to get would be walkie-talkies, assuming you can get the batteries. Otherwise it's shouting and messenger birds for you. Trade is mostly handed through bartering, as coins are, basically, useless, though there is another, more precious currency I will speak about below.
There is other technology, much more advanced, but no one really has access to that shit, nor will they until much later.
Magic (Yep, magic)
After the End, strange energies leaked into the world, furthening the chaos and turmoil that the world was going through during that time. At the same time, demons reached the mortal world and were free to bargain with mortals in exchange for their servitude. Both of these things made magic possible. There are two ways to obtain magic powers: The first is to strike a deal with a demon. A man who seeks a demon and requests the power to achieve his goals will be granted such power if the demon is capable, or the closest thing the demon can manage if not, unless the mortal finds the possible power satisfactory anyway. However, this is not without a price. The mortal must sign a contract presented by the demon with his own blood, which binds him to the demon's will. The contract will stipulate any number of tasks the mortal must perform before earning back his freedom, and he cannot flee from this duty in any form, lest his soul be stripped from him. During the performance of the mortal's goal or the assigned tasks, the mortal will retain his powers. If at any point the mortal dies, his soul goes to the demon and his descendants, if any, are given the power and tasks of their ancestor, and so on, and so forth, until the entire bloodline dies off or someone completes the tasks and earns back the souls of all his ancestors, though they lose their power as well. The power granted to humans by demons can not be harnessed instantly, instead requiring the mortal to perform a blood sacrifice before making use of their power.
The other means of performing magic is by harnessing the souls of the dead, which, unable to go to heaven or hell in the world after the End, remain near the places of their owners' deaths, lingering until such a time that they may find a human who wanders close enough for them to, shall we say, hitch a ride. These souls allow the mortals to draw on the power of the strange, allowing them to perform complex arcane rituals in order to use magic. Naturally, the extent of magic available to one and its magnitude is directly proportional to the number of souls in one's possession. Someone with a handful of souls may easen his miopia for a few hours after an arduous ritual. Someone with a few dozens might be able to save up a fireball for later after chanting for an hour. Someone nearing a hundred souls could feasibly use their power for practical combat purposes after a decent ceremony. Note that these numbers are purely referential, maths aren't my thing anyway. Magic powered by souls is also not as powerful as that which is granted by demonic contracts. Oh, and did I mention souls deplete their power? So you would have to refill them.
Thankfully, well, the Apocalypse spread a lot of death around. Due to this most people are soul bearers to a greater or lesser degree.
Souls take a toll on the sanity of their bearer: As one begins accumulating souls, the echoes of the dead begin creeping into their consciousness. At first it is nothing more than the occasional visual trick, a misplaced object belonging to the memories of the souls trapped within their bearer. However, as one acquires more and more souls, say, over a hundred, one begins to hear faint echoes of torment, which only grow stronger as one continues acquiring souls.
When a soul bearer dies, the souls they owned, plus their own, are left at the place where they died, much like the souls of regular people when they die. Anyone can then pick them all up by going to the spot where the bearer died.
Souls can be traded between bearers, but only if both parties agree and are in full control of their mental faculties, and through a verbal ritual in which their agreement on the matter is expressly stated and the terms of the transaction are left crystal-clear. It is due to this that souls, not coins, are the only currency used in the world after the End. And a precious one at that, for it grants great power.
You!
The players (You) can be anything you want: A drifting survivor, a militant warrior, a zealous hunter or whatever you want, just don't make them complete psychopaths or obvious monsters, please.
...No, that wasn't much. Whatever.
So that's that. If you guys want more info I'll be happy to
Below this post will be two more posts for the apps and lists, and for other relevant information, respectively. So if you could hold your posting until they're both reserved, that'd be swell.
Also,
RULES! Because otherwise I don't get to post an ad if I decide to do so!
First! I'm the OP. Unless you provide a satisfactory argument against something I say, my word is law.
Second! 5 lines/8 sentences minimum per post.
Third! No godmodding.
Fourth! Respect each other.
Assholes.
Fifth! PG-13 rule thingy.
Sixth! Acknowledge English grammerz as a necesasry evul.
Seventh! Have fun!
. Apps are up, as is a small description of New Jericho. As always, I'm willing to answer any questions.
