Gaea
Gaea, the world, crafted in the image of the primordial; bathing, in all their glory and beauty. But also, their terrible, terrible passion. A world of wonder as much horror, and by no means short of middle ground to assail the common folk.-Eonwaris, Chief Scribe and Historian of the Twilight Fortress. The Attributes of Fate, Vol II, iii.
The Birthing: A Prose of Creation
In the beginning there was nothing, ever darkness, save for a mass of formless energy anchored in the center of this ever dark. For an eternity this was all there was; but, through the passage of eons the energy burst and waxed like the moons. In an ever and all directional tidal wave the cosmos was born as the antithesis to this prior nothing that surrounded it.
As this energy gave manifest to the Heavens the first to arrive were the Vaulted Ones. Great Beings, giving the Heavens material form and shape, and the foremost among them: Aeman. Aeman gave the cosmos laws and shaped Heavenly bodies across the skies. It was Aeman that planted the seeds of twin arks, spherical bodies that would be host to life. For Aeman saw that the ultimate destiny of the cosmos was to belong to other, smaller beings that would wonder at the ever changing universe in full glory.
These twin bodies, Aearth and Gaea, two bodies representing one creation. For countless years Aeman and other Vaulted formed, gave birth, and soothed them into being hosts for life. Teeming with plants, animals, and forming in their own images the sentient races. These younger races were like children thrust out onto the wider world.
But, not all of the Vaulted Ones shared this value of being the caretakers of things seeming so small and insignificant in an ever expanding universe. A schism, unlike any that would come after, developed and broke the Vaulted Ones into two. The Dark Ones who wished to exert influence over these lesser races. Rather than shepherd the younger races to fruition. Thus, darkness wrested with light, one seeming to triumph over the other before being driven back. In a last act of love Aeman cut out his own soul and split it into two. Driving his divided soul into the hearts of Aearth and Gaea and thus banishing the Dark Ones from freely walking on both worlds. But at a cost, Aeman was split into two; Vaemidia, bringer of life; Avalar, bringer of death. For in the final act of selflessness was borne hope.
However, the Dark Ones would not be so easily cheated, and thus in a last act of spite they sundered the twin arks. Separating Aearth and Gaea from one another for all eternity…
Administration
Imperialisium: Operator
Introduction to the wider World
Welcome to Gaea! A world of wonder and danger, magic and sorcery, beauty and horror! This is a role play/world-building/hang-out-for-fantasy–lover’s type deal. So this is meant to be rather large scale, but always the primary focus is to have fun and enjoy your time here. There will be role playing, and lots of it; also, there will be world-building. Every setting needs a world and I always enjoy allowing other people to create their own stuff within the already established lore. This allows everyone to get their own piece of the pie, and like ingredients to said pie, coming together in utter deliciousness. Yum…pie.
As such we invite people to take the already established world and through role play or adding in ideas mold it to whatever shape we can create. Do you want to rise and create your own realm? Overthrow a monarch? Become a Vampire? Be a Monster slayer? Perhaps being a Mercenary? Hell even a prostitute-assassin-sorceress hybrid (keep it PG-13 please for the lewd category, this is a respectful establishment!). The choice is yours.
Setting and Genre
Gaea, is a fantasy world, and whenever possible leaning to realism or low fantasy with just enough high fantasy to allow variance. There are of course many established nations and cultures people can relate to our own world in real life. Such as the Greco-Roman/Byzantine themed Paletine people, the Norse themed Naedse, the Hungarian themed people of Eszog, and the Germanic/French Middle Ages themed Saerheastan realms. If you look at the whole map you’ll see references to the Khmer Empire, China during antiquity and middle ages, the Mongols, African Tribes, Middle-Eastern Caliphates, Migration Era tribes, and the whole nine yards.
This is mixed with Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, and so forth. So the exact Genre of Gaea would fall into Fanstasy in the broadest sense of the term. It had high fantasy beings and creatures but low fantasy realism. You are not invincible and Gaea can be just as dangerous as our own world. That guy you picked a fight with a bar could stab you in the back when you're facing the wrong way. That Dragon you insulted, just ate you, and by now hopefully you're catching my drift? I will take charge as OP the progression of time. I will be strict on travel speeds and not afraid to kill off characters. This is meant to add weight to your actions and make one think. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to attack that Dragon after all?!
The Story
Now in terms of the In Character or IC the role play currently is set in 625 AL. Gaea was saved just over a hundred years ago by Thirteen Heroes who banished Balteros when he broke into the mortal plane of existence due to the weakening of Aeman's heart. It was this selfless act and their sacrifice that led to the Thirteen Heroes transcending into the Timeless Halls and their life force renewing the Heart of the World. Reinvigorating the protective barrier that keeps the Dark Ones at bay.
On the mortal perspective Gaea has gone through periods of chaos and bloodshed balanced by eras of peace and prosperity. Venezian explorers have sailed the shores of lands to the West, The Shrouded Lands, which remain an enigma and is a dark forbidding place that is still haunted by a horrible curse from centuries past. Tales from the Far East continuously detail new and stranger lands from Oriental and Khamul explorers. In the East the various realms continuously vie for power in the Dance of Kingdoms. While in the West the Paletine Republic is checked by the Caliphate of Arum and the Vampires of Necropolis. In the North the Empire of Elvrion and Empire of Alfheimr remain at an uneasy peace.
What story will you create?
On Magic
The Thing about Magic is that it can be fickle.-Archlord Asyran of Valtmeris circa 7 AL, Volumes of Fate, ix
Magic, Sorcery, Wizardry, or whatever else you want to call it. Is a rare art, and a dangerous one at that. While there are quite a few dabblers in Magic there are few Masters. Magic can do great things, and also terrible ones as well. But for the most part almost all Magic requires a price, or something in exchange. Cast a fire ball, well if you miss-caste/miss-pronounce/or even in some cases touch that magical fire you'll get burned---Usually very badly. That's just one example, so learn and use magic at your own discretion. A rule of thumb, the more powerful the amount the higher the price, shoot lightning you might crack a rib if you are not careful. Summon a Wraith, better hope you know proper binding incantation or you'll probably get killed. Want to bind a Demon you probably will have to cut off a finger or someone is going to cut off something as payment for services rendered.
Magical artifacts are roughly similar, some require a price for their usage. Others do not and can be used freely; however, the majority of these objects have a recharge time or can run out of whatever makes them tick. So use wisely.
Rules
1.The OP will intervene when necessary, and therefore promoting role players to talk it out amongst themselves first. So be respectful to each other.
2. Be fair, you are not god-like (that and the actual far more real Gaean Gods will love to dick you over).
3. I reserve the right to appoint Administrative positions for those who desire it. Like Co-Op or an additional map editor and what not.
4. When in doubt stick to realism, if you’ve been beheaded you are not coming back unless some MAJOR being with enough mojo grabs your soul and rams it back into you. The hope being they also took the courtesy of re-attaching your head. This is also a pre-gunpowder setting, not that you need it, I mean we have magic.
5. Magic is allowed, but don’t wank it. To reference a TV show, “All Magic comes at a Price!” (Brownie points for whoever gets that)
6. Rules are subject to change.
7. Nations are expected to have actual problems, what I mean is that for example large Empires are HARDER to hold together internally and possibly externally. This keeps the nation-playing field level enough to allow realistic power shifting and keep things fluid. If need be I’ll conjure up something.
9. No you cannot be a God.
10. Please use decent grammar and spelling (Secondary School/High School level please) and at least a paragraph
11. Posts must be at least 6 complete sentences in length along with headers for each section (if you have more than one section), detailing the location, point of view, and year it takes place.
12. do not double or triple post in the OOC or IC unless you are a Sub-OP or the OP (Myself).
13. Three warnings and you are out of the role play.
2. Be fair, you are not god-like (that and the actual far more real Gaean Gods will love to dick you over).
3. I reserve the right to appoint Administrative positions for those who desire it. Like Co-Op or an additional map editor and what not.
4. When in doubt stick to realism, if you’ve been beheaded you are not coming back unless some MAJOR being with enough mojo grabs your soul and rams it back into you. The hope being they also took the courtesy of re-attaching your head. This is also a pre-gunpowder setting, not that you need it, I mean we have magic.
5. Magic is allowed, but don’t wank it. To reference a TV show, “All Magic comes at a Price!” (Brownie points for whoever gets that)
6. Rules are subject to change.
7. Nations are expected to have actual problems, what I mean is that for example large Empires are HARDER to hold together internally and possibly externally. This keeps the nation-playing field level enough to allow realistic power shifting and keep things fluid. If need be I’ll conjure up something.
9. No you cannot be a God.
10. Please use decent grammar and spelling (Secondary School/High School level please) and at least a paragraph
11. Posts must be at least 6 complete sentences in length along with headers for each section (if you have more than one section), detailing the location, point of view, and year it takes place.
12. do not double or triple post in the OOC or IC unless you are a Sub-OP or the OP (Myself).
13. Three warnings and you are out of the role play.
The Application goes as follows. The first segment is for character development, the second is for lineage and origin of the character, and the third is their personal equipment or gear. The extension to the character app is if they are nobility or hold some position in a realm. Finally the nation app is for the construction of the a realm. Delete Everything In Parenthesis. For the Gender and Succession Laws I recommend this wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_succession
Now Nation Apps require at least one Character App, and the same goes for Factions. But Character apps do not need to be tied to a Nation or Faction app. Characters can be independent if desired.
