Wracked by war and plague this is truly a time of troubles for the Aetherian Empire and the continent in general. Bandits and barbarians lurking at the border, dragons looking down from their peaks, the Republic of Edra looking for a fight, truly one has to be insane to claim things are sane. War wracked the continent making orphans out of most children, killing most of the parents. A plague breaks out killing survivors of the previous though they claim it is contained. Thus it is time for a new generation to take up arms for the Empire and her military. That is why incentives were given for teenagers to join the military. Times are tough and most people need food and military needs more bodies. Thus the Knight Corps were created with groups of teenagers who answered the call, some drawn by patriotic feeling, others by the attraction of money, and more others for reasons they will not give. Some think the term "Knight" being applied to all of them is a mockery but they need the morale boost.
You are one of those who accepted the call, for what purpose that is your business. You have all been given exams and have been shown not to carry the plague which makes you eligible and have received basic training and assigned to the Third Aetherian Knight Corps. So take up arms to aid the Empire as your fathers and mothers did before you.
And so it begins. Welcome one and all to The Aetherian Knights, an RP idea I thought up and wanted to try. In this you are a teenager who joined the military for your own reasons. Thus the Empire is to be defended by you. This will involve a lot of fight scenes though as your group tries to improve the Empire and save it from collapse. Will it survive, will it fall, will it go to war again, will you expand it? Will the Third become the best of the best or will it fall by the wayside? Will it be known as the Empire's most trusted or a group of rookies who missed their chance? Who knows besides us who want to change this world. Overall I want to leave this very open so besides blatant high treason and desertion feel free to do what you want. I will be using dice occasionally to decide certain variables about events, that way it prevents me from seeming arbitrary.
Really I have this marked down as world building in order to establish more things in it, locations, factions, groups, items, events, the usual. And I also have it like this so I can improve what I already have. Hence why I ask for help in it since I do not think of myself as inventive enough without others to aid and help me. But below is what I have so far. About all of it is bound for change, make sure if interested to read the first three tabs first to gain a grasp of recent years.
Do note death and permanent injuries is possible here so don't be too stupid. Do not charge a dragon with a stick.
1. I am Op what I say goes
2. Even though this involves magic keep it relatively realistic
3. No OP characters.
4. IF YOU ARE INACTIVE IC OR OOC FOR A WEEK WITHOUT INFORMING ME WE WILL KILL YOU OFF
5. Though they aren't official Co-Ops Yoite and Exilvania are both respected for their opinions so consider their advice.
6. If you are unsure about something ask.
2. Even though this involves magic keep it relatively realistic
3. No OP characters.
4. IF YOU ARE INACTIVE IC OR OOC FOR A WEEK WITHOUT INFORMING ME WE WILL KILL YOU OFF
5. Though they aren't official Co-Ops Yoite and Exilvania are both respected for their opinions so consider their advice.
6. If you are unsure about something ask.
The technology is at the medieval age for point of comparison.
LoreFor thirty years the Aetherian Empire and the Republic of Edra waged war in an attempt to destroy each other. Driven by passion the Republic declared war against the Empire and the Empire responded in kind marching their youth and people off to war. Both sides thought the war would be done quickly and they were proven wrong. The war descended into stalemate after bloody stalemate with no territory gained or lost or for very small gains on the map. Soldiers were killed by the hundreds on the battlefield. The men were conscripted and sent off to war and they died. Widows walked the streets in huge numbers dressed in black mourning until laws and decrees proclaiming that women can now serve were sent out and thus they were conscripted, sent off to war and they died. Clergy who prayed in the Temples of the Gods for peace were finally conscripted with weapons forced into their hands and thus they too went off to war and they too died. Thus the war seemed without end. Time came to a standstill on the battlefield as both sides marched out to kill each other every morning. Yet there came a way to end the war, the most unfortunate way to end a war in all honesty. For the war was so destructive so murderous it killed most of the combat capable populations of both sides, so much so that almost the entire middle generation was consumed in the fires of war, leaving mostly the elderly and children still alive. The war ended five years ago with the signing of a peace treaty when both sides were almost out of people of fighting age to fight if they did not want to conscript children and this idea caused even some of the most bloodthirsty of generals and soldiers to hesitate. That hesitation bought time that they needed, while the generals on both sides tried to find a solution to continue the fight the Emperor of Aetheria, Emperor Nicholas Olderen, and the recently elected Primo-Consul of the Republic, Primo-Consul Adron Sayia, began negotiations. They both wanted one simple thing: peace. Even if it meant that the end of the war could never give one side any form of advantage to another, even if it meant that neither side gave anything to another, even if it meant there would be no victors. Both of them, both visionary men, simply wanted peace. For the land to stop bleeding. Emperor Olderen’s words at the time were very simple ones “Must we keep fighting? We have killed almost every man and woman in both of our countries. Must we kill even the children too? Enough is enough.” And thus, against the advice of most of their generals both leaders signed a treaty ending the war at their prewar border bringing that dark and bloody chapter to an end. Thus both sides began to set about rebuilding.In the Empire maybe things could have been salvaged easier but yet another tragedy struck. For unknown reasons a plague has broken out in the Empire but not the Republic, leading some of the more radical to suspect the Republic of causing it while others contend it simply hasn't reached them yet. The symptoms are as follows, having a cough, fever, vomiting, weakening of the muscles, skin peeling, vomiting of blood, insanity, all of this will eventually result in death, though in some it kills them immediately. There is no known treatment and corpses are disposed of via burning. The Emperor, aged prematurely by war and the loss of many of his children on the battlefield, has withdrawn from public life and has not been seen for a year, him quietly reigning from his palace. His heir has also gone missing and still hasn't been found, though this isn't public knowledge.
To make matters again worse for the Empire the bandits on the roads, the barbarians to south, and the dragons in the north have all begin making strange moves. The dragons have not left their peaks but the barbarians and bandits have been causing trouble with their raiding. Meanwhile the Republic to the east has locked down their borders to the best of their ability to protect themselves.Recently though a change was implemented in the military. Originally no one can join the military until the age of eighteen but given the severe lack of manpower, due to the middle generation suffering heavily, the leadership decided to try something new. Giving out incentives for military service for people thirteen and up. The premise is simple. The economy is suffering and most people can barely afford to put food on the table while the military need more people in armor so why not offer pay to them so they can feed their families and help out their country. And that is how the Knight Corps were founded groups of teenagers who answered the call, some drawn by patriotic feeling, others by the attraction of money, and more others for reasons they will not give. Some think the term "Knight" being applied to all of them is a mockery but they need the morale boost. By this point the military accepted all who were not hardened criminals so most were accepted and the military finally are able to start defending forts they had to abandon due to low manpower.
The Aetherian Empire was established 786 years ago by the first Olderen Emperor who, though warfare and diplomacy, united the lands of old Xespyre under one banner. Doing so he removed much of the power of land holders and nobility, including abolishing serfdom and created a strong bureaucracy and with it investing strong powers in that of the Emperors, but they still maintained their powers in various sectors and are frequently at odds with the merchant class. Thus the formerly war torn land entered generations of peace and prosperity only interrupted with barbarian attacks on their border and the rise of the Republic of Edra. Their economy relies heavily on internal manufacturing and internal trade since they do not have access to trade by sea to the extent the Republic of Erda does.
Overall they were stable and relatively prosperous. But always looking for expansion which lead them to consistent fights with the Barbarians.Feel free to come up with locations in existance (refer to app)
Aetheria: Capital of the Empire
Third Knight Corps Headquarters: Currently in Aetheria, where you live while not on mission and where we are starting. Depending on everything the situation may change and a place outside of Aetheria may be found.
Rolatara: Capital of the Republic
Fort Old Blood: Border fort held by the Empire on the Republic-Empire border.
Fort True Green: Fort to the south to protect against barbarians.
Bold Keg Tavern: Tavern located in Aetheria, frequently visited by soldiers.
Aetherian Grand Market: The central trading hub of the Empire in the capital. Has been struggling lately so it has more poor and degenerates than anything.
The Irredeemable Lands: A massive forest to the south inhabited my very aggressive barbarians.
The Field of Sorrow: A massive dead plain located on the border, here was the most massive and bloodiest battle of the war resulting in thousands of death on both sides and the death of many mages who could not survive here.Mana which powers Magic is the source of life in this world. Everyone has a bit of mana in them since it is a source of life but they can survive in places without mana indefinitely. People with more than the bit of mana in them can use magic. Almost every type of magic exists in this excluding a couple things, such as no bringing the dead back to life and no magically curing the plague. No stupidly overpowered magic either. It would be too easy, you all are teenagers after all. There is a draw back to mana use for powering magic, you are using life itself to power it which negatively impacts your health That is why people with very high mana attributes are frequently frail. The higher your mana capacity is the more you use it makes you more sick because you are using life itself. And in places where mana is used a lot? Well... suffice to say those places are known as dead plains and cannot be crossed by people with very high mana count. The trade off is that it makes you extremely powerful in magic.The economy is generally not faring well, with many being poor due to the drain of everything driving up prices, but shops are still open in various cities. Thus your characters can spend their pay in them for various items they feel like they will need. Sometimes (if you get lucky) you might find something on sale to buy. Or inflation has driven the price up. Each member of the Third is payed 100 gold per mission, in addition to their normal pay of 75 per month, with occasional bonuses given for excellent service by the entire corps (with that in mind though no going solo and killing ten people with a rusty kitchen knife or whatever other grizzly fate your mind can come up with, it isn't that simple). Raises will probably be given over time too depending. Really this gold system serves no purpose besides getting new weapons and occasionally having your character be normal and doing things for themselves. It is just another layer of character really. Every member of the Corps is carries 75 coins initially as an advance pay of sorts.
The Third also has a treasury it uses to arm and supply itself and for emergency funds. Stealing from it and being caught will be dealt with harshly.Events will be situations that the Third will respond to. Consider this the basis of the RP that isn't downtime IC or doing something random. Getting to know one another and spending time together is a big part of it. Think of us as a merry band of soldiers without being that merry and you have the idea. Though I am open to suggestions to expand it. Generally we will succeed in them (or not depending) but it is a question on if we really make an impact on the world. Killing a bandit boss yet his leader remaining alive will not impact the world too much but killing that bandit leader will disrupt current banditry in the area. Though this kind of thing is why I need plenty of people to offer ideas for different things we can do over the course of it otherwise this will get repetitive. I freely admit I am not extremely inventive beyond the general idea and the couple ideas I have. So you could say I want this to be a group project.Almost every mystical creature is in existance in this world but many of them are in forests, caves, mountains, and rivers and lakes. Pick your poison if you want a specific one to show up. And no we aren't encountering dragons immediately. And if we did you would be roasted immediately.
Here are the ones we have certainly established though
- Dragons
- Griffons
- Centaurs
- Dryads
- Rock Golems
- Treants
- Drakes
- Vodyanoy
- Reverents
- Zombies
- Vampires
- Werewolves
- Goblins
- Giant Spiders
- Manticores
- Walking Skeletons
The Great Wall of Apps
Feel free to contribute where ever you can.
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[color=#000080]Recruit Profile[/color] [color=#FF0000]For the eyes of Corps Commander's only[/color]
(delete everything, including this, in parenthesis)
[b]Name[/b] (Calling you "Soldier #1" and "Soldier #2" is too boring)
[b]Sex[/b] (Obvious requirement, plus we need to know what soldiers to house you with)
[b]Age[/b] (anywhere from 13-17, if you want to go younger or older for whatever reason mention you lied about it and give your real age in parenthesis)
[b]Appearance[/b] (you need a face to participate unfortunately, so no Slendermen allowed, picture or description will work)
[b]Bio[/b] (background information, not expecting a novel but something to flesh them out)
[b]Capable of using mana for magic?[/b] (Y or N)
[b]How high is your mana aptitude?[/b] (low, medium, high, very high) (only fill out if you put yes to above)
[b]Magic that you are capable of[/b] (only fill out if you put Y in the above, otherwise put what you want (pick one or two) and I will see if I agree with it)
[b]Weapon you specialize in[/b] (you received training in one weapon to make it your specialty, what is it?) (remember to keep it medieval, though by that I solemy mean no guns or anything like that) (this weapon is pretty much your favorite weapon, you may know how to use others but you favor this one the most)
[b]Secondary Weapon you can use[/b] (you need a backup weapon, this can also be anything like above) (max of two)
[b]Armor Preference:[/b] (Leather, light, medium, or heavy)
[b]Personality[/b]
[b]Likes[/b]
[b]Dislikes[/b]
[b]RP Sample[/b] (if you can't provide one write a good bio)
[b]Theme song[/b] (optional but something that describes your character or you think is nice)
1453 (keep for tracking purposes)I decided to make a app to help provide an example. Though I expect fully for me to expand on it.
Recruit Profile For the eyes of Corps Commander's only
(delete everything, including this, in parenthesis)
Name Azrael Solomon
Sex Male
Age 17
AppearanceIt used to be silver hair and brown eyes
Bio Public Background: The son of a professional soldier and his wife who both died in the war Azrael appears to be a normal orphan of the war. He says he lived in the slums for the past five years and has had no family left. He also says he learned how to fight during street fights with other people. He had appeared out of nowhere at recruitment headquarters and joined as quickly as he could. Mysteriously he has papers of recommendation from some of the highest levels in the military that caused him to immediately be named commander of one of the Corps.
Private History: He is actually Valerius Olderen, son of Emperor Nicholas Olderen and his heir who had gone missing. He was raised isolated at the palace. As the fourth son of the Emperor he was never expected to become the crown prince of the Empire. Yet he watched his elder brothers going off to war and with passing time their deaths grew closer until all three of his elder brothers died on the battlefield suddenly making him heir to the throne at a young age. With that he realized the war has cost the Empire dearly and was willing to throw all of his efforts into rebuilding. Afterwards he witnessed the plague and seeing all the death it caused drove his desire to save the Empire more but at the same time increased his frustration at being confined to the Palace for his own safety so he made a decision. Fearing for the Empire's future and for other more personal reasons he decided to forge recommendation papers using his own father's signature and seal and dyed his silver hair black and had magic change his eyes to purple to cover up his brown eyes. After he did so he broke into the records office for the military and found the file for Anselm Solomon, a former soldier who both him and his wife died in the war who had one son named Azrael who shared his birthday. A quick cross check showed that Azrael died of the plague about six months ago. Valerius quietly took that file out and changed it to show that a redaction was issued and he is actually still alive and it was referring to someone else. Thus he assumed the identity of a dead person. After that he went to the recruitment center and presented his forged letter to the person overseeing recruitment. After several meetings he was placed in charge of one of the Corps. No one has caught on to him yet and he would prefer to keep it that way, even though he knows he has to go back eventually.
Capable of using mana for magic? No
How high is your mana aptitude?
Magic that you are capable of
Weapon you specialize in Longsword
Secondary Weapon you can use Crossbow
Armor Preference: Medium
Personality: Honourable, stern (when on duty) polite, laid back (when off duty), bookish, kind, charitable, refined, cautious, patriotic
Likes: Honour, duty, the Empire, service, family, hardwork, steak, potatoes, reading, firmness, apples
Dislikes: Cowardice, treason, cabbage, book burning, plums, pointless murder.
RP Sample Once upon a time the OP walked into his own RP and put NOPE in this part.
Theme song Because why not?
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For Characters that are not being played as but are NPCs, they can be used by people to advance plot and if they have a recurrence or some greater purpose.
[b]Name[/b]:
[b]Age[/b]:
[b]Appearance[/b]
[b]Affiliation[/b]: (Who are they affiliated with, the Knight Corps, a specific organization, the Order, something else? (unknown or No Affiliation is a valid option as long as the unknown is elaborated on later))
[b]Bio[/b]: (nothing too elaborate unless you want it to be)
[b]Personality[/b]:
[b]Weapon[/b]: (if applicable)
[b]Armor[/b]: (if applicable)
[b]Capable of Magic[/b]: (Y or N)
[b]What kind of Magic[/b}: (if Y to above)
[b]Other Details[/b]: (Anything else you feel like adding?)
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City/Town/Fort App
Place's Name:
[b]Location[/b]: (in the Empire, Republic, or outside of them (preferably in the Empire) you
[b]Population[/b]: (due to war losses the population cannot exceed 50,000 but special exceptions may be given)
[b]Standing Guard[/b]: (optional the military is short on manpower after all)
[b]Walls or no Walls[/b] (given for forts)
[b]History[/b]: (you can make this as brief as you want to)
[b]Notable facts[/b]:
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Secondary Location App
(This is for places that serve a specific purpose and are not cities, it can be anything from inns to taverns to anything like that that expands the world)
[b]Name[/b]:
[b]Location[/b]:
[b]Purpose[/b]:
[b]What is there?[/b] (simply describe what it has, give a reason for people to visit or anything like that)
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This is for minor factions (bandit groups, barbarian tribes, rebels, whatever else you want to create)
[b]Name[/b]:
[b]Leader(s)[/b]: (you can put unknown if it suits the purpose of it being a mysterious group)
[b]Numbers[/b]: (nothing insane)
[b]Purpose[/b]: (they need a purpose it can be some grand purpose with a higher goal or it can be simple bandits out to make a quick coin)
[b]Threat to Empire?[/b] (yes or no do they need to be put down? If yes place threat level at extremely low, very low, low, moderate, high, very high, extremely high) (what consitiutes a threat to the Empire? Well anything that threaten's its future peace and prosperity or does harm to its people. Unknown also suffices if everything else suits it)
[b]History[/b]: (optional if they have one, you don't need to put one for random bandit groups)
[b]Specialties[/b]: (anything they specialize in? Hit and run attacks, ambushes, archery, swordplay, blacksmithing? Who knows.)
[b]Weaknesses[/b]: (what is this group's weakness? Are they based around a leader and if that one falls they collapse? Can they not use certain weapons? Are most if not all of them not able to swim? Just some food for thought)
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(for Events concerning battle and the Third)
[b]Basis of Event[/b]: (what are we doing)
[b]Location[/b]: (where is this?)
[b]Groups/mystical creatures involved[/b]: (Excluding the Third, general terms such as "group of werewolves" or "group of bandits")
[b]Scale[/b]: (How many are involved if this is combat based (and most will be) put whatever number you want that is reasonable unless it involves a specific defined faction then use something relating to the numbers for that)
[b]Potential to affect the Empire[/b]: (if carried out how much would it impact the Empire, lets break it down to local, regional, or Empire-wide)
[b]Base Difficulty[/b]: (between 1% and 100%, determines chance of failing and succeeding at event when we come to it)
[b]Effect on the Reputation of the Third?[/b]: (the lower the difficulty the less it should impact the reputation but if the event fails then it would harm the Third's reputation more so)
[b]Any special needs for this mission?[/b]: (if we are fighting vampires we need stakes, werewolves we need silver etc. Do we need any specific tools)
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(For Events concerning non-battle things the Third can do)
[b]Basis for Event:[/b]
[b]Location[/b]:
[b]Other Groups/Creatures/Things Involved[/b]: (if any)
[b]Anything special that needs to be done or gotten before this?[/b]:
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(For Events not concerning the Third)
[b]Basis of Event[/b]:
[b]Groups/Mystical Creatures Involved[/b]:
[b]Scale:[/b] (If applicable)
[b]Potential to affect the Empire[/b]: (Local, Regional, Empire wide)
I may add more later depending but here it is for starters.
*special thanks to Remnants of Exilvania for the reading of this and suggestions and for Tracian Empire offer to help advertise it. Thanks also to Yoite for altering the image we are using to go with this better.
