☩ ☩ ☩
“Now it's time to say goodbye
To the things we loved
And the innocence of youth
How the time seemed to fly
From our carefree lives
And the solitude and peace we always knew,
Were we born to fight and die?
Sacrificed for one huge lie?
Are we heroes keeping peace?
Or are we weapons?
Pointed at the enemy
So someone else can claim a victory?”
☩ ☩ ☩The World In Chaos
What would you do if you woke up one day and found a strange mark on the back of your hand? One that was golden colored, with an intricate design representing some kind of symbol. It could be anything… An animal, a weapon, a zodiac sign, some kind of other magical sigil. What would you do if that mark showed that you had been selected by some unknown higher force, and that it meant that you were not just an ordinary person, but a hero? What would you do if the mark meant you were part of a group of heroes that only came around once per generation?
This, everyone, is the world of Marked Ones. An astounding 75% of the world population is able to use magic in some form, and a smaller but still significant amount have the potential to use it dangerously, either because of intensive training or natural skill. Naturally, with so many people having this power, chaos reigns. Plenty of people use their magic for destructive purposes, and magic related crimes are one of the leading causes of death in the world. Security, something that is often taken for granted, is much more valuable in this world. Of course, there’s also people who prefer to use their skills for good. Hundreds of superhero teams exist around the world, fighting every threat from basic crime to international terrorism, or more otherworldly problems such as demons, vampires, and eldritch horrors.
Sometimes, these heroes aren’t enough.
It’s said that when the world itself is in danger and the forces of light are in danger of falling, fate itself will balance things by sending new heroes which only show up once a generation. Identified by the golden seals on the back of their hand, these heroes are known collectively as the Marked. Their potential goes beyond the normal magic user, and despite public opinion sometimes doubting them, the Marked have saved the world multiple times over from various threats. Demons, rogue mages with a thirst for power, ancient threats that have been sealed away for thousands of years… It doesn’t matter. All have fought the Marked, and each time, humanity has prevailed, even if it’s sometimes at great cost.
Heroes, however, don’t always win.
Thirty years ago, in 1995, you could argue that the Marked gained a stalemate at best. The threat didn’t come from outside, but from within. One of their own, now known to the world only as Autarch, would turn against them and go down a different path in an effort to bring order to a chaotic world. In his efforts to create a society without the problems of the current world, Autarch found himself fighting against both heroes and governments, and by all means should have fallen early into his attempts. But few mages have ever been as powerful as Autarch, and after a year of fighting between Autarch and the Marked, things settled down into a new cold war of sorts. On one side, stood the free world, and all of its nations. On the other side stood the Dark Realm, the land in Siberia ruled with an iron fist by Autarch and his legions of allies, summoned creatures, and mercenaries.
Public opinion in the Marked crashed, with some claiming that they weren’t more powerful than ordinary superheroes in the first place, and that they were frauds. Rather than being revered, they were doubted and fell out of the public spotlight. Many wondered if, after what happened in the mid-90s, they would ever appear again. Years passed, and the duty of protecting the world fell more and more on governments and on the hundreds of so-called superheroes who use their magic for good.
The year is now 2025. The world isn’t in crisis, and yet a new group of Marked have begun appearing around the world. As usual, the appearances of these identifying marks meet a certain criteria: they show up in people no younger than eighteen but no older than twenty-one, and those who are marked receive an increase in their magical ability. It’s unknown why this new group of Marked showed up, as typically, it’s the job of the Marked to respond to a world crisis. As the new group appeared, however, the responsibility of training them and helping them reach their tremendous potential would fall on some of the Marked of the past, as well as their allies.
This, everyone, is where your story begins.Introduction
Welcome to Marked Ones, an RP that’s a lot of different things without completely identifying with any single thing. It’s urban fantasy, a superhero RP, or a more traditional academy RP depending on how you want to look at it. And of course, there’s strong elements of this being an adventure story, based on the rather common idea of chosen ones saving the world from great danger.
In case you didn’t get it from the above paragraphs, this takes place in a world where special heroes tend to appear every generation to deal with large threats, identified by golden marks on their hands. You play as one of these heroes, receiving a boost to your magical ability because of the mark. However, the main boost is to your potential rather than your current skill. You still have to train and improve if you want to have a shot at saving the world. Because of that, you have been taken away to the place known as Lynwood Academy, a former Buddhist monastery in the mountains of Nepal where the previous generation of Marked were trained.
The RP has some academy elements as you’ll be playing younger characters that are working to reach their potential, but you’ll also have to deal with a main story and protect the world from some very powerful enemies. As you go along, you’ll also be able to reveal more of a lore which has an advanced magic system, mythology, and background organizations which will play a major role in the story and its progression.
There’s also room to play other characters such as members of these organizations, or others who the Marked come across on their journey. If you’re interested, check out the rest of this thread for the information you need.On Magic
Magic is what makes the world go around. Or rather, what powers the hundreds of superhero teams that exist, while also serving as one of the greatest threats to the world and leading to a large number of deaths worldwide every year. Magic is a mixed bag, but there’s no getting rid of it, and 75% of the world population has the ability to use magic in some form. Most of the time, this is mundane and these people do not have the skill needed to use magic in a dangerous manner. Other times, however, there are people who have the skill to destroy towns entirely. There’s a large sliding scale in terms of power level, with most people falling on a lower end and most trained mages falling around the middle.
Mages are classified into a ranking system, which has fifteen levels that are determined by how much mana someone can hold in their body. Mana is, of course, the magical energy that makes it all work. If someone lacks mana, they’ll be unable to do anything with their magic. Someone who can store more of it in their body will be able to use their magic more, and perform more intensive magical feats and spells. Someone that is classified as a level zero mage will have no mana in their body, while a level one mage will have a small amount and a level two mage will have a larger amount than the level one mage, and so on.
These ranks are administered by the closest thing that magic has to a governing body, the Church of Light. This church is the leading magical organization in the world and worships a being known as the Light Goddess. Whether the goddess is real or not remains a debated subject, but the existence of magic would indicate that there’s at least some things out there that science doesn’t fully understand just yet. The Church makes the somewhat controversial claim that all magic comes from this goddess in one way or another, and opposes the “darker” forms of magic on the grounds that they stand against the light of their goddess. They have a large amount of influence to push these ideals because of their status as the top organization in the world when it comes to magical research, studies, and education.
Most mages who have advanced their skills have received some form of education from the Church, with a large number of them being card carrying members who pay an annual fee for more intensive education. The teachings of the Church were roughly developed from the Libro Lux, a holy text that was written in Italy in 1121 around the time that magic is believed to have appeared in the world. This text makes the argument for the existence of the Light Goddess, and identifies a number of other magical beings such as demons and vampires as having strayed from her light, calling them worthy of destruction and claiming that they are only capable of having bad intentions. These teachings have become widespread, partially leading to a societal fear of these beings that may or may not be warranted in reality.
Magic can be categorized into broad categories, each category generally having its own name to separate it from others. Healing magic, for example, deals with healing. Fire magic deals with fire, earth magic deals with the ground and with rocks, and so on. There are also subsets of each type of magic. For example, someone may be able to blend skills from fire magic and earth magic to create and control magma, while black magic has a number of different paths that are only loosely tied together to a common family of abilities. Multiple categories of magic can be learned, but this requires time and effort, and because of that time commitment, most mages pick one or two forms of magic and work on specializing in them rather than trying to branch out into a number of different categories.The Marked
What are the Marked? The simple answer would be heroes that are responsible for saving the world a number of times. The actual answer is much more complex. It is believed that the Marked draw their power from an artifact known as the Hastam de Lumine, or Spear of Light, an artifact from the earlier days of magic which has not appeared in its material form in hundreds of years. Exactly how this artifact was created, or even who created it, are details that were not recorded in history. Regardless, it is known as one of the most powerful magical items to ever exist, and it is known that this artifact is the one to select each group of Marked.
How the selection process works is also something that has been lost to history, but one thing is clear, and that is the purpose of the artifact. The Spear was created to protect the world, and when a large enough threat or crisis appears, the Spear will use its energy to increase the potentials of a group of mages around the world, as well as giving them an immediate boost that is smaller but still significant. When this happens, each of the selected mages will notice that a golden mark has appeared on the back of their right hand, with a symbol that varies depending on the person. The meaning of these symbols has been debated, without any real explanation existing.
This only happens roughly once per generation, and each generation is a separate group without relation to the others. Each group also has one person who will wake up with a second mark opposite of the first one, on their left hand. This person is known as the Seeker and can use their magic to locate the rest of the Marked in their group, even if they are scattered around the world. Marked are capable of dying, even Seekers, but when that happens it is believed that their power is transferred to someone else if it is still a time of need. Groups of Marked can also be large or small, depending on the situation. There’s no set number for how many people will receive the mark.
Each group tends to be trained by the last, unless the gap between groups is too large for that. The last group of Marked, however, is the only one that is known for not fulfilling their destiny. Rather than saving the day, their losses allowed for the establishment of the Dark Realm, and they failed to stop the rise of Autarch as the most threatening villain in the world. This led to them falling out of favor with the public and led to many people in general believing that the Marked are not heroes selected by fate to save the world, but frauds who have led the public into believing old legends.
This incident led to them going off the radar for a period, at least, the ones that were still alive. They took heavy losses while trying to stop Autarch, and many of those who survived left magic entirely and decided that it wasn’t worth it to try being a hero. That group would remain disbanded until it became evident that the latest group of Marked was here and that training would be needed. As a result of this, certain members of the group emerged from their new lives and would contact the latest group of Marked, with the help of the new Seeker, Niki Laskaris.
The training ground for the new group of Marked? Lynwood Academy, a place that sounds like a private school in England but is really an old monastery in Nepal where the previous group was trained. The place isn’t in the best state. After all, it’s been 30 odd years since anyone used it. Still, the place isn’t falling over, and the seclusion allows the Marked to stay hidden from the chaos of the outside world and from anyone who would like to have a go at them before they’re ready. The place has all of the facilities that a normal school would have, albeit it’s closer to a community college than a large one. And with the location being in the mountains, the scenery is certainly different than what the vast majority of students will be used to.Character Guide
Interested in joining? Here’s a few things to know while filling out your application. First, note the differences in the two applications. The player character application is for characters that you intend to play regularly, and for ones that are part of the main story. Any member of the Marked would use this application, for example. The NPC application shouldn’t be used for this type of character, as it’s for minor characters who will not be played consistently, or ones who were approved for use in certain arcs such as player created villains and others that might be encountered outside the academy, or minor staff within it.
Second, be sure to fill out the magical abilities section of the application with detail. You should mention all of the branches of magic that your character knows, such as fire magic, healing magic, nature magic, etc, as well as their skill level and possibly the specific areas they specialize in using their chosen forms of magic. If they’re using one of the alternative forms of magic, that should also be noted.
On the 1-15 scale of power levels for mages, note that the average is approximately 7. Try to keep your starting power levels within a couple of points from here, in either direction depending on your character’s background and how much they trained before receiving the mark. Overpowered characters will be nerfed. The mark greatly raises the potential of your character and gives them a bit of an immediate boost, it doesn’t turn them into villain killers overnight with no extra training or experience.
Finally, try to think about how your character is going to fit into the group. They don’t have to be social, they don’t even have to be a morally right hero that’s doing everything for the right reasons, but try to think about how they fit into things and avoid making someone that’s just going to end up outside of the story. For example, making a random non-Marked character that would have a hard time finding a role that affects the main characters, an insane character that can’t do anything with others, etc. For now, staff characters are reserved for the thread staff and anyone else specifically approved to play them.Rules
- Final decisions from the OP/thread staff are final. This shouldn't have to be said, but things such as character deaths, decisions in the plot, and which powers are allowed into the RP cannot be appealed. You can try to make your case, but dragging it on after the decision has already been made doesn't help anyone. The thread runs smoother if this rule is followed, also.
- While there is no explicit list of banned powers this time, be aware that powers which control other people's characters as well as powers which lack ways to be countered will be rejected or nerfed. For example, superspeed would almost always be disallowed, because there's usually not a way for other characters to counter this.
- If you aren't a Discord user you will likely miss important planning for combat. You'll get the link when you join and it's not a necessity to be there or be active, but don't say you weren't warned if you miss things.
- You should attempt good writing quality. Long post are not needed every time, but it should be clear that you're at least putting in effort and using basic grammar skills.
- Be aware that the level system exists for a reason. You might be one of the chosen ones, but don't expect that simple fact to bail you out if you run into a fight with someone much stronger without a proper plan. Using your head still matters, and the fights here aren't predetermined. That is, you can lose if you slip up.
- Inactive characters may be moved during missions by the thread staff to keep things moving. Being inactive for weeks and not saying anything about your absence may result in character death or becoming an NPC.
