OOC: A Time of Trial

[Blessed-one]

Current characters (idea taken from Lady_Firehawk):
Played by Surprised: Elsom ShaD'en - a Shardalon priestess
Played by Buskanaka: Waen Yando - a Perian scribe, and Kaelin Ferath - an elf
Played by Blessed-one: Iruen Alemeus - an elven cleric of Laurealda, and Rosyen Tila - a Shardalan priestess
Played by Lady_Firehawk: Quennith Tyferras - Minstrel, army sharpshooter of Sal Kadedin. Mikel Gensai - Minor mana wielder; Sal Kadein army scout; and Teglon Mersedis - Swordsman, ex-army captain, artist.
Played by VigilanteHamster: Isliel Belshassar - Ex-healer, Shardalon priestess, rank - Raiben Lysander Valkour - Zantukite priest, rank - Romak Ariene Desamiir - Shardalon priestess, rank - Raiben
Played by Paladin44: Orrifice Ryppe - mercenary
Played by Bartimeus: Aronus - an Eyrellian cleric from Kharilin
Played by oncewaslost: Carrea Dee
Played by Star_Splitter87: Bat Turtle - a thief
Played by Ellendryle of Sunrising: Ellendryle of Sunrising - a healer elf from Oialasse
Played by Megachihuahua:Wymite - assasin
Played by Beau: Blitz - a wolf

Information on the cult: history, structure
Information on the cult (god - Zantuk, goddess - Shardalon) - written by Surprised by Joy:

The ranks of the priestesses of Shardalon are:

Soreya: head of ten initiates
Nassa: head of one temple's Soreyas
Mekel: head of a city or province
Raiben (pronounced rah-ih-ben): a council of thirteen (the cult's most holy number, besides six) elders, loosely overseers of the Mekels.
Shardal: high priestess under Shardalon, her voice on earth.
The tattooes of all the ranks are on their left earlobes.

The Shardalonian priestesses were watched closely by the Zantukites. It all began as said in the legend. Shardalon the goddess fought openly against Zantuk who was going to wipe out a fraction of humanity for disobeying his law. Shardalon sought to save them, but she lost in the dispute and was imprisoned as a result. Perhaps Zantuk saw this as enough punishment to satisfy his anger, he allowed the people to live. Those people later on became another devoted branch of followers of Shardalon. Zantuk imposed two things after the event. He placed the Zantukites over the Shardalonians, and he gave the Shardalonians permission to search for their goddess. He did not intend to imprison Shardalon forever, so this was the perfect way out. Shardalon will receive her freedom in due course, and the Shardalonians would live out the rest of their punishment in the search.

Ranks of Zantukites priests

1st: Xel - unknown, mysterious leaders (3 of them)
2nd: Zalam - 5 of them (one for each Kingdom, including the elves but excluding Egara Plains)
3rd: Romak - 20 (for each city - elven cities are counted as 1, and Til'aren is excluded)
4th: Kye - regular priests
5th: Seeker - no ranks

Note: all Zanukites are males and all Shardalonians are females


Plot outline

The behind the scene people ruling over the orcs and trolls and assorted dark creatures in Anserak have been extending their influence over Peria for years before the cult (known as Zantukites) made its first appearance. Now the Empire of Peria, allegedly a nation of God, is slowly drawn into a dark whirlwind as the forces of darkness infiltrate the Empire, taking over positions of various ranks. Their influence is so far in that an open opposition would result in internal war. In addition, the whole attention of the church, the elves and the government is turned on the cult and the lost book of El Iruen's bringing over from Zarkiara (see: "The Lost Key"). Trouble is brewing heavy over Perian skies.

Factions in Peria

1. The infiltrators from Anserak in: the church, the government and the military

2. Cult (new god: Zantuk)

3. Intelligence (the resistance group): consisting of Sal Kadedins and Perians

More background infor and questions to be answered in the RPG:

A new person sits in place of the old head of the church who has been displaced by the dissenters. The church is currently thrown into chaos upon Iruen's arrival..

Members of the intelligence have been disappearing mysteriously. Most of the missing members are those getting close to the information they want, and they include nobles as well as commons. Intelligence working in alliance with Sal Kadedin is yet to find out the people behind this..

The government has issued a new order, seeking peace deals with Anserak that allows the Anserak people (orcs and trolls and ...) to enter Peria unmolested. A new decree also states that the Zantukites are allowed to preach their god freely. Many suspect the King has gone mad, yet more suspect a person is pulling the strings and that the King has been imprisoned; but another rumour has it that he has escaped. The court of Peria (people who manage the kingdom) is becoming as dangerous as the court of Vareisia and assasination is no longer uncommon.

In the military, soldiers in high positions are bickering among themselves. While some advocate the King's peace deal, others are planning to outline defences against a flood of Anserak habitants. Tension is high among the two camps but traitors can lurk in both sides..


Choices of characters (you can play >1)
1. Play an intelligence spy from Sal Kadedin or Peria
2. Play a cleric
3. Play a person in the military (soldier, commander, captain, you name it)
4. Play a government official
5. Play anyone not included in the above 4 options

Choose your own side.

I strongly encourage players to play NPC as well and make up the necessary characters for different sides. This is not going to be 'Blessed-one as the only GM' RPG. We're all working together.. should be more fun this way uh?

there're two simple rules though: No one line post (i'm sure you can write more. It helps to develop in-depth characterization and more. Look upon this as a challenge?)
and we'll take control of your characters if you were absent from the thread for more than three days (depends on circumstances. Don't worry, we won't butcher them!)

We will start once i get a confirmation of what characters you are playing and the number of people who are going to join.

----

NPC
Main characters are in red

Church:
Elders
- Clamen (on the good side)
- Kahen (on the cultist's side. Rank: Kye)

Cleric in training
- Girthen
- Calena
- Tamare

Clerics
- Aronus (blind with special ability)
- Iruen (elf)
- Arcares

Military
- Sir Harris Mounyan (high ranking calvalry soldier - check Paladin's post - currently at Correl)
- Orrifice (doesn't exactly belong in the military, but he's currently helping out)
- Veslor Ail (at Nimbella. Should be in a lower rank, but he was transferred from the Anserak border, so his status was a bit unclear since some in the military did not agree with the disbanding of the platoon.)
- Drogo (Nimbella)

Government
- Waen
- Zephere
- Gametris

Intelligence
- Calinga
- Kelton (Intelligence Officer)
- Quennith (Intelligence personnel from Sal Kadedin)
- Tendra (Intelligence personnel from Sal Kadedin)
- Uyssa

Shardalonians
- Isliel (rank: Raiben)
- Rosyen (rank: Raiben)
- Elsom (rank: Soreya)
- Ehlomi (Shardalonian - no rank)
- Jiru (Shardalonian - no rank)
- Ariene Desamiir (rank: Raiben)

Zantukites
- Lysander (Zantukite. Rank: Romak)
- O'reean (Zantukite - elf - rank: unknown - first appearance at Rossesila)
- Igo (Head Investigator)
- Elaisse (elf from Hrestanin, currently accompanying Quennith, Teglon and Mikel)

From Sal Kadedin (army)
- Mikel (mana wielder)
- Teglon

Civilians
- Heather (a woman who had helped Aronus after he was washed ashore)
- Carrea
- Ellendryle of Sunrising
- Bat Turtle
- Ryiah (Zephere's maid)
- Matta (Seaside inn keeper)
- Kaelin
- Wymite

Unknown status
- Zai (the son of the governor at Correl)
- Blitz

 

[Surprised by joy]

Hey, Blessed-one. I would like to join, however I have never played an RPG (except for one that I created myself a year or so ago with some friends), so I might stumble along for a while. I would like to be a member of the cult of Zantuk, perhaps in some way a founder (I'll have to read up on the history), except that I am actually searching for the truth.
I don't have all the time in the world, so could I only post once a week? I would rather do a large post once a week than smaller posts in between.
More on my character later.

(P.S. Really, I could promise to do a four-hundred word post once a week. However, I work better tackling one "large" thing at a time than splitting it all up, and between novel writing and harp playing/composition/practicing for a recital and gardening and a big church outreach event for which I am a counselor . . . yeah, anyway.)

 

[VigilanteHamster]

I think I'm gonna go with the cultist idea, too... hehehe, a Dwarven Zantukite doing a little infiltration?

 

[dwarf lord lort]

i might be a wizard "alas" lol i dont know what side to be, could you help me plz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to deside i want to be a shadey wizard tho, his called bigton((u can find him in charictars sumwere)) thnx

 

[VigilanteHamster]

I believe that would be a mana wielder around these parts, dude.

 

[Megachihuahua]

Yes, another epical RPG! I am so confuzzled! So, Peria is fighting the cult and the cult has spys in Peria? How can I decide between my Orc, Knight, and Dwarf, or I can resurrect my necromancer or Ranger?

 

[Buskanaka]

government official and military officer.

Yes, another epical RPG! I am so confuzzled! So, Peria is fighting the cult and the cult has spys in Peria? How can I decide between my Orc, Knight, and Dwarf, or I can resurrect my necromancer or Ranger?

It's kind of like 2 fronts: The Perian government and military are being infiltrated and taken over by spies from Anserak. Then there is the church, they are fighting against the Cult of Zantuk. So, they appear to be separate conflicts, but who knows what's really going on?

 

[Lady_Firehawk]

Sounds like Quennith is gonna be one busy girl... In between spywork for Sal Kadedin, resistance work for the same, trying to get Mikel sorted out and fighting the Zantukites she's gonna have her hands full! (She doesn't like Rosyen much at the moment, that's for sure!)

 

[VigilanteHamster]

On second thought, I think I'll stick with the good guys until there's a little more info about the Zantukites... I wouldn't want to mess things up! Blecch.

 

[Blessed-one]

no problem, Surprised by joy. Thanks for letting us know in advance.. but with one post per week, you'll probably have to work alone for a while. I think we'll have to let you control some of our characters that way.. we'll see.

I would like to be a member of the cult of Zantuk, perhaps in some way a founder (I'll have to read up on the history), except that I am actually searching for the truth.

yep. I was thinking of giving you the lead role.. well, there isn't a history made for the Zantukites yet. The first declaration of 'war' happened in Rossesila where Rosyen, a Zantukite, went into the meeting of the clerics and delivered her message. (The Lost Key - Revelation)
Would you like to help build the history?

Vigiliante: no problem there.

Megachihuahua: if you're playing a necromancer.. that would be a bad guy (think back on the background of Christia). You're free to write with a number of characters, so you just need to decide where the knight, dwarf and ranger go. (BTW, there're rangers patrolling the mountains separating Peria from Anserak)

Buskanaka: good pick. Thanks for taking a side nobody has chosen on yet.

wow, i'm impressed that there're so many people willing to take on the bad side. Thanks for joining, everyone! I'll leave this for a day or so. Think on your characters, their backgrounds and their connections in the meantime. You're welcomed to start posting their bio up in the character database.

 

[Lady_Firehawk]

Ooooh... I had some ideas for the Zantukites... *big evil grin*

 

[Blessed-one]

note: my comprehensive replies to all questions is on page 1.

hey LF, if you had an idea, then spill it out. Surprised and Vigilante might want to hear of it (and perhaps base their characters on it?) since they're playing the bad side.

 

[Lady_Firehawk]

Who said a cult had to be based around only one god? Why not a god/goddess duo? (Zantuk and, to use the name I suggested, Shardalon!) The main thrust would be Zantuk, of course, but maybe there's a smaller sect-within-a-cult of Shardalonians... perhaps the Shardalonians could be a mountain offshoot of the Zantukites. (Evil Dwarf cultist, VH?)

Just a brain dropping, really.

 

[Lady_Firehawk]

Posted! New thread in Hrestanin! (The continuing misadventures of my unlucky trio... )

 

[dwarf lord lort]

can i join plz

 

[Blessed-one]

sure, dwarf lord lort. What type of characters will you be using?

 

[Lady_Firehawk]

I think he wanted to be a mana wielder... *checks earlier posts* Or that's what a wizard would translate to here, anyway.

 

[Buskanaka]

hey hey, it was a fair coin toss!

and for all those people playing the bad side, you know you're gonna lose!!!!

oh and blessed, I was just reading the backround info on Peria, and some of it seemed a little, um, unrealistic? Mostly just the populations given, for example the main city has 24 million people in it! The technological level of Christia isn't advanced enough to sustain cities with that many people. Also it says that there are 32 million people in the army...

and about the same for the navy, even though they only have 347 ships! oh and they have an emperor, not a king.

also I would like to make a suggestion for another guideline, I would like to see as much effort as possible made to use correct spelling and grammar, I think it just makes for a much more enjoyable experience for everyone involved. For anyone who struggles with it I would suggest writing your posts in Microsoft Word or some other wordprocessing software that has spellcheck and grammar functions.

 

[Blessed-one]

you're in luck, Bus! the person who made up Peria has come back.. if only for a while. I'll forward this to him.

also I would like to make a suggestion for another guideline, I would like to see as much effort as possible made to use correct spelling and grammar

any suggestion? or is it just to be included in the RPG rules and general players' guide? on the other RPG MB i go to, they even have a mentoring program to help the newbies write more.. generally to write in better quantity and quality, but then they've more people..

ok guys, we'll make a start some times tomorrow.. anyone's free to put in a suggestion for the thread name.

 

[Buskanaka]

ok thanks blessed. there are plenty of other things I would change but that'll do for now

well the suggestion about grammar was meant for this particular thread, it would be great if it was for the whole forum, but I don't want people to feel discouraged from getting involved because they feel like there are all these rules and things, if you know what I mean... like, if you do set that guideline in place, is there a point at which you tell people they can't post unless they improve their writing? As great as it would be to only have really good writers, it's a bit harsh to kick people out and make it 'elite-ist'...

how about 'The Lost King' for the thread title?